Looks like some lucky housewife had a most excellent Christmas!

[electrolux137]

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This is a color-corrected and cleaned-up photo from an eBay listing. Boy, who among us wouldn't love to get up on Christmas morning and find that under the tree!!

 

[tolivac]

"Wheelbarrow" Kenmore??that is sort of like the vacuum my Stepmom had.Was a neat machine-like using it along with "Dads" Kirby.The Kenmore had a HUGE paper bag that sort of wrapped around the motor under the metal hood.There was a filter of sorts on top of the motor.

 

[electrolux137]

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They called it "Ken-Kart." There were several variations of this model, and in fact Kenmores on a cart go back to the early 1950s. The basic model on a cart in the early days was the "Commander," the first model of which came out in 1939.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Still can't figure why modern vacs don't have ten foot long hoses, or at least offer them as an option. Makes a canister into something very close to a central vacuum. My old Kemores with long hoses can be parked in one spot and all you push around is the Powermate. You hardly ever have to move the canister itself while vacuuming.

 

[hydralique]

Thanks for posting the catalogue shots Charles! That first one with the Power Mate has got to be the ultimate Ken-Kart, at least IMO.


 


DT, I have an 8 foot hose on the Filter Queen and even so often wish for a 10'.

 

[electrolux137]

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Well, longer hoses are more inefficient for suction and airflow. The longer the hose, the less the power. The added length can also put additional strain on the motor. You may not think that a couple of feet would make a big difference but it really does.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

I guess size DOES matter, afterall

Tom A.has a great 9'tuflex hose... was an exec's at HOOVER. It's great.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Eh, I'm waving the BS flag on that one. If that were true home central vacuums would have no suction. They usually have a hundred feet of plumbing in them. An awful lot of central vacuums use 5.7 inch Lamb through flow motors that are not much different than what comes in some high end canister vacuums. In fact my spare motor, the one I drop into Kenmore canisters while the original is out being rebuilt, is primarily a home central vacuum motor that just happens to fit the standard Kenmore mount.

Are you telling me that all those 1960's through 1980's Kenmores with ten foot long hoses and much older motor designs were overheating their motors and had no suction? I take enough of them apart to see the motors show little or no wear after three to four decades of weekly use and I have used enough of them to not notice any big suction difference between a ten footer or the more recently purchased six footer. Do you really think something like the 505 air watt motor in an Aerus Guardian Platinum is going to be overworked by a ten foot hose but my forty year old Kenmores managed just fine with ten footers? Not buying that argument. Not for a minute.

 

[kenkart]

Kenmore Shown..

That is a 58,9,or 60, you could use it assembled like you see it, or take the vacuum off and use it as a regular vacuum, it was a 2 speed unit, in 60 the direct connect hose came out for the Powermate....years ahead of everyone else.,these use a 5009 bag, which is unavailable, but I have a bunch of them as I use an old Kenmore a lot, I sure would love one of these, I have several lesser models, Horizon, Vanguard ETC, but not this , the Lady Kenmore...A great vacuum at a great buy..

 

[DesertTortoise]

Here is an older example of a Kenkart.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-195...637?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20eba40dad

Ok, don't crash the ebay website bidding on it all at once.

 

[hydralique]

Hoses . . .

When I started my career as an architect most products were specified through Sweet’s Catalogue, a huge collection of books rather like an encyclopedia that contained most all equipment a building could possibly need. Now we all go to the web, but back then I remember spending lunch breaks looking through Sweet’s at cool stuff I found interesting. One thing was vacuum cartridge systems for drive through banks, my aunt worked at a bank for years and as a boy I loved to watch the teller put the cartridges in and hear them whisked away. There was a calculator in Sweet’s to estimate the sort of vacuum suction unit required for a system and it was based on the length of the lines, longer lines took more power presumably due to friction and leakage in the lines.

Even if it meant a slight reduction in suction I’d enjoy a 10' hose for the FQ but when I bought a new electric hose recently FQ didn’t seem to have one and I didn’t want aftermarket. I need to get a new non-electric hose for my Compact C-5 and probably will go for a custom 10' one there but I’m also going to replace the original 6 amp motor with a later 7 amp unit out of a C-6 to compensate. It should be a nice improvement over the old original hose that is only 6' or 7'.

 

[tolivac]

The one that was in our family looks like the one in picture#1.My Stepmom said it was bought in like 1958 or 59.Despite being big,bulky,heavy-the machine was very nice.It did not have the powered carpet tool.It had a staraight suction carpet tool-never got used-we used the Kirby instead.the KenCart was used for the other vacuum jobs.Would like to have one.It was a well built machine-not flimsy and plastivacy.Ad it had METAL-not plastic wands.I called it a Wheelbarrow-becuase it sort of rolled like one.The machine along with Kirby got lost in the Rapid City flood of '72.Both machine still ran when lost.