The Air-Way Has Landed!

Brandon, I agree with you about the desirability of Detroit living/visiting; there's a level of good living still alive and well. Downtown core\has become once again a civilized destination.
My first experiences in Detroit was a a young lad when Dad would take us from London Ontario for the annual summertime trek to Greenfield Village and the Ford Museum (on the way to the cottage) to gape in awe at planes and locomotives and household goods tracing their advancement over decades. It sparked my interest in all things well made and styled. Not to mention the astounding Automotive Museums that have sprung up over the years, sponsored by all the Corporations involved in their manufacture.
I remember well back in the late 1970s through the 1980s you could get yourself a fine large home for back taxes, say in the Indian Village, while mere blocks away residences were crumbling and decayed beyond salvation. Detroit being the North American Center of the Automotive Universe created multi-class wealth and prosperity. Detroit households always had the best of everything in modern household goods so as the recession deepened and the natural aging effect was felt excellent quality goods made their way to the various Second Hand shops. The treasures I found over the years continue to comfort me, in this age of plastics and throw-a-way cheapness.
My interests being mechanically inclined my hobbies have encompassed, besides Vacuums and Appliances, Phonographs, Architecture, Design, vintage cars, Movie Palaces, Films, Organs and especially Automatic Music Instruments for the masses at skating rinks,speakeasys and hotels - orchestrions, player pianos, reproducing grands and organs no upper class home could be complete without and the like. I began snapping up masses of 1930-50s recordings and decided at last I must have Phonographs to play them on. Since most of my floorspace is taken up with self-playing pianos I decided to have an Victor Orthophonic and a Edison Diamond Disk to play them on...and found good examples of each in the Detroit area.
All of this pleasure in music led me to build a perforated roll scanner that then produces midi files (including expression coding) I can cue up for hours of a background household entertainment soundtrack on the digital piano on the second floor. Sure trumps today's radio, tv and constant advertising for domestic contentment.

Every year, weather permitting I spend a few days in & around Detroit at the North American International Auto Show and revisiting favorite haunts such as Dodge's Meadowbrook Hall, The Edsel Ford house and Fairlane, Henry's estate. For a surprisingly minor fee one can have free rein to explore these houses and estates. Although I will never live such a life it's enough to simply walk around inside such homes imagining how glorious it must have been. My idea of a wintertime vacation is to hit the road searching out 'America's Castles' from coast to coast, picking up a few choice momentoes along the way.

Back to my point, it's good to see someone embracing the best of the past at your young age.
My hope that someday we will meet up.
62 year old Davy


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Post# 304109 11/2/2014 at 00:17 (3,462 days old) by HisMastersVoice (Ferndale, MI)
Checkrate/Likes 7 FedEx delivered a huge box this morning, I wasn't expecting it to come until next week! After some light cleaning, she's looking pretty good! Everything is original, it even had an original Air-Way cellulose paper bag in it still (unfortunately it was full of dirt and falling apart, so I disposed of it.) One more "want" to check off of my growing list...now I just need to find a set of attachments for it. Photos... < > Photo 1 of 12 View Full Size

Post# 304140 , Reply# 1 11/2/2014 at 07:12 (3,462 days old) by pinkge (Indianapolis,Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes 2 *LOOKS...* So good in your vintage kitchen.They are a fun machine to collect.To bad the filter bag was full and coming apart.To find some bags;you might contact Air-way Charlie,as he is a big collector of Airway uprights.He may be able to help you find some.He has great knowledge on these and has made some replacement parts. Enjoy your new find. Michael

Post# 304160 , Reply# 2 11/2/2014 at 07:59 (3,462 days old) by FantomFan (Rochester, New York)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Gorgeous!* Everybody needs an Air-Way! Once I'm out on my own, I'll expand my collection with machines like this!

Post# 304189 , Reply# 3 11/2/2014 at 09:17 (3,462 days old) by HisMastersVoice (Ferndale, MI)
Checkrate/Likes Michael, thank you - I've contacted Charlie regarding the bags and what type of brushes these take. I think they are a bit worn down. I'm thrilled with this machine, maybe I'll have to switch from Kirbys to Air-Ways! ...just kidding ;-)

Post# 304225 , Reply# 4 11/2/2014 at 14:11 (3,462 days old) by super-sweeper (KSSRC Refurbishment Center)
Checkrate/Likes 1 LOVELY Air-Way, it looks BEAUTIFUL! It's a shame I never see anything Air-Way down here, besides a Vita-Vac a year or so ago!

