Old round canister vacs

[fan-of-fans]

Lately I've really gotten a thing for the old round metal canisters. Hoover Constellation, Celebrity, GE Swiveltop, Hamilton Beach, Sunbeam, Eureka, etc.

I believe some of these were called hatbox cleaners. When I first started collecting, my local Restore had a blue Sunbeam "Touch N Lock" round canister - wish I had gotten it now.

Looking at some newspaper ads, noticed the round GE/Premier "Whirlwind" canisters for eale in the mid to late 70s. Sold for between $24-29 depending on the ad. My guess is these were meant to be cheapo vacuums at the time. These were the short single fan units.

Wish I could find some of these old round vacs around here. All the older metal vacs I ever see are Electrolux. Not that those are bad or anything, but where are all the other old vacuums? I guess I did ok, since in my earlier collecting years 2012-14 I managed to score a Connie and a Slimline. Glad I got both because I've never seen another of either around here, before or since.

Remember one of my aunts telling me her first vacuum when she got married in 1960 was I believe a round Sunbeam. Then a metal Eureka with power nozzle in 70s, and replaced that with a Kenmore Whispertone in the early 90s. I believe she may still have that Kenmore!

My grandmother's first vacuum was a GE Swiveltop short model she got with green stamps from the grocery store. Replaced that in the 80s with a Rainbow D4 which she still has, and then a Bissell Pet bagless upright.

When I was a kid old house next door had a GE beige Swiveltop short model (mid 1960s maybe?) in the shed. New owner let me have it. Had no hose or anything with it. The side had actually rusted out with a hole, but it did run! I remember taking it apart to examine the motor. Was probably the oldest vacuum I'd seen up until then.

 

[countryguy]

The round vacs that I have are a Filter Queen, Hoover Celebrity, GE Swivel top, Rainbow D and a Eureka Rotomatic.

Gary

 

[human]

Other than a couple of shop vacs, the only round vac I have is a Filter Queen Majestic that I picked up at Goodwill for $5 and then spent at least ten times that much trying to put it to rights. It's been sitting in my barn for more than four years and it is the one vacuum I truly regret buying.

 

[lesinutah]

Ge

I had a pink GE swivel top canister vacuum. Kenmore, ge, eureka all had a similar version of the vacuums. It's late 50's to late 60's. In not sure on the date.
I was not impressed by the vacuum. It did not have strong suction. I think it took a bag and I didn't have one for it. I gave it away to some collector 30 miles from here.
Les

 

[thevacomaticiec]

Eureka hada round one dnt recall the name,Hoover of coruse whit the Constelation ,The Celebrit y line , and Subeam join the band wagon also whit there round cansiter vac whit teh wrap around hsoe .
Ge swivel top mande in so many diffrent names .
And of coru se the majesticFilterqueen line up .
Rainbow as well altho id refer to em as tub style shopvac look alike similar to the Filter Queen and Electroluxx CB CA line up as well .

 

[thevacomaticiec]

I forgot the Airway snaitazor line up is round tower like machine also and premier when they took over the GE line up ofthe swivels tops . Im sure im missing some

 

[madman]

Like this GE I got? I still haven't looked at it yet. Haven't even plugged it in. I did clean the bag. Whole thing's a bit dirty. It's on the waiting list for the spa treatment. Have most of the attachments.

I wouldn't mind parting with it, if you're interested.

 

[kirbyklekter]

Nice

Yours is newer than mine. Mine is two tone salmon/pink,narrower than yours but taller. I'd like to refurbish this one, it still has great suction. When I shut it down the spin down lasts 13 seconds.It is clamped on to a matching colored 4-wheeled caddy.(?)22lbs.I think it's a thoroughbred GE.

In the 60's my dad worked at GE's "rad lab" and commented once that the two things that they did right were electric motors and steam irons! I think this will be my first winter time project to tackle. Looking at yours I can see what the hose and attachments look like, mine came to me a la carte!

 

[kirbyklekter]

@ fan-of-fans

I'm sorry, I meant to respond to your post And MadMans but got distracted by dinner,lol, and when I returned I air headed and replied to his and sent it out without talking to you. I too like round metal canisters from the golden era. Someone here got a red and chrome Eureka that was bigger than some shop vacs. It's a beauty.I would make room for one of these in my over crowded collection in a heart beat. I think they called this a Roto-Matic?

I hardly ever see the metal canisters as you mentioned. I think I'd have better luck finding one on a sidewalk when there's a curbside pick-up program going on, just hard to keep track of where said program is happening. They don't announce these pickups to the gen.public anymore around here as many home owners complained about the volume of people coming into their neighborhoods. I can understand that. I won't rummage through bags or boxes, if I see a vac standing on the sidewalk I politely carry it to my car and I'm history!

 

[fan-of-fans]

Gary, I really like your Celebrity! Those are on a want list for me if I ever see any.

I forgot that Airway Sanitizor. There was one of those at a thrift store here a few months ago, but they wanted something crazy like $150 for it! Apparently someone bought it because it was gone next time I went.

