Electro-Hygiene
The main thing that set Electro-Hygiene apart from Royal was the deodorizing chamber, or as they called it, the sanitizing chamber. It is located in front of the fan case on the straight suction models such as this one and trimmed in red. Revolving brush models from 1955 until 1966 had a crystal chamber that snapped on in place of the belt cover, and in 1966 the model 880 was introduced that had a flip up headlight and the crystal chamber was then located below the headlight. The sanitizing crystals as they were called were basically paradichlorobenzine moth crystals with .4% formaldehyde added and according to the sales pitch, when they were used in the sanitizing crystal chamber it killed the germs in the air while you cleaned.
The other difference between the Electro-Hygiene and the Royal was the warranty. While Royal only had the manufacturer's warranty, Electro-Hygiene had a warranty similar to Kirby, that included lifetime rebuilds and fire insurance for the original owner.
It's kind of interesting how Electro-Hygiene came to be, and how its early history is intermingled with that of Royal. When Philip A. Geier started the P.A. Geier Co. in 1905, it was a job order machine shop, and his main product was parts for punch presses. He built his first vacuum cleaner in 1910 and called it the Royal, and by 1912 devoted his full attention to vacuum cleaners. As the company grew, they added models, eventually building 3, which were the Standard, the Super (which may also have been called the Princess) and the Purifier. A young man named Arthur Frankenfeld began selling them, and had phenomenal success with the Purifier model, of which Philip Geier took notice. What was Frankenfeld's secret? He didn't just sell vacuum cleaners, but sold the customers on health, hygiene, and sanitation.
In March of 1934 they decided to spin the Purifier off as a separate brand in itself and it became the Electro-Hygiene, a wholly owned subsidiary of the P.A. Geier Co., with Art Frankenfeld in charge of the division. In 1941 Electro-Hygiene incorporated, with their machines still made by P.A. Geier.
I sold Electro-Hygiene in 1974, then again in 1976. I got to meet Art Frankenfeld at a sales convention in 1974, and he was every bit as charismatic at 67 as he was back when he sold the Purifiers!
Jeff