Post# 304276 , Reply# 5 11/2/2014 at 19:49 (3,461 days old) by cb123 (Mobile, Al.)
Checkrate/Likes 1 Now, that would certainly look smashing next to a Eldridge Johnson's 1900 line Victor! It would make even the most ridged of personality's swoon, or at least get a good case of the vapors. Nice looking machine!!!

Post# 304301 , Reply# 6 11/2/2014 at 22:05 (3,461 days old) by HisMastersVoice (Ferndale, MI)
Checkrate/Likes 2 I don't have an Eldridge Johnson phonograph, they are very rare...the closest thing I could come up with was my Victor R... View Full Size

Post# 304302 , Reply# 7 11/2/2014 at 22:06 (3,461 days old) by HisMastersVoice (Ferndale, MI)
Checkrate/Likes 2 My Orthophonic Victrola 8-35 would be more period correct, though: View Full Size

Post# 304304 , Reply# 8 11/2/2014 at 22:36 (3,461 days old) by cb123 (Mobile, Al.)
Checkrate/Likes Now, that's what I wanted to see, but artistically, they both enjoy the same curvilinear form....beautiful! Your Victor Royal seems to be in primo condition....That's about $1500 worth of loveliness!

Post# 304306 , Reply# 9 11/2/2014 at 23:23 (3,461 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *Wow!* Wish my Air-Way uprights looked half as good as that!

Post# 304449 , Reply# 11 11/3/2014 at 16:09 (3,460 days old) by rugsucker (Elizabethton TN)
Checkrate/Likes *AirWay!!!* One of the very best I have ever seen.Although one of mine has a slightly better bag.There was a description of the special equipment used to make and weave the cloth bags in an early AW company newsletter.Your home looks as if it could have been used for the photos in the owners manual.But all pics now should only be in color which it appears you are not afraid of.All looks great!!

Post# 304509 , Reply# 14 11/3/2014 at 18:59 (3,460 days old) by super-sweeper (KSSRC Refurbishment Center)
Checkrate/Likes Hey,I just saw a 1936 GE Globe-Top on pawn stars, it doesn't work, Corey just bought it for $1,100, you should give them a call!

Post# 304543 , Reply# 15 11/3/2014 at 23:51 (3,460 days old) by hygiene903 (Galion, OH)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Beautiful AirWay!* And I love your collection of Victrolas too! I have 2, and probably about 600 records. One is a New Century that has been in my family since it was new. The other is a Cecilian portable--when closed it looks like a small suitcase with a crank hanging out of it! Sorry I don't have pics of either one. Interesting fan that your Victor R is sitting on--never seen one like that before. Jeff

Post# 304317 , Reply# 10 11/3/2014 at 02:22 (3,461 days old) by cb123 (Mobile, Al.)
Checkrate/Likes I came across this 1900 Edison Record just the other day, still in its original sleeve, which I have never seen one joined to the other before. And of course, it's on an Edison Victrola platter. I'm pretty sure it's an Edison, because some numbskull refinished it, leaving no trace, but its movement is definitely an Edison without any modifications. Photos... < > Photo 1 of 4 View Full Size

Post# 304453 , Reply# 12 11/3/2014 at 16:24 (3,460 days old) by super-sweeper (KSSRC Refurbishment Center)
Checkrate/Likes 2 We can fix that, RugSucker!

Post# 304471 , Reply# 13 11/3/2014 at 17:05 (3,460 days old) by HisMastersVoice (Ferndale, MI)
Checkrate/Likes Yes, I tried to clean the stains on the bag with woolite, but they didn't come out. I'll be on the lookout for a nicer one, of course. And thanks all for the compliments!

