'Also Beater bars are quiet punishing on the carpet...&#
Not so - that's an old anti-Hoover myth stirred up brands who couldn't offer beater bars because of Hoover's many patents on multiple variations on the beater design. You find it cropping up again and again in anti-Hoover propaganda:
Ohio-Tuec - 'Cleans without beating or pounding'
Compact - 'Gets all the dirt without harming the rugs'
Eureka - 'Gets the dirt, not the rugs'
After their direct and overt criticism of Hoover's beating action, it's interesting that Eureka were among the first to add beater-bars to their brush-rolls when Hoover's patent expired! Air-Way intially tried to promote suction-only cleaning, then tried to rip off Hoover's design, failed, and almost put themselves out of business! It's the same pattern as with the motor-driven revolving brush; until 1925, Hoover owned the patent on that, and all the other brands insisted that it was harsh and damaging to carpets. Then when the patent expired, they all rushed to copy it!
A beater-bar actually causes LESS carpet-wear than bristles, because it's a smooth, polished metal surface. If you had to run your finger back and forth over a beater bar, or a brush-strip, non-stop for an hour, which would you choose? The beater bar, because it's smooth surface which creates a lot less friction than the rougher bristles. Kinder to your finger, kinder to your carpets!
Another point which is important to note is the actual action created – despite its name, the beater-bar does not ‘beat’ as such. Rather, it pushes the carpet away from the suction opening for a fraction of a second. The ‘beat’ is created as the carpet, grabbed by the suction, snaps back against the nozzle plate, launching the trapped dirt into the air, where it is caught by the airflow. That’s the familiar ‘rumble’ you’re hearing when using a Hoover.
