Regina trivia...

[vac-o-matic]

I just recently acquired a Regina Brush n Beat upright and am curious to know if anyone knows how many models there were, colors, etc. I know at one time Oreck bought Regina out, were those out around that time? I seem to remember them with a green bag, but mine is almost harvest goldish with a patterned bag to match, similar to the last of the Hoover junior's colors. I know some people have old catalogs that might date these machines. Any info would be appreciated!

 

[suckolux]

Gotta love the 70s!

 

[kenkart]

RE Oreck

Orecks were originally Whirlpools...

 

[vacman1961]

I don't think Oreck ever bought Regina, I know at one point Electrolux USA bought out Regina, but I never heard about Oreck? I have a Brush N Beat upright and I believe it is one of the earlier models, it is alike a khaki-sage green color bag and hood, with a white color base. The machine is great, has great cleaning power. It has something I never saw on a Regina Brush N Beat, it has a plastic pad with like velcro on it that snaps on the bottom plate to vacuum bare floors, the person I got it from obviously used the floor attachment on rugs because the velcro is worn off and the bottom plate looks like new, so the machine was never really used correctly and because it didn't clean rugs well, it looked like they rarely used it. I am looking for paper bags for it if anyone knows where I can get some. I would guess this was from around 1968 or so?

 

[vac-o-matic]

Regina/Oreck

The reason I thought there was a buyout of Regina by Oreck is when I started with Oreck back in 2005, we had two models of electric brooms, one straight suction, the other with a power nozzle, both clearly the last generation of the Regina models. The power nozzle on the early Dutchtechs were also the same. The Oreck carpet steamer also was clearly Regina in a previous issue, so for that reason, I thought maybe Papa Oreck bought out Regina? The Regina name was history by that time I'm pretty sure.

 

[blknblu]

They are all owned by TTI now ..
http://www.ttigroup.com/en/our_brands/by_division/floor_care

According to wikipedia on the Regina Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_Company

"Oreck bought the company in 1997, and in 2000, it was sold to the Royal Corporation, which has sold the vacuums under the Home Depot brand ever since."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_Company

Dig a little deeper to see what happened
--------------------
Royal Corporation is now Dirt Devil owned by TTI
http://www.ttigroup.com/en/our_brands/by_brand/dirt_devil
"DIRT DEVIL®'s history in innovation began in 1937 with the introduction of the first hand-held vacuum cleaner produced by Royal Appliance Mfg, the Royal® Prince."
-------------------------
"According to its website, Techtronic on April 23, 2003, purchased Royal from its shareholders for $137.2 million and on Jan. 31, 2007, purchased Hoover from Whirlpool Corp. for $107 million."

Read more: Dirt Devil maker wins Oreck - The Deal Pipeline (SAMPLE CONTENT: NEED AN ID?) http://www.thedeal.com/content/restructuring/dirt-devil-maker-wins-oreck.php#ixzz3pMO33JHW

 

[vac-o-matic]

Thanks Sven! That's how the Oreck Dutchtech(Phillips produced)had a Regina carryover power nozzle, it went from Regina to Phillips to Oreck. I never think of checking wikipedia, such a great resource.

 

[hygiene903]

Regina

Here's a model 39 Regina upright. Think it was built in the 30's or 40's. It is a straight suction machine but quite powerful. Motors were supplied by Westinghouse for the earlier models. The attachment between the couplers is a demother, called the "Reginarator," and it also has a floor buffing pad. And yes, I know it needs a good polishing!
Jeff

 

[hygiene903]

I also have a model 59 Regina, a little newer 2-speed model. Unfortunately this one doesn't run, and the attachment set isn't as complete as the 39. But you can see how the design evolved over the years.
Jeff

 

[blknblu]

Saw an interesting article on how much history is being lost on the Internet when websites vanish. I take everything I read witha grain of salt, wikipedia being one of them. I like to go to the source, so to speak. Unfortunately as companies merge, get bought out, etc, any history on the old websites is usually forgotten. We do have archive.org, but it can only go so far. I do not like hearsay, and would like to see it in black and white.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Here is one nugget

"Mr. Lewyt (pronounced LOO-it), who held patents for scores of inventions and once said he had chronic insomnia from thinking them up, was best known for the Lewyt vacuum cleaner, a compact machine with no dust bag that was designed to operate without distorting television and radio reception."

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/21/o...dead-at-79-invented-lewyt-vacuum-cleaner.html

 

[dysonman1]

Sven:
Here's where "black and white" are wrong. Lewyt did NOT 'invent' his vacuum - he copied it from Filter Queen. Filter Queen sued him in court, and WON, for patent infringement. The 'black and white' also fails to mention all the people who were either hurt severely or killed by his 'electronic' vacuum cleaner when the rectifier failed and sent 120 volts into their bodies.

 

[kirbyvertibles]

Rick, your serial number will date your Regina. it is 70's for sure.
The serial number will be 3 digits long and either the first number is the year or the last number (I can't seem to remember) (example 748 could mean 1977 or 1978)
You just have to know what decade the machine is from then figure out the year.

 

[blknblu]

I am aware of Mr Lewyt and his company.
I usually accumulate various pieces of history from different sources so I am not biased. I was just pointing out his obit.

 

[vac-o-matic]

Thanks Phillip...but

I checked it out, and my serial nbr. is 306? The model nbr. is U940a. Hoover started using U in front of their serial nbrs. as well, always wondered what was up with that. Sooo, back to square one so to speak, we'll just say it's a 70s' brat!

 

[kirbyvertibles]

Rick this would mean its 1976