1939 Vactric Silent Q

VacuumLand – Vintage & Modern Vacuum Enthusiasts

Help Support VacuumLand:

turbomaster1984

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
923
Location
Tibshelf, Derbyshire
War had yet to be declared March 20th 1939 when Miss E Molyneux of Shotton, Chester bought this cleaner from C Walters & Co Liverpool for £12:12:-

Some years later (around 50 in fact) this model cleaner was source of much fright to myself.

My great grandmothers Silent Q was kept in a small coal house retired but not thrown away after a Hoover Senior 6525C took major role in the household cleaning.

Like any other vac it became an object of my attention until an attempt to stop me playing with it became so desperate I was warned that the cleaner which stood idle for all those years was full of bees and wasps awaiting to "Get me".

Over my childhood years I wouldnt dare go inside the coal house but only open the door and peer inside at the Vactric froma safe distance awaiting some nasty creature to fly out the dark hole entering the cleaner and bite me.

When my Nan sold her house in the mid 1990s I plucked up the courage one day to use the cleaner with her supervision and even open it up to find no insects whatsoever only a little dirt and dust.

The Vactric got left in the house for the new owners to dispose of.

Fast forward to last week when this example came up on ebay and I just had to get it.

In fabulous condition, with a full tool kit and wooden box I thought it would be nice to own the first vacuum cleaner owned in the family.

So here it is the Vactic Silent Q ~ one not to be afraid of.
(ok so im still perhaps a little suspicious LOL)

8-9-2009-14-22-36--Turbomaster1984.jpg
 
Inside the bag after I had vacced it it (with another cleaner) and did a test run over the hall carpet.

For such little suction the 240W motor produces I didnt expect to much to be in the bag.

The floor tool is very good at agitating the carpet fibres.

I wonder just how much my Trident is leaving behind LOL.

8-9-2009-14-29-29--Turbomaster1984.jpg
 
Nice find!!!

Its kind of strange how many similaritys there are between it and the Electrolux 12 - eg - switch housing, crevice tool brush, extra elbow for high dusting.
 
Silent 'Q'

Congrats Robert,

Lovely condition !

I have what I think is the earlier version called the 'de-luxe'....a tubby thing covered in faux snake skin with matching handle....tools indentical to yours........300 watts in power, good machine.


Regards, Walter.
 
earthed connecter

in an earlier thread i mensioned my Granddads Winton Junior and that it had an earthed connecter with a 3 core cord with the earth wire connected to an external metal strip on the connecter.... this machine the same idea
 
Thanks Walter Alan and Douglas,

Glad you like it. The pictures really dont do it justice. Its absolutely wonderful condition wise!

I have scanned the literature that came with it but im having trouble with the guarantee and invoice/receipt so for now I will post the manual and spray attachment information.

Rob

8-10-2009-16-21-57--Turbomaster1984.jpg
 
Rob,
You just need to make sure that it really IS earthed, and only used it with an earth current circuit breaker. And a three amp fuse, or lower (2amp) if you can get them. I have a chum who has got a "belt" off several of his old Vactrics when the insulation has broken down. Nice machine though!
Al
 
Vactric

Congrats Rob on finding the family dream machine!!!and also in great shape with the box and instructions etc...Rob, was the Apex-Vactric add with the instructions??

Doug, isnt it funny we sometimes miss the obvious, after your comments I went back to have another look and yes you can see the similarities to the E-lux etc..

Alistair, a very warm welcome to the club, hope you have a good time looking through the old stuff and I know you have a great knowledge to contribute!!!!

Cheers, Mike
 
Al,

Welcome to the club, nice to see you here. Thanks for the heads up about the earthing.

I have been running it off a circuit breaker, nice as the machine is I dont trust it enough although you make an interesting point about the fuse of which I will check tommorrow to see what the plug has.

I am very wary of it especially around the cord socket into the machine. The prongs inside the plug seem rather close to the outer casing and I do worry about the integrity of the metal work especially around the cleaners switch if one were to touch the metal switch surround.

Guess I ought to rest easy though as its hardly going to be a daily driver unless I were to lay down parquet flooring although the machine really does feel right at home in my house.

Mike yes the Apex Vactric advert came with the cleaner. Nice little bonus to have the whole thing which adds to interest.

I looked up Miss Molyneux's address which was Hawarden Terrace, Shotton Nr Chester but no such address exists it seems(According to Google Earth) but I fully intend to find out who exactly this Miss E Molyneux was and what kind of life she may of lead.

I imagine a trip to Chester City Council offices may shed some light onto the type of house she lived in and the status of the street/area.

For a "Miss" to buy a vacuum cleaner those days it seems like she may have been well off especially to pay cash for it at that.

Perhaps she was a lady of leisure or maybe a lady of the night.... who knows? Would be fun to find out.

She was certainly ahead of her time thats for sure.

My parents certainly didnt have this level luxury before they were married even though it was the late 1970's.

They tell of having to cut the lawn with scissors (lawn was reasonably small and my mother did enjoy doing it) but a lawnmower was low on the list of priorities when the humble pair of Fiskars were to suffice.

Imagine a single lady having a vacuum cleaner in 1939!

Perhaps it was more common than I give credit for, does anyone know?
 
Oh SHOCK HORROR!!!!

I forgot to say

Cheekily showed my Mum as she left 30 minutes ago (not that keen on my hobby still) and I actually got some conversation out of her about it.

She recognised it quickly and even went as far to question if it was actually the model Nan had.
She seems to think the on/off button was different although isnt sure. Im adamant this was the exact one she had - perhaps they did a couple of Silent Q versions but I specifically know the on/off switch was the one Nans had.

Shame I didnt get the same response when I left the Turbomaster in the dining room before christmas. I half expected her to exclaim that she had one of those but didnt.
and as for remembering Moulinex Majors, she had no clue what I was on about last week.

LOL
 
Hmmm. The adverts raise another question as they are Apex-Vactric machines. President (house brand for State Vacuum Stores in Canada and the US) was made by Bylock in England then later by Vactric for the Canadian Stores and by Apex in the US. The Apex and Bylock Machines looked exactly alike, aside from colour. At the same time I have that same upright thats named as a Vactric in the ad under the name Apex. If you throw that ad into the works all three companies - Apex, bylock and Vactric must have been inter related somehow. I wonder if they were subsidiaries or something? Anyone have any information they can throw in?

Doug
 

Latest posts

Back
Top