Sears Kenmore Line ->1979-1980

[kenkart]

One of my..

Newer Kenmores, 70 something I think..

 

[kenkart]

Here are

Two identical mixers...One says Birtman, one Kenmore, Birtman also made BeeVacs.

 

[kenkart]

63 Kenmore..

This one has the General Electric motor that is sealed.A few others in the background...They are..A 1956 Kenmore canister I brought back from my visit with Charles Lester and Stann.the 57 Horizon, a 58 Vanguard and a 59 Horizon.the Vanguard has a sticker on the top that says, Selected for exibition at the Brussels Worlds Fair, 1958!

 

[kenkart]

RE Duo Power

I would love to get my hands on a nice Duo Power upright, my Mother had a good friend who had one when I was a kid, I loved that wierd thing!

 

[DesertTortoise]

Wow, really stumbled onto this one roundabout while looking at another web discussion of Kenmores. Old thread but here goes. Any Kenmore vacuum with the 116 prefix in it's serial number was made by Matsushita Electric Manufacturing Company at a plant of theirs in the US. In fact for a time they were the largest manufacturer of vacuums in the US. Matsushita is the parent of Panasonic, their consumer line, and though the Matsushita name was retired a decade or so ago in favor of the more well known Panasonic name, they are the still the firm that manufactures modern Kenmore vacuums. Matsushita goes back over a century and made heavy industrial and commercial electronics. Old man Matsushita started a line of consumer products and called those Panasonic. That is the name that made them famous, and prosperous.

I did recently find one real oddball on eBay, a Kenmore 3.1 of maybe 1990-ish vintage ( ??? ) with a 175 prefix in the serial number. 175 is the prefix for InSinkErator, weird, but they are owned by Emerson so I imagine that vacuum, was made for Sears by Emerson. It's a very strange duck with nothing in common with any other Kenmore I know of.

I have three Kenmore canisters that bracket the era of those brochures, all Matsushita products made in the US, including one badged "Lady Kenmore" and "Sears Best" from the mid 1970s along with it's eventual replacement in our home, an early 80s Kenmore 4.1 with variable speed motor about equal in suction and airflow to the Miele's and Simplicity's of the world. The Powermate is part for part identical to a modern Hayden Superpack with the sole exception of the upper outer shell (which matches some later model Kenmore Powermates exactly). You can rebuild everything in it with parts in current production, even upgrade it to serpentine belts and modern quiet motors. Many powermates will plug right into the Sears hose.

I am hanging on to them and repairing them as necessary. The flexible plastic hinge just broke on the Lady Kenmore, which really bums me out as I recently replaced a worn out two speed motor with a modern Ametek-Lamb single speed, two stage high efficiency motor with suction and airflow specs that rival anything on the market today. I was planning to reinforce the lid because it flexes inward pretty far if you pull suction on the hose, and find a way to add exhaust filtration to it. Amazingly you can buy replacement secondary filters, the little filter that fits over the fan intake on top of the motor, but they are domes and have pleated HEPA filtration. Hilarious. HEPA filters for 70's Kenmores! I was looking for a way to adapt some other vacuum's HEPA exhaust filter to it. Don't laugh, the powerful 4.1 has already been upgraded to modern filtration. Hose parts for central vacuums plug right in, switches and such can still be found at places like SweetSweep, so as long as I don't bust or lose any hard to replace body parts I ought to have lifetime vacuums, and darn good ones too.

 

[super-sweeper]

actually,

Before 1957 the 116 number stood for machines made by Birtman electric.

 

[DesertTortoise]

And the tracking information from the US Postal Service shows there is another vintage Kenmore 4.1 sitting on my porch as I type. Yesssssss ! This one only needs clean up, HEPA filters and bag and a cord. 122 cfm, 100.5 inches of water lift and around 447 air watts. Attach it to my reconditioned and updated Powermate. Take that Miele/Sebo/Aerus Lux, etc. !

 

[bnsd60m9200]

116 is kenmore's vacuum prefix for part codes. it has NOTHING to do with sourced manufacturer of the vacs. 116 was used during the whirlpool era until 1984 as well and it still used on new machines to this day and thru the panasonic era of the mid 80's and 90's.

 

[super-sweeper]

I love my DuoPower!

Sears knew how to make them back in the day! I'm lucky that the hose and tool caddy still look as if they came from Sears yesterday!


 

 

[DesertTortoise]

Sigh. Read and learn.

http://www.appliance411.com/parts/sears.shtml

https://www.reliableparts.com/sections/kenmore-model-reference

http://www.webanswers.com/home-garden/appliances/kenmore-manufacturer-8288c8

http://www.fixya.com/support/t5861403-differences_between

You can always tell a Texan, but you can't tell him much.