Post# 304583 , Reply# 16 11/4/2014 at 08:09 (3,460 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)
Checkrate/Likes 2 Brandon, I agree with you about the desirability of Detroit living/visiting; there's a level of good living still alive and well. Downtown core\has become once again a civilized destination. My first experiences in Detroit was a a young lad when Dad would take us from London Ontario for the annual summertime trek to Greenfield Village and the Ford Museum (on the way to the cottage) to gape in awe at planes and locomotives and household goods tracing their advancement over decades. It sparked my interest in all things well made and styled. Not to mention the astounding Automotive Museums that have sprung up over the years, sponsored by all the Corporations involved in their manufacture. I remember well back in the late 1970s through the 1980s you could get yourself a fine large home for back taxes, say in the Indian Village, while mere blocks away residences were crumbling and decayed beyond salvation. Detroit being the North American Center of the Automotive Universe created multi-class wealth and prosperity. Detroit households always had the best of everything in modern household goods so as the recession deepened and the natural aging effect was felt excellent quality goods made their way to the various Second Hand shops. The treasures I found over the years continue to comfort me, in this age of plastics and throw-a-way cheapness. My interests being mechanically inclined my hobbies have encompassed, besides Vacuums and Appliances, Phonographs, Architecture, Design, vintage cars, Movie Palaces, Films, Organs and especially Automatic Music Instruments for the masses at skating rinks,speakeasys and hotels - orchestrions, player pianos, reproducing grands and organs no upper class home could be complete without and the like. I began snapping up masses of 1930-50s recordings and decided at last I must have Phonographs to play them on. Since most of my floorspace is taken up with self-playing pianos I decided to have an Victor Orthophonic and a Edison Diamond Disk to play them on...and found good examples of each in the Detroit area. All of this pleasure in music led me to build a perforated roll scanner that then produces midi files (including expression coding) I can cue up for hours of a background household entertainment soundtrack on the digital piano on the second floor. Sure trumps today's radio, tv and constant advertising for domestic contentment. Every year, weather permitting I spend a few days in & around Detroit at the North American International Auto Show and revisiting favorite haunts such as Dodge's Meadowbrook Hall, The Edsel Ford house and Fairlane, Henry's estate. For a surprisingly minor fee one can have free rein to explore these houses and estates. Although I will never live such a life it's enough to simply walk around inside such homes imagining how glorious it must have been. My idea of a wintertime vacation is to hit the road searching out 'America's Castles' from coast to coast, picking up a few choice momentoes along the way. Back to my point, it's good to see someone embracing the best of the past at your young age. My hope that someday we will meet up. 62 year old Davy

Post# 304586 , Reply# 17 11/4/2014 at 09:29 (3,460 days old) by HisMastersVoice (Ferndale, MI)
Checkrate/Likes 2 Dave, If you like Automated Music, you should make a point to visit Barrington Hills, IL sometime. A friend of mine, Jasper Sanfilippo, has the largest collection of orchestrions and automatic music machines I know of. You can spend all day walking around his house just staring in awe. He also owns Wurlitzer opus #1571, which has 5 manuals and 80 ranks. He opens his house to the public every year after the Union Phonograph Show in June. He keeps trays of coins next to all of the coin-op stuff so people can use them, and hires docents to demonstrate the larger machines as you walk through the house. When I die, I want to spend eternity there. www.sanfilippofoundation.org/inde... This was a few years ago in front of the M. Welte & S�hne dance organ he has in the foyer area, one of my favorites in the collection. View Full Size

Post# 304587 , Reply# 18 11/4/2014 at 09:29 (3,460 days old) by HisMastersVoice (Ferndale, MI)
Checkrate/Likes Getting back to the Air-Way, does anyone know a modern filter bag that will fit this vacuum? And what type of motor brushes it takes? They are a bit worn.

Post# 304666 , Reply# 19 11/4/2014 at 17:31 (3,459 days old) by super-sweeper (KSSRC Refurbishment Center)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I bet Hoover Type C will make an easy replacement!

Post# 305045 , Reply# 20 11/6/2014 at 13:11 (3,458 days old) by dysonman1 (the county)
Checkrate/Likes 1 The Hoover C bag won't work in your pre-1930 model Sanitary System. The bag opening is too big to fit snug against the spout and to have the garter spring roll over it. I have two replacement bags that WILL work, that I can send to you Brandon, if you private message me with your address. Here's my Air-Way Sanitary Systems in the Vacuum Cleaner Museum in St. James, MO. The VCCC and the Vacuum Collectors Group are all meeting in June of 2015 in St. Louis. Both groups will get to see the Vacuum Cleaner Museum on Thursday (first one in June). If you attend the convention, and come to the Museum, I'll share some information and an owners manual for your machine, with you. View Full Size

Post# 305046 , Reply# 21 11/6/2014 at 13:13 (3,458 days old) by dysonman1 (the county)
Checkrate/Likes 2 Air-Way Sanitary System WITH power nozzle (first twin motor vacuum in the world). View Full Size