Thread Number: 16121
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Post# 171847   3/4/2012 at 11:38 (4,406 days old) by venson ()        

I'm throwing this out there due to the cleaner's rarity and am assuming I'm not breaking any rules. There's an old AirWay upright with an electrified nozzle up for auction and the brushroll looks decent. I thought someone might appreciate knowing of it. I have no association with the seller.

A question . . . the power nozzle for the old AirWay upright was a first and pretty advanced for its time -- correct? Any idea why it did not become an add-on or offering for canisters and tank-types back in the 1930s and '40s?



CLICK HERE TO GO TO venson's LINK on eBay


Post# 172994 , Reply# 1   3/12/2012 at 20:34 (4,398 days old) by venson ()        
Roll Easy R1 . . .

It's on eBay and it looks nice -- with bags no less.


Disclaimer: I neither know nor have any business affiliation with the seller


CLICK HERE TO GO TO venson's LINK on eBay


Post# 173014 , Reply# 2   3/12/2012 at 22:33 (4,398 days old) by goadie12 ()        

Wow that roll easy looks beautiful I wonder just how crazy the bidding will get on that machine I suspect it will reach over $150 in no time. Zach

Post# 173030 , Reply# 3   3/13/2012 at 00:07 (4,398 days old) by venson ()        
@goadie12 . . .

Hi,

There's no telling because these usually don't turn up often. One I saw a few years back pulled down a final bid of several hundred dollars. Still another one's sold just this month, about eight days ago, for a little under two hundred. Then again, from the images I saw posted, it looked a little worse for the wear internally.

Kind of funny when you think of it, the machine would have priced at no more than eighty or ninety when new. Anyway -- such is life. Good luck to the winning bidder.


Post# 173067 , Reply# 4   3/13/2012 at 09:01 (4,398 days old) by venson ()        
Another rarity . . .

Electrolux hose with pigtail for Model G. Not often seen.

Disclaimer: I neither know nor have any business affiliation with the seller.


CLICK HERE TO GO TO venson's LINK on eBay


Post# 173355 , Reply# 5   3/15/2012 at 16:17 (4,395 days old) by venson ()        
Royal attachment set . . .

Nice complete pale blue set of attachments for a Royal upright or probably even a Royal can with a little fiddling. Not uncommon but it's good to snatch 'em when you can.


Disclaimer: I neither know nor have any business affiliation with the seller.


CLICK HERE TO GO TO venson's LINK on eBay


Post# 174335 , Reply# 6   3/22/2012 at 03:30 (4,389 days old) by venson ()        
Electrolux XXX with disposable bag adapter . . .

Just happened to be looking about eBay and up turned a pretty grungy looking Electrolux Model XXX. So what else is new? Grungy Electrolux XXXs are always around. However it comes with the front cover for adapting it to disposable bag use which doesn't turn up often.

The item is not in spectacular shape but for those with restoration skills it may prove interesting.


CLICK HERE TO GO TO venson's LINK on eBay


Post# 174449 , Reply# 7   3/22/2012 at 23:15 (4,388 days old) by truckerx (Palm Springs, CA)        

truckerx's profile picture
Kinda wondering what you might expect to get for the Air-Way model 35, since it didn't meet the reserve?

Post# 174456 , Reply# 8   3/23/2012 at 00:01 (4,388 days old) by danemodsandy ()        
Venson:

You would be absolutely amazed how long it took vacuum designers to get to the "DUHHHH!" moment with power nozzles.

Electrolux, first manufacturer with a PN meeting with widespread acceptance (yes, I know they were not the very first with a PN), first had the bright idea to attach a PN-like device to the front of their cleaner, instead of to the hose. This, of course, necessitated adding a handle to the rear of the cleaner. Which meant that Electrolux had basically succeeded in inventing - the upright vacuum cleaner! All over again. Only bulkier and harder to push.

Fortunately, the light bulb finally went off over someone's head (quite possibly after having taken a gander at Lewyt's PN), and the PN-1 was born. Even then, Electrolux DIDN'T GET IT. They thought it was going to be used occasionally, when carpet had surface litter on it. A wand made completely out of plastic was used on early PN-1s, which proved to be woefully insufficient. Housewives saw the PN-1 as being a very useful tool, meaning they used the heck out of it - and soon broke the wands. Breaking a new, and expensive, appliance just by using it had a tendency to make 1959 housewives, well, kind of cranky. Faced with their wrath, Electrolux finally saw the light and beefed up the wand. The improvement resulted in a truly usable PN offered by a manufacturer with a huge base of loyal customers, so that was the real beginning of the PN revolution.

