Cleaning up a Hamilton Beach

[bikerray]

Spent the day cleaning up a Hamilton Beach No. 14 from the 1940's. Changed out the bearings and made new carbon brushes as well as put on a new old stock bag. Took a while to figure out how to get the fan off the armature. The bearings are the same as my Kirby C (New Departure 8008 or Accurate bearing #87008). Still have more polishing to do as well as cleaning up the underside, replacing the handle spring, etc.

 

[tolivac]

There is a vacuum just like that HB hanging from the ceiling at the Cracker Barrel place here-asked the manager if I could buy it-he didn't want to sell.Don't know if theirs works.Appeared to be in good condition.

 

[cb123]

Nice looking restoration!

 

[vintagevaclover]

That looks amazing!

 

[hismastersvoice]

Love it, looks awesome! How fortunate to have found a NOS bag, too!

 

[luxlife]

Awesome! And how lucky you were to have an NOS bag. I love the streamlined look of that machine.

 

[bikerray]

Took the Hamilton Beach back to Jim at Kirby of Tinley Park, he now has it in the front window as a display piece.

 

[hismastersvoice]

Hopefully the window has UV-tinted glass, that bag will fade instantly...

 

[cb123]

Wise words. That window would be like an open blast furnace!!!

 

[caligula]

Hi Bikerray.

Kirby of Tinley Park? interesting, I used to work for Kirby in Oak Park (Illinois) located on Roosevelt rd. the Distributor was Will (Wilbur) Hart. This was in the 1970's. Will later moved his store down the road to Broadview, that's where he was in 93, when I bought my G-4 from him. I tried to locate that branch last year, but it's gone. I'm wondering if Will moved again to Tinley Park.

Will Hart would now be in his late 80's, if still alive, so ask your friend Jim, if he knew Will, and how he is. Will was the man who hired me as assistant training manager in his Oak Park store. I also worked for the Kirby branches in Addison, Ilinois, and the neighboring town of Lombard.

Alex Taber.

 

[bikerray]

Alex

Will passed away about a year ago. His son Jason is still around. Jim was Wills' partner. Jim also owned the Addison store (17 N Addison Rd, Addison IL.) and closed that in August of this year. He merged everything into the Tinley Park store. The guy who used to own the Addison store sold it to Jim about several years ago then tried to open another store about a year ago, it lasted a couple of months then just vanished.

 

[caligula]

Hi Bikerray.

By 'partner' I assume you meant business partner? Will divorced his wife and remarried, starting a 2nd family.

Will was very good to me, in fact many of the vacuum cleaners in my collection were trade-ins. More important he saw a born trainer, and asked if I'd rather teach the new recrutes instead of be out in the field. I was a kid in a candy store, teaching in our classroom for a week, then working with my trainees, watching them demo, and helping them close sales. Each new class was fun, and I worked in the history of the vacuum cleaner.

The last time I saw Will was in October of 93. I wanted a new Kirby, traded in my G-3 for a G-4, and Will seeing it was in top condition charged me a small price saying he could get a fortune for my G-3.

But for me, the joy was showing him the V.C.C.C. museum. The club had not been formed when I worked for him.

I forget the last name of the guy that ran the Addison branch, but the guy who ran the Lombard office was John Adams.

When you see Jason tell him hi from me. It was his dad who started be on the road to being a trainer, a career that served me well for many years.