Arrived at my bud Carl's farm outside Butler PA Tuesday afternoon after a 6 hour sunny drive along the backroad 2-lanes from Stratford Ontario via Buffalo NY.
Ebay wins have been accumulating in the summer kitchen since June. In this pic, sharing space with the ATVs and snomobiles are Carl's extensive Xmas Decorations & property lighting getting ready to go up and half the vacuum boxes have been moved into the house for unwrapping and the reveal...
As I open up each parcel I must say I am very impressed this time around with the care every one of these sellers has taken packing boxes to absolutely prevent any damage whatsoever. I'll be emailing them personally as well as leaving A+++ feedbacks.
Two Hoovers and a genuine Turquoise Roll-Easy caddy. Intact!
Cylinder lineup in the Hallway. Every one has the hose and most tools & wands & original cords. Surprising thing is, all the original cloth hoses are supple and airtight with a satistying palm thump. What kind of lucky is that?!
Filtex, Lux AE, all chrome GE, complete GE Tools Case, the GE that came with the tools, but I'll be pairing them with the Chrome Bomb.
Whole bunch of Compact stuff in the bathroom, and Red Kirby tool case. The Monitor is an astounding find story in itself I'll tell later - it is my SECOND Monitor.
Airway with fibre handle tucked in by the vanity is a parts beater machine in very dire shape. I needed the motor and the Dial celuloid for my Green Goddess. Nice legible bag, too.
Everything has to come out of the cartons so the loading puzzle for the car can be worked out. Here's an early test fit pic.
Yes, it all fit snug & compact with the low boxes and hoses coiled on top, under the cargo cover all behind the back seat.
Room in the back seat for the Hoover Floor Washer I'll pick up from Tom on Thursday night...after thrifting all over Alliance, Canton & North Canton followed by The Hoover Historical Center visit.
Observant folks will now know my Ebay identity.
More postings from the road at the next Motel Super8 with wireless high speed Thursday night...if not later tonight. Man, this is fun.
There's a surprising low dollar value on the stuff in the trunk. Ferinstance, no one but me bid on the chrome GE and I took a real gamble it wasn't rusted out or mangled on the other side. Then the sorta boring-by-comparison mud brown GE was listed a day later...well, I just had to try for those gleaming glass & polished aluminum tools; the toolbox has all its parts and a manual. It all balances out in the end. Two sucking GE cloth weave hoses and enough tools to share between 'em. Similar gambling - the Filtex has all its papers and looks like it hasn't been used a day in its life. When the Compact Magic Disk came up everyone else was frantic for the separately listed Polishaire so again no one noticed me sneaking in under the tent flap. The Constellation is in rough shape but it is the first one, the non-floater. The AE, just because I didn't have one and the color matching E was lonely, it went cheap and it is rusted along the right side name band but what the heck, eh?
Bonus pic. Spotted my name on an abandoned building outside Titusville PA. Had to turn back around and capture it.
Love that building Dave, are you compelled to buy it? (You really want to, you know) Pennsylvania is chock loaded with really neat old buildings. I miss living up north.
Alan,If I was younger and wealthier such a building could certainly be transformed into a wonderful music room - imagine the pipe organ I could put in there with 5 floors of open space. Like Wannamaker's Philladelphia Grand Court Organ, only half the size. LOL
But, if I had that kind of time & money I'd be re-creating one of Frank Lloyd Wright's 1900 prairie houses with vast entertainment spaces.
Off for a hearty Bob Evans breakfast and on to Canton Adventures...
Allen is right, PA does have a lot of old buildings for sale. A few years ago there was an old church for sale here in Easton for $150,000 and that included a pipe organ. I don't recall what ir went for but i know they did not tear it down for a parking lot like so many nice places have become.
Hi Dave, nothing like a road trip & picking up the goodies as well, nice selection so far, looking forward to seeing more pics, love the all chrome GE, Enjoy the breakfast, Mike
Dave, if I had the money either......but both of your ideas are terrific, I would vote for the Frank Lloyd Wright idea. You could recreate about three different periods in there. Mike, I bet Easton still has bunches of great buildings. I have a 1963 copy of the Melange, the college yearbook, that has a picture of the inside of the Magnavox dealer. Might you know where it was?
