1916 Spencer Turbine

[andy]

Hey all,

In the vintage central vacuum thread, a gentleman in Newton, MA posted pics of a 1916 Spencer he was looking to have removed from his basement. Being I've always wanted one of these units for my collection (understatement of the day), I wasted no time in contacting the owner and arranging to pick it up. Now here's where it gets weird...I've been on the lookout for an old Spencer like this for at least a good 12 years. The day after I contacted the owner, I was in a small flea market here in MA. While perusing the booths, I stopped and turned around and laying on the floor was an original hose rack for a system of the same vintage. Seriously. 

It is Spencer's smallest unit for residential use, but still probably weighs a good 250 lbs. I gave it a test run in the driveway yesterday and it fired right up! It had tons of sooty dust in it, but I got it cleaned out and will eventually fully restore it.  Here's some pics for now...

 

[hydralique]

Nearly 100 years old and still working!

This is a very cool project and obviously meant to be, keep us posted with pictures!

 

[tolivac]

That is a nice machine-no plastic, pot metal, or sheet metal in this guy!No wonder he weighs in at 250Lbs-and the cast iron frame on the motor-least looks like cast iron.Just keep the scrappers away!

 

[hoovercelebrity]

Now to find an attachment set!

 

[rainbowd4c]

A Stuid Question.

Is it even possible to find attachments? I guess it's not impossible, but how and where does a person start to look?

 

[kirbfan94]

I know where you would be able to find a brand new set of tools for this machine. The larger units were popular in school's

 

[3rdgenvacguy]

I have a similar in body spencer. Mine has more fans than yours and the original motor has been replaced. Behind the cleanout door does yours have a rectangular dust bin that pulls out?

 

[centralvacs1928]

Kurt, I saw a photo of your machine from the recent mini-meet in Ohio and wondered whose store it was in! Yours looks like a later version of mine shown in the attached photo, between it's less-effective competitors.

Mine fortunately has the original 1 1/2 horsepower Century motor, but there is no dust bin behind the smaller hinged door...you just sweep the dust out with a whisk broom onto a newspaper or something. Kind of messy.

What's the story behind your machine? Where did it come from? I would really enjoy seeing more pictures, and a video!

......

Andy -- how is the performance of your unit? I haven't ever used one of the smaller Spencer home cleaners. Good suction? Have you done anything more with it yet?

 

[andy]

Hi Owen!

The unit is in storage now, I hope to get it out this summer sometime and really clean it up, reseal it at the seams. I opened it up to give an initial cleanout, but when I put it back together, it didn't seal properly. I'll have to redo the seals. I will keep you posted!

 

[pwbeantown]

1916 Spencer central vac

I'm the Newton guy who gave the 1916 Spencer to Andy Weter back in 2015 or so. He hauled it out of the basement, said he would send me a Miele vac since he worked for them, but that never happened. I hope he is making good use of the Spencer.

Now it's 2022 and someone has called me asking about the Spencer, so I guess the interest does fade away. I may have some of the piping and connectors from the Spencer if anyone is interested. [email protected]