Mysterious Vacuum Accessory

[aeoliandave]

Made of bakelite, fits onto tapered wand or hose end and contains a heating coil wound around asbestos card, like a hairdryer, attached to a long power cord. The inside switch is a sprung flap that closes the coil's contacts when blow force is applied. Yes, it works.

 

[aeoliandave]

Can someone translate?

Side one

 

[aeoliandave]

Side two.

 

[kirbyotronic]

My mom is German, she can try to tanslate it tomorrow!

 

[petek]

There should be another part for it per the diagram. I don't think it's a hair dryer.. it's a "hot air shower" heissluftdusche. welcome in the household and business for many uses.

 

[whirlpolf]

about blowers, dryers, showers and "Föhne"

Petek is correct on that one: "Heißluftdusche" = literally "hot air shower". (which is the old German word for hair dryer / blow dryer, the word was used from the 20s up until the 50/60s. About the time when colorful plastics came up people called it "Haartrockner" (hair dryer) or simply "Föhn" (a brand name of AEG's hair dryers, they spelled it "Foen").
(Föhn = sudden warm falling winds in the Alps, a special type of climate in Bavaria).

Translation:
"The hot air shower (blow dryer)... is a versatile accessory for your vacuum cleaner which can be put to many new uses through this little and practical device. Everywhere in household and business where you need an intense stream of hot air, this blow dryer is a welcomed helper (instructions on next page).

How to work with the "Heißluftdusche" using the vacuum with the hose:
1. Connect hose to blower side of the cleaner and turn unit on for a moment.
2. Turn off vacuum and connect the blow dryer to the end of the hose.
3. Unplug cable connector from the main unit. Plug double connector of the dryer into the main unit. Now plug the cable connector back in.
4. Turn on vacuum cleaner. Immediately you get a stream of hot air from the blower unit.

How to work with the dryer using the vacuum without the hose:
1. Connect the hot air accessory to the blowing side of the main unit using the short wand. All other steps are identical to using the dryer with a hose (no. 2-4)

Please note:
Turn the hot air blower on and off with the switch of the vacuum cleaner.
The hot air unit has an automatic air flow switch, so a burning out of the heating element is impossible."

For other "Heißluftduschen" on vacuums, see here:
http://www.vorwerk-museumprivat.de/24579.htmlan old user manual (30s):
http://www.vorwerk-museumprivat.de/mediac/400_0/media/Aufgezeichnet~2005-2-18-34vorne~00000.JPGaccessories:
http://www.vorwerk-museumprivat.de/50255.html
Also other firms had these blow dryers (Tornado, Siemens, Philips) but unfortunately I have no links about them. Sometimes they were sold together with a vinyl drying hood or a comb.

Weirder vintage accessories were cow and horse brushes, even a small laundry unit (sort of a wooden barrel with holes in the bottom, the air would make the suds bubble and foam. I guess it did not clean well) or shoe polishers.

Happy blowing ;-)

 

[aeoliandave]

Thank you muchly, Pete & Joe!

This is the case it came in:

 

[aeoliandave]

This is the accessory tray it was in:

 

[aeoliandave]

and this is the vacuum that blows it, under the tray:

 

[aeoliandave]

This is the vacuum on Hamilton Kijiji posted a while back by funvacfan. I waited four days expecting Guy would tell us all about it. So I called the number, told it was still available, made an offer and drove over to get it on a rainy evening.

I'm told it was found as-is in the basement when the seller bought the house 10 years ago. Since there was no cord, hose or wands he just left it there until now.

The bakelite motor cap (which also serves as the rear motor mount) was severely cracked & split up both sides around the exhaust port to the switch mount and held together with adhesive tape strips - long dried out. But the machine was otherwise so complete and foreign to me I didn't hesitate to get to fixing. All it took was a week of strategically placed clamps, tape and liberal dabs of crack-filling crazy glue, one crack at a time.

The cracked middle section was distorted out a full 1/8" from the force of the dislocated motor.

 

[aeoliandave]

It's a West Germany made Progress model 58-F from the 19

...in an earlier case with a few earlier accesories. It runs on 120 VAC and pulls 65".

The filthy white textured leatherette finally gave up it's crud with dental pick detailing.

I had the blue cord in the cord bin and configured a bojack hose to fit snugly into the course threaded intake port, which doesn't match any threaded hose connector I have.

The big problem was the smaller metric diameter for the tapered wands to fit the tools. Standard North American wands will not fit. I shaved down one plastic Kirby type wand.

 

[aeoliandave]

and finally, I used a new Miele S7 Hy-Clean bag inside the cloth dustbag. It fits perfectly over the tube inside the cap.

 

[whirlpolf]

awesome!

Wow, Dave, what a goody! And I stand in awe, the glueing job! (goodness, I could never be so patient...)

Hey, maybe you want to talk to these guys about parts or filters:

Steven, he is our no.1 Progress expert: http://www.staubsauger-progress.de/html/uber_mich.html

The vacuum shop in Fulda, Hessen: http://www.staubsaugercenter-fulda.de/aktionen.php
They are a team that is really in love with vacuums, very collector friendly, trying to get all kinds of vintage stuff for you if they can. This shop even features a "rent-a-vac" service. Just look at the "pimp my Vorwerk" series, they made it for some local "vacuum competition race":
http://www.staubsaugercenter-fulda..../upload/261260_Kampfsauger_08.JPG&w=559&h=600
This portal is for collectors of all kinds of vintage stuff: http://sammeln.at/
Also, look at their partner sites "Befreundete Seiten".

Again, my admiration for your job.
Joe

 

[danemodsandy]

Defroster!

I remember several variations on that gizmo from when I was a kid; they were sold as defrosters, to help with the task of defrosting one's refrigerator. The combination of heat and an air stream made pretty short work of the job. I used to appropriate my mom's hairdryer when I had to defrost our mammoth 1961 Sears upright freezer.

The one you've found is much better quality than anything I remember, though - all the ones I ever saw were probably from catalogue houses like Harriet Carter or Spencer Gifts.

 

[aeoliandave]

Thank you, Joe!!!

I'll follow up on that when I have time to myself after Nov 9. It would be terrific to get the real hose coupling and wands in that metric size.

From what I can conjecture, the tools and case belong to an earlier 1952-ish green P-7E Progress Bodenstaubsauger. I surmise that the owner saved the sturdier case & tools to go with his new 1962-ish white 58-F that came in a similarly sized and trayed cheaper cardboard case.

Here's the Progess thread I used to research and the repaired Bakelite motor cap. I don't use crazy glues with wild abandon but have found that it's the perfect fix on Bakelite under clamps - it wicks into the crack and seals solid. Have yet to have a bakelite/crazy glue joint fail.

Also, very fine 0000+ steel wool and Mother's Aluminum polish restores the sheen & gleam to Bakelite. I will fill in the remaining crevices with hard wax furniture crack filler and polish out to make the surface as smooth as possible.

Dave

http://www.vacuumland.org/TD/THREADS/VINTAGE/4754x6.htm

 

[aeoliandave]

Drool Worthy

This vacuum appeared over a year ago on Ebay Germany. It was withdrawn from sale on the last day of bidding and I was fully prepared to pay the shipping to Canada. :-(

While I can not make out the name on the label it certainly has Progress design written all over its sahpes. Gawd, what a beautiful Bauhaus machine.

 

[aeoliandave]

more

 

[aeoliandave]

Motor end & red button switch.

 

[aeoliandave]

Joe, can you identify the maker's label? Looks like 'something'Starr.