You can see a patent drawing for the Lux PN attached to the front of a canister here; click on the button for "Electrolux Power Nozzle No. 1":


CLICK HERE TO GO TO danemodsandy's LINK


Post# 174483 , Reply# 9   3/23/2012 at 04:24 (4,388 days old) by venson ()        
@truckerx . . .

Hi truckerx,

That AirWay is not mine. Its hard to speculate what the seller wanted when the post was made.

However, due to its rarity -- and only because of rarity -- I wouldn't think of letting go of a machine like that without an offer near the $300 mark. It appears quite well kept and the bristles on the brushroll seem to be in great shape considering the cleaners age.

Vacuum collecting has not bred a big market but if you have something collectors really want the sky's the limit. Personally, I've spent way beyond the original purchase price of a machine that, to my mind, was a "must have". If you're seriously interested in the machine, you should try to track the seller down on eBay and learn if the machine's still available.

Best of luck,

Venson


Post# 174485 , Reply# 10   3/23/2012 at 04:46 (4,388 days old) by venson ()        
@danemodsandy

Hi,

Thanks for the info and the link. Everything to its own time I guess. Even though some vacs with PN's like Electrolux used not overly sophisticated external cording to get power to the nozzle, I'm assuming development might also have been delayed/hindered by way of short supply of materials during the 1940s and early '50s -- maybe due to the need for materials elsewhere because of World War II.

By the way, an eon ago when I was actually a child, I wrote to Electrolux in Greenwich, CT and they sent me a booklet containing some of their history plus pictures of the Electrolux Museum. They showed some really interesting design ideas for the time. Do you think any of that stuff is still around?

Venson


Post# 174517 , Reply# 11   3/23/2012 at 10:20 (4,388 days old) by venson ()        
If this don't beat all . . .

Someones put up a totally chromed Compact for sale. Unfortunately, there is no provenance to make the high price go down more easily.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO venson's LINK on eBay


Post# 174523 , Reply# 12   3/23/2012 at 11:41 (4,388 days old) by danemodsandy ()        
Chromed Compact

Could be a promo, but it also MIGHT be a prop from the movie "Gattaca." That film used a Revelation that had been chromed. Charlie Lester's page on Compacts discusses it a bit and shows the cleaner as it appeared in the film. The photo appears identical with the eBay cleaner:

CLICK HERE TO GO TO danemodsandy's LINK


Post# 174526 , Reply# 13   3/23/2012 at 12:36 (4,387 days old) by venson ()        
@danemodsandy . . .

Hi,

This one bears "Compact Electra" and the handle is not white as Charlie Lester's image shows but more an amber colored plastic -- maybe with the gold flecks the company used in some of its molded plastic attachments. Anyway -- it's interesting but I think the seller would help his/her cause a lot more by providing a background story unless . . .


Post# 174529 , Reply# 14   3/23/2012 at 12:41 (4,387 days old) by danemodsandy ()        
Venson:

There were multiple vacs used in Gattaca, so perhaps this still could be one of them. The seller's location, Southern California, is consistent with movie use; stuff finds its way out of studio prop shops all the time.

However, it would be incumbent upon the seller to prove that. Also, chroming a Compact/Revelation/TriStar would be a very expensive proposition, several hundred dollars at least. I have to wonder who besides Hollywood would want to pay the cost for doing it.

Not saying one way or the other, but it's an interesting possibility.


Post# 174533 , Reply# 15   3/23/2012 at 13:30 (4,387 days old) by Sanifan ()        
General Electric C3...

... Take a look at this. It's a CE C3 canister. Wow, do I have some history with these.

I work with a fellow, now 89 years old, who has a number of rental properies. Since he started his business in the 70's he's been using these GE C3's as his main vacuum.

As long as I can remember (he's a family friend and I've known him since I was a kid), he's been using two of these in rotation. That's for decades. Of course, he never serviced his vacuums or even really took care of them. They are now in terrible shape and perform awfully. The woven hoses are leaky and structurally unsound. Sometimes the metal inside the hose breaks and the structure collapses. The woven sheath will constrict and the hose at that point will be less than half of the original diamenter. He's cut the hose and spliced it at that point several times when it's happened, and now the hose is too short to use effectively. Sometimes he will use duct tape to wrap the hose when it develops a puncture. The hose itself is held onto the vacuum body with a kind of rubberband sling that he's fashioned out of a cut innertube from a car tire.

