Hello, and asking for help with an Electolux polisher, 1960s

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BalkaRoo

Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2025
Messages
6
Location
Bunbury Western Australia
G'Day blokes, from Western Australia. It's a very interesting site you have here!
I am wondering if I can get some help from some of you with an old, "very old", early to mid 1960s three brush, made in Australia, Electrolux domestic scrubber polisher. This was my mum's unit purchased I would recon about 1964 or there abouts and is a 32volt DC machine. It has lost drive to two of the brushes and I would like to find out what is inside the drive case, that is, is it gear drive belt drive, friction or whatever, and how do I get access to it to repair it. Are there any schematics or online maintenance manuals for these. I have had a look and can't find any numbers plate on it for model identification.
Thanks,
Graham
 
I just went out and cleaned it, and found the ID plate under the handle tilt area, so on the plate reads-

Model B9
Ser 0 (Ithink, but could be C or G, its a bit damaged)
Number ME 0078742
Volts 32
Watt 250
1757907590519.jpeg
1757907679302.jpeg

Mum would have purchased it about 1964, but I don't know if it was new or second hand, it may be older.
Unfortunately condition not good, but some of us would like to put together a small display of 32 volt household appliances for display at vintage days as a ladies interest thing, and if I can get it running and make it presentable it could be part of the display.

Thanks Guys,
Graham
 
I got it apart, and the problem was just the belt. It was rotten, but intact when I got it apart but incorrectly installed with the belt running around the drive pulleys, but "not" being taken up around the motor drive shaft, so "no drive". I suspect my "mum" tried to replace it and didn't realise where it went after it originaly broke, and I doubt "Dad" would have lowered himself to put it in. I always did wonder why she stopped using it!
Are these belts or a usable "elastic" belt available anywhere, or will I have to try and make something ? I have looked at a couple of Electrolux websites and they don't look like they are available from the manufacturer anymore.
 
Hi and welcome, Graham.

AB Electrolux's B9 Floor Polisher was designed by Sixten Sason (1912-1967). The first mention of it in an online database was in 1955 (see attached snippet view), and it was made in various series for different worldwide markets denoted by a single letter as you mentioned. So technically, it would be a B9a, B9b, etc. These may have debuted in different years; it's hard to say without company literature. It was replaced in the UK by the model B19 in the mid-1960s, so your mum may have purchased it new in 1964.

I located a UK belt listing for the B9 and a variety of other models at https://www.paxanpax.com/47-EL-05 (a screenshot of the page is attached for future reference if the part becomes NLA at some point).

Congratulations on owning your mum's polisher, a popular vintage Electrolux model. Keep us posted on your effort of getting it back to working order by replacing the belt and going through the motor.

Here's a link to Electrolux Group's polisher history: https://www.electroluxgroup.com/en/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-housewives-favorite-26778/
 

Attachments

  • Electrolux Polisher Belt for B4, BC4, B9, B19, B21, B22, B23, B30, B40, B132, B37 - paxanpax.com.png
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  • Electrolux Group website image of Sixten Sason's drawing of B9 polisher.png
    Electrolux Group website image of Sixten Sason's drawing of B9 polisher.png
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  • 1955 Electrolux Model B9 Floor Polisher snippet.png
    1955 Electrolux Model B9 Floor Polisher snippet.png
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It's got just a flat elasticised belt that runs around the pulleys on the brush shafts and then up around the drive spindle on the motor and back to pully line again. It looks like it should have a "stretchy" belt so it can get tension on the "fixed" pulleys as there are no adjusters that I can see, and the old rotten belt was still intact when removed, but broke when I tried to stretch it over the motor shaft. I have in the past made a belt for a valve refacing machine that the manufacture couldn't supply out of layers of "bookbinding tape"! I don't think I want to spend nearly fifty quid UK plus postage to get it out here, so as it would be minimal use anyway that will probably be the way I go. The motor still turns freely and "looks" in good order, but I haven't tried it on the transformer yet, but probably will over the weekend. Is there anything in particular I should do to check out the motor before I power it up? I wouldn't like to "fry" it after 50 years of "slumbers"!
We moved out of the old house in 1973 and the polisher hadn't been used for some time then, but the new house had 240 volt AC mains power so a 32 volt appliance was no use and it just got left in the old house, unloved until I grabbed it last weekend.
 
madman said:
32V was common in homes that were not on a power grid, and had their own little baby power plant. Usually a one cylinder engine and a battery bank. Farm houses, mostly. Light bulbs and appliances were available in 32VDC.
Click to expand...
Wow. Interesting. So the home ran on DC or was there an inverter?
 
