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Thread Number: 39471
/ Tag: Pre-1950 Vacuum Cleaners
Airway model 50 |
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| Post# 418796 , Reply# 1 1/19/2020 at 18:47 (1,552 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
Amazing find.
I can't give you an exact year, but it looks like early to mid 1920's. As to the bag, I doubt you can locate one.
Now here's the interesting part, that long handle is hollow for a reason, above the floor cleaning. Yes there was a hose and attachments, but the idea was to lift the machine and direct the suction where it was needed. The dial was used to transfer the suction from floor through the handle. But here's the really interesting feature, a disposable filtered bag. That's right, Air-Way was the first to invent and patent them. As to the name Replogle on the dial, that was Doctor Danial Replogle, the man who designed this vacuum cleaner around 1916. As for the Air-Way Electrical Appliance Corp., that was founded by Clarence and Pratt Tracy of Toledo, Ohio, and their first vacuum cleaner, which this might be, debuted in 1920. I have two of these, pictured here along with the hose, assorted outer bags, and various attachments. The Air-Way Chief, pictured with the outer bag on the floor dates to 1937, and had a rotating brush. The problem here was it also had a beater bar which put Air-Way in direct competition with Hoover. Eventually these uprights gave way to a canister design in the mid to late 1940's. To zero in on the possible year look at the series of patent numbers and find the last date, that should give you a ballpark year. But one thing is certain, this is a rare find. The downside is that very few people want these, which is a shame as they are definitely a piece out of history. Alex Taber.
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| Post# 418797 , Reply# 2 1/19/2020 at 20:13 (1,552 days old) by Oreck_XL (Brooklyn, New York 11211) | ||
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| Post# 418798 , Reply# 3 1/19/2020 at 20:20 (1,552 days old) by electro (Indiana) | ||
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That is a cleaner sold in the old Firestone Stores. I remember seeing it in an old ad. I agree it does look very modern for the time. The ad was from the late 1940's. | ||
| Post# 418801 , Reply# 4 1/19/2020 at 20:32 (1,552 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Firestone one-stroke.
I had this when I lived in California back in the early 2000's. I was not fond of this vacuum cleaner and gave it away. I see the ad for it here as Vacuum of the day from time to time, but I was not impressed.
And in case you are wondering where the picture was taken, Los Angeles Sheridan, June, 2005. Event, annual convention of the Vacuum Cleaner Collector's Club.
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| Post# 418802 , Reply# 5 1/19/2020 at 21:05 (1,552 days old) by Oreck_XL (Brooklyn, New York 11211) | ||
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| Post# 418811 , Reply# 6 1/20/2020 at 08:06 (1,551 days old) by quebecois (Waterloo, Canada) | ||
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Thank you Alex for your answer. So I understand that this vacuum is very unique, and that chances I find a bag and attachments are pretty close to zero, right ? | ||
| Post# 418812 , Reply# 7 1/20/2020 at 09:06 (1,551 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Bag to Air-way upright. | ||
Post# 418813 , Reply# 8 1/20/2020 at 09:45 (1,551 days old) by gottahaveahoove  (Pittston, Pennsylvania, 18640) |
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Alex! | ||
| Post# 418814 , Reply# 9 1/20/2020 at 10:25 (1,551 days old) by quebecois (Waterloo, Canada) | ||
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I will pull the motor out these days to see what is the condition of the brushes, rotor and stator. I'd probably need some help in the process, just to make sure I wouldn't break something I couldn't replace. I'll post a few more pictures of some features of this model. | ||
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Post# 418816 , Reply# 11 1/20/2020 at 11:28 (1,551 days old) by bvac6 (Fort Wayne, Indiana) |
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Yes, those plastic caps contain the motor brushes. I had an Air-Way that the carbons were so worn out they were slivers you could have shaved with and that the spring had marred the commutator. But, new carbons and polishing the commutator revived it. As for that plate, it could be holding some electrical contacts on the inside of the motor and that plate could be insulation.
