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Thread Number: 41692
/ Tag: Pre-1950 Vacuum Cleaners
The Hurley Thor! |
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| Post# 441106 , Reply# 1 4/22/2021 at 09:04 (1,092 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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| Post# 441109 , Reply# 2 4/22/2021 at 09:44 (1,092 days old) by Brando_husky (Las Vegas Nevada) | ||
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What a strange machine! It looks like it should have a nozzle but guess that's the nozzle we see. Never seen one pictured before | ||
Post# 441110 , Reply# 3 4/22/2021 at 10:02 (1,092 days old) by Vacmadman  (Pueblo Co.) |
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Very rare find | ||
| Post# 441113 , Reply# 4 4/22/2021 at 11:03 (1,092 days old) by Hoover300 (Kentucky) | ||
Very nice! | ||
| Post# 441115 , Reply# 5 4/22/2021 at 11:31 (1,092 days old) by rugsucker (Elizabethton TN) | ||
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RARE! Thor If I haven't seen one it's rare.When Tom hasn't seen one it's beyond rare!Amazing to find in any condition much less with original bag.Part early and primitive,part as modern as a mid 30s vac.Love the height adjusters. Plating-Chrome or earlier nickel? | ||
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Post# 441117 , Reply# 6 4/22/2021 at 12:01 (1,092 days old) by myvacsrock (USA) |
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I don’t have the port cover outside of the attachment one, but I do have the attachments! For the front cover, I’m leaning towards a cap that goes on a sink. Something will have to do!
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Post# 441118 , Reply# 7 4/22/2021 at 12:03 (1,092 days old) by myvacsrock (USA) |
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Jimmy- We need to connect— I’d like to come down your way buy some machines. All of my runnings around everywhere picking these up and I have not made it down yet! That won’t do! | ||
| Post# 441119 , Reply# 8 4/22/2021 at 13:13 (1,092 days old) by Elecroluxmodel1 ( Schererville, Indiana) | ||
WOW!!!!!!!!!! | ||
| Post# 441129 , Reply# 10 4/22/2021 at 18:50 (1,092 days old) by Brando_husky (Las Vegas Nevada) | ||
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We need folks like you out here in Nevada hah | ||
| Post# 441130 , Reply# 11 4/22/2021 at 19:51 (1,092 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA) | ||
Being that old, it would be odd if it was actually chrome plate. It's more likely nickel, but even that's really weird. Nickel plated aluminum? I'm assuming it's aluminum. Is it steel? Or brass maybe? O_o
Once you polish it, nickel will shine with a slight yellow tint, chrome will not. Anyhow, nickel plating aluminum is possible, it's just not a normal plating procedure. I'm not really familiar with the details. | ||
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Post# 441131 , Reply# 12 4/22/2021 at 20:12 (1,092 days old) by myvacsrock (USA) |
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It’s essentially Just horrible, horrible pot metal. Just the worst kind of scrap lol. I don’t know why they did it this way. Either way, it’s been plated. | ||
| Post# 441132 , Reply# 13 4/22/2021 at 20:35 (1,092 days old) by Hoover300 (Kentucky) | ||
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Why they made it out of pot metal? It was cheap to make and molded relatively easily. That is probably why fan companies made tons of fans out of it in the 1910s and 20s. I actually did not know they made a whole vac out of pot metal, interesting. The only cheaper metal I have heard of being used for making vacs was the tin Torrington model A.
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| Post# 441417 , Reply# 14 5/3/2021 at 18:17 (1,081 days old) by portable (Corvallis, OR) | ||
I thought the name THOR rang a bell. I have a brochure for it. Here's the first page. Someone dated this as 1919 in pencil on the cover, as you can see.
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| Post# 441418 , Reply# 15 5/3/2021 at 18:18 (1,081 days old) by portable (Corvallis, OR) | ||
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Two of the inner pages.
