Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Curiously Overstock.com has been stocking refurbished Kirby vacuums for a while, and they have added Rainbow SE vacuums (along with Panasonic, Royal, Dyson, and Oreck offerings).  The Rainbow SE is "factory refurbished" (not sure which factory) and is offered with a brand new Wesselwerks 11" power nozzle and a 5 year warranty. 

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Rainbow-SE-Bagless-Water-Vacuum-Cleaner-Refurbished/3402181/product.html

if its the 11'' w-w power head without the headlite,then its the same as what bosch and miele uses on their mid range machines. Its not the 236 powerhead, considering that rainbows attempt at building their own power head since leaving the eureka camp back in the d2 d3 era, they just cant seem to find the right combination,too aggressive not aggreesive enough, Good brushroll, wrong bearings and pullies, side hung belt then center hung belt, neither which work with the cheapo flat belt.Take the adjustment height out put the height adjustment back in.ITs just too expensive and heavy and is just too hard to push.I think the customer is really better off with the W.W head.Hey why not OCEAN BLUE uses it................

MOLE

I forgot to mention that you can buy a new Amway Bagless ClearTrak Vacuum with Tools for only $450 - supposedly an $850 value.  I've never used on of these, but I'm not sure why one would want to buy a primitive version of a Dyson for more than a modern Dyson?  Or am I missing something.   The reviews are actually quite good for this product. 

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Amway-Bagless-ClearTrak-Vacuum-with-Tools/2996694/product.html

Severus,

Thanks for the info. I do not know much of this vacuum, but if one was to look, it is missing Dyson’s shroud. I believe Dyson invented the shroud (an industry changing innovation - an industry standard today) while developing the first dual cyclone for Iona. Interestingly there is a eBay seller who was/still is? selling NIB ClearTraks (with shrouds, if I remember correctly). I called the seller and ironically they bought the lot of these vacuums from a woman who recently went to prison. To bad the Amway “suits” who decided to steal Mr. Dyson’s innovations did not go to prison too. Certainly, if small time inventors could see a suit or two go to prison for stealing backyard inventors inventions, then more life changing inventions would come forth and well... change lives (with better innovations), change industries and ultimately bring forth more wealth and jobs for many. DIB

Filter Queen [copied also by Lewyt] uses an aluminum 'conical assembly' in their 1940's bagless canisters to cover/protect the motor from dirt and dust.  This conical assembly is IMHO the precursor of today's 'shroud.'

Carmine D.

Carmine,
The conical assembly and perhaps others too predate the Dyson shroud. But it is the Dyson shroud that is being copied globally and nothing at the USPTO predates this industry standard [the Dyson shroud]. If designed correctly and if the distance between the shroud and the interior of the bin is “perfect", this results in no or almost no debris getting hung up or sucked into the shroud (if the bin is not overfilled, note: uprights work a little better than canisters). It’s genius, that’s why it’s copied so heavily.

DIB

DysonInventsBig wrote:

I suspect that Filter Queen never bothered with the USPTO.  In part, the reason Lewyt copied FQ bagless cann including the 'conical assembly' and filter cones.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

Hi Carmine,

To your recall, did Health-Mor, maker of Filter Queen, ever follow through legally due to Lewyt's use of the filter cone?  We do know that Lewyt eventually gave up on it for a change to disposable bags and subsequent new designs.  I wondered if the initial reason for that was some legal mandate or just getting on thebandwagon by way of more convenience.

Best,

Venson

Venson,Health-mor, maker of the filterquenn,sued and beat lewyt for a patent infringement and beat them for a huge amount of money i think it was somewhere in the mid to late 50's.

It was kind of ironic that the lewyt designed look alike, never really worked very well.I know i sold and serviced them.This technecally put lewyt out of the vacuum market.

I believe the amount was 3 million awarded to health-mor at the time.

Is immitation the highest form of flattery?????????????

MOLE

Venson wrote:

Hi Venson:

Yes, Health-Mor pursued a remedy in the courts and prevailed with a cash payment from Lewyt for its copying.  Not sure of the actual amount.

Lewyt went to bagged cann vacuums [round and square] and scrubbed the bagless cann in the mid 50's.  Disposable paper bags were all the rage.  People did not like to dump cloth bags and dirt canisters.  We mentioned on another thread recently that Lewyt around this time intro'ed the Speed Sak with a see thru window so users could see how full the paper bag was.

American households were also going more often with carpets and rugs for floor furnishings.  Lewyt dropped out of the market along with other vacuum makers [like GE and Westinghouse] who couldn't provide the latest vacuums needed and wanted by US buyers for their household cleaning needs: i.e.: uprights and power heads with brush rolls.

Carmine D.

Hi Carmine,

Did filterqueen go bagged?. I know they had optional bags that could be purchased but never really promoted them, i think because it would totally blow their whole sales and marketing pitch.

Please give us the LOWDOWN and your insight on this..........

I would say that your right [people did not take to kindly to the bagless portable systems],you notice i said portable.........

MOLE