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Thread Number: 29358
/ Tag: Pre-1950 Vacuum Cleaners
Air-Way Uprights |
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| Post# 327972 6/25/2015 at 10:08 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
I love Air-Way upright vacuums. They were not made for a very long time, 1920 - 1940. I'm quite proud that the world's only Vacuum Cleaner Museum in St. James, Missouri, has the complete collection.
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| Post# 327974 , Reply# 1 6/25/2015 at 10:12 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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The first model was very primitive. The swivel joint at the neck was extremely primitive, as was the nozzle design. The rear wheel bracket was a think black metal, not solid aluminum as it would become. Even the Indicator was primitive. The handle was comparatively short - all the rest were at least six inches longer.
This is the first Indicator, which not only allowed you to see when to stop cleaning, it was also the valve to direct the suction to the handle.
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| Post# 327975 , Reply# 2 6/25/2015 at 10:16 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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Primitive swivel neck.
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| Post# 327976 , Reply# 3 6/25/2015 at 10:17 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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The first Air-Way rear wheel bracket. By 1922, this had changed to solid aluminum.
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| Post# 327977 , Reply# 4 6/25/2015 at 10:20 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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Since Air-Way invented and patented the disposable cellulose sanitary dust container, no other cleaner would be able to use it. Of course, Hoover tried in 1929, with the launch of their model 725, but Air-Way quickly moved to sue the hell out of them. Stealing another company's patented invention, just because your own machine belches dust, is just an admission that Air-Way did it first, and better.
This is the Indicator from the second version of the Air-Way upright. Again, fairly primitive.
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| Post# 327978 , Reply# 5 6/25/2015 at 10:22 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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By 1926, Air-Way vacuums were sold by Door to Door salesmen. Interestingly, Air-Way made Radios, Washing Machines, Ranges, and other Electrical Appliances. Even the vacuum was sold in retail stores, until Air-Way realized it's unique features needed to be explained to customers. So they got into the door to door sales business.
This is the third and final version of the Indicator.
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| Post# 327979 , Reply# 6 6/25/2015 at 10:23 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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In 1928, Air-Way put the contact equalizers on the nozzle. This was a 'height adjustment' which loosened or tightened the spring tension for the wheels that the nozzle rides on. Any model with these levers, was made after 1928.
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| Post# 327980 , Reply# 7 6/25/2015 at 10:26 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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The Green Goddess. One of Stan Kann's favorites. Charles Lester and I spent more time with him than any other collector we know. I spent every Sunday for over ten years with him.
The Green Goddess had a small handle and bag, which replaced the long handle and bag, so the machine could be used like a Kirby or Royal as a hand held machine. With the Air-Way, this was called the "Junior Service". This feature debuted with the Green Goddess.
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| Post# 327981 , Reply# 8 6/25/2015 at 10:28 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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Twin Motor upright Air-Way cleaners. From left, the Chief, the Super Chief, and the Zephyr. The Chief featured the backwards turning brush roller, so it wouldn't seize the fringe on a rug. These machines featured a beater bar that wasn't a beater bar. It was a piece of steel tipped rubber that vibrated the carpet. In fact, they were called Vibrator Bars in the owners and repair manuals.
The Super Chief and Zephyr models has a rug/floor selector switch on the power nozzle motor, to stop the brush for above floor cleaning as well bare floor cleaning. Fifty years ahead of their time, no Hoover was ever a match for the Air-Way Twin Motor uprights.
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| Post# 327982 , Reply# 9 6/25/2015 at 10:31 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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The Air-Way DirtMasteR. This machine had a front mounted motor, with a long belt to the twin fans in the back (where the handle pivots, at the bottom). While Singer claims to have "invented" the twin suction fan upright, they did NOT. The DirtMasteR also had a side opening for the hose, with no conversion necessary, way before Hoover "invented" it for the 150.
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| Post# 327983 , Reply# 10 6/25/2015 at 10:37 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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The world's FIRST disposable bag. Made of 14 layers of cellulose (Filter Queen cones are made of Two layers), this was also the first High Efficiency bag (filtering close to HEPA levels, in 1920). Hoover would attempt to rip off Air-Way's bag in 1929, to no avail.
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| Post# 327988 , Reply# 11 6/25/2015 at 11:41 (3,218 days old) by Hooverboy81 (Myrtle Place) | ||
Actually they didn't... | ||
| Post# 327990 , Reply# 12 6/25/2015 at 12:14 (3,218 days old) by 3rdGenVacGuy (Columbus, Ohio ) | ||
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I must have a fairly early one, old style nozzle, does have the aluminum bracket for the rear wheels, the front nozzle is early "The Air-Way", but it says sanitary system instead of electric cleaner. Any idea of what year this is? 
