~~*Another Fantastic eBay Find!*~~

[kirbyotronic]

In addition to that Miele S5, here's yet another great eBay find. I present to you a 1930's Health-Mor upright in primo condition, all original, just missing the cord, I plan to use a brand new genuine black Kirby cord made for the older machines. Maybe later on I'll work on ordering some reproduction cloth cord and a vintage style plug for it. It was $40 buy it now or best offer, so I made an offer for $25 and the seller sent me a counteroffer for $30 so I took it. It had been listed for almost 30 days and it didn't have more than 20 views on the page since it was sort of mis-categorized. Anyway it's all paid for and it's already been shipped out so it should be here anytime next week!

Can't wait to get started on it, I'll post some before and after pics, but for right now here's some from the auction. Should be an easy one to clean up, even went out today and bought some Woolite Complete to gently hand wash that original bag.

Another yay for eBay!

 

[kirbyotronic]

Another...

 

[kirbyotronic]

And with the nozzle removed...

 

[caligula]

I have one of those

Health-Mor was the parent company for Filter Queen. I have this exact model and love it. Great suction! It came with attachments, a portable handle and a small bag for hand-vac set up. I think it was out about the same time as the Scott & Fetzer upright, but don't quote me!

Alex Taber

 

[kenmore81]

What a great find. I havnt seen many of these around. A few yes but not many and it looks like its in good shape too.

 

[luxg]

Great machine Alex, I would say you got a good deal on it. Any idea where the attachments would have attached on this machine?

Terry

 

[vintageroyal611]

Terry,

To use the attachments, you take of the rug nozzle and the hose would have an adapter that latched on in place of the nozzle.

 

[luxg]

Thanks Matt, I had a feeling that is the way you would do it but wasn't sure.

 

[crevicetool]

That unit....

should polish up quite nicely Alex! Or, if you'd rather, you can send it here. If you do, I hope it gets here before I go into that "witness protection program thingy". Then I wouldn't have to give it back!

WHOOPS!!! Didn't mean to let that out!

Rats!

Sincerely,

Terry

 

[luxg]

Alex, Rick is right,even if he can't remember his own name.LOL That vac will shine up like new. I think that you got such a great deal on it. I had an aunt that had one but I never got to play with it or see how the attachments went on.

The real Terry

 

[rickenbacker]

didnt kirby or should I say, scott fetzer make these?

Im sure they did atleast one vacuum under the health mor name
and considering the looks well...


Charlie

 

[kirbyotronic]

Nope, this was made by Royal. The Scott & Fetzer looks very similar though!

We need to help Rick remember his name, we can start by learning to write it letter by letter on a sheet of paper, just like everybody did in kindergarten!

~Alex

 

[caligula]

History lesson for today Health-Mor

The Health-Mor vacuunm cleaner like Eureka, Hotpoint, Royal and several other brands were ALL made by the P. A. Geier company in Cleveland, Ohio. That's right not even Royal made it's own machines. Only the Air-Way, Hoover and Scott & Fetzer companies made their own machines. The P.A. Geier company was the birthplace for dozens of brands. Motor housings, metal tubular handles, handle forks, floor nozzles, bag slides, wands, and hose ends were all made here. I can't say for sure if the cloth bags were made by P. A. Geier or not, but the cords were made in Chicago by the Belden wire company known as The Wiremaker for Industry. As for the wooden handles and brushrolls they were from The Cleveland Wood Products company and all bristles for bare floor tools, dusting brushes, and so on were made by "The Fuller brush company.P. A. Geier suplied the parts and Royal etc. assembled the cleaners, pcaked and shipped the finished machines to the various retail stores or to warehouses to be sold. Even Electrolux didn't make the cord winders, if you read the lettering stamped on the back of the cord winder to a XXX or LX, to the left it will say. "CORDOMATIC REEL" And on the right. "VACUUM CLEANER CORP. PHILA. PA." As for the boxes, packaging and instruction book, they came from the Donnoly company, Chicago. (Not sure of spelling here!)

Basically, all vacuum cleaners were a group effort and just part of a massive industry that made tosters, irons, coffee makers, washing machines and so on.

Alex Taber

 

[luxg]

Very interesting Alex, thanks for sharing.

Terry

 

[hygiene903]

Nice Health-Mor, Alex!

And the original bag is frosting on the cake! It looks great now but will be even better after polishing.
But may I make a correction on the History Lesson? Both Alex's are right--it was built by Royal or P. A. Geier, as it was the SAME company.
Phillip A. Geier started business in Cleveland, OH in 1905, as a contracting machine shop. Eventually, he got into manufacturing, his first product being parts for punch presses. In either 1910 or 1912 (depending on which record you believe) he built his first vacuum cleaner, and called it the Royal. And, as Alex said, P.A. Geier Co. also built vacuums for other companies, and Health-Mor was at one time their biggest customer. In the early 50's they fell upon hard times and were acquired by the Schott Organization (yep, same ones who owned the Cincinnati Reds), who intended to liquidate the company, but instead sold it to a group of employees in 1954, who revitalized the company and renamed it the Royal Appliance Manufacturing Company. So P.A. Geier and Royal ARE the same company and their main product has always been the Royal vacuum cleaner, only the name of the company was changed along the way.
Jeff

 

[caligula]

Thank you Jeff

The only thing I knew was that the P A. Geier company made most of the Royal type vacuum cleaners and parts for other brands. The year it was started I did not know. I also knew a man who worked for Belden wire company, but as he was not intersted in my vacuum cleaner collecting, and refused to tell me the history of Belden. Kind of sad in a way, all that historic info gone to waste.

I do know that Royal started out as a non-electric hand pumper, but the rest I would love to know.

Feel free to share,
Alex Taber.

 

[hygiene903]

You're Quite Welcome, Alex!

Glad to help or share knowledge when I can. Royals and Royal products (especially Electro-Hygiene) have been a passion of mine even before I started collecting. But there is so much more that I don't know and would like to learn, including what years different models were introduced, how long they were built, etc.
As for the Health-Mor, not only did P.A. Geier build the upright, but they also built the first models of Filter Queen Cannisters until Health-Mor acquired their own manufacturing facilities.
The Belden story would be quite interesting, as their cords were used on quite a few machines besides the Lux XXX.
Jeff

 

[caligula]

I like Electro -Hygiene.

My reaearch is mostly Electrolux, and Kirby with a little bit of Air-Way here and there. I knew a little bit of P. A. Geier, but certainly not the history of the company. Looking at all those uprights Hotpoint, Bee-Vac, Royal, Eureka, and of course Health-Mor. I did not know that P. A. Geier built the first Filter Queen models, like my 200, but I see why they would. My guess is that as all motor housings, handles, rug nozzles, and whatnot were the same they were made from one mold for each part.

What I found interesting was that while Electro-Hygiene was made by Royal, the Modern Hygiene was not, it came from a company in Connecticut. I have almost no info on that either but is a machine I love almost as much as Electrolux.

But that is another topic, best save for later.
Alex Taber.

 

[hygiene903]

You're Right, Alex

Probably best to save it for further discussion later. I only hope the other Alex can forgive us for swiping his thread--think he probably knows we didn't mean to, it just kind of happened.
Jeff