Thread Number: 39528  /  Tag: 50s/60s/70s Vacuum Cleaners
Electrolux Model E-Automatic for Home Economics Classes
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Post# 419353   1/31/2020 at 16:56 (1,518 days old) by electrolux137 (Los Angeles)        

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Here is one of the "crown jewels" of my collection, a beautiful Electrolux E-Automatic I found on eBay back in 2004. It was in beautiful shape, appearing as though it had hardly been used. It had the original hose that looked to be in perfect condition. It came with all the standard attachments (including steel wands). There was also a polisher, sprayer and vaporizer.

I could see in the photos on the listing that it had a circular aluminum plate riveted to one side of the motor body but I couldn't make out what it said. So I contacted the seller and she replied that it said:

"For Classroom and Home Economics Instruction / Electrolux Cleaner and Air Purifier / For Free Service call Electrolux Corporation, Brooklyn NY, NE8-2356 / HE-5053 / Property of Electroux Corporation."

I got pretty excited about it -- this obviously was a very special Electrolux, one that had been donated to a high school Home Economics department. I had never seen another one like it and in fact had no idea that they had provided these machines. But it was a brilliant sales tactic when you think about it: How many young homemakers who were exposed to the Electrolux in school went on to buy them for their own homes when they got married!

I also asked the seller about the hose, wondering if it was still flexible and airtight or absolutely petrified and leaking like a sieve! She said the hose is very flexible and not leaking, that the suction was very powerful at the handle end.

I kept my eyes on the listing, hoping I could get it for not a huge fortune! As it turned out I was the only bidder on it and the shipping cost was twice what I paid for the machine!

I wrote the seller and begged her to pleeeeeeeeeeeease pack it very, very carefully. I was particularly concerned about the wheels because they become very brittle over the years.

It got here in a couple of weeks. Thank God she packed it very well and it arrived in one piece. I couldn't believe the beautiful condition it was in! And imagine my sheer astonishment when I opened the front cover and saw that there was still an original 1956 disposable bag inside! That really made clear the fact that it had hardly ever been used.

I also discovered there was a filter in the rear end. Once the new multi-layer paper bags came out during the run of the E-A, Electrolux urged users of the LX, LXI, E and E-A to remove the filter and replace it with the cardboard gasket that came with the new packages of bags. (The original paper bags were only two layers -- an inner tissue-paper layer and the outer filter paper layer. The new ones had three layers of tissue paper.) So that was even more evidence that the machine had sat in some school classroom hardly ever used at all!

 


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Post# 419354 , Reply# 1   1/31/2020 at 16:58 (1,518 days old) by electrolux137 (Los Angeles)        

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Here are a few more photos...


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Post# 419368 , Reply# 2   1/31/2020 at 21:53 (1,518 days old) by Luxman107 (USA )        

What a beautiful machine. If you ever decide to sell please let me know

Post# 419372 , Reply# 3   1/31/2020 at 22:35 (1,518 days old) by gregvacs28 (U.S.)        

Wow, I love the story behind this.  I wonder how she got it. 

 

 

I'm visualizing a catholic school or similar, that was closing down due to dropping enrollment, and they were cleaning out the the area under the stage or something and all the way in the back they had this stashed away.  

 

Be careful of that hose.  I'm guessing you haven't used any part of this vacuum and are keeping it for the museum piece it is.  And the hose looks ok but it probably has asbestos in it, given the age of it.


Post# 419378 , Reply# 4   2/1/2020 at 00:41 (1,518 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)        

Absolutely a very NICE vacuum-looks like it was hardly used and well cared for.Also looks like it NEVER was in an attic or basement so the machine is in like new shape.Would like to get one of those air powered powerhead,polisher units.Don't worry about asbestos in the hose-asbestos was not used in vacuum hoses.The material on the outside of the hose is woven Saran-a type of plastic.The inside would be rubber.The hose could be stiff from age,though.I have an old Popular Mechanics magazine shoing the air unit used to power a small circular saw,and a hedge shears.

Post# 419380 , Reply# 5   2/1/2020 at 04:14 (1,517 days old) by electrolux137 (Los Angeles)        

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Hey, tolivac:

 

Check your Vacuumland messages...

