Old Japanese Vacuums

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collector2

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Mar 5, 2007
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I just recieved some parts for an Eatons Viking vacuum which was made in Japan in the 1960's and it made me start thinking about the unusual older machines which I have seen from Japan so I thought I'd start a thread about them and see what machines turn up.

To begin with this is the Viking machine. I've always thought it had a very unique style reminiscent of the cars of that period.

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Hey there Doug...nice Viking vac from Eaton's (how I mis

You know, one of the reasons I dislike bagless vacuums was because of the Sanyo "Cassette" canister vacuum my father brought home from work one summer evening in the early 1970's. Dad was the advertising producer for Sanyo in Canada from the late 1960's for about 15 years (he created the "Sanyo Makes Life's Good Things Better" slogan).

Anyhow, because Sanyo was so involved with audio "cassette" players at the time (they may have even invented the audio-cassette..... not sure), they decided to use the same term for their "easy-to-remove" dirt container on their bagless vacuums. The model dad brought home was from a few years ealier than the wood-grain model in your pic above. It was a beautiful blue canister vac, with grey tools. The hose was very, very short! About 5 feet! But it was electrified so you turned the machine on with a switch on the hose handle.

Getting back to my dislike of bagless machines: Cleaning this vac was a messy process. And neither my mother, nor our very nice cleaning lady, cleaned out the machine - it became my job! No matter how much dirt was contained in the container, the secondary cloth bag ended up full of fine dust that had to be shaken out. Lucky thing we had an indoor garage because that was the only place I could clean out the vac without making a mess inside the house!

Compared to changing the monster-size F&G bag in our new Eureka golden Rugulator upright twice a year, the bagless canister forced you to go through a tedious and messy process.

On the positive side, it was very powerful little vac, and very lightweight and easy to shlep around. Biggest design flaw was that if you sat it on end on carpeting to clean stairs or high bookshelves, you completely blocked the exhaust.

Sanyo came out with a similar vac the next year that was red and had a transparent dust cassette....
 
That washing machine looks very familiar

It has a very close (apparently) resemblence to the Hoover 307, manufactured in the UK from 1948 although I think it was a pre-war design. This was very much Charles Colston's (UK MD) project, although I seem to recall Jack telling me that it was a design he saw in America, and at one time it was planned to build them in Perivale.

Sanyo introduced theirs in 1953, more or less teh same time that Hoover introduced their very different Mk2 model. Perhaps by 1953 Hoover lost the rights to produce the origional design
Al
 
That Brother vac has the same neat tool storage box as many

The little canister's main unit sits comfortably on top of the plastic box that can hold all the tools and the hose. The Japanese hoses are so short that they can curl up in these tiny storage boxes with no problem.....

As a matter of fact, Sears slapped the Kenmore label on one of those compact Sanyo canister vacs and called it the "Let's Clean"!!!!!!! :-) It also had a similar storage feature.
 
Hitachi

Some of the Hitachi machines like the canisters pictured had cordwinders, they were pretty good machines, I remember seeing several of them as a kid.
 
Hey Hans:

Of the two Hitachi's in the picture the blue one had a built in cordreel while the red one didnt. It was only a year or two after those machines that Hitachi introduced a version of the red one that included a power nozzle. I think I have a picture of that one here somewhere. I'll have to go through my files.

Doug
 
A friend in Florida just sent me this Panasonic brochure from about 1973. From the style of the machines and the rug nozzle I would say that the Viking I started this thread with must have been made by Panasonic (Matsushita Electric) in the 60's. What do you guys think?

Brochure Part 1

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I'd say you're right, Doug. I have the same Eatons Viking 2000 but only the one accessory nizzle. It is a very robustly made machine with wonderful chrome and cast aluminum bits.

Dave

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Eureka !!!!

OH my gosh !! The MC 6100 upright is so similar to the Eureka
upright that was in the office storage area of our branch office, here in Columbus, Ohio. Back in 1979, when I came on
board as the "new" sales rep for Southern Ohio. The difference
was that it did NOT have a head light, a somewhat longer base
at the front of the machine and of course a carpet height adjustment. At any rate, when I quit being a rep and open my
business, the branch manager and I got along fine. He said do
want some of the vacs that were sitting there. To display in your store. So I took it! Had on display in my Vac Shop. Used it a few times for fun. Had a real feeling that someone
had made for Eureka, but had never seen a picture of one or similar at that time. Now I know who made for them. At any
rate, It did have great suction, a little different feel when
handling it. Just thought it was some ones (Japan?) on the
ever popular Dail a Matic at the time. Had a cordrewind on it
if I remember correctly. Rather "dead" weight to carry, but it did have a carrying handle on the back !!
I'm sure I have a picture, but no way to scan (maybe someone) to
get it on line for you to see.
Norm
 
Yes, Norm....

I think Panasonic/Matsushita/National of Japan must have had some kind of contract with Eureka in the late 1960's and early 1970's. First of all, the Canadian department store chain Eaton's had a long-standing contract to get most of their Viking-branded vacuums from Eureka for over 10 years. Most of my first-hand viewing of Eurekas as a kid had to do with seeing Vikings at the Eaton's department stores!. And so to see an Eaton Viking vac made by Panasonic is my first indicator for a Panasonic+Eureka connection.

Secondly, I think that you are absolutely correct about the early Panasonic uprights and Eureka. I seem to remember a post here about the Eureka Emperor upright which looks very similar to the Panasonic shown on this thread. Also the Eureka "Easy-Glide" electric carpet sweeper in that "groovy" 1960's advertisement we all have seen just screams Panasonic again!
 

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