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When I was seven years old and in the Second Grade at school, I made "my own Electrolux."
I used a roller skate and an empty Clorox jug for the motor unit. It was pretty elaborate, with a front cover that I made by cutting off the top of the bottle and attaching it to the motor body with clothes pins that fit into slots that I cut out of the sides of the cover. I wrote "ELECTROLUX" across both sides with a blue crayon.
The cord was a length of twine with an empty thread spool at the end of the cord for the plug, and the cord halo was a pie tin that I attached with those brass fasteners with a round head and two thin blade-like extensions that you push through a hole and then spread out the extensions.
The hose was an actual Electrolux hose from a Model S that had previously served as a replacement hose on Mama's Electrolux E-Automatic. (*)
I made the wand and floor brush from Christmas paper cardboard tubes (these used to be much thicker and heavier than they are now). I even made a floor polisher by coiling a coat hanger into a circular shape and sliding a blue sock around it. The "hook" part of the hanger slid inside the wand.
I made a disposable bag out of a brown paper lunch sack with a cardboard top stapled to it with "ELECTROLUX SWEEPER BAG" written on it with a blue crayon.
I don't think I've ever talked about this here before, and am wondering if other collectors made their own vacuum cleaners. I have a hunch that a lot of y'all did...!
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(*) One day the local Electrolux Man had come around with a station wagon full of machines but found my parents to be a hard sell! They did get a B7 floor polisher, and sent their battered E-A with the man to fix up and return. It came back with a Model F hose.
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When I was seven years old and in the Second Grade at school, I made "my own Electrolux."
I used a roller skate and an empty Clorox jug for the motor unit. It was pretty elaborate, with a front cover that I made by cutting off the top of the bottle and attaching it to the motor body with clothes pins that fit into slots that I cut out of the sides of the cover. I wrote "ELECTROLUX" across both sides with a blue crayon.
The cord was a length of twine with an empty thread spool at the end of the cord for the plug, and the cord halo was a pie tin that I attached with those brass fasteners with a round head and two thin blade-like extensions that you push through a hole and then spread out the extensions.
The hose was an actual Electrolux hose from a Model S that had previously served as a replacement hose on Mama's Electrolux E-Automatic. (*)
I made the wand and floor brush from Christmas paper cardboard tubes (these used to be much thicker and heavier than they are now). I even made a floor polisher by coiling a coat hanger into a circular shape and sliding a blue sock around it. The "hook" part of the hanger slid inside the wand.
I made a disposable bag out of a brown paper lunch sack with a cardboard top stapled to it with "ELECTROLUX SWEEPER BAG" written on it with a blue crayon.
I don't think I've ever talked about this here before, and am wondering if other collectors made their own vacuum cleaners. I have a hunch that a lot of y'all did...!
---
(*) One day the local Electrolux Man had come around with a station wagon full of machines but found my parents to be a hard sell! They did get a B7 floor polisher, and sent their battered E-A with the man to fix up and return. It came back with a Model F hose.
