Kenmore isms!....I decided to try to take pics

[kenkart]

Of most of my Kenmores...some are really nice, a few need some work, that I havent gotten around to...Here are a few..First up is a Kenmore clothes brush, it has a turbine type fan that spins the brush,the next 2 are of a late 50s canister, I think 57, then the power unit from a 60 Lady Kenmore, 2 speed,then 2 from the 70s, the first is a 1 speed, the next a 2 speed Sears Best,then the powermate for the Best, then a 64 Powermate, then a 63 Canister, this is one of the ones with a non repairable GE motor,then a 56 Canister, then a late 50s Powermate, then a 56 Kenkart, next an early 50s Kenkart, then a 59 Horizon, next a 57 Birtman built Horizon, and a 58 Vanguard...

 

[kenkart]

Then we have...

The 1962 Whispertone 90, Introduced in pink in 1961 as Sears 75th anniversary machine, it had such features as a pistol grip hose with direct connection...waaayy ahed of its time, then a few others seen from the rear,a side view of the Whispertone, and a few others from the side, the 62 pistol grip hose, the 61 was the same except for trim color,and then the 59 hose, look close and you can see the cord hooks at both ends to fasten the long powermate cord to the hose .

 

[kenkart]

Oh yeah..

The pink 61 was called the Lady Kenmore, the 62 just Whispertone 90, A beautiful machine that was WAYYY tooo bulky, but very quiet, I desperately need some 5010 bags for mine..if I could get just 1 bag I could make an adaptor for something else..

 

[kenkart]

The things Kenmore jumped ahead on..

They were far ahead of most of the competetion, first with a pistol grip hose, 1961, first with direct connection for the power head, 1960, full bag indicator 1961, 1st on the market with a 120 volt powerhead, Lewyts was low voltage, 1958, first L shaped powerhead, 1961, button lock wands,1958,on board storage for all tools on a canister, 1956..really earlier if you consider the early tank type Kenkarts, although Filter Queen beat them on this by several years, it bears mention because they were a store machine, not door to door...look what has become of a once great innovator in the industry!

 

[hydralique]

Gorgeous Kenmores . . .

Built out of real steel before they gave up on that and went to plastic! I'm fascinated by the old first generation Power Mates, don't think I've ever even seen one in person. I sure do remember the blue and woodgrain canisters, when I was a kid I loved to wander though the vac department at Sears and look at those. They still look so elegant today, I always thought whoever would have bought one of those probably had a garage-door Lady Kenmore washer and dryer set with matching woodgrain, lol.

 

[kenkart]

They really are!

POWERFUL , 2 speed motors, a very long hose, good attachments, pretty hard to beat!

 

[DesertTortoise]

Just finished vacuuming my home a few minutes ago with a cream and wood grain 3.9 two speed canister, but I used a modern horse hair floor brush for the tiled areas, a Hayden Deluxe for the carpet and the cool little multi angle brush that came with the Elite Intuition vacs the last few years to dust the ceiling fans, all through a brand new from Sears straight hose. Yes, it's true. The hose is only six feet long and made of the modern dark gray material but the hose ends are new and exactly like those that came with the vacuum's original hoses. I have some ten foot generic hoses that require you to use pig tails for the electrical connections to the canister and to the floor brush. I love a ten foot hose but am less than thrilled with the pig tail flopping around, particularly when using hand tools.

I bought it as a parts vac for my other similar canister, but when I opened the box it was so clean and ran so well I couldn't bring myself to take it apart. Even the motor compartment was spotless. I run HEPA bags for Numatic canister vacs and back the foam secondary filter up with some Electrolux bulk filter media. It has a later model tool tray and a hodge-podge of tools, at least until I can find the model correct "Tool Garden". It is the right most vac of the three in the images. The middle was my parents 4.1 with infinitely variable motor speed and the off/on/floor switch on the hose. On the left is the vac I just finished restoring right after I received it, sans wheels and filthy. The Hayden isn't shown.

 

[cleaningbuff]

awesome vacs

 

[kenkart]

Re Old generation Powermates..

The 58 thru early 60s look like the ABC powerhead, but really are different, they work great on lower pile carpets, but the opening is too small for very plush carpet, the L shaped head, used in 61 and 62 only, was really in a class by itself, but it didnt catch on so they went to a small rectangular model thru the late 60s when the beater bar powermate was introduced about 68 or so, these were wonderful also.

 

[hydralique]

I've noticed the resemblance of the first generation Kenmore Powermate to the Interstate ABC powerhead and spent lots of time looking at photos to see the differences; it is apparent they aren't the same at all. I would so love to hear why Interstate made lots of Compacts set up for the ABC but then sold almost no powerheads, Sears was certainly ahead of almost everyone else on this aside from maybe Electrolux. I know Luxes are about as good as it gets but to my eyes the Lady Ks are much prettier, just a personal thing.

 

[kenkart]

RE Luxes vs Kenmores..

While I really love the Kenmores, I must admit, the PN1 of the Lux is better at deep cleaning , the Kenmore really is good on short nap, but not plush carpet, and too, the lux bags are easier to change, and the machine as a whole is more manuverable...but the Kenmore is the best looking to me, and , as far as features go, it leaves the lux far behind...now im talking 50s and 60s stuff, when you get into the 1205 and newer, then the Kenmores really shine, they have more power and that powermate of the late 60s and 70s is really a good deep cleaner on all carpets.Truthfully, I rotate my vacuums out, so I use different ones all the time, Right now im using a 84 Constellation and a 1963 GE canister, Donald uses a Silverado all the time, thats about my newest machine..

 

[DesertTortoise]

I only have one Electrolux at this point, an Epic 8000, and while the powered floor brush is very good, I would not say it is superior to the normal Panasonic built Powermate from the late 1970's forward. Lux floor brushes lack any sort of height adjustment which seems to be a pretty egregious omission for a high end appliance when the cheapest Panasonic counterpart has a four position height adjustment. I do like the low rpm nature of the Lux brush motor. I'de like to finagle one into a Powermate and see what it does. Considering their low cost, durability and how parts can be interchanged across not just years but decades it is very tough to beat a Powermate floor brush or any of it's Panasonic built twins sold under many other brand names for performance. You can drop a modern motor in a three decade old Powermate and it becomes just as quiet and refined as a brand new one.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s there was a horsepower war among the vacuum manufacturers. Vacuums weren't rated by amps or air watts as they are now, but by the peak horsepower rating of their motors and Sears was ardent to always have the highest horsepower ratings for sale. In general they did too. One Whimpertone (Whispertone) I have, one of the early US manufactured 5055 bagged Whimpertones, is rated at 5.4 peak horsepower, which I think is the highest horsepower rating Sears offered before everyone switched to rating vacuums by amps. It's twin from a couple of model years later (by then being manufactured at the Panasonic plant in Mexico) is rated at 12 amps, but I think that includes the draw from the Powermate.

 

[dysonman1]

Gorgeous Kenmore cleaners Hans. You and I share a love of the vintage models especially the Birtman built models. So much better than the crap they sell now.