The 32 volt DC power plant was a 4 HP Diesel with a direct coupled 1500 watt generator charging a battery bank of single cell batteries, we did have a "rotary inverter", basically a single unit with a DC motor on one end and a 240V alternator on the other end, which from memory was 240volt 750 watt and used to power the TV set when TVs came in about 1960. 32 Volt was almost "universal" in the country farming area I grew up in, and only newer built houses or very well off people had 240 volt AC alternators, my grandparents did have a Lister alternator but they built a new house in the 50s. The inverter only powered the TV and sometimes a portable appliance like a radio or record player, the other household appliances including vacuum cleaner, lights, radio, Iron, blender, fan, mixer and even a shaver all ran on the 32 volt power !
And yes "Cheesewanton" the house had several "Hotpoint" plugs in the usual sort of places. The Hotpoint plugs were a two post plug with round pins about 3/16 inch thick, that you could push in either way but being DC it didn't matter they would work no matter which way they were pushed in.

Well, I checked and cleaned everything on the polisher today and jerry rigged a cable onto the terminals to find out if the motor was still operational, I do have a plug, but the original cable will have to be replaced, so after verifying it all "looked" OK I switched on the transformer, "and nothing happened"!! Then I remembered, no on-off switch except on the handle, so tripped the small handle locking pedal, lowered the handle and "away it went", just like it had been switched off yesterday. I don't think it had run since about 1970, but the switch, motor and wiring all seem to be operational. YIPEE!!!

The motor would obviously be dry from sitting so long, do you guys think I should oil the armature bearings, which look like they may be very awkward to get at, or should I just "leave sleeping dogs lie" and not disturb anything?

Thanks guys,
Graham.

This is it hooked up to the transformer!
1758336219611.jpeg
 
Last edited:
cheesewonton said:
Wow. Interesting. So the home ran on DC or was there an inverter?
Click to expand...
There would be a gasoline engine to keep the batteries charged and then the whole house ran off the battery bank. In the USA after 1935 when Roosevelt founded the REA to get electricity out to farms, these home power plants became obsolete. Not sure about Australia's situation but I am sure many people used them way into the 50s in the outback due to how remote the area is

https://www.farmcollector.com/community/farm-shows/delco-light-plant-zmlz13janzbea/
 

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huskyvacs said:
There would be a gasoline engine to keep the batteries charged and then the whole house ran off the battery bank. these home power plants became obsolete. Not sure about Australia's situation but I am sure many people used them way into the 50s in the outback due to how remote the area is
Click to expand...
A lot of Australian farms never even got 32 volt power until the late 1940s, although available from the 20s on, it was too expensive for the average person to afford so remained the preserve of the "well off". Mains power was rolled out in the late 60s up until the 1980s. Local towns had large generating sets that ran the more populated areas but outside the town limits you had to fend for yourselves. There were 32 volt installations in some of the "very" remote areas probably up until about the turn of the century, I know of two local family's that were still using 32 volt until the late 1990s. In our case the power came through in 1975 but the new house was set up to use the mains power we knew was coming so from March 1973 until July 1975 the new house used a portable 240 v generator.
 
huskyvacs said:
There would be a gasoline engine to keep the batteries charged and then the whole house ran off the battery bank. In the USA after 1935 when Roosevelt founded the REA to get electricity out to farms, these home power plants became obsolete. Not sure about Australia's situation but I am sure many people used them way into the 50s in the outback due to how remote the area is

https://www.farmcollector.com/community/farm-shows/delco-light-plant-zmlz13janzbea/
Click to expand...
The thought of a gasoline powered generator scares me but I guess diesel engines and diesel fuel were not too common in the US until after WWII.
 
BalkaRoo said:
A lot of Australian farms never even got 32 volt power until the late 1940s, although available from the 20s on, it was too expensive for the average person to afford so remained the preserve of the "well off". Mains power was rolled out in the late 60s up until the 1980s. Local towns had large generating sets that ran the more populated areas but outside the town limits you had to fend for yourselves. There were 32 volt installations in some of the "very" remote areas probably up until about the turn of the century, I know of two local family's that were still using 32 volt until the late 1990s. In our case the power came through in 1975 but the new house was set up to use the mains power we knew was coming so from March 1973 until July 1975 the new house used a portable 240 v generator.
Click to expand...
It makes sense but having never lived anyplace that remote it never occurred to me that people had such generator and battery systems in their homes.
 

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