One of the vacs pooped out but the motor on the other one still works, surprisingly. The bags for these are a cloth shakeout bag. HORRIBLE! There is only the leaky cloth shakeout bag and no other filtration. I used to vacuum the hallways with this vac and spit out lots of mucus streaked with black dust after I was done. I tried to empty the shakeout bag into a plastic shopping back to contain the dust but it was very messy.

After a while the vac had almost no suction because of the leaky hoses and connections. I remember trying to vacuum with it and the suction was so low that I wouldn't have been able to pick up a styrofoam packing peanut with it. Also, vacuuming took two hours or more. Now that I got wise and am using a better vacuum, it takes less than half that time.

And yet he insists on using that old vac. He says my other vacs are s***ty and won't touch them. How's that for a stubborn old guy who can't be constrained by common sense?

When he got the C3 he liked them so much that there are somthing like 8 or 10 C3 bodies hanging from a rod in the back exit of the building. All are rusted to some degree and who knows if they work?

Anyway, I though I'd post this as I was shocked to see how much the seller is asking. The hose is clearly different than the one I know, which is woven and beige in color.



CLICK HERE TO GO TO Sanifan's LINK on eBay


Post# 174535 , Reply# 16   3/23/2012 at 13:31 (4,387 days old) by Sanifan ()        
Old Compacts...

Those old compacts are great!

Post# 175140 , Reply# 17   3/28/2012 at 14:22 (4,382 days old) by venson ()        
Rainbow SE . . .

More for the sake of history, I am including a link to this eBay post only because this machine is being sold with the five-gallon water pan.

Many haven't seen them or even know they exist. Also, many may never get the chance to see one of these or the earlier wheeled four-quart water pan that came as an option with the Model B and C Rexairs.

Disclaimer: I neither know nor have any business affiliation with the seller.

Venson


CLICK HERE TO GO TO venson's LINK on eBay


Post# 175142 , Reply# 18   3/28/2012 at 14:27 (4,382 days old) by countryguy (Astorville, ON, Canada)        

countryguy's profile picture
A 5 gallon water pan? That would take some strength when it comes time to empty!

Gary


Post# 175145 , Reply# 19   3/28/2012 at 15:14 (4,382 days old) by venson ()        
@countryguy . . .

How very right you are! I actually bought one while I lived in New York -- it never got used. It was just to darned big. Shame I left it behind though, now that I have a yard I could have used it to pot a good sized plant.

Nonetheless, I've communicated in past with a very ambitious -- and brave -- person who claimed to have used this big a tank while running a cleaning service. Go figure . . .

Venson


Post# 175301 , Reply# 20   3/29/2012 at 22:01 (4,381 days old) by BrianKirbyClass (Eudora Kansas)        

briankirbyclass's profile picture
The trade school (Barber/Cosmetology School) i went to in the late 1970s had a Rainbow D2, with the Eureka style PN,,and the 5 gallon water pan/tank on wheels.
I have not seen one since, until now. How cool!! (We also had the 4 quart pan for regular vacuuming, and thats what we normally used.)

It was the job of the Junior (new) students to do the vacuuming sweeping and moping of the place after hours,,you can imagine with over 30 students cutting hair in the same area, there was ALOT of hair clippings and dirt that had to be removed. If you've ever spent time in a Barber or Beauty Shop, you know that cut hair flies EVERYWHERE,,and is a TERRIBLE MESS to clean up. Especially in a school where there are MANY people working.

The 5 gallon water pan/tank was mainly used for water PICK UP,,not so much for ordinary vacuuming. If a shampoo bowl hose or drain pipe should break, which did happen often (with over 30 shampoo bowls being in use) we HAD to have something to pick up water in a hurry.

You could NOT pull the Rainbow by the hose, when the 5 gallon tank was attached.
Someone had to push it along for you, or you had to stop and go back and pull the Rainbow around if you were the user.
There was also a seperate longer than standard hose and set of wands with a squeegee (sp?) type of head that was used for water pick up with the 5 gallon tank.
Yes, dumping the 5 gallon tank was a pain,,,you had to just up-end it outside, or down a drain, there was no opening at the bottom of the tank to drain the water.
I can tell you first hand that tank was a BEAST to lift,,,especially with 5 gallons of dirty water and WET HAIR in it!



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