My very small collection

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Vodhin

Active member
Joined
Mar 6, 2013
Messages
26
Hello all, I'm new around here. I have a few nice vintage machines I would like to share with you.

Here is my Singer S3 that I got a few years ago. It's in full working order and I use it regularly. The bag that came with the vac says "to fit Singer" so I assume is a replacement. The original cord was burned up in the middle as if it was dragged past a fireplace, so I replaced it with another from around the same era.

vodhin++3-12-2013-07-06-35.jpg
 
I also have a nice Model G in fine contidion. This is my daily driver vac (using a modern hose - the original is still good and I want to keep it that way). I just had the motor rebuilt as its bearings were starting to fail. I also have the sprayer, vaporizer, and rug-washer for this model, too.

vodhin++3-12-2013-07-10-43.jpg
 
My prize vac would be this Sunbeam Dual Deluxe, complete with Turbine Brush, floor nozzle, and attachments.

vodhin++3-12-2013-07-12-53.jpg
 
This one is clean inside and out even the wands are shiny inside. I don't think it was used much before I got it. The only thing that has been replaced is the power cord. Everything else seems original.

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small? but GREAT! collection

These are 3 of the best ever.-The Singer is the first of the Loewy design(the later would match your drapes).Much Singer info recently & in archives from Dave in Canada.The original bag would have been color matched and a very good quality fabric.-The Gs are hard to find with original hose/wand.Looks like the 60s again.-The Dual Deluxe is beyond amazing.These had very powerful suction for the 50s.Tool bag is very difficult to find.-(What other Singer were you looking for?Sometimes similar names went on different models.I have a few in warehouse.)
 
My Kind of collection!

ORIGINAL!! and the Dual Deluxe along with the Apex Strato was THE most powerful vacuum on the market,.
 
Hello at last, Micheal.
I discovered your site 'Vodhin's Friendly Vacuum Cleaner Accessories' in September of 2007, devoured it and printed it out for my Big Book Binder of Facts & Figures...because one never knows when a website may disappear. :-)

Well written overview information & How-tos.

We dearly miss Doug Smith's Canadian site (which I now regret not printing in its entirety. :-(

Charles Richard Lester's site is another revered encyclopedic bible to vintage collectors.

Your links to CRL's site are broken, though. He has a new URL:

Dave



http://www.1377731.com/
 
Thanks to all for the warm welome.

I must admit that the Sunbeam does need help with the brushroll: half of the bristles are missing as they deterioated and were shedding, so I pulled them out in hopes of figuring out a way to replace them. It still works nicely even with only one row left.

That Sunbeam is powerful; When I first turned it on I covered the hose end to check suction and the bag exploded when I let go. Luckilly it came with three bags and the one that was inside was empty.


@rugsucker:
I'll have to look for Dave in Canada's info on the Singer. I would have rather had the clay colored model, but this one will do. My folks had a Singer in our vacation house while I was growing up - same grey color as this one - and I was allways facinated by it. I think it was the headlamp in the nose of the machine that drew me in, wondering how they got it there (I was 7 or 8 back then, strange things can catch one's interest at that age). The bag on this Singer, though a replacement, seems to match nicely with its light grey material and is in good shape (I hand wash it in the sink once or twice a year).

Near as I can tell, the 'lux Model G is from around 1964 (PN outlet on the side is one clue, I forgot the others). It came to me with the one-piece PN1 and a replacement hose, the floor/rug combo nozzle, and the reversable duster. I later found a rug washer and then a sprayer and vaporizer that now makes it complete (I think). The rug washer is the large tank version correct for the G series, but it also has the polising brush set for waxing floors, too.

If there is another vacuum I'm looking for it would be the Singer Golden Glide with vibra-beat nozzle.


@kloveland & aeoliandave:
I had actually forgotten about my Friendly Vacuum Cleaner Accessories website - I've been busy with so many other things that it fell off my radar for a number of years. I just re-discovered it and have started an overhaul that should be ready in a few weeks.

The old site is still up online and I was amazed at how many typos and missing spaces between words were present. It makes me think that some pages had been hacked at some point (the server has automatic malware removal scripts that would remove malicious code, leaving results similar to what was found - I haven't scanned all the logs yet).

The new version will be easier for me to update and I already have a set of pictures for a section on removing and servicing the Model G's motor that I intend to add.


@aeoliandave:
I did find Charlie's new website and have updated links on the new version of my website and removed the bad links from the old. I also see by your profile picture that you have the Lewyt Big Wheel with power nozzle and I would love that have a set of pics of it for my website.


Again, to all: thanks for the warm welcome and I hope to frequent this site regularly.
 
Heading in to work but here's the link to my latest posts on the Singer where I repaired two handles - the only delicate, usually broken breakable part of the Singer.

When I get home tonight I'll dig out my other Singer article archive from a few years ago and also the thread about restoring my Lewyt 107 Big Wheel two years ago.

Dave

http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?19715_20
 
I forgot that I never did a restoration thread about the Lewyt 107 'Electronic'. It was a project I was working on to take to the Minneapolis Convention so I only hinted with obscure photos.

The photo below shows the badly rusted through vacuum I was working with. A total teardown, metal-working and re-paint won it a First Prize ribbon. I even duplicated the Dust-O-Lator filter cloth and all the decals.

A labour of love for a unique machine.

It's always important to point out that Lewyt's first Big Wheel with the Motorized Beater Sweeper Power Nozzle had a 120 vac brushroll motor that plugged into the main body through a long two-prong external cord that could also be plugged into a wall socket.
There were no problems with this arrangement and it wins the place of First Power Nozzle offered to the Public, beating the Kenmore/Compact by a few months.

It was the second and third 111 and 121 that had the 'clever' arrangement of a 20 VDC secondary winding from the fan motor to power the low voltage brushroll through the hose and wands...that led to the electrocution hazard when the varnish on the field coils softened and melted from heat, causing catastrophic shorts.

Thus 107's are rare to find. As are the other two Electronics which are rarely in working condition.

aeoliandave++3-13-2013-21-10-46.jpg
 
Dave... That is a fantastic restoration - more than I could have managed.

I remember reading a few years ago about the 20 Volt DC fiasco that Lywet ran into. I might even have it mentioned somewhere on my website. I wonder what the engineers were thinking when they decided to try that route? I could see a path to an electrified hose "that couldn't shock" but even back then they should have been able to transform and rectify AC to DC without adding too much weight or cost - might have been cheaper, too, to go solid-state.

Still, a facinating development of Vacuum accrssories. I'l love to see more pictures of the Motorized Beater Sweeper Power Nozzle you have, maybe if you have pics from it's resoration even. I'd love to add it to my website as a section on this model.

I did take a look at your singer thread and I have always been looking for a clay colored S model. One thing I noticed was how the bags of your machines seem to wider than what I've found in other pictures. Is that because of internal paper bags?

My S3 cloth bag is much narrower:

vodhin++3-14-2013-17-04-55.jpg
 
When I wash the bag I iron it so its sides are pleated, folding into the center (they almost meet) because that's the way it came when I bought it. This bag also expands into a gently tapered tube when turned on, and flattens back after use, even when there's a fair amount of dust and dirt inside.

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