Vac companies where'd they come from?

[vacuumman206]

It's always been interesting to me to find out the ambiguous history of vacuum companies that aren't easily documented. Miele is one of those I know near nothing about. I was reading online that Miele was the founder's last name when he started the company in 1899. When did they start making vacuum cleaners? And were they one of those companies that paid to use other's designs, like Fantom, Kenmore and White-Westinghouse to name a few. I say that because several people told me my s170i upright is panasonic. (Or is panasonic the company that "borrows"?)
Lastly, does anyone know the production years for the s170 and its similars?

This is just one of those things that bugs me because companies like Miele we know them as they are now, but who knows or remembers when they started in the vacuum market? Same for Bissell. We have ample information on vacs and carpet cleaners they made from the late 80's till now, but what happened from the time they created the Grand rapids carpet sweeper? It's like there's no vacuum timeline for them from the 30's till the 80's. It'd be nice to be able to timeline their machines like one could with such companies as Hoover, Kirby, Rainbow, and Royal.

 

[mieles7]

Here's Miele's history. They seem to have started in the 30's.

http://www.mieleusa.com/about_miele...thirdL=About Miele&fourthL=History&menu_id=42

 

[tylerawells]

If You Are A Reader

Then Caroll Gantz's book "The Vacuum Cleaner: A History" is a wonderful read, and provides some information regarding the importers to the US Market as well. According to his book Miele did not begin selling anything here in the states till 1983.

The point about Panasonic is interesting, because it seems a great number of other vacuums employ similar designs, case in point the Riccar 8900 series looks much like the Panasonic uprights of the 1990s. The same can also be said for machines made under the name Fuller Brush, Carpet Pro, etc... and I have no idea at all about the connection or technology sharing, however, I am including a link to the Amazon Page for Mr. Gantz's book. It is a wholly engaging read in my opinion.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009IYMO62/ref=oh_d__o01_details_o01__i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[dysondestijl]

if you are at all interested in Dyson then reading James Dysons autobiograpy 'Against all odds' provides a great insight into James' life, his years of Debt, his battles with the other companies who said his idea was pathetic- and of course his wife Dierdrie, his children and his other inventions.

 

[tolivac]

Regina used to make music boxes at one time.Then as jukeboxes,radios, replaced music boxes-Regina started making vacuum cleaners.

 

[vacuumman206]

all very interesting. That miele site is brief but filled the gaps to say the least. I will have to check that book out. And panasonic is another one I couldn't think of. I'm thinking the theory behind the sharing is a company like Panasonic comes up with something cheap, and sells it in mass numbers for cheap, so instead of a company like Miele or Kenmore or whoever else has used panasonic designs wasting resources designing a machine, it ends up being cheaper to pay Panasonic. Now that also has me questioning Hoover, Eureka and Bissell vacs of the 90's. Correct me if I'm wrong, but (with the exception of the similarity of the motor in the concept) the Elite was the first of its kind for rather simple design and its motor setup. And because they sold so well Eureka and then Bissell followed up with machines with motors highly similar to elites. SO I have to wonder if Hoover ever went after Eureka for their bravo series being so closely designed around the elite, or because they didn't actually steal any Hoover designs there was nothing they could do besides take it as competition? Either way I'm sure there's no dispute Hoover came out on top all throughout the battle between elite vs. bravo. Elites sold for more money, there were more varieties of elites, and the elite was around longer. Not to mention the bravo never went commercial!!

 

[gmerkt]

The S170i series were made in Spain by Matsushita Electric Espana (MAES) which was a Panasonic subsidiary. We've got an S175i (cord retractor, 10 amp motor) which is undated on the machine itself as to when made. Most other Mieles that I've worked on have a date code on them. I also have an S172i (no cord retractor, 7.3 amp motor), undated. IIRC, we bought the S175i circa mid to late 1990's.

One thing that is a dead giveaway this machine is Panasonic is the belt apparatus that allows selection of hard floor or carpet cleaning. It's the very same used on many Japanese and US-made Matsushita products.

The MAES plant in Spain has been closed effective late 2004/early 2005. Wages in Spain went up, competition got too tough so they shifted production for the European market to China. The plant was opened in 1974 and made vacuum cleaners for 28 years. In that time, they made approx. 13.5 million machines.