History of vacuum Powernozzle's

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Thanks Terry........

Terry,
Glad you got a chance to see some of my stuff. There are more vacs and pics but I tried to select what I thought the folks here might like and thankfully, the pics have generated some conversation. I am so glad you and Fred turned me on to this site.

Fred and I are talking about some new ideas for vacuum enthusists and it does not include the VCCC. We hope it may work out.

Thanks again for you kind words and I look forward to seeing you next month.

Charlie
 
Computer Lessons

Charlie, when you come out for a visit in September, we'll wheel your chair up to the computer and I'll give you a few lessons.

Fred (aka I.C.)
 
Great updated pics Charlie

And another vintage car too. Can we get a pic of inside from the drivers door looking in at the seat,wheel and dash, like you were stepping into it. What's the engine, options and stuff like that..
 
Sitting in the driver's seat.

Deluxe farmer blue metal dash with dark blue appointments. Am radio, factory A/C---a must have for us Southern folk, clock, power steering & brakes, automatic, and of course, a cigarette lighter with two ash receivers, illuminated at night.
 
The passenger's front seat view

Beautiful simulated wood panel with script. Passengers ash receiver towards center, small rectangular box in center is green at night for quickly finding it!
 
Power Nozzles manufacturing

Charlie,

You have a nice collection of vacuum cleaners in great condition. I noticed that we have some of the same vacuum cleaners.

I miss those old automobiles. I favored the Chrysler brands like the Road Runner/Satelite and Fury.

You made a comment above, that I wanted to address-
"Not to be critical but informative, the Cen-Tec/Hayden company manufactures the power nozzles for Royal, Kenmore and Air-Way as well as others. They have over "100 years experience in floor-care and related industries." The parent company is called Cen-Tec..."

Cen-Tec and Hayden do not manufacture the power nozzles. They are supplied to them by the manufacturer. As you probably know, Panasonic purchased Whirlpool's remaining interest in the Whirlpool/Matsushita Partnership. Whirlpool designed/owned the power nozzles that you see on say the Air-Way Centurion. It, of course, became Panasonic property. All of the more recent designs are also Panasonic. If you take a look at the Cen-Tec website, you will notice that they have a selection of power nozzles. They are from different suppliers. The Cen-Tec CT-16DX and its twin Kenmore, plus the latest Kenmore power nozzles are Matshusita Appliance.

Many different companies, including central vacuum system companies, are using these power nozzles. Another power nozzle that is catching up is the deluxe power nozzle from Wessell-Werk.

I was wondering if you could answer a question for me, since you sell the Air-Ways. Do you know how many vacuum cleaners they make per day/wk? TIA.
 
What a beautiful car Charlie!! Did you have to do a lot of restoration work on this? Terry
 
Great pictures Charlie! This is the first I have had a look at your extensive, wonderful collection.

Wonderful car, too. People down the street had a 98 like that. I don't know if it was a 1965, but it did have that same front grille. I want to say it was dark blue. They had 3 different 98s during my growing up years, this was the first and the one I liked the best.
 
Cen-Tec

GESwivel,
Thanks for your information on Cen-Tec. I was led to believe that they were manking P/N's private labeled for whoever wanted to use their product. There is a definate similarity between all the P/N's they have available, espically in their company catalogue.

As far as Air-Way production goes, without calling the factory and talking with Steve Tomberlin, I don't know the exact number Air-Way produces monthly or daily. From what an employee told me, they built a certain number of machines to keep in inventory so they are available to distributors or the general public that orders via their 800 number.

When I have called, I have asked how many Signatures are available, Centurion available and New Century available. The numbers range from 4 to 10 for all categories. The number of the purple Signature Series is diminishing all the time as that model is out of production and when the last are sold, that is it.

Re: the Kenmore P/N's, they seem to being using a really "dumb downed" version of the Hayden/Matsuhita P/N. Most are wood and do not have replaceable brush strips and I have not seen one with a beater bar(s) strip for years.

I hope Wessell-Werk improves their P/N's. I have not been impressed with any of their offerings for sometime. The small turbo tool offered by many manufacturers and made by W/W is not too impressive. The Rug Rat is far better. The W/W I sold on QVC as an upgrade to a Rowenta vacuum was........passable at best. "Cheap" construction, non-tufted brushroll that was as stiff as a used year old toothbrush! And whiny as all get out.

