Recent content by red_october

In my case it's a toss-up between the Tradition and the Heritage. This is mostly due to colours and attachment sets as they are basically the same machine, but the Tradition had the Handy-butler and the plastic tool caddy whereas the Heritage had a paper caddy but it had the turbo-tools and the...

I'm American and I can readily tell Australian accents from British. Given the time period and the fact that they're giving a price in Guineas they're trying to sound refined, so the guy is speaking in Received Pronunciation, AKA "BBC English". Nobody actually talks that way, and a Guinea as...

You lucky bastard! I have wanted one of those since I was a little kid and saw one in a magazine advert. And here you find one left by the curb! Congratulations! It is a fantastic machine.

Above website returns a manufacturer of military fortifications. A quick Google shows us that http://www.hescoinc.com/ is the place in question, and they indeed appear to have parts for Hoover portables. I am pleasantly surprised. I'll use the ol' duct tape on the Kenmore's hose until I can...

The other day I found myself in a bit of a pickle. For Sound Reasons Unimportant To The Story, I needed to clean thoroughly. This involved quite a bit of vacuuming with a hose, so I used the Hoover Portable that I've been using lately, until I ran into a bit of a problem. The Hoover Portable...

I suppose this is as good a time as any to ask this: Why do I never see Whirlpool-branded vacuums? I've seen one advert, an ancient one at that, for a Whirlpool vac, and it only on-line versus in a magazine or wherever. How many were sold branded "Whirlpool" versus, say, "Kenmore"?

Collector2, those plugs are the ones I was thinking about. I have heard the name "Wylex" before but have never seen one. Thank you very much for that photograph. For reasons I cannot explain (but probably don't have to on an internet forum devoted entirely to vacuum cleaners ;) ) I've always...

^^^ I wonder what is at the other end of that cord. Does it have a modern UK plug on it or perhaps something older? I know that England changed their electrical sockets at one point and before that there had been a few different types in use.

Wow. I collect old defence contractor/technology firm promotional/commemorative items (Cigarette lighters, ash trays, mugs, pens, etc.) and that's quite a find. Something like that, where the company's product itself becomes the award, is quite special. I do wonder, though, if some poor...

Yeah it's got acid in it which makes it have some de-rusting properties, but it's nowhere near as good as any sort of commercial product intended for the purpose, mostly because it's not strong enough and it's too thin, so you can't get it to stay on a small area for long enough to work. It's...

I've got one of those! I had to have one; my great-grandmother had one; it was my parents' "upstairs" vacuum for years before they threw it away because it really wasn't a performer and all of the tools were missing, including the wheeled base, so you had to drag it around or pick it up to move...

The first one looks more like it's using the sink as a method of disposal versus a water filter; I believe you can still buy a sort of whole-house wet-dry vac that operates on this principle, being much more convenient inasmuch as it's permanently plumbed in. On that unit, at least, you have to...

Welp. I guess there really is nothing new under the sun. I do remember having a good laugh at Dyson and their horrendously gimmicky "Ball" -somebody came up with that thing to do what the pair of swivel casters on the back of my ancient Eureka does just fine. The all-metal Eureka seems to...

I dunno, that thing has a certain Sci-Fi appeal, but it's ruined by that label and name. The graphic on it looks like a man going legs-first up a horse's ass. (Yes I know that it's supposed to be a racing carriage but you can't un-see it once you've seen it.) I wonder, is this a commercial...

I've got that exact vacuum; it's a wonderful machine. I'd always wanted one since I saw the later one with the pistol-grip handle in a second-hand store, but the price was exorbitant. Unfortunately the motor on my example lost power at some point and shoots lovely blue sparks -I'm assuming...