Kenmore Porn :-)

[DesertTortoise]

Super-sweeper, yes, that would be great. Is there a way to private message on this board so I can give you my e-mail address?

The Tool Garden arrived yesterday in perfect condition. It is now mounted on my 3.9. I have a selection of light colored Kenmore tools coming from a vacuum shop in Utah (can't put the modern dark grey ones on a machine of that vintage!). When they arrive I'll fill that Tool Garden and post the pics here. I bought that old vacuum strictly for parts, but to my great surprise when it arrived and I opened the box it turned out to have been cleaned up so well, and it operates so well I can't bring myself to part it out. Now I will probably bend over and have a shop make up a new cream colored hose for it so I can give the Avocado Bomber back it's hose. This thing with vacuums is a real sickness, lol. Good thing I don't like Kirby's

 

[DesertTortoise]

Btw Super-sweeper, this "4.1" you saw in the thrift shop. Was it like the gray one I posted, rounded and low with the tools under the lid, or the older lunch box style canister like your green example? Man, if it's like my gray 4.1 and is clean I might have you buy it and ship it to me. See the trouble you cause dude

 

[super-sweeper]

lol!

The 4.1 Was the "Whispertone" style of body, I have the older 4.1 Too!


 


The Sears manual is likely copyrighted, So it couldn't be posted to Automatic Ephemera (Is it,Robert?). You have to be an upgraded member to private message people on Vacuumland, but you can E-Mail me from the address in my profile!

 

[DesertTortoise]

E-mail sent. Thanks.

 

[alexb1186]

Must we go over this again?

"yes and ALL of the vacs you inquired about were made AFTER kenmore switched to panasonic in 1985. before 1985, ALL the powermates were whirlpool, and uprights were singer or whirlpool until you get to the old birtman era. i have seen 1960's kenmore's made and designed by whirlpool with a 116 serial code stamped on them. suggest you reseach more about pre 1985 machines. kenmore had no dealings with panasonic until 1985.."

Will, Kenmore had no dealings with Panasonic until the joint venture with Whirlpool in the summer of 1990. Before then, the Kenmore canisters with the 5055/5045/5023/5033 bags were 100% Whirlpool made. Part of the deal in most joint ventures is sharing of intellectual property, so in this case Panasonic was able to use Whirlpool's designs, patents, technology, etc. and market their own branded machines as well as fulfill the Kenmore obligations.

Dirick, your 116.2041080 is a 1990 model and depending on the serial number is either an all WP or WP/PAN combo. Recoding of the model numbers didn't change until 1984 when the 5055 canisters debuted

 

[DesertTortoise]

Sears says one thing and you say something else. Who do i believe? I know 116.29971 was purchased in the early 1070s and 116.2399182 was purchased new by my parents in the 1982/83 time frame right as I joined the Navy. Sears says they were built by Matsushita, I have to believe what the parent of those vacuums tells me. Sorry, don't mean to be inconsiderate, but if anyone ought to know it would be Sears itself.

Matsushita Industrial and Electric Co LTD operated several different corporate entities in the US. Panasonic was only one of them. Matsushita Electric Corporation of America dates to the 1960s with several manufacturing plants in the US making both consumer and industrial products not branded with the Panasonic name. They were a separate entity from Panasonic. Later on Matsushita began to move various product lines and corporate entities under the Panasonic name because it was so well known and respected globally.

Like I said once before, this would be a great opportunity for someone to write a real page turner of book, lol, the history of Kenmore vacuums. Guaranteed NYT best seller!

 

[eurekaprince]

Dircik...the best way for me to judge whether a Kenmore was made by Matsushita is to see a picture of the vac...preferably from a Sears catalogue with a year on the catalogue. The Panasonic vacuums sold in North America before 1990 had a very distinct Japanese look to them, and were similar to the National vacs sold in Japan and other parts of the world.

If you could post a scan of a Sears Catalogue page showing the pre-1990 Kenmore you think was made by Matsushita, we might be able to get to the bottom of this mystery.

One of my theories is that before 1990, all Panasonic vacs sold in North America were made in Japan. If any Vacuumlander can show me a pic of a pre-1990 Panasonic vac that says Made in USA, I'd love to see a pic of that vac.

 

[suckolux]

Darn, I think my 6255 I got in 91

 

[alexb1186]

As someone who has almost every Sears Catalog of the 80s and 90s, read every vacuum patent from Whirlpool, and works for Sears Holdings, I'm going to keep my mouth shut and let you hold onto that assumption...

 

[kenkart]

My 2 cents worth..