Got in from North Canton 30 minutes ago. Left Tom's at 9:30. Tom, Heather and their 3 year old boy , and the 'puppy', are the nicest folks you'd want to meet. Honest, all I intended to do was have a good visit and pack the nifty yellow floor washer in the back seat. Perhaps a bit overwhelmed by Tom's splendid Hoover Basement I put up little resistance as he generously plucked out parts, hoses and vacuums from the Spare Parts bins in response to any needs that came to my mind. I mean, after digging stuff out it would be a shame to have to wedge it all back in, eh Tom? :-) Thanks my friend, for your kind hospitality on short notice on a 'school night'.
In addition to the Floor washer he produced a second yellow one that is only missing the nozzle. Taking pity on the Blue non floater Constellation he found blue tools and a stretchy hose with the correct wand end. A few more Connie hoses, another second swiveltop Connie with the powerhose guts removed, the standard toolset in box for my convertible, a big plump bag for the 913, a gray Lewyt tub canister in need off everything attachable...oh, and a taupe & orange ( I think) DAM with the tools. Excuse me for not being specific about model numbers but I'm feeling rather burnt out tonight, happy to be off the road and within 5 hours of home. I think I will head up to Port Huron & Sarnia to enter Canada, pop in briefly on Pete, then through London to pick up the Kirby G3 and ideally home before sunset.
Consulting Akron & Canton streetmaps Wednesdsay night I realized I was close to the Goodyear Dirigable Hanger and a short drive from the wonderful Sieberling Estate (founder GoodYear Rubber), Stan Hewyt. Spent the morning touring the estate then arrived at the Hoover Historical Center at 2:30. Was there until 4PM getting the Special Tour then over to Tom's for pizza & vacuums til it was indeed time to bid adieu to North Canton until next time.
No pix up yet, will have to wait til I get home. Well, maybe a couple quikie uploads in the morning before another hearty trucker's breakfast...
Sounds great, as you can see I'm up late, had a nap earlier so when you get here you may have to knock hard on the door, the doorbell doesn't always work, just don't give up and leave LOL
Bump
Just keeping this space ready for Daves presentation of finds. He stopped in at my place early this afternoon on his way home from Ohio with another 90 miles to go so he should have been home ages ago. His Subaru was chock a block full o vacs from PA and Toms in N.Canton but managed to squeeze some more stuff in before he left here on his merry way down the hiway.
Back home from Toledo to Stratford at 5:02PM, with stop at Pete's and a detour to London for the G3, just in advance of a fierce snowstorm coming on. Crossed the St Clair River on an Auto Ferry. $6. for a 15 minute cruise coast to coast. LOL . Actually its a great and fun alternative to crossing at Detroit or Port Huron with the long long slow lines of trucks and cars. Seriously, I drove on the ferry, we left and arrived and customs was one nice guy in a heated cabin waving us though.
As you can imagine this is a daunting number of vacuumage to un-wedge from the Subaru wagon while the winds are flinging the doors open & closed and the snow is flying and the sun is setting.
In to the kitchen they were 'heaved' two at a time:
It's the Cat's Ass! LOL Woulda said Cat's Pajamas but, well, really...
Now I have a selection of machines to scrub & grind & buff. Pete found this red Electrolux washer/polisher to match the 86 & 88, just like his; luv those handle knobs.
And I just know I can cobble up suitable brush strips to fix to the Hoover so it'll do its thing. Already have a substitute nozzle in mind for the second one...
Thinkin' the Lux will have to do the heavy sanding first, Pete. But really, that's all just dirt & spilled coffee & stuff. Hey, I'm a sloppy trailertrash workaholic bachelor and yeah, the floor is worn & cracked in very few places but it came with the house, was underneath wall to wall carpet - really! - and I like the pattern.
Found the type of brush strips I'll need to make the floor washer suck water. They came off an extra Compact floor tool. The brush strips on Tom's are densely packed together and about 1/4" apart. They are part of a rectangular plastic plate 11 5/8" long by 1 1/4" wide that is screwed into the nozzle allowing suction only through the long slit between the strips. Water simply drips down through the long center slit, and you 'scrub'. When its time to suck up, capillary effect 'seals' the brush strips with water as it is vacuumed up into the bag. The original nozzle comes off easily by turning it upside down and it slips off. I'll have to manufacture my own plate and fix the brushes to it like the original. Unless someone has this plate or a spare complete nozzle in a parts bin...someday...
