Alex Taber..Electrolux history

[gottahaveahoove]

Hey, Alex.
I hope to be in touch with you soon, as I'm preparing the history of Electrolux. I want to get a good, accurate history of the beginning of the Company. So, dust off your notes, and I'll sharpen my pencils.
Thanks,

 

[thevacomaticiec]

Ooooh nice

How about one of Comapct after id love to read the history of electroluxz , ty

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Well, SURE!

This article will go in the next "newsletter",, shhhhh don't want to cause a riot. We're spotlighting a major company each time. I'll do all of the major ones. We started with Hoover, naturally. Next, I think, will be Electrolux. We can certainly look into Compact. It will be great, fun, and informative to learn how these industry giants began...and what's become of them.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Which is why

true, factual info is crucial.... and justifies the work involved in the research. Which, I don't mind.

 

[caligula]

Hi John:

I have lots of Electrolux information that you are welcome to use. I'll send you all of it and you can use what you want.

We'll be in contact soon.

Take care.

Alex.

 

[caligula]

John, email me at [email protected].

 

[gottahaveahoove]

I will

thanks.

 

[caligula]

John:

The data I compiled goes back before there ever was a V.C.C.C., it came about in September of 1979 when I was compiling data for my Electrolux patent book. And while Electrolux was reluctant to give data, there was a letter from Charlie McKee who provided a tidbit of info on the model V, and importing it to America in 1924. He followed that with the statement. "Electrolux is interested in tomorrows sales, not yesterday's history!" He forgot that it was the history that made the company and their reputation of excellence that made those sales. But I had one more card to play. In 1968/69 I was a salesman for Electrolux and as such got a copy of the book 'ELECTROLUX THE FIRST 40 YEARS 1924-1964.' and it was through that book where I obtained my data. Others have claimed that Axel L. Wenner-Gren started in 1910 with a canister, and I do not dispute that, but my data starts in 1919 with what would become the model V (5) and introduce Electrolux to America. Keep in mind, vacuum cleaner collecting was for me, just a hobby.

I will provide all I have and you can use it as you see fit.

Alex.

 

[caligula]

Hi John:

True, factual data is hard to find. Our friend Stacy Krammes gave my tons of data on my first trip to the Historical Center in 1980, that she, and The Hoover Company all thought was accurate. Over the years I published this and not until Wikipedia was I able to see some of these were wrong.

Even the best companies can get it wrong, but with your attention to detail, I'm sure the newsletters will continue to be a source of information. And I'll be glad to help whenever you need me.

 

[electroluxxxx]

However before Axel had gotten into the vacuum industry he was in the gas lamp industry, it all started one day when he spotted the cleaner in a window, I believe it was a Volta if I can recall, it was big and heavy and his Lux model 1 although similar in design was lighter in weight 18Kg (to quote a vid on electrolux history from years ago) and could be moved. The Lux model 1 was designed to sit in the middle of the room. I don’t believe there was a model 2,3,or 4 however model 5 was a whole new type of design a cylinder without runners which could be used as an upright and it had a hose for above floor cleaning.
And for those assuming anything I did my research as well. YEARS AGO!
Alex you do have a vast and wonderful amount of knowledge!

 

[caligula]

Hi Electroluxxxx:

You must be talking about the Lux Company of Stockholm, Sweden, which figures into my history. And your information is 100% accurate. However, I'd prefer to talk to you about this privately.

In 1979, I had limited data, and that was why the patent books were so vital. Basically, these were a collection of patents on vacuum cleaner prototypes, and parts, from motors to attachments that I acquired from the Research department of the Chicago Public Library. Through these I saw parts and could build the history of the machines. A patent search was like a crossword puzzle. Somebody working for Electrolux may show up in Kirby, or Hoover. Far too complicated to go into here. The Electrolux model LX was years in development, and the prototypes were quite amusing.

As I've said repeatedly, I first watched the model LX eject when I was between two and three years old, and it made a lasting impression. The rest, as they say, is history.

 

[electroluxxxx]

The Lux company in Stockholm is where it all started, let’s not forget that Lux also owned and still owns to this day subsidiary companies such as Husqvarna, Viking, Huebsch etc...Axel was an entrepreneur and a very successful one at that!
Privately? Why talk privately when we can express and discuss the useful info right here in the vintage forum to give other people the knowledge that we possess while others take what they can learn and run with it. I mean after all it is going into a “newsletter” isn’t it. Share it publicly and in said newsletter.

