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Thread Number: 32042
/ Tag: Pre-1950 Vacuum Cleaners
Automatic Vacuum Company |
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| Post# 352931 , Reply# 1 5/29/2016 at 05:59 (2,886 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
I never knew that Bloomington, Illinois was home to another maker of vacuum cleaners before Eureka Williams set up shop there. Very interesting. I know that Williams Oil-a-Matic was based there, and that when Eureka merged with Williams they moved there from Detroit after WWII. I wonder if there was some very early connection with Williams and this ancient vac from
Bloomington. Hmmmmm...... | ||
| Post# 352937 , Reply# 2 5/29/2016 at 09:45 (2,885 days old) by MAKER () | ||
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Might enjoy this
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| Post# 352947 , Reply# 3 5/29/2016 at 12:35 (2,885 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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| Post# 352949 , Reply# 4 5/29/2016 at 14:45 (2,885 days old) by blknblu (CT) | ||
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This post has been removed by the member who posted it. | ||
| Post# 352953 , Reply# 5 5/29/2016 at 17:00 (2,885 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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The vacuum contraption we see in the first post actually does not say American Vacuum Cleaner Company. It says Automatic Vacuum Cleaner Company....which is very different. The word "automatic" has a long history with Eureka Williams in Bloomington, Illinois. The original company was called Williams Oil-a-Matic which referred to their unique home heating device which used cooking oil. When Williams merged with Eureka of Detroit, the company continued to use the "matic" theme with the Roto-Matic canister and "Automatic" upright of the late 1950's. So I wonder if this "Automatic" vacuum device is a very early attempt at making vacuum cleaners by the Williams company in Bloomington. This demands lots more research..... :-)
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| Post# 352964 , Reply# 6 5/29/2016 at 19:00 (2,885 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
The American Vacuum Cleaner Company.
Hi eurekaprince:
Yes there was a company by that name and it was founded by David T. Kenny who was the main patent holder of numerous non electric vacuum cleaners. There were countless designs by him and many other people that go back to Ives W. Mc'Gaffy (June 5, 1869,) and most were far from perfect. Fact is, without an electric motor most were useless! The Ideal was one of the few that worked, and as you see it was available with or without the electric motor. I happen to own several of these two person pumpers. Starting in September of 1980 I wrote several articles on the history of the non electric after doing extensive research at the Chicago public Library and ammassed several scrapbooks of patents. But prior to the founding of the V.C.C.C.(January 2, 1983) there was no data abailable so this material was the basis for our newsletters. Chicago played a huge roll in the manufacturing of vacuum cleaners and related devices both electric and non electric. 
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| Post# 352965 , Reply# 7 5/29/2016 at 19:18 (2,885 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Eureka. | ||
| Post# 352966 , Reply# 8 5/29/2016 at 19:32 (2,885 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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Hi guys! Thank you for contributing to this interesting discussion!
But we still need to find out who was the Automatic Vacuum Cleaner Company in Bloomington, Illinois? And was it related to the original Williams company in that town? Did the American Vacuum Cleaner Company have a branch in Bloomington, too? | ||
| Post# 352968 , Reply# 9 5/29/2016 at 19:53 (2,885 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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The Automatic Vacuum Cleaner Company | ||
| Post# 352999 , Reply# 10 5/30/2016 at 06:31 (2,885 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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Thanks for that Alex. Indeed, after a bit more net-surfing, I was able to find two advertisements for vacuum cleaner makers based in Bloomington, Illinois in the 1920's (Automatic and Just-Rite). This would have been in the same era that Williams Oil-o-Matic was making their home heaters there. It seems Bloomington was an attractive location for setting up factories in that era, and it was not far from Chicago which was booming at the time....probably a few hours away by train or truck.
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| Post# 353003 , Reply# 11 5/30/2016 at 10:08 (2,884 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Hi eurekaprince. | ||
| Post# 353007 , Reply# 12 5/30/2016 at 11:50 (2,884 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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| Post# 353013 , Reply# 13 5/30/2016 at 16:03 (2,884 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Convention. | ||
| Post# 353019 , Reply# 14 5/30/2016 at 17:39 (2,884 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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| Post# 353021 , Reply# 15 5/30/2016 at 19:15 (2,884 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Hi eurkaprince.
Welcome to my world, my mom, pictured below, just turned 91 and is doing great, but I still have to keep my eyes on her.
And yes, she is attending the convention this year. That should be very interesting, but then she was the woman who created all the paperwork. From letters to the membership (all 6 of them) registration forms, to final editing of the newsletters. And what's interesting, she's never been to a convention. Alex Taber. P.s. Caligula was the cat resting in my lap. 
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| Post# 353022 , Reply# 16 5/30/2016 at 19:18 (2,884 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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| Post# 353023 , Reply# 17 5/30/2016 at 20:18 (2,884 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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| Post# 353080 , Reply# 19 6/1/2016 at 06:24 (2,883 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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| Post# 353129 , Reply# 20 6/2/2016 at 08:39 (2,881 days old) by bikerray (Middle Earth) | ||
eurekaprince | ||
| Post# 353145 , Reply# 21 6/2/2016 at 17:15 (2,881 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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