I no longer wonder who was gonna win this curious vacuum shaped object...

[aeoliandave]

Put in a silly last minute bid and...hoo boy! It's mine! Cheap for it's perceived scarceness - I've certainly never seen one til now.

Already have a suitable orphaned cloth weave hose picked out for it.

So sorry if I outbid one of us. It's the perfect candidate for a hammertone re-paint, eh? I suspect the dustbag bullet cap, clasps and handle are polish-able steel/aluminum.

Dear Chad, most helpful and accommodating buddypal...there's another small cylinder shaped carton headed for Ann Arbor Vacuum...only one, I promise. Shipping to Canada would cost more than the vacuum did.

Dave

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=140306216073

 

[crevicetool]

Really great machine Dave!

Congrats! I'm sure that you will do a fantastic job on that unit. No doubt you will research the history too. Keep us posted!

Rick

 

[rugmaster37]

ok....

No problem.... send away...

Hope it comes by next weekend!!!

Chad

 

[collector2]

Hey Dave:

Looks alot like my Mola vaccum doesnt it (Or the old Bee Vacs for that matter)

Doug

 

[arh1953]

Very interesting and it

Looks like a very large ball point pen.

 

[aeoliandave]

More than just a lot like, Doug. It's the spitting image! Count on Dr Doug to spot it right away.
Strip away it's decorative accents and its a plain ol' basic cylinder vacuum. Add those accents and it's raised to another architectural style level at little cost. You can see why I hope the accent pieces can be bright polished.

Looking at your pic I have to wonder if the side bump strips are actually molded rubber strips? In which case I'll try to get the paint off them. I can picture this cylinder in a pale green hammertone 'tho it appears to be a pale blue, which is nice, too.

The loop runners are definitely chrome plated steel as is the hose coupler. So, it is a decently built dent & rust free solid vacuum on a variation of rug/floor runners not really usable as cord winding posts, possibly from the post-war 40s through the early 1950s? Unless specifically highlighted in User Manuals or simply evident by runner design it seems that cord storage was not a priority - by 1949 spring-wound cord reels were becoming the norm on better machines, uprights & cylinders. By the mid 1950s they were being provided on TOL tub style vacuums like GE Swiveltops & FGs. Most storage closet pictures I see have the cord coiled on the floor beside the vacuum with the hose looped up & over a clothes hanger pole or a coat hook.

A large fat fountain pen - Yes, that's it! I wonder if it would be possible to do a tortoiseshell celluloid body wrap mimicking that look? LOL Clearly a generic vacuum model available to be carried by any company that wanted to rivet their badge to it.

I thought perhaps the might be a Mayers Department store but nothing has googled up yet...

What can you tell us about MOLA, Doug?

When I have this vacuum apart I'll be looking for any clues to its lineage.

Dave

 

[aeoliandave]

More than just a lot like, Doug. It's the spitting image! Count on Dr Doug to spot it right away.
Strip away it's decorative accents and its a plain ol' basic cylinder vacuum. Add those accents and it's raised to another architectural style level at little cost. You can see why I hope the accent pieces can be bright polished.

Looking at your pic I have to wonder if the side bump strips are actually molded rubber strips? In which case I'll try to get the paint off them. I can picture this cylinder in a pale green hammertone 'tho it appears to be a pale blue, which is nice, too.

The loop runners are definitely chrome plated steel as is the hose coupler. So, it is a decently built dent & rust free solid vacuum on a variation of rug/floor runners not really usable as cord winding posts, possibly from the post-war 40s through the early 1950s? Unless specifically highlighted in User Manuals or simply evident by runner design it seems that cord storage was not a priority - by 1949 spring-wound cord reels were becoming the norm on better machines, uprights & cylinders. By the mid 1950s they were being provided on TOL tub style vacuums like GE Swiveltops & FGs. Most storage closet pictures I see have the cord coiled on the floor beside the vacuum with the hose looped up & over a clothes hanger pole or a coat hook.

A large fat fountain pen - Yes, that's it! I wonder if it would be possible to do a tortoiseshell celluloid body wrap mimicking that look? LOL Clearly a generic vacuum model available to be carried by any company that wanted to rivet their badge to it.

I thought perhaps the might be a Mayers Department store but nothing has googled up yet...

What can you tell us about MOLA, Doug?

When I have this vacuum apart I'll be looking for any clues to its lineage.

Dave

 

[normvac]

It looks like a close relative of a Sears, Kenmore Torpedo cleaner from the 40's. Especially with the machine nozzel
having the chrome push button on top!
Just my thoughts !
Norm

 

[hygiene903]

Hi Dave,

I agree with Norm and Doug. It appears to have been built by the Birtman Electric Co. of Chicago, late 40's or early 50's vintage. It's identical to their BeeVac or the lower tier Kenmores of the time, also built by Birtman. And you'll probably notice when you fire it up that it has the characteristic "prrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeen" sound of their machines of that era. Can't wait to see what you do with it!
Jeff

 

[aeoliandave]

Oh, I luvs youse guys!

