Sears would get them also, as the Kenmore Bagless. Eureka noticed.Įureka came out, six months later, with the first "whirlwind" bagless upright. IONA sold more than a quarter million Fury's in one month of Informericals. It was called the Fantom Fury, and was sold through a brilliant series of Infomercials. IONA decided to make a smaller version, lighter in weight than the Thunder, and with a built-in Hepa filter (which the Thunder, until 1995, did NOT have). The IONA machine was called the Fantom (Thunder) and the Sears version was called the Destiny. When Johnson Wax decided to abandon the commercial vacuum cleaner market two years later (1991), IONA decided to make the machine and sell it themselves through Infomercials and throush Sears stores (for which they were making James' NovaDry carpet shampooer machine). James designed it, and it was a very sturdy, well built machine. In the United States and Canada, a Company called IONA made a cleaner for S C Johnson Wax, called the Vectron, which was sold as a commercial upright vacuum. The settlement in the Amway case (together with a healthy bank loan) gave James the funds to begin his own manufacturing business, making cleaners under his own name.Įverywhere in the world, except North America. The buyers at Sears at first were delighted with the NovaDry, but soon told James that they had seen the same thing before, as an AMWAY. This was also known as the NovaDry, which used Capture dry carpet shampoo, the machine would dispense, brush, and then vacuum with dual cyclonic suction (which never clogged). James found out about this machine AFTER he designed a new carpet shampooer for Sears, called the DryTech. Yet, the DID come out with the machine in the U.S. System).Īmway (or should I say "scamway") went BACK to England and told James they would NOT be making the cleaner, and gave him back his industrial drawings and patents. They said YES and the result was the Amway CMS 1000 (CMS stands for Carpet Maint. Amway went to Bissell in Michigan and asked them if they could make the machine. They went to England and he let them have the patents and blueprints to the machine. The Amway Corporation's VP's were made aware of the existence of the machine, and contracted with James to license the technology. He contracted with a company called "KleenEze" to sell the machines door to door. James held the patent on dual cyclonic bagless vacuums. It wouldn't have been as awesome without them.(I own all the vacuums I'm writing about, and will post pics to this thread later.)īack in 1984, James Dyson asked a manufacturer named Zanusi in Italy to make 500 vacuums that he designed. But these machines hold a place in my early childhood. I used to put coins into those "wishing wells" in the malls, and wished for a Fantom Cyclone XT. To even find a Fantom in excellent condition is hard to find. The bagged vacuum market actually had competition! They unfortunately made a fatal business mistake and ended up closing. Other companies started making their own bagless vacs, even though they were nowhere near like Fantoms. It had the ability to sit on stairs without falling off.įantom started a revolution in how people vacuumed. Instead of spewing dust and bacteria into the air that you breathe, the air was 99.99% purified, with particles as small as 0.3 microns (Smaller than a hair!) trapped in the filter! They were like Dyson but from a different decade.Īnother awesome feature was HEPA filtration. They had infomercials too.įantom vacuums were amazing! These machines pulled out dirt from carpets that you thought were clean! The Dual Cyclonic technology that they used spun dirt and dust around in 2 cyclones, maintaining suction. These 2 Fantoms are the Cyclone XT and Thunder. Yes, my Asperger's gives me a photographic memory.Īnother Fantom Fury model, the Fury Special Edition Plus. They had testimonials from everyday people just like your mom and dad, telling viewers about their experience with their Fantom and how they loved it. Mary McDonough, aka Erin from "The Waltons", presented the infomercial. For 4 payments of $59.75 you got the Fantom Fury with on-board attachments, a 7 foot extension hose, a HEPA filter and a Capture Spot and Soil Remover Kit. This was the 10 amp model that they sold on the infomercial. For me, I'm a vacuum geek, and one brand that I think of when I remember the 90's is Fantom. We all have our favorite childhood memory. Rugrats, Looney Tunes, Nerf guns, Super Soakers, so on and so on. For a 90's kid, there are many shows, movies, toys, etc.
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