Eureka Date Dial (aka Clock) Theory

[paul]

On a thread in the Contemporary Forum, OldCrankman posted a couple photos of his Sanitaire Commercial Model SC886 showing a 2001 serial number and a 1997 date dial on the base.

It occurred to me that the base must have been manufactured in 1997 and stockpiled until being used for the 2001 manufacture of his cleaner. If that's true then I surmise that the date dials may not always, if ever, identify the precise assembly (when both month and year are indicated) of a Eureka or Sanitaire cleaner as many have previously stated. Btw, from what I have seen Eureka first used date dials, used in only certain production lines, in the mid-1960s; is that right?

I would also conclude that this is an example of an industry practice of mass producing parts and storing them sometimes well before they are used for final production of products.

Electrolux Corporation tanks also support my theory. The Olympia One had three successive model numbers: 1401 (Spring-Fall 1979 production with Super J handle and wheel design), the 1401-B (Fall 1979 to late 1981 or early 1982 with vertical-position handle and broader wheels for thicker rugs and carpets), and the rare 1505 (likely due to a different motor and/or other internal differences). In addition, the early version of the Model 1505 Silverado Deluxe, launched in April 1982, was equipped with a 1401-B horizontal-position handle with the 1401 finger grip instead of the 1401-B vertical-position handle. The more popular version is equipped with the 1401-B-type vertical-position handle; though only the series letters of the serial number are indicate the difference rather than the model number.

Your thoughts? Other examples?

 

[huskyvacs]

The date wheels are correct within 1-2 years going either direction accounting for assembly line production time and marketing delays.

In Crankman's photo the part with the 1997 photo is on the fan chamber, not the chassis. The fan chamber part was made in 1997. Since Sainitaires are commercial vacuums and his is over 20 years old I would also surmise at some point in those 20 years the fan chamber was replaced. I would also presume that it simply is original to the vacuum and went out with a 1997 made part for a 2001 year vacuum. They likely made the parts in advance to be fitted and resold as spare parts because it did not matter to any one specific model whether Eureka or Sanitaire. I think the only thing different for Sanitaire is they made it from clear plastic. The rubber gasket seal rots fast, so if it still looks new on such an old vacuum I'd be confident it has been replaced.

I have noticed that when the date wheel is surrounded by the little dots, I am starting to think that those dots marks a change in the tooling to the die mold, because it doesn't seem to be any indicator of month. The dots on later models often exceed the number of months in a year, and on Eureka's models that came at the end of their life the date wheel is usually buckshotted with so many dots around the number. Eventually they did seem to adopt arrows pointing to the months with the year in the center.

I have an Eureka ESP I bought that was sold as a fraud model to someone that likely never knew it. It was originally the black model Eureka upright with the pattern bag, and mine has had a mid 2000's blue Sanitaire hood and bag put on it. It confused me when I first got it until I noticed the discrepancy in the parts and that the Eureka and Sanitiare parts are exactly the same, so they all fit together to each other.