Hoovers Used in Schools Back in the Day

[rugsucker]

Commercial Hoovers--

--have cleaned miles of carpet in schools, churches, stores, banks and theaters. These would like to beat, sweep and clean again after some TLC. Anyone interested?

 

[human]

Kirby Classic Omega

The library was the only carpeted space in the elementary school I attended in the early-mid '70s. It had this ugly greenish brown low-pile commercial grade carpet, which was no doubt, installed more to reduce noise than for any possible aesthetic consideration. The library's vacuum cleaner was a Kirby Classic Omega, which curiously was not stored in the janitor's closet with the floor polishers, brooms mops, etc. Instead, it stayed parked in the library, out in the open, next to the fiction section. I first noticed it shortly after I saw the same model was demonstrated in our home. I was very impressed with that machine and equally disappointed that we didn't buy one, but whenever I was in the library, I would take a moment to admire it, even though I was admonished more than once by my teacher not to touch it. I had to wait about four decades before I acquired my first Kirby, a Gsix, from beside a dumpster in the apartment complex where I was living at the time. These days, I have too many vacuums, mostly Kirby and Electrolux.

 

[paul]

I recall my school district having Clarke vacuum cleaners - the upright "Carpet Master" or a canister.

Custodians & matrons refinished hard floors with the Multi-Clean polisher-scrubber and the Nobles SpeeDry wet vac.

An older version of the Nobles I remember (ours had a blue hand grip and a more modern-looking logotype decal):



Hoover & Multi-Clean brochures I found online (our church had the Lite-12 or something similar & the schools' had a 22- or 24-inch base):

 

[kirbyklekter]

Carpets at school?

Naaah...The only floor with carpet was the teachers lounge,which had everything including a rumored bar, but you didn't hear that from me! This was K-6. I'm glad because all the classrooms,halls and cafeteria had shiny vinyl-asbestos heated flooring and we were allowed to kick off our shoes to warm our feet.

On really cold rainy windy days I'd take a pass on doing lunch at the cafeteria and just made a pillow with my coat and took a "siesta" under my desk on the nice and toasty floor!

I saw a wide track Sanitaire when I walked by the teachers lounge in use by the janitor. Middle and high school had no carpet and no heated floors,instead there was forced heating and refrigerated air. Same situation with the teacher's lounge,except now there was shag carpeting and a Kirby Omega with the shag rug rake attached.

 

[ilovehoovers]

A cultural divide?

I've seen a couple people questioning why you'd have a vacuum at school, as they're often hard flooring. But why would you not vacuum hard flooring? It certainly provides better results than sweeping!

 

[human]

At my elementary school, they just used flat dust mops and would sprinkle this stuff that looked like red pencil shavings and smelled weird ahead of where they were sweeping. Not sure what they were trying to accomplish, but the janitor would go down the hall with that little can of stuff (I don't even know what to properly call it) in one hand and the dust mop in the other, sprinkling and sweeping.

 

[bagintheback]

In the early 2000s my elementary school used NSS M-1 Pigs with a straight suction nozzle that was used for both the commercial pile carpeting and tile. I remember them being extremely loud especially in the hallways. They also had the commercial Hoover Spinscrub which I knew even at the time was just a home model with a 3-prong cord. On some of my more frustrating days at my job I sometimes wonder if it would be more fun to be a school janitor.

 

[beevac]

Vacuums suitable for use in schools

Iam 71 years old & I think the best vacuum for use on the school library rug was the Hoover 91 gray & black commercial upright. In my school the only large area rug we had was in the library for we kids to sit on while the teacher read us excerpts from books. We had a Nobles vac for picking up dirty scrub water from the asphalt tile floors. I remember it had a 7 amp motor- big for those days.

 

[hygiene903]

I remember them using the dustmops and sweeping compound in my elementary school like Edgar mentioned, except that the sweeping compound they used at our school was green instead of red. They also had a central vac system with outlets in the hallways, the gym, and one in each classroom. I don't remember ever seeing the central system used, except that the teachers would use the ones in the classrooms for cleaning erasers and the janitor would connect a short hose to an outlet in the hall from time to time to clean the dustmop. I do remember seeing some long hoses hanging up in a storage area, but I don't think I ever saw them in use.
Jeff

 

[kloveland]

Conquests were used in my elementary school in the early 90s. The orange and beige colored ones.