POD - GE Air Flo Cylinder vac

[eurekaprince]

Love the vac of the day today - the General Electric Air Flo cylinder vac. This was the first canister I encountered as a toddler in our house in the early 1960's. But ours must have been a Canadian version because it did not have chrome crowns on each end - ours were kind of heavy metal painted in a dark brown. The central part of the body was a soft brown - kind of like cafe-au-lait or chocolate milk. The tools were the light brown colour, but the cord was black, as was the step-on bake-light power button. As well, our Air Flo used a cloth shake-out bag, instead of disposable paper bags - so perhaps our version was older than the one in the advertisement here.

We kept that GE Air Flo for quite some time as a back up machine to our spanking new turquoise Eureka Automatic Upright with tools. My first memories of being fascinated by vacs are connected to playing with just the tools and the hose from the GE! I remember I could never seem to get the rubber dusting brush to slide onto the hose end, so I had to always ask Mom to attach it for me! Also, the crevice tool seemed to have disappeared at some point, and so I kept on digging into cupboards and drawers hoping to finally find it somewhere in the house. How did I know that it was missing? Well if the kewl blue Eureka attachment box had one, surely there needed to be one with the GE?

Great memories - thank you..

 

[petek]

Me thinks that Dave has the vac or the GE predecssor, the Universal version with the dark brown ends.

 

[eurekaprince]

Thanks Pete.....

I look forward to taking a walk down memory lane one day with you and Dave and re-encountering a GE just like we had.

To this day, I can't figure out how my mom shlepped around such a heavy machine on skids. Also, the curved aluminum wand that attached to the hose to become a handle did not seem to have any friction, or way of locking in place. So I ended up pretending I was vacuuming just with the handle and attachments.....minus the hose! It was fun just attaching the little upholstery nozzle to the handle and going around with them to all the chairs and sofas in the house....making a buzzing sound with my mouth!

 

[aeoliandave]

Pete & Brian - I've posted a picture of my GE AVT-70 in

Thread Number: 5712
New Material on the Site
scroll down

Other than the sled runner skids my machine is a match to the GE you remember and describe so well, Brian, though mine has polished steel wands I believe to be original since the Cleaner Tools accessory box came equipped as seen. Mark Berger provided an Owners Manual posted today in 'Owners Manuals' on the VCCC home page.

Same crinkletone paint colors as on the GE TIDY 14" long portable cylinder - it has the lovely aluminum wands and nozzles and similar doubleback cone dustbag..

I have also the later 50s all-chrome GE AVT 805 with the red handle and the cheaper Premier cylinder using the same hardware fittings in brown & tan crinkletone paint. Both of these have the familiar cloth dustbag that would allow for the paperbag insert.

 

[eurekaprince]

Thanks Dave!

Off to the OT Forum to check it out....

 

[collector2]

Something like this one???

 

[eurekaprince]

Yes C2....this one seems almost bang on.......

Thanks so much for this Mr. Moose Jaw.

I think the weave on the hose is exactly the same. And the attachments (besides our missing crevice tool) seem to match what I remember exactly. But where's your matching brown plastic upholstery nozzle?

The machine end of the hose was different though. We did not have a chrome neck on that end, and we did not have what looks like a milk chocolate grip band at that end. All I remember was a metal (chrome or aluminum) ring that when turned would fatten a rubber gasket to seal the gap between the machine inlet and the hose end. Turning the ring the other way would kind of unscrew the ring, and "flatten" the rubber ring so that it was thin enough to pull out of the inlet.

Your main unit here looks far darker than the one we had - on mine the central cylinder was the same colour as your tools. The caps at both ends also look too dark. I remember ours as being a dark chocolate, not black.

You know....I am thrilled to finally see the tool box that came with the Air Flo. I never saw one for ours and hated the fact that all the tools were just thrown "willy-nilly" into a cardboard box. I wanted the GE to have a nice tool-organizer like the Eureka upright! I must have been the only five year old on the block who knew how to spell the words "upholstery nozzle" because of that Eureka tool box! Anyhow, at age 9, I actually made a display organizer box for the GE with cardboard and paper packing tape! My parents were not pleased with what they found in the downstairs closet after returning from vacation!!!!!!!

PS: You have also solved a decades old mystery - we had that same sprayer attachment hanging out in the garage somewhere. But I never thought it was connected to the GE because the black colour did not match anything. Now I know it was part of the GE "ensemble"! But can you imagine anyone spraying wax onto floors like they recommend in Mark Berger's manual?????? The things they thought up for 1001 uses for these vacuum cleaners! "You can pave your front driveway with your new GE Home Renovation System!"

Brian in TO

 

[kenmore81]

I Had that one too

I had the GE tank in brown I got it from a yard sale when i was about 8. It was brown with the dark brown ends.Mom made me throw it out cause it had a short and kept blowing fuses. I said I would fix it and she said no.She was afraid of faulty electrical equipment and (i guess) didnt think I could fix it.I t only had the hose so I used the wands and attachments from the Eureka Swivel Top Canister untill it had the fuse problem.

 

[eurekaprince]

Sad story Kenmore 81.....

Too bad..... had we been the same age (I'm 50 now) and knew each other in the 1960's, I would have come down to RI from Montreal and would have shared my attachments with you! Nice to know I was not the only kid playing with an Air Flo!

 

[kenmore81]

Too Bad

To bad we wern't lol I would have enjoyed that. Now I have to enjoy getting ready for work lol.

 

[aeoliandave]

CGE vs GE

the Canadian arm of GE - CGE - may have made the same basic vacuums as their parent American GE but it appears they had their tools made or supplied in-country.

Could this be another Switson Industries sub-contract or somesuch, Doug?

What the heck, I post the American AVT-70 here as well...

Dave

 

[collector2]

Hi Brian:

Glad you like the tool kit but I'm afraid its not original. I made that one. The original ones were just a suitcase like box similar to what the Filter Queens accessories come in (See Dave's picture). Very few actually seem to have survived. The model CVT 94A above was made in 1949 and is actually a dark brown (although that doesnt show well in the pictures). The light brown parts were on all the GE machines that year but I'm not certain when they first appeared. The model AVT 150 shown below was from 1947 and came with black parts. There may well have been a model between them though that had the colour and hose connection of the 150 but the light brown parts. That tool set also introduced the newer style sprayer and vaporizer (which were a Switson product I believe (Good eye Dave)but the rest of the parts were GE made)

Doug

PS - yes I am missing the small nozzle on both machines

 

[beerad]

how about a youtuibe vid?

how about a youtube vid of your beautiful Ge?