Found a Hoover & a Kenmore Kwik Sweep

[hoover1060]

Oreck bought Regina...

Poor Regina, we can really blame them for the crappy plastic vacuums we have today because they started it back in 1986 with their blasted on-board tools Housekeeper.
The Housekeeper was SO bad it had a 90% return rate.
Regina was owned by Electrolux USA for a time in the early 90's. They helped re-design the Housekeeper and make it more durable.
It was short lived. As soon as Regina and Lux split they were back in the toilet and eventually just gave up.
Somewhere around 2000 Oreck bought the remains, and the rest as we say is history...
ugh...

 

[petek]

Well I put a new belt on this newest convertible and she's beating and sweeping and cleaning as advertised once again.

 

[westytoploader]

Interesting history about the Regina Housekeeper. Many of the ads I have in my "vacuum books" that we cut out when I was little depict them and tout the "ON-BOARD TOOLS"!! I vaguely remember a Housekeeper being used once...and it was loud! Had that characteristic "plastic vacuum" sound. Didn't these disappear from big-box stores around 1995-1996 or so?

What was the first actual plastic-body upright? I want to say the Electrolux Discovery in 1984 because I don't care for them much, but I'm probably dead wrong!

 

[urarachu]

Housekeeper..

Jeff, what exactly made the Regina Housekeeper such a bad vacuum? Any idea what was significantly wrong with the design? We just sold two packs of bags for them to a lady a couple weeks ago. The packs were super dusty because they had been untouched for years!

Did the Housekeeper do a poor job cleaning too? I have a Lux Discovery 2, and even though it's not tops on airflow, it seems to clean good. I mean the average person wouldn't notice it wasn't deep cleaning, because the surface gets cleaned so nicely and quickly.

Corey

 

[hoover1060]

Regina

Corey,
The Housekeeper was an excellent idea, and must have looked great on paper, but in reality it was a flimsy, plastic POS that fell apart quickly. The later blue Housekeeper Plus series was better, but not much. If they'd just thought it thru some more before putting it on the market, they would have had something.
Quality improved some after the merge with Electrolux, but they just couldn't get it.
Royal's first Dirt Devil in 1990 was a much better machine for the concept