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Thread Number: 21254
An old Kirby rumor confirmed |
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| Post# 237907 6/26/2013 at 23:55 (3,946 days old) by whirlpolf () | ||
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Some time ago I heard that there must have been some kind of Flow-Bee hair clipper for the Kirby. Look what I have found: Yay! (and it even has the original user's booklet) 
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Post# 237909 , Reply# 1 6/27/2013 at 00:07 (3,946 days old) by Electrolux137  (Los Angeles) |
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| Post# 237910 , Reply# 2 6/27/2013 at 00:17 (3,946 days old) by kirbylux77 (London, Ontario, Canada) | ||
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Post# 237915 , Reply# 3 6/27/2013 at 01:50 (3,946 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC) |
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I have one!--Works well! | ||
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Post# 237926 , Reply# 4 6/27/2013 at 07:56 (3,946 days old) by jfalberti (Visalia, CA) |
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I actually sold that when it was new | ||
| Post# 238188 , Reply# 5 6/29/2013 at 10:30 (3,943 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
@Rob
Kirby's 100th anniversary isn't in 1914. I laugh all the time over that one. Mr. Scott and Mr. Fetzer wouldn't meet each other until 1915, they wouldn't meet Jim Kirby until World War 1 was well underway. Jim Kirby met Scott and Fetzer because he was a government expediter. The government was buying pistols from Scott and Fetzer. Jim's job was to get them to make them faster. The first Kirby designed vacuum made by Scott and Fetzer was the Wireless Vac-U-Ette. Unfortunately, the "Ezee Grasshopper" was NOT a Scott and Fetzer product (it was made by Frantz Premier Co.) yet no one at "Kirby" seems to know that. It would actually be hilarious if it wasn't so sad that they don't even know their own history.
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| Post# 238193 , Reply# 6 6/29/2013 at 12:26 (3,943 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
Hi Tom.
Actually 1914 is the correct year. Way back in 1979 I compiled a book of patents dealing with Kirby vacuum cleaners. The founding of Scott and Fetzer is like the founding of the V.C.C.C., there was a lot of groundwork done before the company got off the ground. As for Scott & Fetzer, yes, that was 1915, but here's the backstory that I wrote in 79.
Alex Taber. 
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| Post# 238194 , Reply# 7 6/29/2013 at 12:36 (3,943 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Kirby 1914 or 15?
What my research came up with was that George H. Scott started a one man business in 1914, and brought in Carl S. Fetzer in 1915. What I see here is the chicken and the egg situation. The Scott/Fetzer company is going with the date that Scott started tinkering in his fathers garage. As for Scott and Fetzer, Tom is correct, that would be 1915.
Alex Taber. | ||
| Post# 238224 , Reply# 8 6/29/2013 at 15:19 (3,943 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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Alex:
By 1913, Jim Kirby's electric vacuum cleaner (the Frantz Premier) was already three years into production. The "Ezee" Grasshopper non electric was produced in 1914 by Frantz Premier. I do agree that the Grasshopper needed improvement, and Frantz Premier was not interested in non-electric cleaners, as they already had the electric Frantz Premier Junior hand vac out by 1914 (another Jim Kirby design) as well as the Ezee and the electric upright Frantz Premier. No need for another non-electric. | ||
| Post# 238234 , Reply# 9 6/29/2013 at 16:08 (3,943 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Hi Tom.
Jim Kirby was never content with one idea. Throughout his life he was always perfecting ideas. The Ezee (which was also called The Grasshopper) was a bellows like design, and Jim Kirby thought it could be improved. Keep in mind that a lot of places were still without electric power, so that ever-turing mind came up with a way to put a vacuum cleaner in every home. We also know that it was the wireless Vac-uette that became the Scott/Fetzer Home Sanitation system, and finally the Kirby we know today.
I'm quite sure there are a number of collectors out there who have a Vac-uette, as you probably remember, I have two, as well as the Vital-Rand. Of all the non electric vacuum cleaners out there, the Vac-uette is the only one that really worked, the same cannto be said of the Ezee. Alex Taber. | ||
| Post# 238238 , Reply# 10 6/29/2013 at 17:08 (3,943 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Hi Tom.
If you're talking about Jim Kirby's first upright, you are correct, however, as far as my research tells me that was called 'The Broomstick.' I do have the patent info, though not scanned in at the moment. Jim did indeed work with Clarance, Edward, and Walter Frantz. Around that time he also became acquanted with Bill Orr of the Forte Wayne Electric company. My guess is that this company was based in Forte Wayne, Indiana and had a branch in Cleveland. As for the Frantz boys, they went on to perfect their own ideas.
The story of James B. Kirby is one that took me many years to research, but the information I got was from a man who knew Jim Kirby personally. Over the years I was able to confirm these stories with a number of top Kirby distributors. I also had the honor of talking shop with the head of the Kirby division, Adrian E. Budlong Jr. when my staff toured Kirby in 1978. | ||
| Post# 289669 , Reply# 11 7/21/2014 at 07:44 (3,557 days old) by kirbyezee1914 (Rochester, N.Y.) | ||
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