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| Post# 418819 , Reply# 12 1/20/2020 at 12:50 (1,551 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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This post has been removed by the member who posted it. | ||
| Post# 418820 , Reply# 13 1/20/2020 at 12:57 (1,551 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Two Upright Air-Ways on eBay. | ||
| Post# 418821 , Reply# 14 1/20/2020 at 13:03 (1,551 days old) by quebecois (Waterloo, Canada) | ||
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Alex Yeah, I just saw them a few minutes ago. | ||
| Post# 418823 , Reply# 15 1/20/2020 at 13:38 (1,551 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Now you have me fired up, I need more pictures.
Hi Quebecois:
I deleted the previous post as I noticed a major mistakes and am starting over. The two screws have me stumped, I'd say they connect the cord to the motor, but without seeing the cord I can't say for sure. On my two the cord goes into a grommet and fed into the motor housing. Could you post pics of the upper and lower cord hooks, I want to see the location of the power switch, and the hooks for the bag assembly. There should also be a locking mechanism for the base of the bag to the motor housing. I'll need to do a patent search which will take time. Is there any date on the motor plate to indicate a year? I'm thinking that this is one of the very first. Sadly, I don't have a chart to indicate model by year so all I can do is look on my first one to compare the two. Alex. | ||
| Post# 418827 , Reply# 16 1/20/2020 at 17:01 (1,551 days old) by quebecois (Waterloo, Canada) | ||
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Here are a few more pictures. I removed the small plate and I was surprised to see nothing special behind it. The plate is on one side and the grommet with the cord is on the opposite side. I also pulled the brushes out. They are very tiny compared to Elux ones. They look like they're still good to me, but a bit greasy. | ||
| Post# 418831 , Reply# 17 1/20/2020 at 20:44 (1,551 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Looks like a later model.
These pictures tell me a lot. The lower bag assembly in pic. 1 is exactly like that in my model Chief of 1935, same with pic 2. There was a metal coupling that fit into the outer bag to hold the pressed fiber disposable bag with aid of a spring (like a belt.) It was held in place with the thumb screw, and the outer bag fit into the two round holes. Pic 1 shows the spring assembly for the top of the outer bag. Pic 4 is the port where the motor was oiled, and the on/off switch is vastly different than mine. The handle in pic 1 is not hollow, but rather like that of the Dirt-Master circa 1940 so it tells me it is after the Chief. I'm still working on a patent search but it appears to be late 1930's.
The bag to your Air-Way is shown in my first photo, (reply 1) resting on the floor. Dark gray without lettering. Mine is badly ripped due to age, and I don't have the disposable bags. Both my Air-Way's work but are strictly for display. I now leave it to the Air-Way experts who know these models. Alex. | ||
| Post# 418839 , Reply# 18 1/20/2020 at 21:23 (1,551 days old) by quebecois (Waterloo, Canada) | ||
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The handle is actually hollow for sure on mine. | ||
| Post# 418843 , Reply# 19 1/20/2020 at 21:54 (1,551 days old) by Lesinutah (Utah) | ||
Copper/brass
The copper/brass screws are where the two cord leads get mounted and secured. If you have the cord where the leads go I'd use wire connectors attach them to the posts.
Having copper leads bare is risky. I'll tell a story to understand better. I had a Dodge ram charger 1976 with a 440 and Edelbrock carb. It had a circular Edelbrock air filter. It was three pieces. Top filter bottom. The top and bottom are aluminum. The battery has two leads on it positive and negative. I touched the positive terminal with aluminum top plate. It arced sparked and the 18 inch diameter top plate got 3 places it disinigrated aluminum. They were silver dollar sized holes. The melted aluminum was on terminal welding the plate to the terminal. Electricity arcs on metal and it also gives the metal an electric charge. I think you understand now. There is an airway special 37 on eBay. I'm not mentioning more as I hope to buy it in a week or 10 days. The airway was ahead of it's time. Alex Taber and Tom gasko give history of airway in archive section. It's where I learned about them. Carbon brushes with grease is bad. Get dish soap and maybe a tooth brush and gently clean. Grease is an excelerent. If you get carbon brush spark it will ignite. The tempature is 1200-1600 degrees. It's pretty blue , green and a flickering yellow. I arced out 2 d80 motors after long restore project. Les | ||
| Post# 418847 , Reply# 21 1/20/2020 at 22:15 (1,551 days old) by Lesinutah (Utah) | ||
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Date | ||
| Post# 418852 , Reply# 22 1/20/2020 at 23:08 (1,551 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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So I WAS right!
