Potential Kirby Re-Design
The drawings that have been displayed for the potential totally redesigned Kirby, do look like they have some promise. However, they represent more than an improvement or development of the basic Kirby design which is what every model we have seen since the beginning in fact is.
The core of the Kirby from its earliest concept as the Scott & Fetzer Sanitation System to the Sentria II is a central upright impeller with a shaft that can operate ancillary attachments. For this basic power unit, Kirby has developed basic/standard vacuum cleaning attachments and then other attachments for ancillary household chores. But the core of the unit has essentially remained a motor with an impeller and shaft. The whole thing has been gradually improved and developed. That was the Kirby method. Work with the basic design and keep improving it. Which they really did with each new model --mostly. The current models are really excellent vacuum cleaners.
The drawings we've seen of a redesigned machine not yet on the market, are NOT an improvement on the basic design; they are a RADICALLY NEW DESIGN that takes some of the features of the traditional design, and recasts them for this completely new thing. The power plant for this new design is not an impeller with a shaft; its something else altogether. There must be a fan somewhere in that power plant to create suction; but it looks like it functions very differently than any previous model. So this is not going from the 500 series to the Classic or the Heritage II to the G platform; this is completely new to the core.
As many have said, they certainly did not want the 100th anniversary model to have any chance of being a flop or be known for certain recurring problems.
If they eventually move forward with this radically new design --and we really don't know if they will--I suspect they need to back it up with an enormous amount of testing. Other companies have had these kinds of prototypes and never actually put them on the market. So just because its out there being tested doesn't mean it will actually make it to the market. But then again, it may. I would agree that it does seem to have a Rube Goldberg quality about it; but that may be just the drawings that look like something out of a Dagwood cartoon.
I hope the upright impeller design doesn't become extinct because I think it remains an excellent design all things considered --especially in terms of airflow. But I must admit I am also intrigued by this new contraption -- Rube Goldbergesque as it may be. Who knows what the future will bring.
In any case, the more I look at the new Avalir the more I am quite taken by it; the colors are beautifully reminiscent of the earliest Kirbys as many have said; and its really a classy design. Black tie for sure. Someone in an earlier post mentioned parallels to auto manufacturers, especially the Porsche. When we were at Kirby this summer, the head engineer said that they were in touch with the R & D at Porsche.
