Thread Number: 23781
bison 		[Down to Last]

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Post# 266327   2/5/2014 at 17:29 (3,726 days old) by vacuser (milford,ohio)        

vacuser's profile picture
just got a bison centurion II. love it. if it breaks,hard to if not impossible to get parts. looking for an old green bison for my collection.

Post# 266337 , Reply# 1   2/5/2014 at 18:47 (3,726 days old) by kenkart ()        
Bison was...

 Basically a backwards Kirby...A Kirby employee thought he could make a better Kirby, so he changed things enough to get around the Kirby patents, It was probably the best cleaning upright ever devised, but its reliabilitywas poor,, Clay Floyd was a dealer for Bison for a while, he said the owner of the company locked the dealers in a room and preached a hell fire Baptist sermon to them, and then declared that "I had better never hear of MY machines being sold to black people or in trailer parks!", of course,such as this certainly helped his downfall!Clay said everyone sat there with their mouths open, the main breaking point according to Clay was the drive assembly on the rug head, he said the first green ones actually broke down on demo occasionally, but when it was working, it would clean rings around anything else.The motor is a General Electric, and if you listen to it, it sounds like a GE upright.

Post# 266346 , Reply# 2   2/5/2014 at 19:40 (3,726 days old) by Jaker15 (Meridian, ID)        
wait...

 jaker15's profile picture
is it a gear driven motor head?

Post# 266351 , Reply# 3   2/5/2014 at 20:04 (3,726 days old) by kenkart ()        
It is a wierd

drive assembly, it was supposed to be easier to change the head , no belt lifter, it had a plastic contraption that had a bearing in it and a square opening in the end that stuck out of the rug head, the belt of course was on the other end inside the head, the fan shaft was made to fit into this plastic bearing shaft assembly, so to change from the tools to the rug head all you had to do was release the hose and snap on the rug head, no belt lifter, Clay said this was the weakest link, to me its sort of like the 61-64 Old and Pontiacs, great engine, great body, but a terrible automatic transmission!

Post# 266374 , Reply# 4   2/6/2014 at 00:17 (3,725 days old) by NYCWriter (New York City)        
Wow!!!

 nycwriter's profile picture
What a sexy beast!

And while green is my favorite color, I LOOOOOOOOVE that dark copper/bronze! Makes it look right at home in a Frank Lloyd Wright/Arts & Crafts home.

Post# 266381 , Reply# 5   2/6/2014 at 03:57 (3,725 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)        

At those times GE--like Lamb-Ametek made motors for use in other products besides their own.The Bison vacuum would be a good example-GE motors were used in MANY power tools at one time.Shopsmith was an example!Older Shopsmith models often had GE motors.AO Smith was another motor brand they and others used.

Post# 266407 , Reply# 6   2/6/2014 at 10:22 (3,725 days old) by dysonman1 (the county)        

dysonman1's profile picture
General Electric made the motor used from 1937 through 1958 in all Air-Way Sanitizor vacuums, models 55, 66, and 77. The models 55 and 66 use identical motors, the fans were changed for the model 77.

Post# 266446 , Reply# 7   2/6/2014 at 14:48 (3,725 days old) by kirbyguy (Columbia, MO)        
Nice find

 I have a like new Bison Centurian in my collection. Its an impressive looking machine to say the least. However, its the first vacuum I've ever worked up a serious sweat with while vacuuming carpet. This is one vacuum that should have been self propelled. Needless to say, my Bison is for display as opposed to being a daily driver.

BTW. There is another member who had and may very well still have a green Bison your looking for. I don't remember his name off hand but perhaps he will see your post or another member will remember who it is.

Enjoy your new find.


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