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| Post# 441419 , Reply# 16 5/3/2021 at 18:20 (1,081 days old) by portable (Corvallis, OR) | ||
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Some inner page(s). Sorry about splitting them - my scanner is not wide enough to scan the pages fully opened.
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| Post# 441420 , Reply# 17 5/3/2021 at 18:24 (1,081 days old) by portable (Corvallis, OR) | ||
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Back page, showing attachments., and the West Coast distributor locations of Pacific States Electric Co.. Note the small comapny info of Hurley Machine Company.
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| Post# 441421 , Reply# 18 5/3/2021 at 18:24 (1,081 days old) by Hoover300 (Kentucky) | ||
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WOW | ||
| Post# 441422 , Reply# 19 5/3/2021 at 18:37 (1,081 days old) by portable (Corvallis, OR) | ||
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Hoover300: They do say in this brochure that the 12 has a 12" wide nozzle. But you're right, the 5 doesn't look small enough to be a 5" nozzle. It could just be a marketing ploy for the later 12, if it was made after the 5. I noticed also that it says that 300,000 American women are satisfied Thor Cleaner users, so I guess they made them for quite awhile.
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| Post# 441480 , Reply# 20 5/4/2021 at 21:19 (1,080 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA) | ||
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Post# 441490 , Reply# 21 5/4/2021 at 23:11 (1,080 days old) by texbodemer (Mountlake Terrace) |
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Post# 441495 , Reply# 22 5/5/2021 at 07:46 (1,079 days old) by myvacsrock (USA) |
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It is indeed pot metal. | ||
| Post# 441516 , Reply# 23 5/6/2021 at 07:01 (1,078 days old) by Hoover300 (Kentucky) | ||
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| Post# 441528 , Reply# 24 5/6/2021 at 15:22 (1,078 days old) by luxz80 (England) | ||
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I really hope myvacsrock bids and wins the Thor hand vac listed on ebay now. Would be a great companion for his upright Thor. | ||
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Post# 441529 , Reply# 25 5/6/2021 at 15:26 (1,078 days old) by myvacsrock (USA) |
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The Hurley Thor Upright I bought was a fraction of a fraction of the cost of that hand vac... so I’m good. :) However, my Hurley Thor will be for sale post restoration! | ||
| Post# 441530 , Reply# 26 5/6/2021 at 15:30 (1,078 days old) by luxz80 (England) | ||
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I will look out for post restoration. Knowing how your projects turn out should be a real looker. Still remember when Ant & Dec challenged you vac sounds knowledge. | ||
| Post# 441531 , Reply# 27 5/6/2021 at 15:34 (1,078 days old) by luxz80 (England) | ||
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If selling I would like to see it end up in the Vacuum Museum. Should be happy there with all the other vintage vacs. | ||
| Post# 441538 , Reply# 28 5/6/2021 at 16:56 (1,078 days old) by Hoover300 (Kentucky) | ||
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Huh | ||
| Post# 441550 , Reply# 29 5/6/2021 at 23:38 (1,078 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA) | ||
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| Post# 441551 , Reply# 30 5/7/2021 at 02:40 (1,078 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana) | ||
That's definitely pressed steel, the bubbling on the finish is from humidity and moisture damage where the metal has corroded under the paint or to the surface of the metal iteslf and is lifting it off from underneath. I have a few steel vacuums that have rusted in this way - not from my house - but from others. If I took a wire brush to it, it would likely knock a lot of paint off. It's basically rusting from the inside out and tearing the paint or layers of the metal off with it. It's pretty brutal.
Example of humidity damage and rusting to an old rifle:
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| Post# 441555 , Reply# 31 5/7/2021 at 09:25 (1,077 days old) by Oreck_XL (Brooklyn, New York 11211) | ||
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Post# 441560 , Reply# 32 5/7/2021 at 10:09 (1,077 days old) by myvacsrock (USA) |
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Trust me it’s definitely chrome plating Photos if extra parts attached as well. Obviously not plated. | ||
| Post# 441574 , Reply# 33 5/7/2021 at 15:30 (1,077 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana) | ||
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Yeah that's really strange, reminds me of how they paint BBQ parts with fake chrome and after so many years it starts flaking apart. I'll bet they didn't have the resources to polish out the metal and make it chrome to begin with so they went for a painted topcoat, and then combined with moisture and dampness damage over the decades - it peeled off.
