Sears Kenmore Line ->1979-1980

[hoover1060]

Singer Vacuums

Singer mad their own vacuums from 1930 up through about 1982, when Ryobi bought them. At that point, Singer has basically been reduced to just a name, much as Hoover and Eureka are today.
The twin-fan upright was made in variations from 1949-1982 by Singer. After the Ryobi buyout, the twin-fans were called "The Singer System"
These were around into the early 90's(maybe 1994)and discontinued. They were made for Sears from the early 60's all the way to the early 90's.

As for Sears vacuums, they were made by Birtman Electric into the 1950's, then Whirlpool started making them. Westinghouse I believe also made an upright for Sears around this time as well. Whirlpool made all the powermates, and the Duo=Power uprights. Whirlpool sold off their vacuum business to Panasonic sometime in the early 90's, and since that time, Panasonic has made Sears vacuums.
Hope this clears up some of it!

 

[eluxomarty]

Jeff

Thanks for that explaination but i have some questions about the canisters. The Singer canisters of the late 50's through the 60's. Did Eureka make them for Singer or did Singer make them for Eureka. I fugured Whirlpool made the Silver Glides and the Compact Powers for Singer in the late 60's and the 70's. Do you also know who made the Canadian Model C7? Thats one we both have.

Thanks, Marty

 

[eluxomarty]

Oh!

And BTW, Thanks so much for posting the Sears Brochure. Its great to look at vacuums i actually remember seeing at Sears.

Marty

 

[hoover1060]

Marty,

Eureka made the 1959 Golden Glide for Singer, and the little roll-a-magic cleaners, but the others(the C-6/7/8) and the compacts(E9/10/11/12) and the C series machines through the 70's were Singer made. They even made their own canister motor as well.
The Golden Glide like your Aunt had was Singer made...

 

[collector2]

Thanks Marty - that one I had never heard either. But the later ones still used a variation on the Eureka accessories and the C8 is definately a Eureka Empress. (out sourcing for the parts perhaps?) The last machines also say made by Ryobi right on them.

Doug

 

[16willth]

Whats this sears kenmore the helpmaate I keep hearing about. I heard it was a cansiter noozle with a bag going up to the tub and when the dirt gets to the top it drops into the bag.I want one really bad if anyone in vacuumland could help me look for it or send a pic that would be great I know somebody on youtube has one and I could not find it anywhere else. again if any one could help me that would be
great thanks Tommy
wills

 

[kenkart]

Re sears manufacturers..

In 1957 Whirlpool ,prodded by Sears,engeneered a takeover of both Birtman electric who made Sears vacuums, and most of their blenders and mixers, and Seeger refrigerator company, who made the Coldspot stuff, this put most of what they sold under 1 management,I have a 57 Kenmore Horizon that is one of the last Birtman built machines, Birtman built their own motors,and thats how you tell, Any Kenmore with a 116 prefix is made by either Birtman or Whirlpool, Whirlpool sold off the mixers to Hamilton Beach, and any Kenmore mixer you find with a 400 prefix is a HB product.Here is a Birtman Built Blender.The portable is from the late 50s and is a Hamilton Beach built mixer.

 

[kenkart]

1957

Horizon, Birtman built.

 

[kenkart]

And the

Motor, you can clearly see its NOT a Lamb, in the 60s Whirlpool used a GE motor in some of the cleaners that was not repairable, it was a great motor but you cant fix it, it is cemented together!but other than that lamb made everthing after late 1957.

 

[kenkart]

filter..

As you can see, the Birtman motor uses a much bigger filter.

 

[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.