Electrolux TurboTool

[electrolux137]

Stan Kann used to talk about a lady who kept insisting she had seen in a magazine a vacuum cleaner attachment used to lift refrigerators! Of course he thought she was kookoo until she brought him the article! He showed it to me once. It was a bad photocopy so it was hard to make out how the apparatus worked, but it appeared to have two long flat "fingers" that slid underneath the refrigerator. Then when you turned the vacuum cleaner on with the hose in the blower end, a turbo-powered fan would purportedly exert enough air-lift under the refrigerator to make it move like a hovercraft. Anyone ever seen or heard of this device?

 

[rugsucker]

moving a refrigerator

I think I have seen a similar item to move heavy appliancs,furniture,etc that used the vac exhaust spread over a large area from narrow openings to create lift.Sort of the Constellation idea with different air vents and pressure.--I also remember a one time mention of a refrigerator with a hose port built into the base area that you would attach the blower hose to and then the exhaust would allow the fridge to move out for cleaning what must be the dirtiest place in any home.Could this have been a 60s Westinghouse??--Later Frigidaire had a built in tape recorder to allow families to leave voice 'memos' to each other.--And a 40s or 50s Crosley had a water dispenser in door.--Interesting ideas that are sometimes seen once and then no more.

 

[kevin]

Turbotool with Shampoo Dispenser

Thought I would add pics of the Model-F era Turbotool with the new shampoo dispenser and its storage box (I believe which debuted in 1958):

 

[kevin]

Rug Washer base:

 

[kevin]

Shampoo Dispenser:

 

[kevin]

Turbotool:

 

[kevin]

Total unit from bottom:

 

[kevin]

Total unit from top:

 

[kevin]

Brush:

 

[electrolux137]

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Here's the very first version of the Electrolux Turbotool, at the time called Turb-O-Tool.

This came out toward the end of the E-Automatic production, replacing the earlier "air-powered floor polisher and scrubber" that first came out in 1949 with the Model XXX.

 

[electrolux137]

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Here's the box for the main unit. Accessories included the floor polisher/scrubber, drill bit, rotary saw and hedge clippers!

 

[electrolux137]

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This photo is currently running on eBay; has been on there for several months. When the seller comes down on his $29.95 price, maybe he'll sell the photo.......

 

[electrolux137]

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And, finally, this photo compares the Model F version of the Turbotool with the Model G version. Note the turquoise bumper and the white shampoo splash guard on the G version.

btw the very first version of the shampooer setup did not have the pull-string shampoo release. There was a knurled spring-loaded silver knob on top that the user was obliged to bend down and unscrew to release shampoo and then bend down again and screw it closed again, having to repeat that procedure every time more shampoo was required. Electrolux folks soon realized the tedium of that process and came out with the more efficient pull-string setup.

 

[kevin]

Great info. and pics, Charlies (#s 28-31). Thanks for clarifying and adding!

 

[electrolux137]

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A couple more things ...

First, a flyer about the Turb-O-Tool (actual size 8.5"x11") ...

 

[electrolux137]

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Article from June 1957 issue of Popular Mechanics.

 

[kevin]

Way cool images in #s 33 and 34, Charles. Thanks again.

The capris and pointed flats in #33 make me think of Laura Petrie (wasn't she the first TV actress to wear them on a show?), and the guy in #34 reminds me of Ozzie Nelson; I'm still thinking about the woman in #34--for some reason she doesn't strike me as Harriet Nelson ... maybe Hazel Burke or Thelma Ritter? haha

(Thelma Ritter):

 

[kevin]

Another classic photo of the air-powered floor polisher ... this time with a Model LXI:

 

[ronni]

Here's a Youtube video showing the Model G Turbotool in action:

 

[electrolux137]

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Here's a photo of the E-Automatic with new turbo tool that I found somewhere.

Interesting point: The combo floor/rug tool is the earlier Model E version - note the "naked" neck with no spring-clamp. That feature was first introduced in the E-A.

As for the Turb-O-Tool (as it was called at the time), note the optional circular saw and hedge trimmer accessories as well as the power screwdriver & drill bits. I don't know what the second, third and sixth accessories in the bottom row are.

(The rug shampooer accessories weren't added until the Model F came out.)