I'll remain open minded as to what they can bring to the market and competition is what drives the ideas and pricing so I say bring them on!

Again, thanks for your informative post and I hope to see more.

Charlie
 
Yester days flea market

I picked up a $20 Eureka power nozzle canister. My first Eureka and of course I'd rather of had a vintage upright. But it appeared fresh looking and worked when I plugged it in there. Now I don't know how old it is.. obvsiously it's not very old,,maybe 10-15 yrs, metal construction, toe kick switch under the hose outlet on the front and cord reel. Upon opening it back home it was the normal exploded bag of filth and clogged nozzle/hose so I blew it out and prettied it up.

Now as for the power nozzle, it's labelled Roto Matic with Edge Cleaner. Well there is no edge cleaner on the bottom plate at all. The belt takes up one end of the roll covered by the sole plate and theres a good half inch on the other end covered by the sole plate.. Where did my edge cleaner go?

The machine has plenty of suction but that power nozzle is the worst..it has no pile level adjustments so it barely skims the carpet.. and the brushroll is like new. She'll be going on sale soon..LOL,, pretty burgundy color though. I'll post a pic when my camera gets going..
 
Another Elusive Powernozzle Canister....

I would love to see a pciture of the elusive, yet produced General Electric SwivelTop canister with the powerhead option. I know that they made them, but very limited, because GE left the buisness in I believe 1972.

I have a 1970 General Electric "Cord Reel Cleaner" in Green light (yellow green) and dark (forest Green) with woodtone trim. And today at a backwoods vacuum cleaner shop on Ecorse Rd. I saw the Swiveltop version of this color scheme with a two speed switch, and suction control on the canister body proper...but also had a factory powernozzle outlet. The owner told me I could have it If I wished and told him I may take him up on that in the next day or so.

I went back to my new house and later decided to get it...but when I drove back over there after 4 pm...he was closed already tho his door said he was open till 6pm. Well, becasue I had to come back to Lansing to move more crap, and some more vacuum cleaners...I'll have to go back tommorow.

Anyways... I will get it , and when all my utilities..(including the phone are connected) I will type in the model number of this canister soanyone can see if it's recognizable

Thanks

Chad

Oh P.S. For anyone who cares as to why I moved..I decided that I was no longer happy with Marty and we are selling our house here in town back to my dad, and Im going back to College at Washtenaw Community Colledge and finish my bachelors in Buisness Management. I had to change....
 
Cen-Tec

Charlie,

You are partially right. Cen-Tec can put together systems for other companies. These would be the smaller companies. Cen-Tec can be considered the "middle man" so to speak. There was a reason I asked you about numbers for Air-Way. I knew that Air-Way did not produce big numbers like Panasonic, Sears, Royal, etc. Therefore, it would be hard to go to the source to purchase a power nozzle unit designed for a small company. They would want you to purchase in huge quantities. Cen-Tec purchases these power nozzles and puts the Air-Way "Rugmaster" sticker on it and sends it off to Air-Way. They do not make the power nozzles for Kenmore, Panasonic, Royal,Euro Pro, Fuller Brush, Fantom, Thermax, etc.

You are right about the Kenmore power nozzles that previously had the beater bar/replaceable brush strips. My thinking is they thought that it was cheaper and more profitable to install a wooden brushroll on the line instead of the more expensive brushroll with beater bar/replaceable brushstrips. For the customer, it would be more expensive to replace the brushroll instead of replacing the brushstrips. In turn, again it would be more profitable for Sears.

There is another possibility though. Many vacuum users do not want to take the time to remove the power nozzle and put a floor brush on when cleaning floors. Using a brush-only agitator would decrease the risk of damage for some users.

You are right about the Wessell-Werk mini turbo brush. It is not that great. I think the Rug Rat is great. It is very sturdy/durable. I have the original Rug Rat and the same thing under Kirby(from the Heritage). I do not care for the later Zip Brush, IMHO.

peteK,

The Eureka you picked up is more like 20+ yrs. old. The Eureka power nozzle, that you have, is actually a very good nozzle. It does a very good job with the beater bar. The power nozzle was not too noisey compared to the Kenmore power nozzles. These power nozzles were used by others like Rainbow, Compact and Fair Fax. You are right about the edge cleaning, because there really was no edge cleaning. There should be a small indent on one side(opposite the belt)of the metal bottom plate. That is the "edge cleaning".
 
