In Honor of US Armed Forces Day

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paul

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I'm grateful for the service and sacrifices of the men and women in the United States Armed Forces and their families.

The six branches of the US military are: the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. Their seals surround the United States flag, also known as the Stars and Stripes and Old Glory, in the display below.

Also in honor of our active service personnel on this forum, I selected online photos of vintage surface care appliances from my three favorite manufacturers that were close to the official US flag color names of "Old Glory Red": (Hoover's Canton Red & Pearl White line plus one from CA: models 434, 2200, & 5338), White (Electrolux Model L, PN-1, & Rug Washer), and "Old Glory Blue" (some Eureka blue & white model-types 1779-A, 3320-B courtesy of JustJunque, and 2084-A courtesy of TheSpiritof76).

Btw, Captain William Driver (1803-1886) received a 10 x 17-foot flag for his 21st birthday from his mother and friends, naming it "Old Glory" (loyal honor). The National Museum of American History says that the moniker became widely known after Driver displayed the flag on the Capitol dome in Nashville, Tennessee in 1862.

Our military helps maintain our country's freedoms, such as how and where we spend our leisure and worship times, our free speech that maintains safeguards of others' lives, legal parameters with law enforcement and judicial oversight, and our self-defense. It also assists other militaries in the welfare of nations around the world. I salute them and their families for that.

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As a Canadian, I am grateful for the work of the US Armed Forces next door as they indeed help the smaller Canadian army protect the free lives we live on the North American continent.

That blue Eureka 1779 Power Team is one handsome cleaner!!!!
 
Brian, as one fellow Canadian to another, you got TONS of nerve praising the Americans right now in ANY WAY! When we have that IDIOT of a President to deal with, trying to literally bully us and kill our Canadian economy! And the fact that jackass has even suggested trying to annex Canada as "the 51st state"....really! That is going WAY TOO FAR!
 
Brian,

I appreciate your comment. You are a kind and fair-minded person, and Canada is a great friend an ally of the United States even though we are currently working out our differences. No relationship is perfect—we take the good with the bad. You have taken the high road, my friend—WAY TO GO!!!

Also, you have great taste in Eurekas—I agree that the 1779 is attractive!!!
 
You bet, Brian!

Hoover300, thanks for the photo and back story—the UK is another great US friend and ally. Btw, the serial number '6 24' I believe reveals the production of your Z345 to be during the 24th week of 1976.
 
I don't want to get 'political'....

But, please, don't paint the entire U.S. with a Trump brush. Not all of us are enthralled with him.


 Yes, we always liked Canada, VERY MUCH. We don't believe it should become 51, and, we're not all 'in favor'.


 So, please don't hate us all. We're having enough trouble at the moment.
 
This thread's purpose was to feature patriotically-colored surface care appliances to honor the brave United States men and women who are risking their lives for our country and others'; and whose families are making sacrifices of their time spent together and other related circumstances.

For anyone to hold back accolades for them due to the disdain for our current Commander-In-Chief, President Trump, perplexes me. Many support President Trump but may not agree with every comment or decision he makes. And, yes, he has his share of detractors. The same is true for any of our former administrations. The same would be true for any of us who would hold that office or have any other leadership role. Correspondingly, as humans we have a variety of different values and perspectives.

The Eureka model-type 3321-A canister eBay photos attached illustrate my point of how perspective influences our impressions. I had to do a double-take when I saw the first photo, because it appeared to be a new design to me due to is apparent square shape; the next photo, however, showed the actual trapezoidal shape. What a difference the camera's position makes as well as the position of the subject. The same is true for the perspectives of each citizen of every country and the position of the subject; but it's much more complex and challenging to understand someone else's vantage point.

Mary Lathrap's 1895 poem, "Judge Softly" suggests the idea to "walk a mile in his moccasins Before you abuse, criticize and accuse." (or one might add use another's wheelchair, with their cane, crutch, et cetera). That's sound advice for everyone.

Thanks again to our military personnel and their families!!!

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That 120 volt Electrolux is way cool. Interesting to think that during the Cold War there were enough American and Canadian service members, families and civilian contractors living on bases with 120 volt power to make it worthwhile to manufacture and sell a model aimed just for them.

