Kirby Company
Kirby Opco, LLC, doing business as The Kirby Company, is a manufacturer of vacuum cleaners, home cleaning products and accessories, located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is a division of Right Lane Industries. Dealers, sales reps, service centers, and distributors are located in over 50 countries. Kirby vacuum cleaners are sold via door-to-door or though arranged-scheduled in-home demonstrations via their website and the company is a member of the Direct Selling Association. The Kirby website can also take vacuum cleaner orders and ship directly to the customer as well, without having to arrange for a scheduled in-home demonstration. All Kirby vacuum cleaners are built in both Edgewater, Cleveland, Ohio and Andrews, Texas, United States.
History
designed the first Kirby vacuums for George Scott and Carl Fetzer after World War I, although the Kirby name was not used on a vacuum cleaner until the 1930s. James Kirby invented the "vacuette" circa 1919. The company's primary competitors included The Hoover Company and The Eureka Company, both of which began operations in 1909, as well as Bissell that started building carpet sweepers in 1876. Their primary European competitor was Electrolux, which started 1924. Dyson, Miele and Sebo followed in the 1980s, and Shark began in the 1990s.Introduced in 1916, the Edgewater, Ohio, factory was opened by the Scott & Fetzer Company at Locust Ave. and W. 114th St., and the Vacuette Electric was introduced. It featured a removable floor nozzle and handle and became the forerunner of current multi-attachment Kirby vacuum models. The Vacuette was briefly offered as a manual vacuum cleaner, utilizing a spring-loaded worm gear driven by pulling the vacuum cleaner backwards; when pushing the machine forward, the worm gear would power a turbine that provided suction. As long as the cleaner was consistently pulled backwards, tension in the spring would remain constant and the turbine would continue spinning. It was designed for rural areas that did not have electricity and was very similar to the carpet sweeper. In 1935, the company introduced the Kirby Model C, the first product to carry Jim Kirby's name.
One of the key features is the amount of suction the motor generates. Beginning in the 1950s, owner's manuals listed an innovation the company called "Triple-Cushion Vibration" rug cleaning action. The current Avalir 2 has been given an airflow rating of 132 cubic feet per minute, which allows it to lift the carpet off the floor, flexing the surface to be cleaned, whereby the brush roll that spins at 3,200 RPM agitates and lifts the dirt, while grooming the carpet fibers from the base of the carpet. The owners manual recommend that the carpet nozzle be lowered close enough to the surface so as to maintain a secure suction and minimize breaking the suction while cleaning the carpet. Another feature of the Kirby system is the modular design of both vacuum and accessories, allowing machines to be configured for numerous uses, from normal floor cleaning, tile surface scrubbing, wet floor mopping, to furniture shampooing and as a compact, handheld vacuum with extension hose attachments for various cleaning chores. This versatility also provides for add-on sales or bundling of the complete system.
Starting in the late 1940s the carpet cleaning floor nozzle with the brush roller could be removed, and the 1948 owners manual for the Model 508 called it the "Triple-Cushion Vibrator", which was powered by a removable rubber belt that was in contact with a metal shaft extending from the vacuum turbine blades, powered by the electric motor, and reattached to a brush used to polish floors, or an extended plastic hose that could accommodate a furniture dusting attachment. The Model 508 was also the first to offer a simple device on the front of the carpet nozzle called the "Belt Lifter" which was a metal lifter that easily removed the rubber drive belt and allowed other attachments to be installed on the drive unit. To accommodate cleaning rugs of a delicate nature, the "Belt Lifter" could disengage the rubber drive belt, allowing just suction to clean the surface which is still offered on all machines.
These attachments are still offered and the floor buffer was updated in the mid-1960s with a dry foam carpet shampoo attachment Kirby called the "Rug Renovator" that was first introduced with the two speed motor on the Dual Sanitronic 50 and is also still available. The carpet shampoo cleaning solution is in a clear tank that attaches to the motor exhaust where the dirt collection bag is attached as a vacuum cleaner, and uses compressed air generated by the electric motor. A plastic tube then sends the shampoo to the carpet scrubber brush that agitates the surface to be cleaned.
Kirby has remained with its original design, materials and functionality with enhancements added to aid in its operation and durability, and uses the "dirty-air" vacuum design. The company changes the appearance of the cleaner with revised color schemes and introduces new models with a similar core design. The attachments and appearance items are interchangeable between generations and some machines consist of parts from multiple models. Machines built in the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s are in operation worldwide and can be repaired or rebuilt with factory original parts.