Couldn't tell if the handle was hallow or not, the latest pictures means I was right.
Air-Way is one hard nut to crack! Not only is this model eluding me, but any info on the internet. Lesinutah is right, many years ago I had access to files and posted the history of Air-Way including patent info. but those files are in a box in the basement. I see components of my model Chief but a lot of this is unfamiliar, like the toggle switch. I was hoping to use my two models to give quick answers, and Wikipedia as history from the company. No luck on either. So as I said, I defer to the experts to help you with the exact date. And if I know this group, it won't take long. | ||
| Post# 418853 , Reply# 23 1/20/2020 at 23:15 (1,551 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Hi Lesinutah. | ||
| Post# 418856 , Reply# 24 1/20/2020 at 23:31 (1,551 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA) | ||
Clean the carbon brushes with alcohol or brake cleaner or whatever solvent you have handy. Make sure they slide in and out inside their holders very easily, and when you put them back in, make sure you put them in the correct orientation (the concave matching the commutator). They were probably just greasy and stuck, hence the arcing.
As for lubrication... I really want to say use oil, because it has oil wicks, but it's clearly marked 'grease' so I guess it's grease. | ||
| Post# 418857 , Reply# 25 1/21/2020 at 00:39 (1,550 days old) by Lesinutah (Utah) | ||
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Manual
Here is one thread with the manual and is the thread I mentioned. I bookmarked it lots of cool info.
www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bi... | ||
| Post# 418860 , Reply# 26 1/21/2020 at 06:52 (1,550 days old) by quebecois (Waterloo, Canada) | ||
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Really cool, indeed ! Thank you Les and Alex ! Madman, thanks, I'll thoroughly clean the brushes for sure. As for the sliders or holders, this won't be an easy task unless I find a way to open the motor casing up. CLeaning is actually one of the main reasons why Id like to access the motor. | ||
| Post# 418864 , Reply# 27 1/21/2020 at 08:21 (1,550 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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The Air-Way info I was looking for.
Hi Quebecois:
Way back in May of 2013 I began a thread on the history of Air-Way, starting with the owners manual. While not the model 50, the general information does apply. As it turns out, this is a long thread, 69 replies. Buried in here is the history of the company, and when I find it I will direct you to the reply number(s.) It may interest you to know that I found my Air-Way Sanitation system in a junk store in Indiana, and had no idea what it was. That was around 1973 and I had my research cut out for me. Clark Masters of Air-Way was very helpful and supplied most of the data in that thread. My friend, the Late Craig Long gave me the manual, and my friend Mike Pupek gave me the one featuring the tank style. Clearly you have an amazing find, I only wish I still had the box of parts, but I gave those away years ago. No doubt there will be experts here who either have or can locate what you need to get your model 50 in fine working order. Good luck, you have a treasure, enjoy it. Alex. | ||
| Post# 418867 , Reply# 28 1/21/2020 at 08:36 (1,550 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Found it!
Hi Quebecois:
Reply # 43 shows the timeline of models that I got from Clark Masters. The model 50 dates back to 1934, and the cost was $69.00. Seems that this thread is just the two instruction manuals plus a few responses and not what I'm looking for, but I now have the ballpark year where the other data is buried. Fear not I will locate it. Alex. | ||
| Post# 418906 , Reply# 31 1/21/2020 at 20:39 (1,550 days old) by Lesinutah (Utah) | ||
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Hmm
The center bearing if you pulled bearing off. Then the the four grease in circular formation there is 4 circular notches closer to center bearing. There is circular ring outside grease fittings.
