My Fabulous new Eureka!

[eurekaprince]

Eureka Top-Fill Uprights vs Hoover Convertible

Remember friends, one of the major reasons the Eureka uprights in the 1960's and 1970's outperformed the Hoover Convertibles was the use of a top-fill F&G bag. For some reason, Hoover did not catch on until the 1980's. The top fill bag makes all the difference in keeping the airflow path free from obstructions and in maintaining efficient cleaning power. When full, it is amazing how much dirt is packed into the bottom of a Eureka F&G bag. Could never understand how the Hoover C bag could contain dirt without it falling back down into the main power unit.

 

[indyhoover]

gosh Fred

I am sooooooo jealous of that Eureka, nice machine!

 

[kenmore81]

Brian

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

It did/does. When there is dirt in the bag and you tip the vacuum forward such as to change the belt,dirt does fall back into the fanchamber, then into the baseplate when retuned to upright position =)

 

[eurekaprince]

Thanks for that Kenneth - that's what I thought.

Wonder if these bottom-fill bags caused early motor damage/death compared to the uprights which used top-fill bags.....or did they just force a powerful blast of dust and dirt back up the bag whenever the vac was turned on!

 

[normvac]

Eureka, 260 E

I have a blue and cream 260 A, it has a square handle, with 2 spd. switch on the back of the handle. With the distribulator
brush roll. Trust me, it still does an awesome job of vacuuming, grooming carpets and rugs. I did have a pic to share, but gone with my digital camera when I got robbed back the first of the month. I am disappointed that I can not show it to you. As I have a complete set of attachments and the cardboard carrie. All in good shape, just no suction at the end of the hose! Even on High speed. Much like the Hoover 28,62,29 and 63's.
My sister who is 17 years older than I. Moved into a new bi level home in 1967. Had the whole place carpeted ( as was totally the thing to do in that decade) So the carpet company that she bought almost 2,000 sq. yards of carpet from. Gave her
that same Eureka 260 E. No attachments of course. It came in a square box, with the 2 piece handle. Which of course the 260A square handle is in one piece. Blue and white also. I can remember adv. in the Cleveland and local papers of the day. Giving away this "full size Eureka upright" with the purchase of 500 sq. yards of carep or more.
Just a little P S, I convienced her to buy a rebuilt Kirby,
514, in about 1970. Because of the glued down, no pile kitchen carpet. Plus every room had different hieghts of pile. No shag at that point. It was on the market.
Norm

 

[petek]

Here's mine with the back side switch,,I've never cleaned it up.. it's also missing the grill in front of the light

 

[petek]

The switch

 

[petek]

Lookee how pristine the hose is. Probably seldom or never used.
Don't have the wand or tools

 

[petek]

The brushroll cover

 

[kenmore81]

Brian- They did indeed force a blast of dust back up through the bag. If you were to take a "full" type C bag, leave it attached and cut the top off you will see the hole in the center. I dont think it caused any or much "pre mature" death it just cut the suction efficentcy.

Pete & Morgan- thanks for sharing the photos I like the unique bottom cover to keep the suction concentrated to the hose. I also love the chrome version.
Kenny.

 

[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.