Vacuum that pick up bowling ball?

[fan-of-fans]

I remember as a kid, my grandmother telling about a time when there was a canister vacuum advertised as picking up a bowling ball. She didn't tell the brand (I know we're probably all thinking that Oreck ad with the little Buster B canister vac, but this was way before that, I think 1970s).

This vacuum may have been sold at the store my grandma worked at which was a Sears, but I can't recall.

Anyway, the story went that they bought the vacuum but found it wouldn't suck up anything (according to my grandma) when they got it home. So they returned it. This may have been the point where my grandma got her Singer Silver Glide canister (which I wish I had).

Anyway just a random story I thought of. I keep having stories like this come to mind sometimes. My grandma knew a lot about vacuums and appliances and things. I really miss her, she passed just over 3 years ago at the age of 97.

 

[hygiene903]

Picking up a bowling ball was often done in the demonstration of tank type vacuum cleaners, such as Kenmore Commander, Lux III, Eureka, GE, Universal, Royal, and Electro-Hygiene. You would open the front cover if hinged or remove it if clamped, remove the bag, turn on the cleaner, and pick up the ball off the floor. And yes, the ball was usually 16 pounds. This was done to demonstrate suction power of the cleaner. When I sold Electro-Hygiene back in the 70's I did it in my demonstrations a few times, but by then the preferred method was to pick up your briefcase with the cleaner, and invite the husband to try to pull the briefcase off. Any time you could actually involve the potential customer instead of just showing them something always made it more effective.
Jeff

 

[real1shep]

Smoke and.....

mirrors. Lots of vacs could do that if you got a really good seal against the ball.

The idea of suction though is not to overdo it to the extent you have a hard time dragging the floor tools across the cleaning surface.

Elux salesmen used the three steel ball test(or was it four?). The lady that sold us our Diamond J used the steel ball test. To compare, she tried the test on our G and it almost pulled all the balls.

My argument was why pay all that money for something new that just had a tad bit more suction....

But my mother-in-law and my wife ruled against me. In hindsight, the Diamond J is a better house cleaner than the G, but it doesn't have the classic demeanor of the G.

Kevin

 

[detroitdirtbag]

Sears also had the seal vacuum that spun a beach ball on its nose for demo

 

[texaskirbyguy]

I remember the bowling ball ad - it was for an Oreck canister. I saw that ad often in the old days when I would actually watch TV.
With a big enough nozzle, an enormous amount of weight could be held. Same concept of the suction cup dent puller

Anyone remember the old Kirby ads about the Heritage II sucking up a Volkswagen beetle? (Well, they lifted the vacuum after it was sucked tight onto a very large nozzle on top of the car...)
The videos are on youtube and Kirby's website.
I still think there was more to know with this one though - that is a lot of weight for a household vacuum. Suction check valve maybe?

 

[suckolux]

I seem to remember in the commercial where the Oreck picked up the bowling ball that it was attached to a funnel for more surface area?

 

[jo]

Suction power

A lot of suction power is great for deep down carpet cleaning and if the tools are designed for good airflow from the outside edge sides to the inside and even some airflow towards the front edge the tool won’t stick to the floor and do an outstanding job of cleaning everything in its path and in front and off to the sides of it.

I think I remember seeing a bowling ball as for an Electrolux. Good to show it’s powerful but if the tool gets stuck like on a bowling ball then it becomes ineffective as suction is cut off. So really not just suction power is important but properly designed tools for great airflow.

I have had cheap little canisters that have super suction but the attachments are horrible and so it gets stuck to everything and is therefore cumbersome to use and or I have to open the suction relief valve to be able to glide the tool...what good is that? Then I’m working at reduced suction, best to have great suction with tools that allow for proper airflow through them and the item they are placed on. I get that some things just don’t allow for airflow like loose fabrics such as curtains and drapes but I’ve discovered that my Shark rocket has aN upholstery tool that has suction relief airflow holes in it to the sides that effectively allows the tool to not stick to the object being cleaned but also allow great airflow across the surface of the object through the tool therefore picking up the dust and dirt especially on something solid which air cannot pass through. So there is a lot of engineering that really should go into a vacuum cleaner and some companies really do a good job of this, both expensive and some moderately priced brands and then there’s even some expensive brands that don’t do such a good job at this and miss the mark or just expect one to use the suction relief valve or turn down the motor speed if so equipped.

Jon

 

[air-waycharlie]

When I was selling a cannister vacuum for Rowenta on QVC, (the 8 lb., 8 oz., Rivo), I devised an attachment to pick up a fish aquarium and a 60 lb. hassock.

Its all about the physics of the attachment. Many current canister vacuums could pick up a compact car if the attachment was a flat panel that covered the roof and you let the suction build up with absolutely no leaks. It might take a few minutes but it can be done.