I'm guessing but I'm probably right. The bearing is pulled those 4 circular notches and center is machine pressed on. It also could be pulled by using a press on grease fittings hole and bearings. If you can access other side it's probably easier because your not machine pressing anything easily. If you have long metal cylindrical tubes they could be used for grease ports. If you look at an oiler Port on a royal bearing plate that's how they got greased. I imagine you have to make new ports yours are toast. Alex idk if you have a good camera but if you take pics with technology in the last year you can use pics in the same way scanning a pic. I have it on my phone through Google but pic taking is easy compared to scanning and reprint or viewed similar to ebooks. I have a bunch of old vacuum advertising, a 1960 blakemans order book from 1962, hard copies of Kirby parts 505 to avalir and vacuum manuals. I'm in process of taking all the pics. When I'm done I can actually read it like a book. I can zoom in and zoom out. It's a PDF file instead of a jpeg. I will put all on a flash drive and pull out my $50 Amazon fire and read books in front of me instead of pulling out each book. If you have a vast collection is take pics label what you have pics of and move to next book. This way you don't retake pics. The end of the year Google will be able to read the pics. If they can read them it can also type them. I hii didn't lose you I am a little bit of a tech geek. If you go to Costco/Walmart you can get a terabyte portable hard drive. It would be $50 or less. You wouldn't have to buy memory cards this would hold it all. The cloud storage is great. Putting on them is easy. Pulling them off you may never pull off maybe you don't have Amazon etc. The cloud is potentially going to be lost. The hard drive is yours and is easy to use. This website I believe is backed up by a terabyte cloud drive he paid for to save website history. It probably will never get maxed out. By saving or having someone save it will pass encyclopedia of knowledge for future generations and not be lost like everything has been lost. I'm saying digitize and your legacy and knowledge will inform and never be lost. Les | ||
| Post# 418908 , Reply# 32 1/21/2020 at 20:48 (1,550 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Pictures.
Hi Les:
I haven't taken pictures in years, all my uploads are from a file that dates back to about 2000. That Air-Way book, like all other pics was scanned. However, my housemate IS good at pictures and I plan to take up to date pics with a smart phone. I may know vacuum cleaners but I stink at computers. My display wall was completed about a year ago and vastly improved, I plan to take individual pics of the special machines like my Electrolux's, Kirby's and some of the really old ones. I do welcome ideas and suggestions. Alex. | ||
| Post# 418918 , Reply# 33 1/21/2020 at 22:40 (1,550 days old) by Lesinutah (Utah) | ||
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Pics
If you have pics of any era saved and it sounds like you do. Ill look into programs that convert like I mentioned. My phone does it. I took pics with phone and it converts to PDF. I'm sure Google has a program for desktop. I'll look it up and let you know. I could probably help with the process. I'll look into it. I have school tomorrow night but Thursday or Friday Ill look into it.
The thread you mentioned had Tania voigt (sorry if I spelled incorrectly) in it I believe gave a demo at a house or a convention. I seen it and I'll post as soon as I find it. Les | ||
| Post# 418929 , Reply# 34 1/22/2020 at 03:35 (1,549 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA) | ||
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I doubt anything is pressed together on this motor. Probably just stuck. Stick a screwdriver in one of the holes on the side of the motor, and try to push or pry the front plate off. Might want to wrap the screwdriver shank in something soft like a rag, to prevent marring the motor housing. You might have to use two screwdrivers on opposite sides to apply even force on the front plate.
Btw, to clean the brush holders, you could just use a Q-tip soaked in alcohol. You can even rotate the motor against the Q-tip to clean the commutator. | ||
| Post# 418955 , Reply# 35 1/22/2020 at 17:59 (1,549 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Quebecois, Air-Way on eBay in Supermarket | ||
| Post# 418957 , Reply# 36 1/22/2020 at 18:33 (1,549 days old) by quebecois (Waterloo, Canada) | ||
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Do you mean this one ? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Vacuum-... | ||
| Post# 418960 , Reply# 37 1/22/2020 at 19:28 (1,549 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut) | ||
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Yes! | ||
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