A few months back I picked up an old Kirby Omega for $25 to vacuum the 270 sq.yds of plush carpet that I had installed, fiberfilled up the disposable bags in a std. vac in minutes. Anyway, I'm finishing up my project and did not want to drag my shop vac around the finished house and stopped by the Kirby shop to pick up a hose and an attachment or two.
the guy was selling old hoses for $15 and new for $35. He pulled a used one for me and I noticed it did not have the tooth to adjust the speed. He searched high and low and finally found one that would work. Not the correct color and the ends don't match the hose color but that was not an issue for me.
Anyway, after that long preamble, I noticed most of the metal ended hoses had a series of hole drilled in the end - why? I also noticed that most of the used hoses had tape wrapped around the end to seal up the holes. Weird.
I'm trying to remember, we had a Kirby when I was a kid, it was a Sanatronic, from 1964 or so, but for some reason I don't recall the hose having a metal end on it, what was used back then?
Post# 53302 , Reply# 1 10/11/2008 at 06:26 (5,669 days old) by tolivac(Greenville,NC)
For safety-At the time those hoses were made Kirby was concerned about kids putting the vacuum hose to their ears or eyes-the holes prevented damage to the ears and eyes.-and yes most users taped over the holes so you could use the hose tip alone.-now Kirby no longer has the holes in the hose tips.The wands used with these hoses also had the holes in them.When you put attachments on the hoses or wand ends-the holes were sealed over-thus full suction to the hand tool.
Post# 53310 , Reply# 2 10/11/2008 at 08:59 (5,669 days old) by veroroger(Vero Beach, Florida)
Interesting. When we got our first Kirby, a Classic III back in the mid 70's I noticed those holes and wondered why and was told, originally, the same thing. After being convinced to work for him, and selling a few, he shared with me that the holes were placed there due to an incident many years before which caused extreem embarrassment for the company. Seems the male users of Kirby's found a more, uh, "personal" use for the hose end and caused "problems". With the holes, these problems were greatly reduced. Honest, that's what he told me to my great amusement.
Veroroger, I can imagaine that was one of the many reasons, why Kirby put the holes there. I had understood that due to the great power at the hose end only (no wands or att.) that people would accidental or purposefully pick up screws, nuts bolts and other hard objects that broke fan blades! Ya Know I wonder why the other great power machines never, ever (that I know of ) like electrolux had to use holes in their metal hose wand ends! I have heard that all hose type machines have been used for purposes other then what were not intended! LOL! Think about it!
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