Would you buy these Singer Vacuum from a Singer Sewing Machine store

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gregvacs28

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An old ad at the 5:17 mark.


 


I've honestly never had a singer, nor seen a Singer vacuum in person.  


 


Anyone have experience with these?  Were they so bad it caused the whole chain to shut down?





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Were they so bad it caused the whole chain to shut down?

No, it wasn't the vacuums....

Vacuums were always a side business for Singer. Sewing machines were always their core product. Starting in the 1960's Singer was more concerned about how quickly they could stamp out and sell machines than the quality that went into them. It began with PLASTIC gears in their Touch & Sew Models. Things went from bad to worse in the '70's when they started using timing belts and circuit boards in models like the Athena 2000 which IMHO is not a sewing machine, it's an Atari game.

On a side note, the beginning of the end was the demolition of the Singer Tower in New York City in 1968. It was an architectural marvel built in 1908 in the shape of a sewing needle. It (and the original Penn Station) SHOULD HAVE been landmarked and sadly weren't. It was tallest building voluntarily destroyed in New York City pre 9/11.
 
Singer upright

I've never seen one in person either.
But, if you check out the Super Market page, I recently posted a Craigslist ad for one.
Not mine, but I posted it here because I thought someone might be interested, since they don't seem to show up all that often.

Barry
 
My grandmother had a canister like that one but in the earlier 70s avocado and lemon yellow styling. I don't remember her ever using it, since she typically used an upright instead. I wish I'd kept it, I remember many times looking at all the vacuums in the back of the manual.

I've never owned a Singer branded vacuum myself but always found them interesting. I do have a Singer made Kenmore vacuum, although it's technically after Ryobi owned the division.
 
I see a lot of Singer vacs have migrated to a safe place in Washington State.  That's good.


 


Was thinking that the 70s and early 80s kenmore uprights looked a lot like the Singers of that time, with the exception of the handle.  My aunt had a basic Kenmore upright from 1980.  It didn't even have a on/off switch you could operate.  The switch was built into the base and when you released the handle to vacuum it would automatically come on.

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I remember the singer vacuums

My Mother sewed a lot when I was a kid and she had a few instances to visit the Singer sewing machine store in the next town over and I was dragged along not being of school age yet. I remember looking at the vacuums while she was busy getting whatever it was she needed. Not having seen to many vacuums of other brands besides Electrolux canisters or Hoover uprights and a Kirby, I felt their look was very similar to the Kenmore vacuums I saw at Sears. The big boxy part of the Singer canister never really appealed to me as a kid, but I also really liked cars as a kid and the Electrolux canister looked sort of like a car in its general shape..we had an Electrolux model L and the 1205 was also the popular model at the time as I was born in 1969.

I often thought about the shape and construction of Singers and Kenmore and other “boxy” canisters and it seemed odd to me that they would have made a vacuum in any other shape than the simple bullet design where everything was in line with the airflow.

Jon
 
I've seen two of the black and red Kenmore Heavy Duty models show up at Habitat, and a blue one with floral bag showed up somewhere once. I thought about getting one of the Heavy Duty ones since they look cool, to me.

Sears sold those twin fan vacuums up to the early 90s, 92-93 when they switched mostly to Panasonic made clean air uprights and some Fantom.

I remember reading that some of the last ones changed to a handle mounted switch (especially on 2 speed models) because people had issues with the vacuum shutting off when they didn't want it to do so. I imagine it could be annoying with using the hose too since the handle would have to stay reclined for it to run.

They are neat machines though and one I'd like to have someday.
 
My parents got a Singer upright in the late '80s. It replaced their 1971 vintage "Brady Bunch" tan and green Hoover Convertible, which I inherited for a few years. I think I got the better end of that deal. I honestly don't know what they saw in that Singer. It was noisy as hell. I've seen a few of them at thrift shops and left them where they were sitting.

On a side note, my house, built in 1970, has a singer HVAC system (air conditioner and gas furnace). They're original to the house and still going strong. One could say they run like, well, a sewing machine. My understanding is Singer eventually sold off it's HVAC business to American Standard.
 
I agree they are noisy. Some models more than others. My aunt had 3074 in the above picture. My mom's dad bought it for her before I was born. I remember it being so loud I was scared of it as a child. I guess fascination leads to attraction which is perhaps while I like the twin fans as an adult. The Hoover Convertible was more durable and a better choice with a lot less parts.
 
The Singer company has a very important place in vacuum cleaner history. The revolutionary Singer upright of the 1950's (designed by Raymond Loewy, if I remember correctly), was the first upright vacuum in which the motor was turned sideways so that it could be positioned closer to the handle to allow for a very sleek, low-slung power head. As well, that revolutionary upright had the industry's first cord reel on an upright, the first headlight in the front edge of the power head, and the first floating power head that could automatically adjust to any carpet height. Though Hoover took the side-to-side motor configuration one step further by placing it in the upper handle body in the Dial-a-Matic, it was Singer that first placed it sideways. Very innovative design development.
 

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