Bison questions

[bigbubbacain]

Sukething/David:

I don't know yet. I just finished dinner and I'm contemplating a scotch & water after driving all day through ice storms. Us South Texans don't do well with this weather because we rarely ever see it. I read AirwayCharlie's post about the belt having a lip on one side and it makes me wonder what I'm getting in to. I don't like to pursue an old machine unless I can keep it running for posterity. This belt sounds tricky. If something happened and a flat belt wouldn't work properly on this machine, I would just die! I want to spend some time with the machine. My only exposure to the Bison was doing repair at a vac shop and I hit that white button on top of the motor and the brush head assembly fell off. I couldn't get it back on and the customer was waiting up front for the machine. It was traumatic. (LOL)

 

[compactelectra]

Bison Belts

Belts are probably the easiest things to bojack. Just take the belt into the nearest good vacuum shop and replace it with the nearest thing. When Charlie Watrous picked up the Airway Chief from Tania (about 75 years old) we took the belt in to the local vac shop, he matched one up and it works like a charm. Isn't that right Charlie? As long as you get the right width, the circumference only needs to be close due to the fact that the belt stretches.

 

[air-waycharlie]

Yes, you can "bojack" belts to make them work on vacuums. Case in point, on a Eureka VG III power nozzle, I am using a Kirby, "inside track", belt as it is slightly tighter, does not stretch as quickly as Eureka belts and there is less slippage.

I think if you use a belt of the same diameter and width on the Bison, it will work. That is what I have been told. I would think, somewhere out here, someone has a supply of NOS Bison belts that were never used up. In the meantime Bigbubba, don't let something as minor as a belt stop you if you want the vacuum.

If it was missing a motor, missing wheels, cord, bag, etc., that is another story. Plus, if you contact Clay Floyd, as a former Bison dealer he can probably tell you what would be the best belt to use.

I ended up using a Kenmore/Panasonic belt on the Air-Way Chief. It works fine and is still on the vacuum. I bought it in a 2-pack so I have a back up as well.

 

[bigbubbacain]

Thanks everyone!

As soon as I can tear myself away from work, I'm taking a closer look at this beats.

 

[rexairman]

I'm looking forward to doing the Bison presentation in Omaha later this year (I just typed "next year" and realized how time flies!) Fred and Charlie keep telling everyone how I'm going to do a demonstration of the machine. I may get a little stage fright here. It's been over 30 years, and frankly, my association with Bison was not one of my most pleasant memories, though now that has faded. I don't know that I'd remember how to do the demo, especially without the demo flip chart. (Anyone have one of those???) But I'll be more than delighted to share my Bison reminiscences.

The Bison was more successful than several other knock-off companies, Bison being a knock off of Kirby, made by a former Kirby distributor who thought he could build a better machine, but more importantly build a profitable organization. They primarily attracted former Kirby people who blamed the Kirby Co for their failure to move upward in that organization. I was with them only from 1973 until 1975. The people they attracted were generally of very low caliber - they had a Divisional Supervisor who could not read or write - he had another goon to accompany him to do his reading and writing. The machine was so unreliable it would frequently break down during the sales demonstration in the customers' homes. I do not believe there were any lawsuits from Kirby - Kirby never needed to consider Bison any serious competition. They sold few machines compared to Kirby, and never built a large organization. They also never solved the reliablility problems revolving around the carpet cleaning head. They simply went out of business in the early 1980's

 

[converto-skip]

Royal Upright belts

Royal upright belts work fine in the Bison

Skip...

 

[compactc9]

I am also very excited to hear about Bison. And as the newsletter said, as only Clay could present it.