Eureka 640 A, 500 series

[seijun]

I'm looking for some information on a small Eureka canister vacuum, marked as a model 640 A 500 series. I cannot find anything online. It looks the same as the Eureka 550, which I also can't find any info on. Picture below is of a 550.

 

[TheSpiritOf76]

very cute....

Those were the lowest line canister you could get from Eureka. I seem to think they were introduced Sometime in 1970, and ran to about 1975 or so. There was also one branded for Singer too. Should have had a white vynil hose, and a set of the white classic Eureka cleaning tools.

 

[kenkart]

They were a much BETTER

Canister than the square Princess line because the bag was much less likely to leak dust.

 

[seijun]

Here is the lovely little 640. I can't comment on whether or not she leaks dust, but she has very good suction. This is my first Eureka. I just need to find some accessories that will fit. The metal extensions on her right now were cannibalized from a Eureka Princess. I am loving the simple metal handle. The less plastic on my machines, the better.

She was donated to Goodwill because she was so choked up with dust and dog hair that she barely worked. Is it really that hard to clean out a vacuum?

 

[vintagevac]

What type bag would the Eureka 640a 500 series use?

Very little out there on these little gems!

 

[rugsucker]

Bag ?

H

 

[paul]

The 640-A was part of the 600 Series Eurekas sold at Kmart and other discount department stores. It is, in fact, the same design as the 550-A; although it may have been made with less quality parts or accessorized in such a way as to be more budget-friendly.

I located newspaper ads for it from 1971 to 1975.

Here are comparison ads: the 640-A's is from 1975, and the 550-A's is from 1965.

 

[eurekaprince]

I think this particular design debuted as a Singer “Roll-a-Magic” canister in the late 1950’s. Made for Singer by Eureka. Here is a vintage ad - see link below:

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/487976166/1960-singer-vacuum-cleaner-ad-singer

 

[eurekaprince]

Here is a picture of that Singer - it’s Model E-4:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/326470689442

 

[paul]

I'd wondered about the similarity, too, Brian. I think I saw one on Doug's website and meant to ask you about it. Until now I'd thought that Singer restyled and rebadged Eurekas, but was uniformed that the reverse also happened. Was this the only instance? Btw, the earliest 550 ad I located was from 1964.

I was unable to open the eBay link, but did connect to the Etsy one. For future reference in case the page its removed, here's the 1960 LADIES HOME JOURNAL Singer ad from it. I'm sometimes disappointed in archived threads that have dead links, and my inability to find any other online photos.

Check out this archived link from 2009 with lots of Singer vac photos and background information posted by Doug and others:
https://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?5239#google_vignette