switches... what's your favorite

[crevicetool]

tehehehe.......

 

[aeoliandave]

They's a lot more sculptural switch buttons to post yet but here is the Root Daddy of them all - the common spdt push button switch.

 

[aeoliandave]

Such as:

The Monitor TAC-1

 

[aeoliandave]

The Lewyt 66 or any Lewyt for that matter.

 

[aeoliandave]

Air-Ways 77 & 66...
& 55 & 88 &...

 

[aeoliandave]

All Compacts and Haley's Comets and Miracle Mates and Vortech Forces...

 

[aeoliandave]

And so many more.

Then we have the variations on the double-pole flip knife switch:

The basic Airway Bakelite inline switch.

 

[aeoliandave]

Too artsy posed not to include.

 

[aeoliandave]

the awfully clever sculpted & flower garland embellished cast aluminum Green Goddess slip ring switch - essentially a rotating knife blade closing the contacts.

 

[aeoliandave]

Not the last but certainly unique...

The smooth & silky Electrolux LX & LXI rotating wheel switch.

This may be the easiest activating and sole-satisfying switch design on the planet.

 

[kirbyvertibles]

the compact and elux model L are also awesome

 

[gottahaveahoove]

the HOOVER Convertible!!

BIG surprise! I hate the location of the ones on the Elites, etc.. down on the side !? How can they think that was an improvement from a flick of your finger on an upright/??

 

[arh1953]

I collect everything that's GE too!

Tanks for showing your GE cleaner Fred! My head is spinning with all these cleaners and switches! I vote for the Hoover toggle switch, seconded by the later slide switch.

 

[aeoliandave]

Internet went down last night and I wasn't done yet..

I'm all perspire-y over that GE, Fred. I'd drive to Minneapolis just to touch it. dare I say it's more beautifully formed than the Modern Hygiene?

Sigh...

Mustn't forget the Kenmore Commander footpaddle smoothly integrated at the end of the handle.

 

[aeoliandave]

The Singer S=2 slide button.

 

[aeoliandave]

The aforementioned Modern Hygiene gray ribbed rubber capped aluminum plate pushbutton paddle...and the Great Fake-out of 1949 Cylinder Vacuums, the Modern Hygiene's length-enhancing hollow end caps. So boastfully excessive in Brooks Stevens' wishful thinking the engineers had to add a long tube extension to reach the bag.

Nonetheless, a stunning design icon.

 

[aeoliandave]

The Rexair Rainbow's humble and dependable toggle switch.

 

[aeoliandave]

And surely, Shirley, we can not leave out the GE Roll-Easy's take on the common toggle, their spring-loaded pull-chain 'wheeblewobblebob', to protect milady's shoes from gouges and dents.

Sadly, oft times the chain toggle got broken off from too much force and is replaced with a standard rigid toggleswitch.

 

[aeoliandave]

Gee, you'd almost think I've been ready and waiting for a switch thread to come along...

A much better calendar snap of the Air-Way Green Goddess ring switch, which is a knife switch housed inside the aluminum box on the backside.

 

[bagintheback]

My favorite switch is the red one on the Elite-style on the side of the machine. I think I like it mosty because my parents had Soft 'n Light when I was a baby, and I used it ALOT! Plus it also has a short (CLIK) noise before the motor turns on. Plus the soft-cover bag is right next to it! I'm going to some Goodwills tomorrow with my grandpa and I'm on the lookout for a Elite. I really miss the soft-cover bag. My Oreck just doesn't fill that spot anymore.

My 2ed favorite is the old Convertible switch, where it makes the really loud click and then slowly turns on.

Then I also love the Eureka's/Sanitaire's switch on the base. It just feels like the right spot and size.