Cool GE, Madman. Yeah, that looks about like the one I saw. Yours might be closer to the early 70s I'm thinking, because of the vinyl hose. I think most of the earlier ones had the woven hose. Also, does that have a plastic handle? I think the one I briefly had was a chrome metal handle.

I was looking at some ads last night, and would you believe Premier was still selling that same basic GE Swiveltop all the way until about 1979-80? I saw it in a Zayre ad. It was for sale for like $24-29 depending on the ad. In the end it was so cheapened down, it only included the floor tool, crevice tool and upholstery tool. No dusting brush! And I couldn't tell, but it MAY have even had plastic wands at the end instead of metal. LOL

I wouldn't mind having it, but I'm kinda out of space right now. I really want to get my own house but right now with the prices out of control and corona-cripple still going on, just not a good time to buy.

Bill, I rarely see any vacuums either at the curb. Especially since we went to the trash and recycling carts a few years ago. We do have bulk pickup once a month where you can put large items for pickup outside the carts. I never see anything worth getting (IMO) mostly bagless Bissell uprights. I used to see a lot of Hoover Self Propelled Windtunnels for some reason which I wouldn't mind getting one of. I know some pick up these Bissells, etc and clean and resell them.

When I was a kid 15-20 years ago there were older vacuums to be found. I once picked up a navy blue Hoover Celebrity and a early 80s Kenmore canister at a house, neither had the hoses, power nozzles or anthing else with them, but I took them apart. Once I picked up an orange Convertible. Wish I had kept that one.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

All ofthem are nice!

I have an extra Celebrity AND orange Convertible..........

 

[lesinutah]

Madam

Mine was exactly like that one.
Les

 

[fan-of-fans]

Oh John if only I had the space!! I gotta do something about this. Maybe buy a vacant lot and build a garage or something! LOL

Bill, you mentioned GE steam irons. Did you know that GE steam and dry iron was STILL being sold up until just recently under the Black and Decker name? They used to sell them at Walmart, and I had a gift card and just had to get one for the "cool" factor. I've never used it yet, I just wish they were made as good as the old ones were.

I see the true vintage GE irons turn up at Goodwill and other thrift stores all the time. They must have sold tons of them, because I see them more than any other brand. The old GEs I see in thrift stores are always in way better shape than the modern B&D ones are.

 

[madman]

@ fan-of-fans

Yes, plastic handle. Chrome metal clasps hold the top on. Beat-up vinyl hose, hopefully I can snip off the bad ends and make it work. Who am I kidding? I'll make it work no matter what!

 

[fan-of-fans]

You should be able to clip the ends off, that's what I was thinking. I have a Constellation with a split hose on one end and I need to try that at some point.

I love cleanup projects like that, just wish I had the space for it. You can order paper bags for that from Hesco, by the way and maybe other places. They still sell them.

 

[eurekaprince]

Besides Eureka’s famous “Roto-Matic” tub vacs, they also produced the low-slung Crown Princess which stored its hose in a round trough around the central motor. Always loved the look of those “Sunbeam clones”!!!!

 

[hygiene903]

Canisters!

I have several canisters myself, so I thought I would post them here. First is a Filter Queen 350, then a GE Swiveltop Model VIIC3, Hoover Constellation models 82, 84, 858, and S3341, Lewyt models 40, 55, and 90, and Westinghouse model SC-1. Several of these are family vacs passed down to me. The Filter Queen and 858 Constellation belonged to my Mom. She didn't have them when I was growing up, but had bought both of them at a garage sale after I had moved out and started my own family. The 82 Constellation belonged to my maternal Grandmother. Grandpa bought it for her in 1955 for their 40th wedding anniversary, which turned out to be their last one before he passed away. The Westinghouse belonged to an aunt whose husband worked at the Mansfield Westinghouse plant, and I got it when they sold their house and moved into assisted living.
They all have good suction, but the 82, 858, and S3341 Constellations are probably the most used of all of these. I have repaired the hose on the GE after the picture was taken, and it is the original hose.
Jeff

 

[human]

Lewyts...

We had a Lewyt like those in pictures 7 and 8 when I was little. It's actually the first vacuum cleaner I remember. Ours was on wheels and had a pink motor atop a charcoal gray tub. All the tools were pink also. It got replaced in the early '70s by a Hoover Convertible upright but it stayed in the garage for another 25 years or so to vacuum out cars. The hose was in pretty wretched condition by the time they got rid of it before they moved in the late '90s. The only other one I've seen like that is in a photo of Hans Craig's collection.

 

[kirbyklekter]

I think there's still

a decent amount of round metal vacs. It's just that over the years they've been relegated to the garage as Human mentioned for use to vacuum out the vehicles or used as mini-shop vacs. Most of these by now have outlived the original owner. If you were 20 yrs. old in 1950 and bought your new vacuum in 1950, then sometime this year you turn 90 and your cleaner turns 70!

So I expect there will be a steady trickle of older machines becoming available"as time goes bye." Hopefully they will end up with someone who will do the right thing and maybe they can stick around for another 50-70 years.