Braun Canister Vacuum Cleaner!

[eurekaprince]

I never knew that the German Braun company had made vacs at one point in time!!! Who woulda thunk it?

To our friends in Europe: did Braun make many vacs over the years? In North America, we have only seen small Braun kitchen devices (food processors, etc) and personal care appliances (shavers and hair dryers) over the years in our stores....

Here's a YouTube clip of a Braun canister vac

 

[vacuumboy1993]

Hey!

This is mine hehe! Yes, Braun used to made vacuum cleaners, I don't know if they were sold in Europe, but they were very popular in Spain.
Braun started making vacuum cleaners somewhere in the late 60's-early 70's and the last models were sold in the early-mid 90s. Their designs were very similar to the Progress vacuums cleaners, they even had the same tools and bags and the quality was excellent, so they were quite expensive at the time.
The one of the video is the model AT-1, wich was the BOL canister sold from 1975-1981, the AT-2 was the same machine with an electronic power control, and the AT-3 had the electronic speed control and a turbo brush.
I think the golden age of Braun vacuums was in the 70's, there was a big range of vacuum (canisters, stick vacs, and an upright) and some stick vacs had an optional power nozzle.

There you have some pictures of them

Kevin.

 

[vacuumboy1993]

Braun...

 

[vacuumboy1993]

Braun...

 

[vacuumboy1993]

Braun...

 

[eurekaprince]

Muchas gracias, Kevin!!!

You know that Braun vac in the second picture is identical to a 110volt canister vac that was sold here in Canada at the Eaton's department store in the 1970's! It was labelled with the Eaton Viking brand, and was supplied by the Eureka Company which was by then a division of Sweden's Electrolux. Eureka had been supplying Eaton's with Viking vacs for many, many years, and Eureka was also selling several Progress vacs under the Eureka name here in North America at the time. Germany's Progress company was also a division of Electrolux and I guess the parent company was exchanging designs across all their divisions. The cool thing was that the Viking version we knew included a Eureka power nozzle!

Love the third vac in your series of posts....

Brian in Canada

 

[collector2]

Hey Brian:

That model was also sold under the Beaumark name by The Hudson Bay Co. stores.

 

[eurekaprince]

Wow....interesting! Electrolux really spread this Progress vac far and wide! Thanks Doug!

 

[vacuumboy1993]

Thanks Brian!

I'd really to see a picture of the Viking if you have. Progress also sold a couple of these models with a power nozzle, Braun had the option to have one but they didn't came as a standard but they sure were completely different to North American power nozzles used by Eatons Viking.
It's quite funny because, I've seen that Viking also sold an Electrolux D740 with an Eureka PN under their brand. Did they sold more european machines?

Here's a picture of the Progress 93 with a Power Nozzle.

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Ummmmm

Hi, I like the 1st 3 vacs. I wonder what made them pull out of the floor care market??
Mind you I believe Hitachi has pulled out of the UK floor care market. Not sure if they have done so in other areas.

James)

 

[whirlpolf]

Braun did not "make" but rebadged them

hi folks,

I did know that Braun was selling vacuums and IMHO they were only being sold in Southern Europe countries (Spain and some in Italy, probably because the flat iron and toaster production werks were/are in Barcelona, Spain while razors come from Marktheidenfeld Bavaria and kitchen stuff is made in Kronberg, Hessen = headquarters).
But they never made vacuums of their own, all units shown here are Progress models. They were taken 1:1 or in case of the youtube model: Redesigned to Braun's standards.
Have a look at Stephan's Progress website (see link).

Cheers, Joe



http://www.staubsauger-progress.de/

 

[whirlpolf]

if you wonder how...

...I can be so sure:

I used to work as a repairman for a private company that had a contract with Braun as an "extended workbench" (meaning: anything the Kronberg team couldn't handle in a day went to our place, we were repairing all units that went above their 100% capacity. Their promise to the customer was: "Done in a day, sent back the next one").

