Thread Number: 27004
American-Lincoln Super-Sweep/Super-Vac 180 Thoughts |
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Post# 302123   10/17/2014 at 02:49 (3,450 days old) by KirbyClassicIII (Milwaukie, Oregon)   |   | |
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The American-Lincoln Super-Sweep and the nearly-identical Super-Vac 180, would seem to have had poor suction distribution.
As is the case with most Kirby Heritage/Legend users favoring the rarer 13" nozzle over the standard 16" nozzle for all the obvious reasons; the same logic would mean that the 18" super-wide path of the Super-Sweep/Super-Vac did no favors for the by-then antiquated 4 amp motor whose first use was in the model 513, and neither was the single-bristle brush roll which unlike the Kirby Heritage and COMVAC lines, was not upgraded to the double-bristle type those machines bore. Even the 10-blade metal fan, something we Kirby fans actually prefer over the Lexan and later plastic fans, remained intact in the A-L model until the series was discontinued in 1984. I theorize this may be why the Super-Sweep had fallen out of favor among janitorial firms in the years after 1983, preferring such competitive models like the Eureka C2770 (and the similar Sanitaire SC899) and the Hoover Conquest 18" U7071. Royal's first super-wide commercial metal upright, the model 618 (the model 620 was similar, but with a headlight), first appeared in 1984 (the same year Scott Fetzer sold off American-Lincoln). It was the super-wide vacuum that the Super-Sweep had longed to be, with a larger 6 amp motor and a double-bristle brush roll (which didn't reach the standard 13" wide models until 1986-87). ~Ben |
Post# 302183 , Reply# 1   10/17/2014 at 17:03 (3,449 days old) by super-sweeper (KSSRC Refurbishment Center)   |   | |
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Post# 303004 , Reply# 2   10/24/2014 at 18:34 (3,442 days old) by ultralux88 (Denver, Colorado)   |   | |
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They intentionally made the 16in nozzle on these to discourage household customers from buying them over a Kirby. The SuperVac and the others sharing its castings were sold thru vac shops, and intended strictly for the commercial market, now nothing was stopping a dealer from saying something to the effect of "Well, we have this machine made by Kirby that costs less from us..." so Kirby in an effort to protect their dealers from losing sales over this decided that making the nozzle much wider would discourage home use while remaining ideal for commercial use.
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