The elbow from the machine connected to the nozzle sits a mere 1/2" above the floor. I found a orphaned unidentifiable gray plastic generic floor brush 11" wide that satisfies these parameters. All I need to do is clean all the accumulated dustbunnies out of the brushes (don't think it'll be necessary to create a long center slit as the water comes from the tank in a 1/4" rubber hose inside the large vacuum orifice) and reduce the inlet hole to fit and it'll work for the second machine.
Tom, I should have taken a photo of yours...could you shoot me a picture of the bottom of your floor washer nozzle?
Inside the nozzles. From these pictures you can see what I'm trying to duplicate for the second Floorwasher.
Just need to get water to flow to the floor where the brushes will spread it out, then have close fitting brushes to form its own vacuum seal for waste water pickup. Brilliantly simple design really, even if it was Hoover's Edsel, as Tom says.
Can anyone identify the Vacuum Brand of this sacrificial doner plastic flip-over floor tool? I have a matching rug tool as well. They are all gray plastic with a gray rubber bumper and a plastic swivel angled elbow.
All I'm going to do is fit a reducer tube & O-ring into it, so if the two tools are important to someone's needs the modifications are reversable.
I'm just agog with all of the pictures of your good luck, especially the Hoover section. I still love my GEs, but Hoover is trying to take over here. Wow! I'll bet you're happy!
Great collection of finds. I especially love that Filtex you got. Just like you mentioned it looks brand new. I defiantly want to get one of those for my collection. I rarely see them and never with the hose, attachments or paperwork. You got a once in a lifetime deal there. I know you'll enjoy it. But now with winter coming on for us here in the northeast. Time to stay home, enjoy your finds and do some housework.
Thanks Paul, and believe me there's nothing much I'd rather do than stay home the next 6 vacation weeks and play with the new toys. A few of them need major spa treatments but mostly, after getting the rest of the collection off the floor and on to shelves, now I have to contend with this mighty pile of treasures. Yeah, like I am complaining. LOL.
One thing at a time. Last night re-rivited the handle support for the Kirby G3 and changed the paperbag. All 4 rivits were popped making for a very sloppy bouncing handle and they'd fallen inside the motor housing. Lucky I found them. I suspect the lady simply put the machine away when the handle fell off and the vacuum was making horrendous noises from the debris in the fan from her reno pickup. Anyone else find these rivits popping or loosening from rough handling? Easy to re-do. Took a small, just larger than the rivit, ball bearing, placed it in the rivit end that spreads and squeezed with vicegrips. it forces the ball bearing to evenly spread the rivit and you can finish it off flat. Gawd I LUV Powerdrive!!! The G3 was rescued just in time - found a heap of rattling nuts, bolts, screws, staples and plaster dust in the emptor & bag. Damn lucky the bag didn't get pierced. Removed a 1.5" nail punched through the plastic fan but at least all the vanes are intact. It runs real smooth and is quieter than I was expecting.
In a few days I leave for Winnipeg Manitoba for at least 2 weeks to assist a buddy put the player guts back into a totally rebuilt 1929 6.5' flame mahogany Steinway Duo-Art grand...and add a midi valve interface at the same time. Big job, big fun, dang cold. A trip to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to meet Doug Smith adds to the pending adventure quotient.
Today I'll tackle the Connie hoses, putting the correct ends on the flex hoses gifted from generous Tom. And keep fiddling up a Floor Washer nozzle brush arrangement; So close now, I see it all in my mind...after viewing that UTube video over and over.
Oh, and thanks, Piano God Scott for that Nilfisk ID. They are in real rough shape so I'll use it for the second Hoover just so I can see the dang clever machine work.
Went to work on nozzle-less Washer #2. This is the really dirty scuffed one Tom threw in with the eBay one I won from him. What fun taking it all apart to see how it's made and check for and renew any leak points. Really, all it needed was rubber gaskets cleaned of waterlime deposits in the various valves. Washed each part to remove years of dust & dirt and of course the Magic Eraser final touch.
Then to work on the gray transplant floorbrush as I envisioned it last night. Patiently picked out every dust bunny fibre from the brushes forming a perfect thin wide footprint surrounded all around by dense brushage flat to the floor; a hot water soak straightened out the twisted ones. Looking more & more ideal for the purpose. Nozzle reducer connection was a snap, literally. Found a piece of thick walled rubber hose that clamped snug into the gray tool halves' hole without pulling out. The inside diameter of the hose is a match to the machine end - all I added was a punched hole for the lug - punched 3 to form a slot so the nozzle is free to rotate like the original. Voila, it's a secure push on fit. Amazed I didn't have to add any collar shims.
