My Fabulous new Eureka!

[samotronic]

A couple questions...

....regarding tool use.

1. How good is the suction? I read in one of these posts that it isn't great which was typical of the uprights of this era. Wondering how / if the brush roll cover makes any difference.

2. The Consumer Reports from 1961 posted here references that the "lever" from the tool adapter might mar the finish of bare floors. This was stressed even more in the 1959 Consumer Reports that is posted on the main menu of Vacuumland. What are they referring to? I don't see anything in these photos that would scratch a floor.

For some reason I have a fascination with tool use on vintage upright cleaners, that rarely ever worked, but looked so cool and I wanted to believe it would work.

Chris

 

[petek]

Chris,, the suction with the hose satisfactory for the purpose of dusting, the crevice tool and upholstery use. Without the brushroll cover in place there is no suction to speak of.

The brushroll could scratch the floor by pushing the machine around, take a look at how the bottom of mine is all scraped from rubbing. You'd want to be careful moving the machine around on hardwood and these Eurekas don't tilt back so you can roll them around on the back wheels. Impossible on this model because as soon as you tilt the machine back the handle release button gets jostled and the handle releases.

 

[eurekaprince]

Pete - the 260 you have is soooooo close to the one I grew u

The turquoise wheels, square handle, switch on the back, attachment hose.....these are all exactly as I remember them. But, unlike all the versions shown so far in this post, my 260 had a matching turquoise power cord, and a different graphic on the bag as I mentioned before.

Love the commentary from Consumer Reports: They were right about how noisy it was when you set it up for tool use! With the bottom plate in place, it became a real screamer! And all for nothing, because the suction through that beautiful hose was very weak. It was enough to dust floors and clean carpeted stairs and car interiors though. And I agree with one of the above posts - what were they referring to as being the "lever" that scratches floors? They must have made a mistake and accidentally meant the older tool conversion set-up.

So interesting to hear how Consumer Reports focused on the benefits and problems associated with the tools provided with the vacs. Wish they would do the same with today's vac ratings, as so many vacs come with really poor excuses for vacuum cleaner attachments. And what was the problem with all those upholstery nozzles tearing up fabric and curtains????? The cheap plastic upholstery nozzles provided with all the current Hoover Windtunnels actually do the same damage to delicate fabric, due to the dangerously-sharp edges combined with the extremely strong suction. I think the deluxe Eureka upholstery nozzle that has survived to this day is probably one of the nicest on the market, and probably does no damage to fabric whatsoever.....

Interesting to read how they downgraded vacs that offered a crevice tool that could mar baseboards! I actually have always hated the recent trend in providing black-coloured tools as I find that some of them have a tendency to leave black marks on walls and ceilings and baseboards.

 

[petek]

My machine doesn't make any more noise when it's set up with the hose and cover. It sounds exactly the same as when you use it as a regular vacuum, that nice and pleasant Eureka motor sound regardless of lo or hi speed. I think Eurekas have the nicest sound of all. So I'm not sure where CR got that from.. maybe it was a mistake,, they do make them and correct them in later issues

 

[eurekaprince]

That's interesting....

I distinctly remember an increase in noise level and vibration with the Bottom Plate in place. I now wonder if our vac was broken, or maybe we had already shifted the Disturbulator to the "worn" position, thus making the bristles hit the plate more strongly.....not quite sure...it was such a long time ago.

I definitely have to make a play-date with you and Dave at some point so that I can relive some magical vac moments from my childhood....

thanks so much to everyone for posting their pics of the Eureka 260....

EP Brian

 

[eurekaprince]

Wait a minute....now I remember why it became so noisy....

Our cleaning lady used to use our Eureka 260 to clean the stairs, and when you sit the 260 on a stair tread sideways, with the bag facing one side of the stairway, part of the bottom of the unit hangs off the stair-tread. This exposes the motor and allows the noise to be broadcast down the stair-way....I'm sure that's what I remember as being "noisy"! Same with having it stand on a bare floor....the motor noise just reverberates off the smooth surface.

And this is probably no noisier than using any other 1960's upright on a stair-tread...

 

[henrydreyfuss]

Congrats Fred!

That's a beautiful Eureka! I love the very unique hum of those older models. I love the colors and that old Hood design. The bottom plate latches are cool, and I always loved Eureka's distinctive little design choices.

How do you like that Disturbulator?

Fred N...

Thanks for posting the Consumer Reports review for the vacuum. Those old reviews seem to be a lot more in-depth than the new ones!

 

[ohio_tuec]

Hoover Type C vs. Eureka F & G

"Could never understand how the Hoover C bag could contain dirt without it falling back down into the main power unit."

It was a terrible design performancewise, why Hoover kept it around as long as they did is a mystery to me. IMHO Hoover should have ended the bottom-fill bag design with the model 64, and had a top fill (that didn't interfere with Eureka's F & G patent bag) for the Convertible. It's a shame not more of these Eureka uprights survive today. In ways, they were superior to the Convertible. I guess Hoover outsold Eureka by leaps and bounds.