Sears in the 50s had several companies supplying appliances...Whirlpool did the laundry, a Roper owned company made most of the ranges, Birtman electric made mixers,blenders and vacuums, and Seeger refrigeration made Coldspot fridges and freezers,,Sears encouraged Whirlpool to take over Birtman and Seeger to get more products under one management, this took place in 1957...you can tell a Birtman built Kenmore vacuum from a Whirlpool, in that the Birtman had a Birtman built motor, and the Whirlpool built one was made by Lamb and in the 60s, GE,The Seeger built fridges had a Seeger built rotary compressor, Whirlpool bought theirs from a supplier..I dont know about the 70s stuff, But the older stuff I know for sure, because Jimmy Martin has an article from a trade magazine telling all about the 1957 merger/takeover.

 

[suckolux]

and the Birtmans bark!

 

[kenkart]

And the name WHISPERTONE

Came out in...1961...Along with the first pistol grip hose and L shaped powerhead!!And it was all Whirlpool!!I have a 62, but not the powerhead.

 

[kenkart]

Its a MONSTER!

Heavy too...Here it is beside a Model G,

 

[rugsucker]

"trade magazine"

The Birtman/Whirlpool article was in a Fortune of 57.
Also a very good Hoover article in a fall 64 Fortune magazine.

 

[kenkart]

Thanks Jimmy...

I remember reading it, but didnt remember which magazine it was!!!

 

[super-sweeper]

reply #24,

I didn't know they had Kenmores in the year 1070, they must be great vacuums to last 1,014 years!

 

[DesertTortoise]

Eurekaprince, the two vacuums I posted images of at the beginning of this post, the 1990-ish gray 4.1 model number 116.2041080 and the cream with faux wood 3.9 from about 1980 model number 116.22997 are Matsushita machines. I also have a 4.1 that is built on the same cream colored body as the 3.9 but Sears spared us the faux wood on that one that I posted images of on Kenmore Porn 2 that was purchased new in 1982. That 4.1 is model number 116.2399182, and has the most features of the three. The Avocado Bomber, which I have posted numerous photos of on other threads is also a Matsushita product.

Keep in mind that in those days Matsushite Electric Corporation of America and Panasonic were two different corporate entities with different product lines. The were owned by a common holding company but were not the same company. Don't call an 80's Kenmore vac like mine made by Matsushite Electric Corporation of America a "Panasonic". It was not. It is no different than Bushnell and Alliant Techsystems. ATK's parent owns Bushnell, but they aren't the same company. ATK makes rocket motors and guided missiles for the military. Bushnell makes telescopes and binoculars. Two different companies under a common corporate shell.

 

[kenkart]

Since we are on Kenmore..

One of my favorite brands....Here are a few ..All Birtman or Whirlpool built...all with 116 prefix..

 

[eurekaprince]

Dircik....I still maintain that your cream-coloured 1980 Kenmore canister was made by Whirlpool and has no connection to Matsushita. If it was made by Matsushita in 1980, it would say Made in Japan on the Model Plate. Around the same time, Sears was selling a cute little Kenmore compact bagless canister imported vac called the "Let's Clean". It was made by Sanyo for Sears, and it explicitly said Made in Japan.

Matsushita did not have a vacuum factory in the USA before getting involved with the Danville plant in 1990, as far as I know. If you can find a website which describes a Matsushita vacuum cleaner factory located in the USA in 1980, I would love to see that.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Eurekaprince, take some time my friend and learn about the history of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America. They were a US based subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Company. Matsushita has an interesting history. The firm started way back in 1918. Their main business was big industrial electrical/mechanical items. Consumer goods came after WWII. In 1961 Konosuke Matsushita came to the US to establish a US based manufacturing arm to support a growing business in the US. TVs were their first products. Matsushita Electric Corporation of America operated multiple manufacturing sites in the US, not Japan, but the US and those Matsushita built Kenmores are among their US made products.

The Japanese manufacturing sites were under Matsushita Electric Industrial Company. Matsushita made a lot more than consumer goods. They built heavy industrial electronics and electromechanical items. Think things you would see in a power plant, assembly line, heavy rail (remember Japan has a lot of electrified rail) or a shipyard. They sold their consumer goods under the National brand name everywhere but the US, where that name was already in use by another firm. For the US they adopted the Panasonic brand name on both US and Japanese manufactured consumer goods. Over time the Panasonic name was applied to goods sold outside the US, and the name became more recognized internationally than the Matsushita name. In the past decade the Matsushita name was abandoned and all the many divisions renames Panasonic.