Curious if anyone can confirm this persistent story I hear about Patriot vacuums. I have been told that they are called Patriot because the US Army bought them to use to clean the electronics on Patriot missile batteries. I tend to doubt that story but do know from my own time in the Navy that we had to regularly and carefully vacuum all the ground electronics on an air base I served at as the Ground Electronics Officer. I don't remember what we used however and this was long before Harold Schoettler bailed from Tristar.
 
Thank you for your service to our country.

Here is what I located online about the origin of the Patriot vacuum cleaner:

1. 1992 Aug 4 OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF THE US PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, Vol 1141 No 1

2. YouTube video: 1996 TV interview with Harold Schoettler (manufacturer of the Patriot-Hybrid®), in which no mention of NASA was made. Btw, linking has been disabled by uploader PatriotHybrid, so you'll need to do your own search to locate the video.

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Hi Paul. I found a video that had maybe half of the whole interview. What piqued my interest was his saying that Japan was their largest market outside the US. I know Tristar was selling their vacuums under a private label through Fuji Medical Instruments. I have five Japanese Tristars, three of which are new in the box ( two EX-20s and an EX-60, we know them as CXLs and the CS ). My two used ones are both EX-30s, which was a model specific to Japan and sold with Sunstorm branding. But six years of collecting vacuums from Japan I have never seen a Patriot for sale. You see other brands like the aforementioned Tristars, Filter Queens, Rainbows, Miele, Karcher, all kinds of cool Electrolux and Lux International models, even bought a Lux branded Vorwerk Tiger 260 from Japan but never saw a Patriot.
Shown is the second of my two EX-30s. It had a bad cord and no power nozzle. When I got it open to replace the cord (using an NOS Hoover Decade cord for period correctness) I discovered the motor and some wires were badly overheated ( you can see the white furniture guard is discolored where the motor mounts ! ). So this one was rewired, has the 120 volt motor used in DXLs and I run it with a Miracle Mate hose and a central vacuum Sebo ET350. Good running machine. My other one has the correct 2-1000 power nozzle and keeps it's 100 volt motor. Used but in spectacular condition. Both sold for under $25 !

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Hi CheeseWonton,

Thanks for the photos of a couple of your Japanese TriStars, and for including the model IDs of the canisters and power nozzles. Btw, I also like the setting of your photos. I, too, was surprised to learn that the Patriots were a big seller in the Japanese market in the 1990s and equally bewildered that you haven't come across any used ones for sale there.

That's amazing that the wires overheated on one of your EX-30s. Good thing it was not ruined, and that you were able to rewire it. Sounds like you have yourself some stellar cleaners and got the EX-30s for a song.

I have heard great things about TriStars and Patriots but only have a limited knowledge of them. Congrats on having such a nice collection of Japanese vacuum cleaners!
 
Agreed, Alex—very cool! Thanks for posting.

The American-Lincoln Super Sweep 180 & Super-Vac 180 also come to mind due to their red, white, and blue colors.

Also, c.2002-c.2005, Aerus Lux cleaners had small U.S. flag "Designed, Engineered, & Assembled in the U.S.—From Parts Manufactured in the U.S. and Overseas" decals.
 
Forgot about Kirby

That's a cool model too.

I've also seen plenty of other vacuums with American flag stickers on their machines (and still do today) or at least on the boxes. I have a green Dirt Devil Vision that's not only made here but also has a three row brushroll where each strip is red, white, and blue.
 
Since today is flag day, thought I'd show something that I forgot about. SEBO, although a German company, once sold these textile microfilters of the American flag for their FELIX/DART models which I thought was very cool. I've also seen one with the British flag as well. Wish they were still doing them.
 

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panasonicvac said:
Since today is flag day, thought I'd show something that I forgot about. SEBO, although a German company, once sold these textile microfilters of the American flag for their FELIX/DART models which I thought was very cool. I've also seen one with the British flag as well. Wish they were still doing them.
Click to expand...

Very cool, Alex, and thoughtful of SEBO to honor America's patriotism. I would guess that it also made them in flag motifs for other countries in their sales markets. Creative and ingenious marketing, too.

A shout out, to the 109th U.S. Flag Day commemorating its June 14, 1777, adoption as our nation's official banner. Also, a shout out in honor of our Army's 250th anniversary!
 

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