first central vac??

reactor · Dec 29, 2013

Before moving to Tennessee about three years ago, I grew up and lived in Dayton, Ohio.

In Dayton is the house (called Hawthorn Hill) which was designed by Orville and Wilbur Wright, in 1912. Sadly Wilbur passed away from typhoid fever before it was completed. But the house had many modern features including an electric washer (the original still in the basement there) and of all things, a central vacuum system.

I have gone on a tour of the house a couple of times and was quite surprised to see this.

Nutone claims to have had the first central vacuum system...but they are wrong.

Attached is a link to the picture of the system

http://www.daytonfoundation.org/hh11.html

caligula · Dec 29, 2013

Hi reactor.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this could not have been the first. That honor goes to John S. Thurman, and his Pneumatic Renovator patented in 1899. Herbert C. Booth patented his vacuum cleaner in 1901 in London, and soon after Arco Wand and the Spencer central vacuum cleaners were introduced. By 1909, central machines were a dime a dozen. In 1905, Royal introduced a non electric hand pumper, James B. Kirby followed in 1906 with his non electric Domestic Cyclone, electrified in 1907, and also in 1907, Murray J. Spangler invented the Electric Suction Sweeper, the rights of production were turned over to William Hoover in 1908, and became the famous model O!

This vacuum cleaner that Wilbur designed looks awesome, but it was not the first, not even close.

Alex Taber.

collector2 · Dec 29, 2013

Hey Alex - bang on

LOL except the name was Hubert Cecil Booth

collector2 · Dec 29, 2013

part 2

collector2 · Dec 29, 2013

part 3

vacosaurus · Dec 29, 2013

I never gave thought how Wright brothers lived. Pretty oppulant life style. Nice pictures. Bill

reactor · Dec 29, 2013

interesting

You didn't burst my bubble at all, Robert, there wasn't any bubble to begin with. I never said it was the first central vac, I posted' "first central vac??" as in "was it?" hehe

Your information was very interesting. Nutone is way off the mark. Maybe they meant theirs was the first widely distributed residential vac.

rugsucker · Dec 30, 2013

early central vacs

Good information above and great pictures of Wright house.As above many early vacs were in the street,built in or building could have pipes built in and vac unit would drive up and connect when needed.Arco (American Radiator Co that also made furnaces) and Spencer (also making commercial/industrial units) were common but not only ones.There is a 1911 Hoover ad showing the advantage of a portable upright instead of long hoses,valves and attachments.Household central vacs seem to have been replaced as better portable vacs were introduced and forgotten until the late 50s.By the mid 60s even the Sears catalog had one(Whirlpool).Nutone seems to have started with doorbells and kitchen equipment with their central vac possibly coming in the 60s.By the 70s most household central vacs,at least in this region,seem to have been Nutone.
Oak Ridge trivia-I was told by older Elux salesmen that when the Mo LX was closed out there was a large sale to the nuclear plant and many salesmen that had an Elux checked out but unsold had to return them to fill that order.

reactor · Dec 30, 2013

central vac history

Found an short article about central vac history, please see attached. Our discussion, and Alex's information, got me interested.

BTW, The Wright Brothers lived a relatively modest life. The one splurge they did make was for the Hawthorn Hill House. Their dad and sister were going to live with them so they made it a little larger. That house was not out of line for the nieghborhood in which they built.

In that area executives from General Motors/Delco, Barney-Smith trains cars, NCR (National Cash Register), and Stoddard automobiles lived. It's still a beautiful, and affluent, neighborhood today with the early 1900's homes and meticulously cared for lawns and gardens.

The Wright family graves are located in Dayton's Woodland Cemetary (as is my crypt in the mausoleum there when I kick the bucket one day).

There is one very modest headstone and several smaller markers for each individual grave. Their dad was a minister and didn't believe in being ostentatious. They have signs in the cemetary directing you to their gravesite as you would likely never find it on your own, as it is just ordinary and blends in with all the others. (Quite unlike Charles Kettering's (GM/Delco) and John Patterson's (NCR)).

It's funny central vacs are still not common today in the U.S. They are definately around, but certainly not common as in Canada. Believe it or not, I have actually talked to people who do not know what a central vac is. And it's been over a hundred years, according to Alex's information, since they were invented.

