When did the first Dirt Devil arrive on the on the scene?

[phaeton]

Hello All,
May sound odd but I seem to remember buying a red upright Dirt Devil and a red hand held Dirt Devil in the mid or late 70's.
I do not remember it that well and I cannot say that the hose was attached to the vacuum. Does anyone have a picture of the first Dirt Devil upright that they can post?
As I remember it, it was not that bad of a vacuum. I later gave it to a young couple in the building when I moved.
Thank you for looking,
Pete

 

[ultralux88]

I had always thought it was sometime in the 80s, I may be wrong but I think the red hand vac was the first thing to have the Dirt Devil name on it, that may have been late 70s.

 

[eurekaprince]

All we need is a set of Sears Catalogues from the 70’s...I bet you we could determine debut date from one of these!

 

[phaeton]

Hello All,
The 80's could be correct but that would be a few years after I moved. May be I did not give it to couple I thought I did LOL.
Thank you for looking,
Pete

 

[TheSpiritOf76]

1st off....

A Sears Catalog would not help. Because in the 1970s and 80's Sears did not sell name brand items, they only sold THEIR brands. Sears and Montgomery wards and JCPenneys started selling name brand products toward the end of the 80's


 


As we all know the Royal Prince had been around since the 40s or early 1950s. I had once read somewhere that the date of the DD hand vac was like 1983. I seem to also think that, was the ONLY DD product until the Broom Vac came in the late 80s. Then it was the Direct Air Upright not too far after that.

 

[eurekaprince]

The earliest Dirt Devil print advertisement I found on eBay is from 1985. So it’s looking like the brand name might have been launched then.

 

[rugsucker]

"Put the power of an upright in the palm of your hand&#3

I first saw the DD hand vac in a local shopping center dept store about 1985(building still there,stores have come and gone).I was aware of metal Royal hand vac and thought the red plastic version was not such a bad idea.As did many others.With the combination of Royal heritage,color,name,advertising,color boxes in stores everywhere and more the DD became the number one vac name in the mind of most consumers.Then Oreck--then Dyson--now Shark.Whats next?

 

[kenkart]

80s

I remember thinking the hand cleaner was ok but that upright was just another chunk of plastic.My views have not changed!

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

eurekaprince

Brian,

You're not too far off, because according to several histories of Royal Appliance Mfg. Co., including the company's own, the Dirt Devil 103 Hand Vacuum was first introduced in 1984.

~Ben

 

[eurekaprince]

Cool! Thanks, Ben!

 

[TheSpiritOf76]

exuse me......

I said 1983. So I was closest....credit is due where credit is due!

 

[eureka89]

First dirt devil upright.

This is one of their first uprights, Powerful but flimsy. I got this baby at a yard sale about 2 years ago and gave it the treatment. It's one of my favorites because this model was a big part of my childhood

 

[gj3476]

I want an original dirt devil upright!