All models used a cloth bag that allowed airflow to pass through and clean the air exiting the machine. Earlier versions of the cloth bag used dense duvetyne, and later corduroy cotton and wool fabric bags where fine grit, dander and other foreign contaminants collected. The cotton bag briefly had an integrated cleaning pocket within, called the "Sani-Pocket" introduced in 1964 with the Sanitronic, where embedded dirt could be dislodged from the interior surface of the bag while keeping the dirt contained inside. The owners manual for the cloth bag equipped machines recommended that the cloth bag be emptied after cleaning had been finished, to avoid dirt, fungus and bacteria from setting in the fibers of the bag, and preparing the machine for the next time.
Starting with the Tradition model, an internal, disposable paper bag was introduced in addition to the cotton cloth bag. The disposable paper bag provided a protective barrier against the interior surface of the cloth bag and offered the convenience of storing the cleaner when finished, and not requiring that the bag be emptied every time. With the introduction of the Generation 3 model in 1990, a HEPA certified dirt containment filter bag, labeled as "Micron Magic" which minimizes dust being expelled into the air from the machine. Beginning with the Generation 3, all Kirby's are installed with a self-propelled transmission, called "Tech Drive Power Assist", which is engaged with a lever at the bottom next to the foot operated power switch.
In the 1930s and the 1940s, Kirby started to offer their products in retail environments, and introduced the "R" series. They are identical to their "C" series, with differences being the power switch installed on the handle. The first model was the R, followed by the 2R, 3R and 4R. In 1970, input from Kirby distributors, dealers, management and customers guided Kirby engineers in developing the second-generation models, introduced as the Kirby Classic. This gave the opportunity to expand its manufacturing facilities outside of Cleveland. This coincided with the rising popularity of wall-to-wall custom installed carpet. In 1972, after Kirby Company founder Jim Kirby's death the previous year, Kirby West began operations in Andrews, Texas at 1345 NW 101 Street, which doubled the company's manufacturing capacity. The company maintained a presence in Canada, located at 1009 Burns Street East in Whitby, which is no longer staffed, and briefly in the 1920s as Vacuette's, Ltd in the Miller Building at 48 York Street in Toronto.
Since the mid to late 1980's, the Kirby Company has hosted a world convention every few years called "Kirby World", usually held in Nashville, Tennessee, bringing together from all over the world, dealers, sales representatives, and distributors. Over a three–day period, speeches & lectures given by Kirby company executives and other keynote speakers, musical numbers by a professional dance group, along with actors highlighting the company's success and other topics showcasing the importance of maintaining customer loyalty and satisfaction, the newest model Kirby vacuum is unveiled, along with new Kirby home cleaning products and accessories along with demonstrations of those items. Sales awards and bonuses were also given out to Dealers and distributors for their best overall sales from the previous year through the "Kirby opportunity" and "Road to success" programs. In the months to follow, VHS tape and DVD box sets of that years "Kirby World" convention were later sent out to Dealers and distributors to help aide in training of new sales representatives. These convention video box sets are hard to find as these were never made available to the general public; however, some have surfaced every now and then on auction sites such as eBay.
Berkshire Hathaway bought Kirby's parent Scott Fetzer in 1986 for $315 million. Two years prior, Ivan Boesky had offered to buy Scott Fetzer for $60 a share, or $420 million. Warren Buffett has singled out Scott Fetzer to Berkshire's shareholders as the "prototype" for the "kind of company — and acquisition — he was interested in." According to Berkshire managers, "absolutely no changes were made to the existing Scott Fetzer business or management, and the entire business was preserved."
As of 2003, Kirby was the largest source of revenue and profit for Scott Fetzer, with approximately 500,000 sales per year, about a third of which are outside the United States. In 2003, Scott Fetzer sold the vacuums to about 835 factory distributors, who in turn sell the vacuums door-to-door. As an incentive to new customers, Kirby offers the Service Center Vacuum Rebuild Program for original owners who have been registered with the company. As long as the customer owns the machine as the registered owner, if the cleaner needs repair, they can send it back to the Rebuild Department and have it restored to "like-new" condition. The company will completely disassemble it, repair or replace any worn Kirby parts, and sandblast, polish and buff metal parts back to a shiny "new" appearance. Internal components are also thoroughly inspected and repaired with Kirby replacement parts so that it will perform as originally designed.
In 2021, Berkshire Hathaway sold Kirby to the Chicago, Illinois based Right Lane Industries, ending its nearly century long history with Scott Fetzer.