Loving this thread

Thank You Chad and Airway Charlie for sharing so much vacuum fun with us. I saw one of those Eureka Upright Powerheads once. I had stopped at a nearby vac shop for some belts or something (I was about 14 at the time). The shop had one of those powerheads attached to a central vac system. The repair guy at the shop commented to me "Now THAT'S a f*#+ing vacuum cleaner. At that tender age I was shocked to hear such uncensored language but he really was right- that was a f*#+ing vacuum cleaner.

I have become awash with vacuums lately. I already have my Compact C-6 and my Kirby G3. Since my shop closed, I brought home the huge new Shop Vac 16 gallon with detachable blower. I like this newer Slop Vac way better than the older ones that Austin likes so well, so to each his own.

I gave a Filter Queen (forgot model-medium brown paint-straight suction) to one of my friends when he first moved out o0n his own at age 25 (late bloomer). He had it all these years. When I last saw him in Las Vegas, he asked me to do a simple rpair on the hose. When I returned it to him, his wife said "I wish you would quit fixing that old vacuum, so we can get a new one". So they finally bought a Shark by redeeming the coupons from Betty Crocker products and my friend shipped the old Queen to me. The tool halo cracked in shipping, as did the bare floor brush. The cord on the cordreel is seriously hashed out. A project vacuum.

When my Parents moved to the lovely senior apartments, Dad asked me what I wanted from the house. I wanted Moms old Revelation Vacuum Cleaner! I got it this week. It still has the original rubber cord. The only remaining original attachment was the rug tool. When I unpacked the machine, a corner of the rug tool cracked off enroute, so now must hunt for a replacement. My Mother bought that machine in 1951 when my folks lived in Hollywood, CA from a door to door salesman named Aaron.

What to do with all these sweepers in a 1 bedroom ohana?

To top it all off, we have one of those detestable little plastique hand vacs called a scorpion or some damned thing. Dennis bought it when he first got here, rather that wait for me to ship the Compact. Oh, and a mid 70's blue Eureka handvac, also plastique.
 
General Electric swivel top vacs with power nozzle

The GE swivel-top canister in the vac shop, would of had a plastic control panel on the front(above bumper). This is where the suction control and speed switch would be. Near the bottom of the panel, it would of had the "General GE Electric" logo. This vacuum cleaner, with power nozzle, would be resurrected as the Premier. The colors should have been moss green and celery green.

This GE with power nozzle was not the first. Years earlier, the first would of had the same "steereasy" wheels and front-top mounted swivel hose port. The "General GE Electric" logo was located on the bumper and not like the above later model. The swivel top with power nozzle was not popular. Part of the reason was that these came about at a time when they were not popular. Sears and Electrolux dominated the market for power nozzles. The GE Powr-pak canisters(VT-) were not popular either. The suction-only GE swivel-tops were still popular. I knew so many people who had General Electric vacuum cleaners.
 
I have the September 1979 Consumer Reports where they tested vacuums (will have to scan it in and post it). A Premier/GE swivel-top canister with the P/N was tested, and I was surprised. There is even a picture of it in the issue...will have to dig it out.

As a sidenote, one of CR's main complaints about this type of machine was the bag since it didn't "seal" to the inlet like other canisters...the bag opening was the canister!
 
Cen-Tec Nozzles

GE,
Thanks for the info on Cen-Tec. I have to admit I do like their selection of P/N's. I am ordering through ESSCO one one of the new "Quiet Drive" with the v belt instead of the geared.
You probably know that it is available with or without the Dirt Sensor. If I like it, it would be nice to have it available for customers who may want a quieter P/N.

It is too bad that Air-Way never took it upon themselves to offer these direct from the factory. Espically with the telescoping wands. I just hope the "death bell" doesn't start tolling for them while I'm still around. Such a great company with a great past.

My absolute favorites are the twin motor models. For nostalgia's sake I include a picture of my Scout. Again, thanks GE for the info.

Charlie
 

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