They likely had too much competition from Eureka, Bissell, and Hoover so they couldn't afford to go all out on manufacturing and went a cheaper route. I'm sure someone with knowledge of turn of the century metalwork would be able to explain better what they did and why it was done that way. | ||
| Post# 441586 , Reply# 35 5/7/2021 at 18:48 (1,077 days old) by Brando_husky (Las Vegas Nevada) | ||
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What a great sounding vacuum | ||
| Post# 441596 , Reply# 36 5/7/2021 at 21:28 (1,077 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA) | ||
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It's stamped steel. You can see the spot welds, and where the metal is rolled, and the rust. Not pot metal. I'm guessing it's nickel plated. Peel some of the plating off and observe if it is magnetic, nickel is. Chrome plating will also be, but only because chrome uses nickel as a base plate. 99% chance it's nickel plating. Chrome was expensive and uncommon at the time, whereas most steel parts that had to be pretty were nickeled. Nickel also oxidizes and dulls, and looks exactly like that. Chrome pretty much doesn't dull over time.
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| Post# 441607 , Reply# 37 5/8/2021 at 09:04 (1,076 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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I had an ad for the "Maytag" version, which was made for Maytag as a private labeled Thor. In the Maytag ad for that vacuum, it claimed it was made of stamped, nickel plated steel. I gave up the ad to Tacony when they were coming out with their Maytag line, for use in their advertising, and never got it back. Thor (and Maytag) called the brush inside the nozzle "the flexible besom".
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| Post# 441662 , Reply# 38 5/10/2021 at 00:06 (1,075 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA) | ||
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Post# 442167 , Reply# 39 5/24/2021 at 15:25 (1,060 days old) by myvacsrock (USA) |
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Soldering… | ||
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Post# 442168 , Reply# 40 5/24/2021 at 15:26 (1,060 days old) by myvacsrock (USA) |
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And here we have it Too bad this thing is nickel plated; not much can be done about the finish. But, full motor restore and a total electrical rip out. Resoldered into the motor, new runs and all good to go! | ||
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Post# 442169 , Reply# 41 5/24/2021 at 15:27 (1,060 days old) by myvacsrock (USA) |
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Post# 442170 , Reply# 42 5/24/2021 at 15:30 (1,060 days old) by myvacsrock (USA) |
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CLICK HERE TO GO TO myvacsrock's LINK
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| Post# 442171 , Reply# 43 5/24/2021 at 16:03 (1,060 days old) by Hoover300 (Kentucky) | ||
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WOW!!!! | ||
| Post# 442173 , Reply# 44 5/24/2021 at 16:17 (1,060 days old) by Opelgtkarl (Puyallup, Washington) | ||
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| Post# 442180 , Reply# 46 5/24/2021 at 20:26 (1,060 days old) by Hoover300 (Kentucky) | ||
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Whoa! | ||
| Post# 442193 , Reply# 47 5/24/2021 at 23:53 (1,060 days old) by Opelgtkarl (Puyallup, Washington) | ||
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Post# 442199 , Reply# 48 5/25/2021 at 09:40 (1,059 days old) by Vacmadman (Pueblo Co.) |
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| Post# 442201 , Reply# 49 5/25/2021 at 12:19 (1,059 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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| Post# 442228 , Reply# 50 5/25/2021 at 22:20 (1,059 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA) | ||
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Post# 442231 , Reply# 51 5/25/2021 at 22:39 (1,059 days old) by myvacsrock (USA) |
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The size is precisely what makes this particular plating hard. Lol | ||
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