eureka ad

VacuumLand – Vintage & Modern Vacuum Enthusiasts

Help Support VacuumLand:

smow69

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 10, 2012
Messages
466
Location
Muskogee Oklahoma
would anybody happen to have pics of the ads wher these vacuums came out a eureka 500 bp princess model and the light blue upright in my pics both were i think around early to mid 70,s when my mom purchased them just wondering cost and would like to have an ad with pics i can copy, also around 1985montgomery wards ads out of catalogues im looking for the one on the hoover convertible model with the smaller hood that sat up on the base not surronding it.

smow69++3-25-2014-19-25-21.jpg
 
More like mid to late 1970's. If the metal model plates say "The Eureka Company", then they were made after Sweden's Electrolux bought Eureka-Williams in 1974 and changed the company's name.

The floor brush with attached white neck is also an indicator of a late 1970's Eureka. Between 1960 and 1974, Eureka's bare floor brushes required the connection of a separate chrome curved wand.
 
wall brush

yeah that came off a newer machine my sister had when she died they sold alot of her stuff and they found this and gave it to me. kinda sentimental so i put it with my moms vac wich she is gone now also.
 
@eurekaprince: I don't believe the change was that sudden, or perhaps a generic type remained in production? I say this, because I know of someone who lives in a house with a central vacuum system which was installed when the house was new in the mid- to late '80s. It has the curved wand you mentioned. I have also been told that Eureka made attachments for Rainbow, NuTone, and perhaps some other companies.

Besides the name change from Eureka-Williams would you say the quality increased, decreased, or stayed the same? Did Electrolux change the designs of the cleaners right away, or was it a gradual process?

_______________________________________


Here is some company information I found and made into a timeline:

Eureka Company Historical Highlights

(source: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/the-eureka-company-history/)

1909 – Real Estate Auctioneer Fred Wardell of Detroit, Michigan, acquires several patents for the emerging vacuum cleaner technology and starts The Eureka Vacuum Cleaner Company (the namesake being from the Ancient Greek word meaning "I have found it!"). Its headquarters are in a 3.5-acre factory in Detroit’s downtown district. Like other companies, it relies on a robust door-to-door sales force. The company also rented space in retail outlets.

1910 – Mr. Wardell incorporates the company in Michigan.

1913 – Six different models of Eureka cleaners are manufactured along with a multitude of cleaning attachments for walls, upholstery, and bare floors.

1940 – After years of retreating from its dependence on door-to-door sales mainly due to The Great Depression, direct sales are discontinued altogether.

1937-1939 Annual losses average $199,000. Around this time, Henry Burritt, the chief of sales for the Nash-Kelvinator Company is persuaded by Mr. Wardell to take charge of the ailing Eureka Company.

1942 – 1945 Due to WWII Eureka’s factory produces only war materials. Burritt and his managers strategize how to take advantage of the surge in consumer spending that was expected to follow the war. The company decides to diversify its offerings of consumer appliances and decentralize operations.

1945 – Eureka merges with the Williams Oil-O-Matic Heating Corporation and becomes the Eureka-Williams Corporation. Operations are now based at the Williams plant in Bloomington, Illinois.

1946 - By this time the company is distributing its vacuum cleaners through 5,500 dealers, with 55 distributors, 12 of them company owned.

To broaden its array of consumer goods and distribution system Eureka-Williams purchases the Chicago-based National Stamping & Electric Works in 1946 for $640,000. The company makes electric toasters, irons, and other appliances under the "White Cross" label, with sales of $500,000 a year.

1947 – There are now 8,500 dealers and 9,000 retailers.

A line of electric disposal units, the Dispos-O-Matic, is introduced.

1953 – Eureka-Williams is purchased by Henney Motor Company. Henney, based in Freeport, Illinois, is controlled by principal stockholder C. Russell Feldmann. It is now a division of the Henney Motor Company.

