The History of the Rainbow Vacuum

The Rainbow vacuum was one of the first bagless canister vacuums on the market. The Rexair Cleaner, the predecessor to the Rainbow, was first sold to homeowners in 1929.

The original Rexair Cleaner was invented by Leslie H. Green in 1929. Russ Hill joined the company and modified the design to trap the dust using water in 1936. The vacuum would trap the dust lifted from carpets by passing it through a tub of water. This was great for carpets, but the cleaner was still unable to service bare floors.

With all these changes and now a new motor as well, the Rexair Cleaner was repackaged and branded as the Rainbow in 1955. By 1959, the lead salesman for the company, J.V. Sanders, purchased the company and revolutionized the distribution structure of the company.

This model, launched in 1980, was the first to be approved for wet pickup, using the AquaMate carpet cleaner attachment. Also, this model had a cooler running motor and several other attachments.

In 1986, Rexair celebrated its 50-year anniversary by launching the Rainbow D4 after five years of preparations. The SE and SE PE models had only minor and mostly cosmetic changes from the D4 model.

The latest models are the Rainbow E Series and the E2, which is the same as the E Series except it has a two-speed motor. These models also have newer packaging, a more powerful motor and now include HEPA filtration.