Has anyone ever heard of these?

[kirbyklassic80]

A couple years back I was walking down the street and saw something interesting through a clear trash bag. Upon inspection, I found it was a Douglas Busy Bee hand vac. I tore the bag open and brought it straight home. It was in the original box with the price tag still on it also! It is also built like that one kirby hand vac made in the 80's or 90's, (can't remember the model of the kirby). Unfortunately, I cannot take a picture since my new computer doesn't have an SD card slot, and I don't have the usb cord that originally came with the camera. I can't find any info bout the machine on the internet. Has anyone heard of this vac. As soon as I can I will post some pics of the vac.

 

[nick]

douglas was owned by scott fetzer company, same as kirby. it was sold under the sears, oreck, and other names

 

[djtaylor]

Ah, yes. I remember it...

I remember those. The Kirby was called the Vacuette and had a bag made from the same material as the Legend II's bag. I can't remember what Oreck called it, Turbo something comes to mind. I knew it was a Douglas product. It's a good vacuum. I'd like to have one someday.
Justin

 

[twocvbloke]

I have the Vacuette myself, and they're decent vacuums, but the noise the motor makes is horrendous, it's best to wear ear protection when using one... :S

I adapted mine to take disposable bags cos the bags they're fitted with can leak terribly where they attach to the vac, it's a simple modification:

Get yourself some Dirt Devil Hand vac bags some wide elastic bands (1/2"), carefully peel off the card plate from the DD bags and open up the end of the bag, then place one elastic band round the lip of the vac where the bag attaches and then slip the DD bag on over that, and secure it in place with a 2nd elastic band, and finally slip the now cleaned outer bag over it and there you have it, a disposable bag setup...

One other mod I think I may try is a flap over the opening leading to the fan, as it has a habit of letting loose grit fall back through the fan and out the nozzle, which can be a little annoying...

Here's a pic of all the pics I have gathered of the variants of the same vac:

 

[bagintheback]

I have a Kirby Vacuette. Its very loud but cleans MUCH than the Dirtdevil handvacs. They are great for pet-hair in cars

 

[kirbyklassic80]

I remember the kirby hand vac.

I remember going to the kirby store back a couple years and asking Tye (the person I used to always see to buy from their used inventory) how much was one of the vacuette. I remember it being $50.00. That was too high of a price for me that day. But, I also remember it being red and not black like the one that twocvbloke has pictured. Did they come in red also?

 

[kenmore81]

I had one...

I had a BeeVac.I bought it new for $15.00 from the Family Dollar also known as Dollar General in the south in 1994.
I did like it alot better than the Dirt Devil except for not having the tool port in fron. Mine didnt have a headlight though =( It was white with the same gray bag as the one above.
I did still have it untill last years flood. Im unsure if it sank or was put in storage.
Its funny I was just thinking of that vac the other day.I used it constantly for the stairs.

 

[vac_whisperer]

I think Kenmore or a company like that made had them, too. I almost bought one.

VW

 

[twocvbloke]

"Did they come in red also?"

Yes, the Vacuette hand vac I think originally came in Maroon red, as per the LegendII (hence why it has an LII-coloured bag), it also had a headlight too, but they made it a bit cheaper and omitted the headlight and went for black plastic...

The Oreck version had an extra feature, the little round "lump" on the base (look at the white ReadiVac for clarity), that is a valve which shuts off the airflow and allows the vac to be used to scrub Orecks's dry powder shampoo into things, and then suck it back out when you're done, I don't know how the heck dry shampoo works, but they seem to think it does... :S