I’m sure there are others in this wonderful forum who could also share some “factual and correct info” as well I.E. Tom Gasko, Charles Richard Lester, you, myself, Chris Szwejk, Joel Wyman etc... All of us here in these forums have so much to offer in the way of knowledge and it should be shared with the world. Corporate companies only know parts of what we all have been reading up on for years and they only share parts on websites and not the whole thing.

 

[caligula]

I want to talk privately so I don't give away too much data. I'll be sharing this in the Christmas issue. As for Charles Richard Lester, he is a personal friend of mine and I've known Tom Gasko since 1993, in fact I met both Charles and Tom the same weekend. Charles read what I intend to share at Christmas, and delved deeper into the research, uncovering the canister of I think 1910. He also gave me the background on the Lux Company. But that is his info not mine and I will not undercut his research. Mine will be the early data I acquired long before there was a V.C.C.C. So if you have questions, please keep them between us.

 

[caligula]

Understand this loud and clear. I do not want any part of the newsletter war that has been on previous threads. Nor will I post any of my Electrolux material prior to the Christmas issue of the newsletter. Understand too that I support John Long all the way, but it is his project not mine. Anything he uses will be what he sees fit. What I will provide was published in the newsletters back in the 1980's, and reprinted in the 1990's. Both Tom Gasko, and Charles Richard Lester have read it. What I'll be presenting is for those here at Vacuumland who have no idea of the history of Electrolux.

If you have any data, keep it, I have more than I need. My knowledge is extensive. I started acquiring it when I worked for a branch office in Hamden, Connecticut after school when I was 18, I'm about to turn 70. I have books on Electrolux that only employees were given, and as an employee, got to tour the factory in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, twenty miles from my home. I picked the brains of three salesmen who were family friends. Yes, I know Electrolux. But as I said, this project will be John Long's and I'm not talking about it till after the Christmas issue is out there. [this post was last edited: 8/25/2020-21:36]

 

[electroluxxxx]

I find Charles to be a great friend and also great person of knowledge, his website is what led me here years ago. The amount of information Charles Lester holds is so great that he could fill books. I really wish his site would come back. The beautiful detailed pics, the wording and information so precise It was almost euphoric to the absorbing mind, I spent hours reading his site. His site has led many of us here.

 

[caligula]

And that is the last I have to say about my Electrolux data till I have read the Christmas issue. Future conversations will be between John Long and me in private email.

For me, this topic is closed.

 

[electroluxxxx]

Oh, we all get that you support John as he needs all the support he can get, I’m offering a few tid bits here and there, if you want them great, if not move on. Am I stepping on any toes offering some “factual information” ? No. Nobody mentioned that you had to be part of any “newsletter war” which I never knew there was one. We are all here to offer knowledge and that’s clearly what I’m doing so please don’t mention the other thread as it will only cause an issue.


 


 


 


 


[this post was last edited: 8/25/2020-23:23]

 

[caligula]

I fully agree, his cyber museum was fantastic and I really miss his Electrolux Model LX Extravaganza. Charles and I bounced off numerous ideas over the decades.

 

[real1shep]

Well......

a few things I'd like to get cleared up. The front wheels on the G ARE different in size from the rear wheels. The rear wheels actually have like a thin tire fitted to them. Lester tried to BBQ me on this, but he was wrong.

And in his Electrolux history he doesn't make it clear what happened to the motors after the last Silverado.

There are conflicting viewpoints on the new motor that appeared in the Diamond Jubilee of the 80's. I've been told two version; the motors were made at another Electrolux plant(I think in the south) and the other version is that the motors were completely outsourced.

And there are also different version of their early failure; one version is that the commutator segments shot off and destroyed the motor(some while being demonstrated!). Another version says that dry desert air contributed to motor failures in some way.

Everyone does agree however, that Electrolux stood behind their machines.....so that you'd be hard pressed to find a Diamond Jubilee today that would have motor problems because they were fixed/replaced from Day One.

And then since Charlie McKee was mentioned.....how many of you realize that his son actually came into this forum and shared stories about his father and Electrolux? I thought he was treated with a lot of indifference at the time....an egregious error if you're trying to get stories about Electrolux behind the scenes.

My only thought there was that perhaps the 'old guard' didn't think him authentic??

Kevin