David on Eureka; continued
The Eureka with the "tapestry" bag, model 1444, is the same model my mom had when i was a child. the only reason i have it and havent sold it is cause of the this. the 1444 has the cheaper/lighter/weaker blender style motor. as you may know, before eureka introduced this motor, the standard motor used resembled the convertible motor. as a matter of fact, its the same motor design is still used today in the sanitare model 888/886. the "good" eureka motor used double sealed ball bearings. the hoover didnt. the eureka motor also ran much cooler than the convertible motor. the later 1400-series eureka with the smaller motor also featured a fan with shorter fins, which i imagine might lessen suction. austin, the eureka upright i bought as a youngster at kmart looks almost identical to the beige and white one i see on top of the wire shelves in your pics. mine had a four position adjuster, ive also seen them with two positions. i actually dislike the eureka wooden brushroller. "disturbulator" is a term the eureka company used for all brushrolls in their machines. for example, "this commercial model has a heavy-duty disturbulator, a Vibra-Groomer". the sleeve bearings on eurekas wooden agitators never seemed to last. this is an area where hoover had it RIGHT. in a vintage eureka, a Vibra-Groomer or a Vibra-Groomer II with ball bearings (i believe the original Vibra-Groomer always had BBs) is the ONLY was to go for heavy duty performance. the bristles on either VG are also firmer than the ones on a wooden brushroll. if you havent had an older eureka with the "good" motor, metal brushroll and full-size fan you really should try one out. i have two of these "good" ones in storage still but "they arent ready to be photographed". one thing i like about the convertible agitator is that the beater bar extends further out than the ones on Vibra-Groomers. however, the aluminum Vibra-Groomer has removable beater bars that can be replaced with bristles, making it double brush. anyone care to talk agitators?
