American Electrolux or European Electrolux

The following is taken from my article "The Story Of The Electrolux Corporation" in the Winter newsletter 1994-95, that I published with the help of Charles Richard Lester. (I'm going on memory here, If I get a few facts or dates wrong Charles, feel free to jump in and correct em.)

The Electrolux vacuum cleaners and floor polishers we all collect did in fact have their start in Europe!

It all began around 1919 with an industrialist named Axel L.Wenner-Gren. He was on vacation in Austria and saw an American made upright vacuum cleaner in a store window. He was looking for a product that could be sold in every home, in every country, and when he saw this machine he had an idea.

He returned home to Stockholm, Sweeden and contacted the Lux company, makers of gas lighting equipment. He convinced them to let him manufacture a pot like vacuum cleaner which earned the slogan "The little tin can with the motor!" and the company was on it's way. Soon factories sprang up in France, Germany and so on. In 1924 they introduced the Model V and exported it to America, likewise the Models X1 and X11. At some point around here, a cargo ship with Electrolux vacuum cleaners was lost at sea and the search was on to open a factory in America.

What they found was the former home of the Welte-Tripp organ company. It was located in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. The factory opened in 1933. The last of the Model X11 were made in Connecticut and then the Model XXX; the first American made Electrolux. The rest as they say is history!

Being an Electrolux collector I know this story inside out. I only touched on the basic information. My interests are the Models V-E Automatic.

Alex Taber


Forum Topics & Rules Manuals & Literature	New users Click-here to sign-up

Post# 80736 9/13/2009 at 18:11 (5,328 days old) by vacuumalex ()
Checkrate/Likes Hello, I was just curious if anyone knew if the Electroluxes that were manufactured and or sold throughout Europe were made by the same Electrolux Company in America? I know that the American Electrolux company was just fairly recently bought out by the European Electrolux appliance company. Now the traditional tank style American Electroluxes have been renamed Aerus. I guess that what I'm asking is if the European Electrolux vacuums were made by the American Electrolux company or were they made by the European company? I noticed that both American and European vacuums had the same logo or trademark. Does that mean they were one and the same? Or did one company just copy the other? Thank you, Alex

Post# 80737 , Reply# 1 9/13/2009 at 18:29 (5,328 days old) by lux1521 ()
Checkrate/Likes To my knowledge, American and Canadian lux models have been unrelated (from a business angle) to the Euro models since the buyout by Consolidated Foods, which was sometime around the late 1960s. The modern Aerus is decended from that line. The red Electrolux models are from the Euro line, which happens to be related to Eureka. All are free to make corrections to that story as necessary.

Post# 80741 , Reply# 2 9/13/2009 at 21:18 (5,328 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes *Hi Alex....this corporate history is a little complicated.* Read the description at the link below to get the exact sequence of developments for the Swedish Electrolux company. The important years are as follows: Pre-1968: European Electrolux owned a part of the North American Electrolux 1968: European Electrolux sells its part of North American Electrolux and the split creates two completely separate companies 1974: European Electrolux buys North America's Eureka Williams Company 2007: European Electrolux buys back the right to use the Electrolux name in North America, forcing the North American Electrolux vacuum company to use the name Aerus instead of Electrolux. Eureka and Sanitaire and Beam are folded into North American division of Swedish Electrolux. Hope this helps! Read the link below for more detail.... CLICK HERE TO GO TO eurekaprince's LINK

Post# 80743 , Reply# 3 9/13/2009 at 21:37 (5,328 days old) by vacuumalex ()
Checkrate/Likes *Thread Number: 7302* Thank you very much, that puts my burning question to rest. It has been driving me crazy for a long time! Alex

Post# 80744 , Reply# 4 9/13/2009 at 21:44 (5,328 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *Well. it seems I'm going to have to tell this story agai* The following is taken from my article "The Story Of The Electrolux Corporation" in the Winter newsletter 1994-95, that I published with the help of Charles Richard Lester. (I'm going on memory here, If I get a few facts or dates wrong Charles, feel free to jump in and correct em.) The Electrolux vacuum cleaners and floor polishers we all collect did in fact have their start in Europe! It all began around 1919 with an industrialist named Axel L.Wenner-Gren. He was on vacation in Austria and saw an American made upright vacuum cleaner in a store window. He was looking for a product that could be sold in every home, in every country, and when he saw this machine he had an idea. He returned home to Stockholm, Sweeden and contacted the Lux company, makers of gas lighting equipment. He convinced them to let him manufacture a pot like vacuum cleaner which earned the slogan "The little tin can with the motor!" and the company was on it's way. Soon factories sprang up in France, Germany and so on. In 1924 they introduced the Model V and exported it to America, likewise the Models X1 and X11. At some point around here, a cargo ship with Electrolux vacuum cleaners was lost at sea and the search was on to open a factory in America. What they found was the former home of the Welte-Tripp organ company. It was located in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. The factory opened in 1933. The last of the Model X11 were made in Connecticut and then the Model XXX; the first American made Electrolux. The rest as they say is history! Being an Electrolux collector I know this story inside out. I only touched on the basic information. My interests are the Models V-E Automatic. Alex Taber

Post# 80753 , Reply# 5 9/14/2009 at 02:26 (5,327 days old) by electrolux~137 ()
Checkrate/Likes The link tells the story. CLICK HERE TO GO TO electrolux~137's LINK

Post# 80754 , Reply# 6 9/14/2009 at 02:56 (5,327 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *Thank you Charles Richard!* The above information is a result of years of research I did and articles I wrote in the early newsletters of our club. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Charles and I put together "The Story Of The Electrolux" in 94/95. When I went to California, or while I was there I gave Charles full permission to use my notes, and research, I also shared my patent books. A lot of that writing is mine, only Charles made it sound better by polishing and fine tuning it. He also filled in the gaps for me. Thank you Charles, you are still doing a great job. By the way did you know that Charles was our first professional editor and publisher. He took basic newsletters I wrote in the early 90's and turned em into works of art. Thanks again buddy. Alex Taber