Open question

[texbodemer]

Hi!

Out of curiosity, what to you are the most historically significant Eureka and Hoover vacuums of the 1950s-1980s? I'm starting work on a book about mid century vacuum cleaners and would love your input.

Thanks!

Nick

 

[oreck_xl]

Well, for me it's the Hoover Dial-A-Matic hands down. Launched in 1963, it was the world's first clean air upright. It was also the first vacuum with power drive introduced six years later. It's hose conversion was revolutionary at the time.

 

[human]

On the Eureka side, I'd say the ubiquitous upright platform (not sure whether it has an official name or designation) upon which the Eureka consumer uprights, the Sanitaire commercial uprights and any number of private label uprights have based for at least the last 40-50 years. That's a design with some serious staying power. It's kind of the Volkswagen Beetle of vacuums—very simple, durable and practical.

 

[texbodemer]

I love the standard Eureka Upright!

Out of curiosity, what's a clean air upright? (I love my Dial a Matics, but I'd love to learn a lot more about them)

 

[eurekaprince]

In truth, the most revolutionary vacuum designs of the 1950’s came from Singer and from Whirlpool. Singer was the first company to offer an upright cleaner in which the motor was positioned sideways so that one side of the motor could spin the belt for the revolving brush while the other side could power the fan to create the suction. This design revolution is actually what caused the arrival of the bag-first, motor bypass Hoover Dial a Matic.

And Whirlpool was the first company to introduce a canister with an electrically powered carpet nozzle. And Sunbeam was the first to offer a canister with an air-driven turbo carpet nozzle.

The only innovation that can be attributed to Eureka is the famous top-fill F&G dust bag that made its debut in their Super Automatic upright of 1960. Having the dirt drop down from the top of the upright bag increased air flow and improved cleaning ability. I also think Eureka was the first to introduce a pan converter to attach a hose to an upright for tool use. That converter was offered by Eureka in the early 1950’s. Finally, I think Eureka was the first vac-maker to offer a Power Touch handle on an upright which turned the motor on whenever you squeezed the handle.

 

[oreck_xl]

A clean air upright is a bypass system where as the dirt reaches the bag BEFORE going through the fan. On a side note, Hoover sold the patents to Panasonic around 1978, which is why the Concept One came about. Not a bad cleaner, and some say it "corrected" some of the flaws the DAM had, but reverting back to a "dirty air" system was Hoover taking two steps forward, three steps back IMHO.