Spaceship / Rocket style machines from the lat 40's/early 50's

[collector2]

Just thought this might make an interesting thread. It seems that in the late 40's and early 50's a lot of different manufacturers adopted the space ship or rocket style body to their machines. Interesting to see how they did it.

These are the ones I have in my collection.

First off the more common one. The Kenmore Kencart model 116.7361 from 1955 looking very much like a rocket on a launch pad.

 

[collector2]

The Eatonia Type SZ165 from 1951 made in Holland (also found as Erres or Remoko in Europe)

 

[collector2]

The Delux Eatonia Type SZ175 from 1951 made in Holland (also found as Erres or Remoko in Europe)

 

[collector2]

The Knight - made by Siroma Eng. in England and sold by Eatons (Simpson Sears also sold it under the Kenmore name)in 1959

 

[collector2]

The Universal VC6702 from 1951

 

[collector2]

The Gleneaton model VC6007 (made for Eatons)

 

[collector2]

The Westinghouse model T4

 

[kenkart]

Westinghouse

1953

 

[kenkart]

WARDS SUPREME

Made by Eureka...Boy is this a pain to work on!!

 

[dysonman1]

Rocket on launch pad

The 1947 Air-Way model 55

 

[dysonman1]

More rockets ready to launch

Into space.

 

[electrolux137]

What a fun thread, Doug! Rocket ship / UFO / atomic bomb vacuum cleaners from the 1940s and 1950s are my favorites!!

Here are a few.......



Air-Way 77 on an optional wheeled cart, poised at an angle and looking like it's ready to blast off into outer space!

Another view of the 77.

Hoover Celebrity -- looking exactly like a classic UFO from a 1950s flying saucer movie!

See what I mean?!

Clark commerical floor polishers. I love the robot-inspired motor hoods. "Gort! Klaatu-Barada-Nikto!"

The gorgeous Fairfax, looking like a gleaming chrome cousin of R2D2.

The Haley's Comet, surely one of the most bizarre vacuum cleaners ever conceived.

Space-age poem inside the bag chamber lid of the Haley's Comet.

OF COURSE, the Hoover Constellation!

Another robot-inspired floor polisher, the Johnson-Wax RP59.

Not a rocket ship, but the Kenmore Imperial "Bug-Eye" surely looks like an alien insect from some otherworldly realm in the cosmos.

OF COURSE, the Electrolux air-powered floor polisher attachment, another classic UFO design.

A fleet of Electrolux UFOS ready to blast off into outer space!

The stunningly gorgeous Modern Hygiene.

Designer Brooks Stevens' original design concept rendering of the Modern Hygiene.

We've already seen the Kenmore Commander tank above. Here's one that was disguised as a rocket backpack for the film "Rocketeer." This back-pack, which was stolen by thieves thinking they had stolen the actual backpack and not the mad scientist's vacuum cleaner, plays a key element in the plot of the story.

The Royal tank machine, which looks as much like a giant phallus as it does a rocket ship! (Did I say that??!)

Advertising brochure for the Royal.

 

[electrolux137]

I don't know WHY that Royal brochure is coming up so HUUUGE. The actual file size is only 1024 × 655 pixels. Robert ... HEEEEEELP!!!

 

[electrolux137]

P.S.: Here's a web page with some great photos of the Rocketeer "jet backpack." I'd never noticed that it had a Hoover logo on it!

http://https//www.screenused.com/?sectionID=item-detail&subsectionID=index.cfm&item_id=11043

 

[electrolux137]

and btw, here's a photo of the actual jet-rocket backpack from Rocketeer.

 

[collector2]

Nice ones guys - I hadn't really thought of the 70's spaceships but there were quite a few then too. My favorite (which I unfortunately lost in the fire) was the Eureka - I'd love to get hold of the Singer version of it someday.

 

[collector2]

Of course there is also the standard Hoover flying saucer (this one went in the fire too)

 

[caligula]

Great thread!

I really love looking at these machines. I grew up with a lot of them. And here's a shout out to Tom Gasko. I still remember that great phone call we had when you were offered the job at the museum. You told me your ideas, I liked them then, but never expected anything as wonderful as this. Now I will find a way to get my butt out there. I have to see that museum!

Alex Taber.

 

[dysonman1]

Yes you do Alex. You need to definitely see the museum. It's the only vacuum cleaner museum in the world dedicated to preserving the history of all brands of vacuums from the beginning through present day cleaners.

Be great to take you through the factory, so you could see how the injection molding process starts a vacuum, on through our state of the art painting department, sub assembly, warehousing, everything. You'll love the testing lab the MOST. It was always in the painting department for the first decade, but they just recently built a concrete enclosed testing facility. All vacuums (Tacony's as well as all other brands) are run for eight minutes on and two minutes off. The hour counters clock the hours a machine will run (over a carpet, pushed by a mechanical arm) until the motor stops (or explodes or catches fire - not to mention any names(bissell). That's how long a motor's life is. You'll love seeing it.