It's a big country and a big world so of course I'm not going to know of every vacuum cleaner ever produced. But I know what I like when I see it. Just as in the Player Piano boom years when there were literally thousands of brand names available from piano companies small and large, while the major companies produced their own components and mechanisms their factory subsidiaries did a huge side business supplying bits and pieces all the way to complete drop-in player units for the 'little guy' stencil pianos.

I recall when I found that blue Monitor cylinder with Pete that so entranced me with its superb sculpted shape. Within days you fellers identified that shape as Kingston and Firestone badged vacs in the USA and within a month I was contacted by a lady in Philadelphia who sent me her grandparents' Blue Monitor with hose, wands and tools. Then last fall I snagged that beater Firestone from Michigan which got me a second perfect hose and some tools, the reason for snagging being the Monitor/Kingston/Firestone used a hose to machine coupler diameter and length unlike any other.

One step leading to another fueled by great enthusiasm because the Monitor not only looked so good but turned out to be rather powerful and quiet like a TOL GE AVT cylinder.
I have an all chrome, red handled GE AVT-805 that none of the other AVT series cylinder hose couplers fit - the 805 has a slightly smaller inlet diameter so I'm not able to use it with any borrowed hose other than jamming an ugly generic Fit'All plastic replacement into it's stunning chrome body...argh...an ongoing quest.

So, along comes this striking, to my eye, MAYERS badged cylinder with the interesting take on floor runners and side bumper 'speed strakes', a sensible flat-ended motor housing for storing on end and again what appears to be a proprietary hose coupling. Not that a missing hose has stopped me before but isn't it nice that this one has the coupler as well as the cloth bag and rubber cord? This is what I mean by essential partz.

Some vintage vacuums we leave as is with some light spa pampering, preserving those marks of gentle use - others are so far gone they deserve a complete teardown, repaint and re-build - the analysis and decision is influenced by a multitude of factors.

but one thing we Vintage Appreciators look for in a vacuum we might actually bid good money for is a dent & gouge free body for freshening up or re-paint - minor surface rust pitting not being an issue really. Body filler in dents is Dr Crevictool territory. Missing wands & tools? Again not a big deal since for the most part such things are interchangeable among brands (unless they are European Metric Spec like the PROGESS, NILFISK and VACTRIC I've been fortunate to have land in my lap. Since we can practicably run only one vac at a time, wand sharing and tool substitution handles this discrepancy satisfactorily.

Thanks to the wealth of knowledge from fellow vacuum fanatics, now knowing that the MAYERS is a twin to MOLA, BEE-VAC, KENMORE and who knows how many more contracted from Birtman Electric Co. of Chicago opens a whole new line of Research and Inquiry. Whee!

Have you seen and are watching the completely gorgeous Turquoise COMPACT on Ebay with all the tools in the styrofoam tray? The metal turquoise painted floor and rug tools are unusual in that they have a horizontally hinged swivel neck coupler rather than the usual 360 rotating neck. My buddy in Winnipeg has these Compact tools with his Mom's blue Compact, that his Dad bought used on a trip down to N Dakota sometime in the 60/70ss. The tools appear in the famous Transvestite Advertising Photo discussed in a previous thread.

Someone better snap that set up - it can't be me...

Dave

 

[aeoliandave]

The infamous Compact Crossdresser photo, back when The Clashing Pattern School of Classy Home Decorating was all the rage..

More germane to this thread, the fantastic blue painted floor tools...

This must be the prototype machine. I have never seen these tools all in polished aluminum as they clearly are in this publicity pic. Just speculating here but it could be the castings for these tools were not popping out of the molds perfectly requiring costly time to grind down and polish so someone brilliant said "Let's just paint 'em to match the vacuum'. Voila, a future collectible introductory Compact Electra vacuum Ensemble is produced! Compact switched back to the older style nozzles after this, adding a latch hole to the neck for the new button wands that can be seen in the photo.

Post picture session, the polished tools were tinted blue to reflect what was actually in the box.

Mmm, getting myself all revved up again - the ebay Compact is located in Erie PA directly across the lake from Stratford. Damn, when are they gonna build that bridge? My farmer Carl is over there, too. As it is only a 5 hour drive from here around either end of Lake Erie...

 

[akabent]

I had one of these!!

Dave, I also came across this Mayers and it brought back classic memories of perhaps my second vacuum, probably at age 11. Mine was all gray (hammertone), pristine, original cord and hose (brown, woven) and great attachments! You will be surprised at how powerful it is! And yes, I am rather certain it was a re-branded Bee-Vac.
Rick