Kirby Sprayer Attachement

Almost every vacuum cleaner brand offered both the sprayer, and vaporizor attachments. Yes, in today's world we see these as stupid, meaningless tools, but in the early 1920's, when vacuum cleaners were starting to get popular things like bugs and moths were common household pests. Products like 'Raid' had not been invented, to say nothing of the airasol can. And spray guns on vacuum cleaners were great for spraying the berry, or rose bushes! Another idea back in the 20's, and well into the 1950's was spraying the Christmas tree. Again, we can get a can of 'artificial snow' to 'flock' the tree, but back then, it was white paint, and sprayed in a light mist to look like new fallen snow.

Spray guns, vaporizors, power tools (Handi-Butler) floor polishers (Miracle Head) and so on were designed for 2 reasons. First for the convenience of the housewife to keep the afore mentioned 'pests' out of the clothes closet, and second, as a way to get the husband involved with watching a vacuum cleaner demo. Put a drill or sander in his hand and the sale was made!

For get the fact that these tools were rarely used, they were the gimmicks that sold vacuum cleaners.

This post was last edited 11/29/2014 at 15:13


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Post# 307533 11/29/2014 at 00:30 (3,434 days old) by vintagevaclover (Athens, GA)
Checkrate/Likes I've seen several of these on eBay lately for about $50. Is this one piece really worth that much? I have one just like this that is unused. Please note that the pic is not mine, it's an eBay pic.

Post# 307536 , Reply# 1 11/29/2014 at 01:24 (3,434 days old) by super-sweeper (KSSRC Refurbishment Center)
Checkrate/Likes LOL I feel bad for you, I just bought a Heritage series sprayer for 50¢!

Post# 307537 , Reply# 2 11/29/2014 at 01:41 (3,434 days old) by cb123 (Mobile, Al.)
Checkrate/Likes Well, Good For You!

Post# 307541 , Reply# 3 11/29/2014 at 03:09 (3,434 days old) by bnsd60m9200 (Akron OH)
Checkrate/Likes those things are stupid common, even back to the 51x series. what model do you need it for?

Post# 307542 , Reply# 4 11/29/2014 at 03:12 (3,434 days old) by KirbyClassicIII (Milwaukie, Oregon)
Checkrate/Likes Austin, This gray one would date from between models 508 to 515. The 516 to 560 version was similar except for having a red body. ~Ben

Post# 307548 , Reply# 5 11/29/2014 at 05:48 (3,434 days old) by beekeyknee (Columbia, MO)
Checkrate/Likes That's a Dual Sanitronic 80 sprayer from the late '60's. It's dark green, I think.

Post# 307565 , Reply# 6 11/29/2014 at 10:39 (3,433 days old) by vintagevaclover (Athens, GA)
Checkrate/Likes I didn't pay that much LOL. I payed like a dollar lol. I just happened to see that people were asking that much LOL!

Post# 307566 , Reply# 7 11/29/2014 at 11:22 (3,433 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *Hi bnsd60m9200* Almost every vacuum cleaner brand offered both the sprayer, and vaporizor attachments. Yes, in today's world we see these as stupid, meaningless tools, but in the early 1920's, when vacuum cleaners were starting to get popular things like bugs and moths were common household pests. Products like 'Raid' had not been invented, to say nothing of the airasol can. And spray guns on vacuum cleaners were great for spraying the berry, or rose bushes! Another idea back in the 20's, and well into the 1950's was spraying the Christmas tree. Again, we can get a can of 'artificial snow' to 'flock' the tree, but back then, it was white paint, and sprayed in a light mist to look like new fallen snow. Spray guns, vaporizors, power tools (Handi-Butler) floor polishers (Miracle Head) and so on were designed for 2 reasons. First for the convenience of the housewife to keep the afore mentioned 'pests' out of the clothes closet, and second, as a way to get the husband involved with watching a vacuum cleaner demo. Put a drill or sander in his hand and the sale was made! For get the fact that these tools were rarely used, they were the gimmicks that sold vacuum cleaners. This post was last edited 11/29/2014 at 15:13

Post# 307570 , Reply# 8 11/29/2014 at 12:01 (3,433 days old) by KirbyClassicIII (Milwaukie, Oregon)
Checkrate/Likes *beekeyknee* Nope. . . the D80's spray gun looked like this. It started with the glass jar for the 1967-68 sales season (as seen here), but after 1968 it changed to a translucent white plastic jar. ~Ben View Full Size

Post# 307606 , Reply# 11 11/29/2014 at 21:20 (3,433 days old) by beekeyknee (Columbia, MO)
Checkrate/Likes Hi Ben, For some reason the spray gun looks dark green on both my desktop and my iPad. That's why I thought it was from a Sanitronic 80. Maybe it's his camera or my eyes. Lol. I know about the grays and blacks. The new Avalir is an attractive cleaner. I wouldn't mind having one, but I don't want to spend the money right now. And I'm still very pleased with my Ultimate Diamond Edition. Brian This post was last edited 11/29/2014 at 21:35

Post# 307640 , Reply# 12 11/30/2014 at 12:58 (3,432 days old) by Bikerray (Middle Earth)
Checkrate/Likes That's odd, my 509, 510, 512, 513 and 514 all came with metal sprayers and not gray plastic.

Post# 307591 , Reply# 9 11/29/2014 at 17:19 (3,433 days old) by beekeyknee (Columbia, MO)
Checkrate/Likes Ben, I learned something new. I didn't know that color was made more than one time. B.

Post# 307598 , Reply# 10 11/29/2014 at 18:14 (3,433 days old) by KirbyClassicIII (Milwaukie, Oregon)
Checkrate/Likes Brian, The 508-515 spray gun is gray, but the D80 one is actually avocado green. I guess your eyes may be tricking you. Kirby did revisit both gray and black on and off, though: a dark shade of gray was used for the Heritage I trim, and later the G4 trim. Black was the shade revisited for the Heritage II and Gsix. And believe it or not, black is also used as the trim for the upcoming Avalir. ~Ben