rotary brush device on vacuum cleaner

Yeah, plenty of the big upright ones do.

Our Henry turbo one works on carpet, but you do need to keep it clean.

Upright is the obvious answer - they pretty much all do what you're after. They still need looking after, but some are probably less likely to break belts than others.

Some make electric brush heads for cylinder cleaners. Eg

Some Dysans used to do this but the hose is then quite expensive of course having to have wires for the low voltage motor in it. Also the ones that revolve with air do seem to lose their frictionless operation very quickly and get bunged up with the muck the beating tends to liberate. the best vacuum for beating and brushing had to be the vintage Hoover Juniors, though you needed a good stock of belts which shredded a lot since they were not only in the suction path but drove through a 90 degree w twist and slipped if something stalled the brush. Brian

You need more suck Bill. We have a couple of the 'suck powered' brushes and the work well.

The whole point of the suction driven brushes is surely that you can use them on chairs and other off ground areas. They're not intended for doing the floor are they?

That head on our Dyson DC35 handheld is powered by a motor. The tube is rigid and contains the cabling. Although for the most part one would use an upright on carpeting, there are times when it's simply more convenient to use the handheld.

I've got a bag-less machine which came from Lidl which has a vacuum-driven rotary brush and that works fine provided the filters are cleaned regularly in order to make sure that there's plenty of suck.

Miele do a few

but why they call it a tooth brush beats me

Same here with the Henry.

I was in Canada in the early 70s. I was surprised to see several cylinder vacuum cleaners available with precisely the sort of electric motor-powered head you are referring to. I often wondered if it was a matter of safety (120 vs 240V) that stopped them being made available in the UK.

'It beats as it sweeps as it cleans'

Worked perfectly for years and years until someone wanted to re-invent the wheel.

I've not come across any uprights that haven't had a driven beater bar. The battery powered Dyson V6 does as well and probably it's variants.

Having a Henry with red coloured air brush with a friendly face that actually works very well[1] I purchased a 'no brand' similar item for another vacuum cleaner. Yep, it was absolutely crap and as you found it stops spinning as soon as it makes contact with the floor. There are also the no name models that don't stop spinning - because the brushes never make contact with anything.

Well if they are they are no good. The narrow ones sort of work but the full width one reduce the suction so much you liberate stuff and it just lies on the carpet. Only the hoovers seemed to work, as they were epright cleaners. I had a panasonic one but its belt was way too slack. they should have used a toothed one to get it to work.

My vax is just a stand by now since its lost some suction but there appears to be no bunged up bits. I suspect there is something a bit naff inside the compressor bit itself due to poor filtering. Brian

Most of the ones I've come across seem to use a dc motor or some kind of speed controlled motor like on Dysans hand held ones. The wiring in the flexible hose is often the weak link. Some bright individual put a battery powered one on the market but it was so heavy on the end of the thing that it made using it a real pain. Briajn

Dyson, both the "cylinder" and "cordless" ones, for a start. There have been others in the past.

Yes, my 1930s one would beat an eggbox to death and consume it! I replaced it in a moment of folly.

Take the head apart and clean out all the pubes/dog-hairs and other crap, give it a squirt of silicone lubricant.

Some Miele vacuums have an 'electrobrush'

The powered head of my Dyson handheld is easy to clean. A coin in the slot, twist, and the brush comes out and any junk can be removed from it. Simples.