 

 


Post# 419383 , Reply# 6   2/1/2020 at 06:51 (1,517 days old) by Oreck_XL (Brooklyn, New York 11211)        

oreck_xl's profile picture
Well done, Charles. I can't think of anyone else who will appreciate this rare gem as much as you do. I'd love to know how many Automatic E's were made for this particular purpose. I visit alot of high schools and junior high schools to repair sewing machines. I don't see a single vacuum cleaner in any classroom.

Post# 419385 , Reply# 7   2/1/2020 at 08:28 (1,517 days old) by rugsucker (Elizabethton TN)        
Home economics classrooms

Beautiful and rare Electrolux!
There was much information(posters,film strips,etc) provided to home ec teachers in 50s & 60s from Hoover,Elux,Leywt,Westinghouse and others.I have heard of elux salesmen delivering these to different schools in areas they worked in.Teachers could get a discount on their personal Hoovers.Mo G with Power Nozzle and Westinghouse ConvertoVac were advertised in home ec magazines of the 60s.


Post# 419399 , Reply# 8   2/2/2020 at 00:22 (1,517 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)        

Now I wished I could have taken Home Ec class in school!!!surprised more boys didbn't want to take the course-good info there and those home "toys" are just as much fun as the man shop ones!!!Second thought feel the Home Ec course should be REQUIRED for everyone to take.We ALL have to run a home!!

Post# 419408 , Reply# 9   2/2/2020 at 09:39 (1,516 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina)        
Home Ec. Classes...

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When I was growing up in Raleigh in the '70s, everyone--boys as well as girls--had to take nine weeks of home ec. in seventh grade. I don't recall seeing any vacuum cleaners in the classroom. The curriculum was geared mainly to cooking and sewing. I have to wonder if they even teach home ec. in middle and high schools anymore or if it's one of those things that got the axe to make room for more STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) in the curriculum. The idea of training girls to be housewives seems pretty anachronistic here in the twenty-first century. 'Leave it to Beaver' was a long time ago.

Post# 419410 , Reply# 10   2/2/2020 at 10:29 (1,516 days old) by vacuumlad1650 (Wauponsee, IL)        

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AS someone who went through the public school system fairly recently, I can say Home-Ec is not required, at least in Illinois. Cooking is an Elective for high schoolers (if their school still has it in the budget to offer it), but sewing is gone, and the cooking class is very basic. I took it in 12th grade to fill an open hour in my schedule and didn't learn a thing all year, but I suppose I knew what cooking really was before starting that class.
It really is sad, I watched kids in those classes not be able to handle anything in the kitchen beyond pouring a glass of milk. I fear the world of tomorrow when the adolescence of today takes over


Post# 419418 , Reply# 11   2/2/2020 at 15:28 (1,516 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina)        

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The home ec course I had to take some 45 years ago was pretty lame. All the 'sewing' we learned was how to thread a needle and sew on a button, which I had learned a couple of years earlier in scouts. The scoutmaster made us cut a button off of our uniform shirt and sew it back on. For 'cooking', we learned basic kitchen safety, how to measure dry and liquid ingredients and maybe how to boil water. I learned more about cooking watching 'The Galloping Gourmet' on TV.

But you're right, Andy. It's pretty sad that today's youth are basically left to fend for themselves without being taught any real daily life survival skills. And I say this as a community college professor.


Post# 419424 , Reply# 12   2/2/2020 at 18:01 (1,516 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)        

huskyvacs's profile picture
Nice find! One of a kid there. That's vacuum you can look for decades and never see another one.

My high school (I was in 2006+) had home ec and auto shop - but you had to be a senior and have a certain GPA to enroll in it. So 95% of the school never got those classes.

Also the hose is fine. It is a woven nylon over a rubber sleeve over coiled spring.


Post# 420738 , Reply# 13   2/27/2020 at 13:32 (1,491 days old) by Rdwdcp (UK)        

Nice Electrolux

Post# 420751 , Reply# 14   2/27/2020 at 21:08 (1,491 days old) by keither (California )        

keither's profile picture
Very nice looking Electrolux Charles! We had the turquoise Electrolux CBs with the PN2 when I was in junior high school in the 70s.


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