Sturtevant central vac . HELP!

[fletch]

I am contacting you from , and on behalf of , the Blackpool Grand Theatre in England.
In our cellar we have a Sturtevant central vacuum . There are hose connection sockets on all four levels of the auditorium .
I have been in touch with Geoff Sturtevant , who runs the Sturtevant web site in the U.K.he was very interested , but unable to help with any information .
I have also been in touch with Vincent Tocco , who runs the U.S. site . The snippets of information that he was able to provide , suggest that the machinery
was manufactured before the end of 1919 .
The Grand Theatre opened in july 1894 , and had a major re-fit in 1910 . If the machinery was installed in 1910 , it would make it , one of the earliest Turbo vacs in the U.K.
What i am trying to find out is when this technology was introduced into England ,and was it by Sturtevant ? The technology was introduced in the U.S.at this time .
The owner of the British Vacuum Cleaner Museum , was unable to help with information , but did suggest yourselves , as the best possibility of furthering my quest.

 

[jayelux]

Hope someone can help you

My partner and I used to live on Chandler's Rest in Lytham. We are Americans but lived four years in Lancashire and loved every single second of it, including seeing many shows at the Blackpool Grand Theatre. (Also had many fun times at Funny Girls.) Seeing your post brought back some terrific memories. I have high confidence that you will find some answers on this forum.
Cheers,
Jay

 

[collector2]

Hi:

The concept of stationary cleaners in England started with the British Vacuum Cleaner Co (Hubert Cecil Booth) around 1902. If memory serves the first ones he installed were in Buckingham Pallace and Windsor Castle. In the next couple of years they were installed in The Houses of Parliament, Savoy Hotel, Empire Theatre, Leicester Square Theatre and Gaiety Theatre as well as many other buildings

Doug

 

[kenkart]

Hi...

If I were you , the first thing I would do is see if the turbine and motor will turn, if so, they both probably have either grease fittings or some type of oil reservoir, I would lubricate them properly, replace the belt if it looks worn, then check to see if you are getting power to the unit, probably 220 there unlike our 110 or 120 volts...Then empty the dirt collector and then turn it on, watching closely for smoke or sparks, if there is an issue with the motor, it can be repaired by a competent electric motor shop, or replace it with a more modern motor of equal specifications..in any event it should be used!! The Fox Theatre in Saint Louis has a 1929 Spencer unit that runs as good as it ever did!!Please do not junk it, it is a part of history that can still be used!

 

[centralvacs1928]

Wow! Thank you so much for sharing, that is very cool. Do you have a picture of the hose inlets?

I'd bet it runs...those big old motors are indestructible. Just make sure everything turns, and see about adding some lubrication.

Here's a photo of a machine similar to yours (the book belongs to Andy Weter, who posted it here a few years ago)...not sure if the belt-driven turbine unit came earlier, or was a concurrent option.

 

[goadie12]

Wow that's very cool is there any chance that you still have the original hose and attachments to go with it I know it's a long shot but I just thought it would be interesting to see what they came wth back in the day thanks? Zach

 

[fletch]

open hose socket

Thank you for the replies so far .
Hubert Cecil Booth did indeed manufacture the first british machines that were mechanically powered . These were huge machines that were moved around on a cart , pulled by a horse . They provided a mobile cleaning service . They were powered by a petrol engine , not electricity . They were ordinary vacuums , not
turbo vacs .
Booth gave a free demonstration , at his local resteraunt , making sure that it was well advertised . He attracted quite a crowd . Word got back to Buckingham Palace , about how well it had performed , and he was asked to clean the carpet , in the central aisle of Westminster Abbey , ready for the coronation of Edward the seventh. He was then asked to clean the carpets in the palace , which led to several more prestige commissions .
Several years later he installed a machine in Buckingham Palace , still petrol fueled , and very noisy .
Orders for his machines soared , and amongst his installations and sales were included , the Houses of Parliament , Windsor Castle , the German Kaiser and the Russian Czar .
The first electrically powered machine was built and demonstrated in San Francisco in 1906 . This weighed over 90 pounds . The following year James Spengler came up with his upright invention , which was light enough to be mobile .
Sturtevant ,( the american fan company ) , designed and perfected , the idea of the turbo vac , and the first such machines , were introduced in 1909/1910 in the
U.S.A.
Sturtevant had a branch in London from 1896 to sell their products on the european market .
After the first world war ,they had to divest themselves of this branch , and it became SturtevanT engineering ltd . U.K.
When the London branch became independant , they changed the way the name was written .
Originally it was written as Sturtevant . Afterwards it was written as SturtevanT , with a capital S and T .
The plate on our machine has a small t at the end .
Unfortunately we no longer have the hoses and tools .

David.

 

[luxman107]

love the pics, thanks for sharing..awesome looking machine..wouldn't it be great to have something like that my house..

 

[rainbowd4c]

How would they turn the unit on? Machines now you just plug the hose in and maybe flip a switch on the hose handle. I can't see that happening back then.

 

[centralvacs1928]

There would have been a switch or switches centrally located...likely in closets where the hoses and tools were intended to be stored. You can see that the electrical conduit feeding the machine goes into a box, which may be a relay enclosure allowing any number of switches around the theater to control the machine. Below that looks like the fused disconnect, as any kind of large equipment has.

When I was ten or twelve, my parents took me to see Casa Loma in Toronto...beautiful and fascinating in many regards, but what especially intrigued me were the central vacuum inlets in the baseboards around the house. They looked like Spencer inlets, and I spent most of the tour locating them, and trying to find the switches to activate the system, as well as the machine itself. No luck on either count...

 

[centralvacs1928]

Sturtevant Inlet

I saved this picture off of a website several years ago...unfortunately I don't remember where it's from. This inlet is set flush with the baseboard, and "Sturtevant Vacuum Cleaner" stamped into the metal. I would guess it's earlier, rather than later.

 

[rainbowd4c]

In some of the pictures I've seen from past posts in the past years the hoses and attachments looked huge and cumbersom. Looking at the openings of the inlets they look like the diameter wasn't that big at all.

 

[vacuumfreak]

I just had a question... What is that steering wheel looking thing above the far right part of the unit?

 

[fletch]

switch unit

dear all .
if you can get to see my photo album , you will find several more views of the machine , including the switch unit .

david.

 

[briankirbyclass]

Seems like i read once where many Central Vac inlets of this period required a special key to be opened and locked closed. This key would have been used by the maid, butler, or whoever was doing the vacuuming, and would have probablly been kept on the maids cart, with the hose and vacuum attachments.
Ive also seen pics of the actual hose and attachments for these older models, and they look VERY heavy and cumbersome.
Ive also heard that as large as these central units were, when they were turned on, the entire building would Rumble!, and were so powerful that several inlets could be opened and used at the same time.

 

[vacuumfreak]

Here's another picture posted by Andy a few years ago. These are some of the tools that would have come with it:

 

[fletch]

Sturtevant central Turbo vac

Here is a bit more information and some more views .
To give you some idea of size , the red bricks in the wall behind the machinery , are 9 inches x 3 inches .
The pipe going through the wall leads under the stalls ,(ground floor ).

 

[fletch]

the name plate

The way the name is written , shows that it dates before 1919 .

 

[fletch]

the motor

A close up of the motor