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I just thought I would update this old thread. I just tonight found concrete information as to the age of this vacuum and when it came out.


I found it listed in an advertisement for vacuum cleaners from the New York Times from September 14, 1919.


I then found it again in the June 30, 1921 issue of the Federal Trade Commission's Decisions book.


This lines up with the distributor that this vacuum was specially sold and made for - Gall & Frank Co. - who changed their name to Fred T. Goll & Sons in 1929.


The vacuum cost a whopping $46.00 for the vacuum with attachments in 1919! 


Now I thought that Birtman's Bee Vac was meant to be a budget cleaner, no-frills for the less well-to-do's of the time.  But when you factor for inflation what $46.00 cost in 1919, that would be [choke] $676.88 in 2018 dollars! Now at that time a standard rickshaw horse buggy cost $29.  So that was quite a price to pay if you were a farmer on a budget at that time.


Also just as an update as of 2019 it's still not been repaired or plugegd in yet. I just bought a workbench to do vacuum repairs on last month, but my garage needs to be cleaned up so I can set it up and get working.  All in due time.


I added the two photos I downloaded from the articles.


[ATTACH=full]129975[/ATTACH]


[ATTACH=full]129976[/ATTACH]


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