Beatty Brothers / Keeping it Clean.

Considering that the Beatty factory up the road in Fergus was a huge manufacturing enterprise it's surprising I haven't come across anything of theirs other than the wringer washers.

[My buddy Al in Winnipeg has a remote lake cottage just over the Ontario border on the CPR rail line on Malachi Lake northwest of Kenora. The only way in is by train, jigger or personal boat from the south. The cottages were actually built as Crew accommodations on the north shore and the properties were sold to employees in the 1950s (Al's dad). The small shed station still stands and you can flag a train down to hitch a ride. There is now free electricity from the power transmission towers that bisect the lake but most everything (lightwas & is Kerosene powered, as is Al's Beatty wringer I used on laundry day a few years ago.]

This is a staged publicity shot at the Fergus Station right by the factory spur, from 1931.
It took many months of manufacture to come up with 'a full train load' for the postcard shot. What Beatty would do is store boxcars full of appliances on side spurs until photo day.

"On the morning of August 31 1931, a locomotive with 6 CPR officials and a staff photographer in a business car arrived early in the morning. The locomotive spent about 3 hours gathering all the cars from various sidings and assembled them in to a train with the business car bringing up the rear.

Prior to the 2PM departure, the 27-car train was backed west out of town toward Elora so that photographers could snap the photo in front of the Fergus Station.
There was an embarrassing incident when the train began to leave...the locomotive stalled under the weight on the slight grade west of the Beatty Line. Crews quickly uncoupled half the train and moved the front half to the siding by the station, then retrieved the other half with the business car and steamed triumphantly east out of town toward Toronto..."

In the future two steam Locomotives would be used to prevent this happening again.

The publicity photo op was staged annually from 1924 to 1928, then 1931, 1934 and 1936. Due to the War there was only one more Beatty Trainload of 57 cars in 1956, pulled by the single 1948 1200-series steamer, one of the last built in Canada.

Getting back to the vacuum question, the consist of the 1931 train shown below was as follows:

~600 tons of...Washing machines (3217 electric, 162 gasoline powered, 136 hand-cranked), 455 cylinder ironers, 234 VACUUM CLEANERS, 160 floor polishers, 74 ironing tables, 474 electric irons, 352 clothes racks, and 637 clothes hampers. There was also plenty of Barn Equipment...2352 steel stock stalls, 3211 tanks, 760 ladders, 50 hay carriers, 36 manure spreaders with track, 819 pumps, 30 windmills, plus cartons of spare parts.
8 of the cars were for export to England, 2 for New Zealand, underlining the success of the Beatty firm in developing foreign markets.

234 Vacuum Cleaners in one year alone...where are they (or even one) now?

Dave

This post was last edited 08/09/2011 at 20:51


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Post# 146425 8/9/2011 at 15:13 (4,636 days old) by shag (Ontario, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes You can see my rant better on AW.Org. I never knew that Beatty made vacuums? Has anyone ever owned or seen one?

Post# 146468 , Reply# 1 8/9/2011 at 20:35 (4,636 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)
Checkrate/Likes Considering that the Beatty factory up the road in Fergus was a huge manufacturing enterprise it's surprising I haven't come across anything of theirs other than the wringer washers. [My buddy Al in Winnipeg has a remote lake cottage just over the Ontario border on the CPR rail line on Malachi Lake northwest of Kenora. The only way in is by train, jigger or personal boat from the south. The cottages were actually built as Crew accommodations on the north shore and the properties were sold to employees in the 1950s (Al's dad). The small shed station still stands and you can flag a train down to hitch a ride. There is now free electricity from the power transmission towers that bisect the lake but most everything (lightwas & is Kerosene powered, as is Al's Beatty wringer I used on laundry day a few years ago.] This is a staged publicity shot at the Fergus Station right by the factory spur, from 1931. It took many months of manufacture to come up with 'a full train load' for the postcard shot. What Beatty would do is store boxcars full of appliances on side spurs until photo day. "On the morning of August 31 1931, a locomotive with 6 CPR officials and a staff photographer in a business car arrived early in the morning. The locomotive spent about 3 hours gathering all the cars from various sidings and assembled them in to a train with the business car bringing up the rear. Prior to the 2PM departure, the 27-car train was backed west out of town toward Elora so that photographers could snap the photo in front of the Fergus Station. There was an embarrassing incident when the train began to leave...the locomotive stalled under the weight on the slight grade west of the Beatty Line. Crews quickly uncoupled half the train and moved the front half to the siding by the station, then retrieved the other half with the business car and steamed triumphantly east out of town toward Toronto..." In the future two steam Locomotives would be used to prevent this happening again. The publicity photo op was staged annually from 1924 to 1928, then 1931, 1934 and 1936. Due to the War there was only one more Beatty Trainload of 57 cars in 1956, pulled by the single 1948 1200-series steamer, one of the last built in Canada. Getting back to the vacuum question, the consist of the 1931 train shown below was as follows: ~600 tons of...Washing machines (3217 electric, 162 gasoline powered, 136 hand-cranked), 455 cylinder ironers, 234 VACUUM CLEANERS, 160 floor polishers, 74 ironing tables, 474 electric irons, 352 clothes racks, and 637 clothes hampers. There was also plenty of Barn Equipment...2352 steel stock stalls, 3211 tanks, 760 ladders, 50 hay carriers, 36 manure spreaders with track, 819 pumps, 30 windmills, plus cartons of spare parts. 8 of the cars were for export to England, 2 for New Zealand, underlining the success of the Beatty firm in developing foreign markets. 234 Vacuum Cleaners in one year alone...where are they (or even one) now? Dave This post was last edited 08/09/2011 at 20:51

Post# 146511 , Reply# 2 8/10/2011 at 09:01 (4,636 days old) by Real1 ()
Checkrate/Likes Wonderful story about the town and the company. I was somewhat involved in the narrow gauge train that runs from Durango to Silverton,CO. I believe it's the only continuously operating steam narrow gauge left in the States. I think there are two others still in Canada? Yes, does anyone have an actual picture of a Beatty vacuum cleaner??

Post# 146513 , Reply# 3 8/10/2011 at 09:10 (4,636 days old) by collector2 (Moose Jaw, Sk)
Checkrate/Likes I have two Beatty Vacuums in my collection: The Beatty model 95

Post# 146514 , Reply# 4 8/10/2011 at 09:11 (4,636 days old) by collector2 (Moose Jaw, Sk)
Checkrate/Likes and the Beatty model 98: I turned down a second one of these in April

Post# 146563 , Reply# 5 8/10/2011 at 22:35 (4,635 days old) by Real1 ()
Checkrate/Likes *Awesome.....* thanks for the pics! I'm not a Kirby authority in any way, shape or form.....but was the Beatty design similar, cloned, 'borrowed' etc?

Post# 146570 , Reply# 6 8/10/2011 at 22:54 (4,635 days old) by Brandon_W_T ()
Checkrate/Likes Doesn't resemble a Kirby at all to me. Looks more a morphed together beevac Regina and apex.