Brush type motors are universal, AC or DC. They would have brushes riding on a commutator and the field windings connected parallel or series to the brushes. DC permanent magnet motors have the brushes and commutator but the magnets replace the field windings, so no wires needed there.I'm still not sure what you are trying to achieve. Are you worried about the nameplate voltage being lower than the available power or are you trying to control speed? Since you already know they work with a "extention" cord. You got some explaining to do. A diode bridge functioning as a rectifier will not really provide DC, but pulsating DC that as far as a universal motor is concerned may as well be AC. If it is an induction motor then you cant use DC anyway.