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| Post# 327993 , Reply# 13 6/25/2015 at 12:22 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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| Post# 327994 , Reply# 14 6/25/2015 at 12:29 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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HooverBOY81:
The Air-Way bag is also durable and made to withstand 'a number of uses', and was reasonably priced to be replaced when soiled or worn. Unlike the filthy Hoover design, the customer did not have to come in contact with the dirt, nor did the bag fill from the bottom. The Air-Way did not have to push up last week's dirt to make room for this weeks dirt. Ironic that Air-Way's disposable bag was actually invented prior to the patent application in 1915. Meaning Daniel Replogle must have been experienced with cloth vacuum bags very early on, to invent the first Sanitary way to remove the dirt from the vacuum. Too bad Hoover couldn't have come up with it on their own, but then again, Hoover didn't care. Stan Kann always bemoaned the terrible filtration on the Hoover - saying "as long as the Hoover got the rug clean, they didn't give a damn about the fact dirt was coming out of the bag". | ||
| Post# 327996 , Reply# 15 6/25/2015 at 12:35 (3,218 days old) by 3rdGenVacGuy (Columbus, Ohio ) | ||
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The serial # is 391262 
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| Post# 327998 , Reply# 16 6/25/2015 at 12:49 (3,218 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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| Post# 327999 , Reply# 17 6/25/2015 at 12:50 (3,218 days old) by Hooverboy81 (Myrtle Place) | ||
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Dyson"man"1
Thing is, the Hoover actually got the rug clean. Several other collectors have had nothing but fantastic things to say about the Hygenisac. If your claim was the airway bag was the first hygienic disposable, why was it being reused? Does that not defeat the purpose? If so, that sort of negates your original statement. Additionally, why did airway fully abandon this design in favor of an immovable canister if it was so far advanced than any other upright cleaner on the market?
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Post# 328038 , Reply# 20 6/25/2015 at 20:09 (3,217 days old) by electrolux137  (Los Angeles) |
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~ "Stan Kann ... [said] "as long as the Hoover got the rug clean, they didn't give a damn about the fact dirt was coming out of the bag." ~ I had many conversations with Stan over the years about vacuum cleaners in general and Hoovers specifically. He never said anything to me about the dirt "coming out of the bag." There's an hours-long interview that I did with him in 1995 -- 20 years ago -- posted on my web site wherein he also never made any such statement. Not that I really care one way or the other, but it seems a bit unseemly to be putting words in his mouth when he's not here to confirm or refute them. CLICK HERE TO GO TO electrolux137's LINK | ||
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Post# 328039 , Reply# 21 6/25/2015 at 20:12 (3,217 days old) by electrolux137 (Los Angeles) |
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~
~ P.S.: As another collector said, Stan worshipped Hoovers. He loved and revered them. He knew integrity and quality when he saw them and never said a negative thing about them. In fact, he was a spokesman for Hoover and even made TV commercials for them. This post was last edited 06/26/2015 at 01:07 | ||
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Post# 328040 , Reply# 22 6/25/2015 at 21:27 (3,217 days old) by electrolux137 (Los Angeles) |
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| Post# 328041 , Reply# 23 6/25/2015 at 21:35 (3,217 days old) by Kirbysthebest (Midwest) | ||
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What a great interview with Stan Thank you so much for sharing.
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| Post# 328048 , Reply# 24 6/25/2015 at 22:58 (3,217 days old) by Hooverboy81 (Myrtle Place) | ||
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| Post# 328052 , Reply# 25 6/25/2015 at 23:51 (3,217 days old) by HenryDreyfuss (Ohio) | ||
The Dirtmaster looks like a fascinating machine. I'd love to try one.
It's impressive that they used such good paper bags early on. They knew they had something special. I never thought about the way they fill, but it is a better system than early bottom-fill upright designs. I'm sure it's been said before, but it's surprising how similar the cleaner head design is on newer Dysons, compared to these old Air-Way power nozzles. Very similar shape and motor placement! Coincidental, or inspiration???
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Post# 328057 , Reply# 26 6/26/2015 at 03:56 (3,217 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC) |
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Do you have a picture of the Air Way Dirtmaster with the hose connected to it-want to see how that works.Understand how the hose works on the other AirWay uprights. | ||
| Post# 328077 , Reply# 27 6/26/2015 at 10:45 (3,217 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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Charles:
Stan and I had many, many hours to talk about vacuum cleaners before he passed away. He and I used to vacuum out his cloth bags (with his old pink GE canister), which led many times to discussions about dirt and dust retention. He did tell me he thought the Air-Way was the only vacuum that had no smell to the bag. Stan always smelled the cloth bags to see what they smelled like. | ||
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Post# 328107 , Reply# 28 6/26/2015 at 14:04 (3,216 days old) by electrolux137 (Los Angeles) |
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