For my job interview my boss dragged in a truckful of machines he had picked up at Braun's, razors, blenders and also one vacuum.
He said "get these tools and analyze one, you have one hour. Pick one" I picked the vac of course.
"I need no tools" I said. "No tools? Ok, go with whatever". I did the usual sound comparisons and some wham-bam hose suction thingies and said: "2 new gaskets, new bearings on the motor and some retightening of the winder spring, no new winder needed. And a nice wash would make a good impression". That's how they hired me.
Guess what was printed on the vacuum: "Progress". It was the green model in the photo above, only in burgundy.

 

[eurekaprince]

I once saw a 110volt version of one of those Progress stick-vacs here at a vacuum store in Toronto! It was relabelled with the Eureka name.....I think it was around 1995....

Filn danke Joe for that clarification and interesting story.

Kevin - wish I had kept the Eaton's newspaper advertisement for the Progress/Eureka/Viking power nozzle vac. It must have been in the mid 1970's and I remember being shocked to see a Eureka canister look so different from the line of Princesses/Sweet Sixteens/Ironsides/Empress Twos that we were used to seeing at the Eaton's department store in those years!

 

[vacuumboy1993]

Whirlpolf: Thank you for the info, it was very helpful. I suposed that some models could be made by Progress but I wasn't sure at all until now. But the italian made models from the early 90's such as the Vacumatic Electronic on the third picture can't be made by Progress, it's different in everything, I saw the same one in white/cream color sold as Fakir or Privileg? (I don't remember well). So my question is: is this model original from Braun or is it another rebranded machine from another company??

Eurekaprice: I never noticed that also Eureka used to sell Progress made vacuums! I guess that being a 1970's model it must be a used vacuum, I wonder how it looked like.
BTW, are you sure that the Eatons Viking Canister was from 1975? These ones haven't appeared until 1979-80.

Kevin.

 

[markus79]

braun

if I remember right this 90´s braun was made also with bauhnecht or kenwood-brand. This 70´s braun sold here with BBC-brand in 1972.

Markus

 

[whirlpolf]

who made what

Kevin, thanks for your answer. You are correct, this model (see pic) might very well be from someone else.

The Fakir brand has been doing fine here up until the late 70s, selling low to medium class uprights and vessel shaped canisters for a semi-commercial market. They now have gone into the "Nilco" brand. (Nilfisk and Co.) yet entertaining their own models.

See http://www.fakir.de/index.php (probably a part of the Electrolux conglomerate mega corp as well now).
Their "compronic" uprights were sold (or resold) as Eureka or Regina in the US.

Privileg: This might be hard to tell. Privileg is some house-brand of Quelle department stores and catalogue sales. (Quelle having gone bankrupt lately). So compare "Quelle privileg" machines to "Sears Kenmore" (just a rebadged house brand).

What comes on top of this is: Despite their "clean" (read: "Western" product politics) they tended to sell everything they could get hold of: AKA Eastern (GDR) handmixers were sold as "Privileg" very much as (otherwise unsellable) Hotpoint UK upright vacuums (Hotpoint Swallow). Likewise the Brother (Far East) Pacesetter or Galaxy sewing machines were sold as "Privileg Topstar" or "Privileg Superstitch"
Privileg was just their selling lable to sell anything, tablecloths, baby dummies and what have you.

Try to ebay-search "Fakir" or "Privileg" to get hold of more accurate information, you might see some way more interesting facts browsing some people's old stuff.

 

[eurekaprince]

Kevin - you may very well be correct: The Viking power nozzle canister vac made by Progress may have been in Eaton's stores in the late 1970's/early 1980's. I remember that the Eureka Roto-Matic power nozzle sold with it was the later version with the "belt view" window on the side and the wider headlight.

The reason why the Eaton Viking vacs and Bay Beaumark vacs were coming from Progress in Germany was because these Canadian department stores had contracts with Electrolux's Eureka division to supply some of their private label vacs. At some point Electrolux started introducing Progress vacs and Volta vacs and Electrolux vacs onto the Canadian market by labelling them Eureka or Viking or Beaumark.

The Eureka stick-vac made by Progress was definitely late 1980's or early 1990's....It was not really "stick"-like! It looked like a Progress canister with a handle stuck on one end, and a carpet nozzle on the other end!