Last week I got a call from a friend of mine who owns a vac shop here in Los Angeles. He told me that a 97-year-old lady had come in to buy a new vacuum cleaner. She said she still has the same vacuum cleaner that she bought in 1947 from a salesman who was going door-to-door in her neighborhood. She said she liked the machine quite a lot and used it up until this very year! But as she's gotten older, she's found that it's become too heavy and cumbersome for her to manage so she came in looking for something lighter in weight.
He sold her a new vacuum cleaner and gave her something on her old one (which most vacuum cleaner salesmen will do, regardless of the condition of the old machine -- it's sort of a goodwill gesture and paying a compliment to the customer -- that she had made a good choice with her original machine and that it still has some value. Of course, that's a lot of hooey, just some flattery to help close a sale!
Anyway, he told me he has her old machine and I can come in and get it if I want it. He said it's not one he's ever seen before -- a dark-blue tank model called the "Sanitaire."
Before I went over there, I was having a hard time imagining what sort of thing it could be. I was thinking of the Eureka Sanitaire line and as far as I knew, there had never been any tank or canister models, just the uprights.
Well, I picked it up today and here it is -- it's actually a re-branded Royal 901 from, yes, the mid-1940s! I also have its candy-apple-red twin, a Royal 901 which I consider to be among the more over-the-top rocket-ship-inspired vacuum cleaner designs.
As you can see from the photos, it's in really excellent condition -- a few "dings and dangs" in the tank but nothing too severe. The dusting brush and crevice tool are missing but everything else is there, including the attachment caddy and what I assume is the original woven hose which is completely airtight and supple.
All I had to do was give the set a very light sprucing up with some spray cleaner and wax. (The cloth dust bag inside was spotless!)
After I went over it in my workshop, I carried it up to the living room for a test run. The motor runs as smooth as silk -- no rumbling or bearing noise at all. I had forgotten how quiet these older Royals are -- nearly as quite as a Lux XXX. It purred along just as sweetly as you please!
Can you imagine that this vacuum cleaner has been put to good and regular use for 66 years?!
Now, this faithful old senior sweeper statesman has found a new and happy home here at the Home for Wayward Vacuum Cleaners.
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He sold her a new vacuum cleaner and gave her something on her old one (which most vacuum cleaner salesmen will do, regardless of the condition of the old machine -- it's sort of a goodwill gesture and paying a compliment to the customer -- that she had made a good choice with her original machine and that it still has some value. Of course, that's a lot of hooey, just some flattery to help close a sale!
Anyway, he told me he has her old machine and I can come in and get it if I want it. He said it's not one he's ever seen before -- a dark-blue tank model called the "Sanitaire."
Before I went over there, I was having a hard time imagining what sort of thing it could be. I was thinking of the Eureka Sanitaire line and as far as I knew, there had never been any tank or canister models, just the uprights.
Well, I picked it up today and here it is -- it's actually a re-branded Royal 901 from, yes, the mid-1940s! I also have its candy-apple-red twin, a Royal 901 which I consider to be among the more over-the-top rocket-ship-inspired vacuum cleaner designs.
As you can see from the photos, it's in really excellent condition -- a few "dings and dangs" in the tank but nothing too severe. The dusting brush and crevice tool are missing but everything else is there, including the attachment caddy and what I assume is the original woven hose which is completely airtight and supple.
All I had to do was give the set a very light sprucing up with some spray cleaner and wax. (The cloth dust bag inside was spotless!)
After I went over it in my workshop, I carried it up to the living room for a test run. The motor runs as smooth as silk -- no rumbling or bearing noise at all. I had forgotten how quiet these older Royals are -- nearly as quite as a Lux XXX. It purred along just as sweetly as you please!
Can you imagine that this vacuum cleaner has been put to good and regular use for 66 years?!
Now, this faithful old senior sweeper statesman has found a new and happy home here at the Home for Wayward Vacuum Cleaners.
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