Thread Number: 40662
/ Tag: 50s/60s/70s Vacuum Cleaners
Vacuum that pick up bowling ball? |
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Post# 432004   9/17/2020 at 22:09 (1,288 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA)   |   | |
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I remember as a kid, my grandmother telling about a time when there was a canister vacuum advertised as picking up a bowling ball. She didn't tell the brand (I know we're probably all thinking that Oreck ad with the little Buster B canister vac, but this was way before that, I think 1970s).
This vacuum may have been sold at the store my grandma worked at which was a Sears, but I can't recall. Anyway, the story went that they bought the vacuum but found it wouldn't suck up anything (according to my grandma) when they got it home. So they returned it. This may have been the point where my grandma got her Singer Silver Glide canister (which I wish I had). Anyway just a random story I thought of. I keep having stories like this come to mind sometimes. My grandma knew a lot about vacuums and appliances and things. I really miss her, she passed just over 3 years ago at the age of 97. |
Post# 432013 , Reply# 1   9/18/2020 at 01:01 (1,287 days old) by hygiene903 (Galion, OH)   |   | |
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Picking up a bowling ball was often done in the demonstration of tank type vacuum cleaners, such as Kenmore Commander, Lux III, Eureka, GE, Universal, Royal, and Electro-Hygiene. You would open the front cover if hinged or remove it if clamped, remove the bag, turn on the cleaner, and pick up the ball off the floor. And yes, the ball was usually 16 pounds. This was done to demonstrate suction power of the cleaner. When I sold Electro-Hygiene back in the 70's I did it in my demonstrations a few times, but by then the preferred method was to pick up your briefcase with the cleaner, and invite the husband to try to pull the briefcase off. Any time you could actually involve the potential customer instead of just showing them something always made it more effective.
Jeff |
Post# 432022 , Reply# 3   9/18/2020 at 07:44 (1,287 days old) by Detroitdirtbag (Bottom of the Bag)   |   | |
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Post# 432029 , Reply# 5   9/18/2020 at 11:15 (1,287 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA)   |   | |
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Post# 432046 , Reply# 7   9/18/2020 at 17:10 (1,287 days old) by Air-WayCharlie (USA)   |   | |
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When I was selling a cannister vacuum for Rowenta on QVC, (the 8 lb., 8 oz., Rivo), I devised an attachment to pick up a fish aquarium and a 60 lb. hassock.
Its all about the physics of the attachment. Many current canister vacuums could pick up a compact car if the attachment was a flat panel that covered the roof and you let the suction build up with absolutely no leaks. It might take a few minutes but it can be done. Those kind of demonstrations have great emotional appeal and convince the buyer that, "I GOTTA have it!", which is what a salesman wants. IMO, some of the best sales demos are and have been in the vacuum cleaner arena. The best pioneer of the bowling ball lift demo was David Oreck with commercials in the 80's and 90's. Those ads sold millions of the infamous 8 lb. Oreck. |
Post# 432077 , Reply# 8   9/19/2020 at 07:40 (1,286 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA)   |   | |
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Seems this bowling ball trick was more common than I thought. I wish I could remember what vacuum she was talking about. Maybe it was earlier than I thought and it could've been a cylinder type cleaner.
Yeah, I do remember in the Oreck commercials there was a white funnel on the hose in order to lift the bowling ball. Come to think of it, I think I have seen a more recent vacuum infomercial where they lifted a small car with the suction using some kind of apparatus to spread out the suction over the roof of it. Maybe Shark or some kind of small canister vac? Regarding cheap canisters with lots of suction, many of today's 12 amp uprights do have a tremendous amount of hose suction. Too much really, because as soon as the attachments are touched to a surface, the hose recoils and pulls the machine over. Have noticed newer uprights are having some better designed attachments that mitigate this somewhat. Some of my uprights having suction relief valves on the hose and multi speed motors helps too. |
Post# 432081 , Reply# 10   9/19/2020 at 11:32 (1,286 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA)   |   | |
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Some of those generic fit-all tools on eBay look much like the tools that came with the new Constellation. The floor tool and others, and they look like they'd be pretty good - horsehair bristles, etc.
I believe Kenmore also used that same bare floor brush on some of their uprights, especially the top models. But they are often missing since they didn't store on board the machine. |
Post# 432129 , Reply# 11   9/20/2020 at 13:16 (1,285 days old) by anthony (leeds uk)   |   | |
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over here i think for Electrolux where there was a car with one corner of it [one of its wheels] sitting on what can only be described as a large rubber balloon [rather like one of those bags that are used for shrinking large amounts of unused clothing .the Electrolux is connected to the neck of the balloon and switched on and you guessed it the car is lifted off the ground. I think that's when the slogan [Nothing sucks like an Electrolux] was first heard over here .The machine is blowing as opposed to sucking of course
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Post# 432152 , Reply# 12   9/20/2020 at 21:23 (1,285 days old) by constellation86 (Roy, UT)   |   | |
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Much better than bowling balls! CLICK HERE TO GO TO constellation86's LINK |
Post# 432158 , Reply# 13   9/20/2020 at 22:03 (1,285 days old) by rivstg1 (colorado springs)   |   | |
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I'm beginning to think some generic floor tools are better than the 'older' ones on some of our machines. I just picked up my first Electrolux (G) it is missing the floor tool as well as the dusting brush ( which I want to get an original style one) so I used my Rainbow tool with it and it worked well
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Post# 432189 , Reply# 14   9/21/2020 at 09:35 (1,284 days old) by electromatik (Taylorsville, North Carolina, U.S.A.)   |   | |
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For the European company, "Nothing sucks like Electrolux!" was used for many years. In North America, it was "Touch no dirt! Breathe no dirt! See no dirt!" which they used for years. Love them both. |
Post# 432259 , Reply# 15   9/22/2020 at 04:34 (1,283 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)   |   | |
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I have got it!!!How bout a vacuum cleaner making an "attachment" that could pick up a D10 Caterpillar tractor-dozer?only like 100 tons! |
Post# 432322 , Reply# 16   9/22/2020 at 22:19 (1,283 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA)   |   | |
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Post# 432535 , Reply# 17   9/26/2020 at 00:08 (1,280 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA)   |   | |
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One thing dawned on me. The vacuum in my grandmother's story may have been very cheap. I can hear her now saying how "it wouldn't suck up nothin'" and how she told my grandfather it was no good and to take it back. Hard to imagine it was something of quality like a GE, Eureka, Kenmore, etc.
I guess it would help if I knew what year it was. I was inclined to believe sometime in the 70s as I saw her receipt for her Singer canister was dated in 74 or 75 if I remember right. I'm thinking that's the vacuum they got after they returned the first one, as I'm pretty sure that Singer was the first vacuum she owned, and I can't imagine they would have returned the other and just not had a vacuum at all until years after. |