Broom-cleared a section of linoleum in front of the sink, no pre-scrubbing. Now understand that this is OLD scuffed flooring with some surface wear (black spots) through the pattern (Gold line grid on yellow/cream speckled background), probably put down in the 1930s in an 1894 house, so allowing for my floor's shabby well worn chic, the pictures show the clean. Nothing special other than adding PineSol to the tank water. The machine worked flawlessly. Dispenses wash water on demand and stops when you release the trigger, the brush spreads it out as you scrub. You could turn the motor off while scrubbing but why bother? The motor has a soothing hum to it and you want it warmed up for the next step. Warm exhaust air directed at the nozzle from the bottom of the motor casing blowdries the floor at the same time the machine is sucking up dirty water in one pass. And NO STREAKS!!!
Frankly, I could have done the same job on my hands and knees with attendant backache like Mom, in small sections as far as my arm would reach but it would have taken considerably longer, would have left streaks to be gone over with a mop, wouldn't have done any better a job and certainly wouldn't have been as much fun. Standing and working with the Hoover Model 3500 Floor Washer lets you clean 6 foot deep areas as wide as you like without stepping on wet floor. Why, my jean's knees aren't even wet! Gotta love this convenient sexy machine.
Wash the rest of the Kitchen floor tomorrow or tonight and Tomorrow - We Wax & Buff! Mmm, continue with Hoover or give the red wine Electrolux Model BX10 with wax solution tank a run?
Well it's certainly looking better Gonna have to find some stiffer brushes though for that red Electrolux scrubber..I think those brushes are a bit too soft
I didn't see it the first time. It's fantastic showing the engineers working on the prototype. The Hoover Floor Washer really does what it shows. Did my entire shabby old kitchen floor by shifting furniture from side to side, then laid down 3 coats of FUTURE acrylic shine stuff. The Linoleum is still shappy but it's clean and very shiny.
The foam pad under the top lid flap that admits full suction to the waste water bag was decomposed & leaking. Replaced it with a similar thickness of automobile sound deadening closed cell 3/16" foam sheet cut to size. (we have a plant in town that die-cuts various shapes from this foam to build interior components for Ford & Chrysler). I scarfed remnants of it from the trash. It's peel n stick on one side, smooth & poreless on the other. Perfect for applications like this.
It's been snowing to beat the band for two days, have about 14" on the ground and the very high winds are causing drifting and whiteouts. All roads out of town have been closed the past two nights. And yet over Pete's way in Sarnia 90 minutes west on the same latitude the sun is shining and snow is a mere dusting, he says. And the idler drive belt engager spring on the snowblower busted this afternoon. :-( Can fix it but not until I get back home. Kinda hoping the larger SEARS stores along my route might have that part handy in stock...sure would simplify the repair.
Waiting for the break in the weather on Thursday to drive across Michigan to Merrilville Indiana to first motel o0n the way to Minneapolis.
I really wanted to buff up some genuine floor wax, Charles...
Was all over this town in hardware stores, 5 grocery stores and even carpet/flooring places looking for liquid wax. Nothing available but Acrylic Floor Shiner. So I chose FUTURE Premium Floor Finish by Johnson because of the spacey logo. It's the Atomic symbol with the 3 squashed ellipsoid orbits in yellow, red and blue.
Please, what actual liquid floor wax is available out there in big America as I drive through the midwest that I can't seem to get in small town Ontario? Because Acrylic doesn't buff at all...
I thought Johnsons Aero Wax was still available, maybe not. I'll try and remember to look. Future is a self shining acrylic which defeats the purpose. Anyways, it looks a hell of a lot better than it did
I can still smell Aero Wax in my minds nose. They say smell is the longest lasting memory and I think it's true. Like when I think about my grannys 3rd floor attic back in Hamilton when we used to go visiting as kids,, 1959-1962, I can still remember the smell. It was made into a little apartment that she'd sometimes rent out but whenever we were there we'd sleep up there. It was one of those tall skinny houses like you see in the opening clips of All in the Family