Those kind of demonstrations have great emotional appeal and convince the buyer that, "I GOTTA have it!", which is what a salesman wants. IMO, some of the best sales demos are and have been in the vacuum cleaner arena.

The best pioneer of the bowling ball lift demo was David Oreck with commercials in the 80's and 90's. Those ads sold millions of the infamous 8 lb. Oreck.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Seems it was common

Seems this bowling ball trick was more common than I thought. I wish I could remember what vacuum she was talking about. Maybe it was earlier than I thought and it could've been a cylinder type cleaner.

Yeah, I do remember in the Oreck commercials there was a white funnel on the hose in order to lift the bowling ball.

Come to think of it, I think I have seen a more recent vacuum infomercial where they lifted a small car with the suction using some kind of apparatus to spread out the suction over the roof of it. Maybe Shark or some kind of small canister vac?

Regarding cheap canisters with lots of suction, many of today's 12 amp uprights do have a tremendous amount of hose suction. Too much really, because as soon as the attachments are touched to a surface, the hose recoils and pulls the machine over. Have noticed newer uprights are having some better designed attachments that mitigate this somewhat. Some of my uprights having suction relief valves on the hose and multi speed motors helps too.

 

[real1shep]

Like....

I said above, too much suction with the wrong floor tools just makes vacuuming tedious.

Even some of the earlier Elux floor brushes would have dog hair/cat hair stick to the leading edge of the brush. Then other designers put in those relief slots in the leading edge....problem solved.

The wide floor brush that goes with the retro Connie is like this and trumps all my old Elux floor brushes. And....it fits on my Elux wand tubes so it gets used a lot.

Aerus has one now too, but it's plastic and not any better quality than the Hoover brush. Aerus wants about $50 for theirs. My ex has one and I'm not impressed for the $$.

Kevin

 

[fan-of-fans]

Some of those generic fit-all tools on eBay look much like the tools that came with the new Constellation. The floor tool and others, and they look like they'd be pretty good - horsehair bristles, etc.

I believe Kenmore also used that same bare floor brush on some of their uprights, especially the top models. But they are often missing since they didn't store on board the machine.

 

[anthony]

i seem to remember an a TV add

over here i think for Electrolux where there was a car with one corner of it [one of its wheels] sitting on what can only be described as a large rubber balloon [rather like one of those bags that are used for shrinking large amounts of unused clothing .the Electrolux is connected to the neck of the balloon and switched on and you guessed it the car is lifted off the ground. I think that's when the slogan [Nothing sucks like an Electrolux] was first heard over here .The machine is blowing as opposed to sucking of course

 

[constellation86]

Kirby VW test

Much better than bowling balls!

 

[rivstg1]

I'm beginning to think some generic floor tools are better than the 'older' ones on some of our machines. I just picked up my first Electrolux (G) it is missing the floor tool as well as the dusting brush ( which I want to get an original style one) so I used my Rainbow tool with it and it worked well

 

[electromatik]

Love the Lux slogans

For the European company, "Nothing sucks like Electrolux!" was used for many years. In North America, it was "Touch no dirt! Breathe no dirt! See no dirt!" which they used for years. Love them both.

 

[tolivac]

I have got it!!!How bout a vacuum cleaner making an "attachment" that could pick up a D10 Caterpillar tractor-dozer?only like 100 tons!

 

[fan-of-fans]

"Touch no dirt! Breathe no dirt! See no dirt!"

This would be a good one to use again, with the popularity of messy bagless machines that release dust when emptied. Dirt must be seen, touched and breathed while emptying bagless machines of today similarly to older machines that didn't use disposable paper bags back in the days of that slogan.

 

[fan-of-fans]

One thing dawned on me. The vacuum in my grandmother's story may have been very cheap. I can hear her now saying how "it wouldn't suck up nothin'" and how she told my grandfather it was no good and to take it back. Hard to imagine it was something of quality like a GE, Eureka, Kenmore, etc.

I guess it would help if I knew what year it was. I was inclined to believe sometime in the 70s as I saw her receipt for her Singer canister was dated in 74 or 75 if I remember right. I'm thinking that's the vacuum they got after they returned the first one, as I'm pretty sure that Singer was the first vacuum she owned, and I can't imagine they would have returned the other and just not had a vacuum at all until years after.

 

[real1shep]

I'm sure there.....

is name of this phenomena;understanding something as an adult and going back in childhood memories and trying to apply that knowledge. It's often frustrating and impossible.

I became a plumber.....I've tried to go back in my childhood memories and analyze my old house's plumbing system....impossible. What I saw with kid eyes doesn't mesh with what I know as an adult. Same with vac, cars and a whole host of other things from childhood.

Without pictures, eye witnesses etc....just playing with uneducated childhood memories is a shot in the dark.

Kevin