1959 – Eureka-Williams observes its 50th year. It merges once again; this time with National Union Electric Corporation, a heating and air-conditioning manufacturer of which Feldmann is both chairman and president.

1974 – Eureka-Williams is purchased by AB Electrolux of Sweden. Its name changes to The Eureka Company.

1983 – In an effort to cut cost production a new plant to make uprights in El Paso, Texas is opened.

1984 – Eureka observes its 75th year. Another plant in Juarez, Mexico is opened. The manufacture and assembly of canisters are consequently consolidated at its plant at Normal, Illinois, while headquarters and other manufacturing operations remain at Bloomington. Eureka reported that it spent $2.2 million restructuring its plants in Illinois.

1990s – After a loss in market share to number three-ranked Royal, Eureka sets out to take a more aggressive and proactive attitude toward product introduction and advertising, expanding its national advertising revenue by 300 percent. It also lowers its prices. The strategies work, and by the mid-1990s Eureka holds about 20 percent of the $600-million full-sized cleaner market, as compared with Hoover's 35 percent.

1993 Eureka’s first handheld, the Corvette is introduced. The Corvette name, on license from General Motors Corporation, is used to lure car owners who would be attracted to cleaning their car with it. The product is instantly successful.

___________________________________________


Tom Gasko's Eureka Vacuum Cleaner history is here: http://www.vdta.com/Magazines/SEP11/fc-gaskoSep11.html
 
I don't think the quality really decreased under AB Electrolux. There were several really successful vac designs that were top rated performers according to Consumer Reports - the Eureka Ultra upright, the Express canister, the Excalibur canister (using a Swedish Volta main vac combined with a Eureka power nozzle), the first Mighty Mite canister, the red World Vac canister, and even one of the later black Superbrooms with the large dust cup.

By the year 2007, when Sweden's Electrolux bought back the rights to use its brandname in North America, the only quality vacs with the Eureka name on them were commercial F&G uprights, the bagged SmartVac upright and some of the cordless Boss Lite stick vacs. In essence, the old traditional Eureka quality is now really only available in the Sanitaire line of products, and some Electrolux products like the UltraSilencer Green.

Oh, one last note: you can still bring home a great classic upright labelled Eureka - it's the basic Boss Dial-a-Nap fan-first upright.
 
Brian - Thanks for the information. I do have another question ... of the vintage Eurekas (say from the Eureka-Williams era) which ones would you say were the best ... and the worst? I'm also curious to know what your personal favorites are.

Shane - I checked online for Eureka ads featuring your machines but didn't locate any. I wonder if you've thought of checking antique or thrift stores for old magazines? Some antique stores even have magazine ad files by categories (e. g. cars, detergents, pop brands ...). Otherwise, keep checking eBay.
 
Though many at Vacuumland disagree with me, I often look to Consumer Reports to give me an objective analysis of performance on lots of products. Eureka Williams vacs did not always do well in the 1960's and 70's, but there were some outstanding products just before Sweden's Electrolux decided to buy Eureka in 1974: almost the entire line of new uprights from 1973 were at the top of the upright ratings the year later - models 2042 (a Best Buy), 2082, 2062, 2012. In the category of power nozzle canisters, Eureka topped the ratings again with a Best Buy on a basic red Princess with Roto-Matic powerhead (model 1225 I think), with the #2 ranked vac being the more deluxe orange Sweet Sixteen with Cordaway and Control Panel. One Power Team was rated unacceptable due to the danger of a hose wire disconnecting.

Though it was never highly-rated, I always loved the designs of the Empress and Empress II canisters! And the Golden Crown canister too!
 
Addition to timeline in reply #4:

2004 - The Eureka Company changes its name to Electrolux Home Products North America, Inc.

Current location: 807 North Main Street, Bloomington, IL 61612

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=2433896)

__________

Does anyone have a list of Eureka vacuum cleaner models by year? I was unable to find one using the search engine.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top