I've put a central vacuum in every house/condo that I have owned. Once you have one you can't live without them. (Still love vintage vacs, though!!) Usually, when I restore an old vintage vac, the first thing I do is take the central vac hose and clean up all the old dirt and dust out of it.

http://www.oldhousejournal.com/magazine/2002/jan-feb/vacuum.shtml

caligula · Dec 30, 2013

Hi reactor.

This post has to be short one, as I cannot type very well today.

Why? Last night my golden retriever Felecia, got under my feet and tripped me, I landed on the right shoulder, and have an aching rotator cuff. And it's the arm I use to type, or work my mouse!

I've been researching non electric vacuum cleaners for over 40 years, 1972, or there about when I got my first non electric two person, hand pumper, The Lakeside, circa 1890. The oldest known vacuum is the Whirlwind, that dates back to 1869, and yes, I have one!

The history of the vacuum cleaner is a three part process. (1) The non electric 1869 to about 1915. (2) The industrial, which included devices on horse driven carts with hoses snaked through the windows and doors, or machines mounted on basement walls with pipes snaked through walls and a hose plugged into the wall receptacle (also portable units mounted on wheels and moved from room to room like the Federal Electric of 1910). And finally (3) the modern, electric vacuum cleaner like the Hoover model O, and a host of others.

The vacuum cleaner of today actually began with the Model O, Kirby Vac-U-ette, the Richmond (Hamilton/Beach circa 1910) and so on. Air-Way, Electrolux, Eureka, General Electric, Health Mor (Filter Queen) and dozens of others followed from 1910 to the late 1960's.

The history of the vacuum cleaner is fascinating, but it's also a massive project that I've been researching since I got the Lakeside in 1972. Every time I think I've got the complete list, another treasure like the one you mentioned, pops up, and I go back to square one. As for John S. Thurman (St Louis, Mo.) who introduced his pneumatic Renovator, and Hubert Cecil Booth who introduced the first British vacuum cleaner, they were the pioneers in this industry, and soon to follow were James B. Kirby, Murray J. Spangler, Axle L. Wenner-Gren (Electrolux) Dr. Daniel B. Replogle, and the brothers Clarence and Pratt Tracy (all three were Air-Way), and Alex Lewyt, as well as countless other inventors, designers, and promoters.

The list and the research is literally mind boggling, and now with names like Dyson, and the age of robotics, who can say where we go from here?

(So much for a short post, but once I get started, one idea after another pops up)!

Thanks for introducing another great machine.

Alex Taber.

reactor · Dec 30, 2013

You have a massive undertaking, Alex. But a fun one.

Hope you get to feeling better. Tell Felecia to be a little more careful of her master.

Anything you can come up with on central vacs, I hope you share with us. I thought it was the mid to late 50's that NuTone introduced their version of the central vac. But I am not positive on the date. NuTone was starated in 1936 and was a Cincinnati based company, originally, and quickly branched from doorbells to other built in devices such as intercoms and exhaust fans, etc.

Ralph Corbet, from what I have heard and read, floated money to an inventor (G. Bossard) who had a company in Dayton, OH called Telechime. He dropped out and left the works to his financier, Corbett. Corbett sold Nutone to Scovill Manufacturing in '67. He and his wife are famous in Cincinnati for all the many millions of dollars, from profits in Nutone, that they donated to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. His wife lived until very recently, 2008.

Today Nutone and Broan have merged and are the same company. I had a pre-Nutone Broan central vac back in the early '90s and loved it.

A long while back I saw a General Electric central vaccum advertised in an old magazine, I think it was a Life magazine. Anyway, if I remember correctly in was about a 1963 publication. In the ad GE was showing their wide variety of built in household products, and they even had a central furnace (duct)mounted electronic air cleaner.

GE, unfortuately, has had a propensity to drop their products from production in a short amount of time if they don't see a profit on it. I think that is most likely what happened to their central vac and central (furnace mounted)electronic air cleaner.

I had a GE Elec-Trak electric lawn tractor for several years that I had lovingly restored. They produced them from approx. 1969 - 74. A design WAY ahead of its time. And a fantastic performer. You could move almost an acre and a half on one charge. No emissions and more power than an equivalent gasonline tractor. But sadly, GE let it go. Boo.

Anyway, Alex do you or anyone own or have information on General Electric's brief foray into central vacuum systems??

caligula · Dec 30, 2013

Hi reactor.

I've never published these, though they were intended for the newsletters of the V.C.C.C.. The first is still a work in progress, but I think you will find it educational. Besides I can share it with everybody. I'll also share other topics, like the history of the electric Vacuum cleaner, and history of Electrolux.