The first Power Nozzles - History, Queries and Suppositions.

[midcenturymike]

I came

across these last summer, quite unexpectedly, while shopping for some unrelated item. I was wondering why the green one looked like it had an additional "1" stamped into the metal base-plate beside the PN1. Its all so clear to me now.

 

[aeoliandave]

Awww Jeez, Mike!
Could there be a more lovely picture to a Canadian Electrolux fan than both 80 series PN-1s side by side...with matching telescopic wands, no less!

And to top it off, artfully posed under a smashing wall sconce against a turquoise wall.

Extra Yummy and Pic Of The Day worthy, I'd say.

Great pickins there down Windsor way for a sharp-eyed fellow, no doubt a legacy of the Auto Industry heyday both sides of the St Clair river.

I'm stoopid curious now. Does the red telescopic have an embedded PN cord channel up the back, like the green one? Or is it empty? Or what? Picture please.
The first red non-electric telescopic for 83s, 86s and 88s was a smooth all metal half aluminum construction with a sprung friction ring connection (in the manner of USA ring) also used on the floor nozzles. This was well before the changeover to the latch catch and PN-1, so wand clips would be a must. That would make it easy to detach the PN and cord for straight wand use. Simpler style floor nozzles had a push-tight fit that made the tools easy to knock off with your shoe, or fall off under vigorous vibration. But your red 89 style telescopic has the new-style pushbutton latch so familiar on the green 87/89. I don't have nor have seen red tools with the latch catch. ???

Hey Doug, which came first for the Red nozzles...the 'insert, push & twist' or the angled friction ring?

Just curious about the details.

Dave, drooling...

 

[aeoliandave]

Another RCA Whirlpool advert from the Lester Files.

And a mea culpa correction. Whirlpool wins second prize (after Lewyt's 1957 Model 107) since New For 1958 is right there...duh...on the brochure cover.

Sorry Electrolux, you are demoted to 3rd, maybe 4th place dependent on a confirmed date for IEC's Compact ABC. :-(

 

[portable]

Wow, thanks for all this great info Dave, Charlie and Charles. What a treat. Those patents are awesome. I love the Electrolux with the "power nozzle" attached to the canister. That would've been a maneuvering monster!

 

[sireluxomatic]

Red Plastic Telescopic Wand

I'm intrigued by that power nozzle rug scrubber; pity it never made it any further than that.

Re: the red plastic telescopic wand. I have one and there's nothing on the back side of it. See picture below (It looks somewhat like the red is longer than the green, but that's the angle of the picture, I think). There was an electric one as well; I recall posting a picture of it here some time ago. I can only hazard two guesses about its origins:

1. It came out slightly before the green one (1966-ish?), when the designs for the new green push-button latch attachments and wands had been done, to update the older cream and red PN I with the new push-button latch elbow (i.e. to get rid of the long, cumbersome plastic wand).

2. It came slightly after, for customers with 83s/86s/88s who wanted color-matched wands and PNs.

I wish I had been there at the genesis of all this

 

[sireluxomatic]

PN II (Canadian) Pictures

Ignore the age spots and the "naked" logo. It's been a while since I've done a detailing on or used this old boy (don't know why, since its a perfectly good power nozzle). The only drawback to any of the PN Is is that they don't stand upright. Seems that Lewyt was first in the upright PN market, and that's an important consideration. With the others, you constantly have to find something to lean the wand against, or let it drop to the floor.

 

[sireluxomatic]

PN II #2

That's about as upright as this gets (leaning against the wall).

Fascinating thread, I must say. Nothing better than trivia, minutiae, and speculation, not to mention, via more knowledgeable people than myself, confirmation

 

[collector2]

Hey Dave:

Too many questions. I'm probably going to miss some but here goes.

1 - the chocolate brown PNV - This was never sold as a powerhead. The parts were produced to make a powerhead to match the brown trivac as they had a large overseas order for trivacs with the powerhead. Unfortunately who ever made the order backed out before they were even fully assembled so they were shipped to branches as replacement parts for the PN V's. So the only ones you will see are ones that were used for repairing the green or tan power heads.

2 - The spring clip nozzles were on the 2nd version of the 86/88

3 - the first red PN1's had the long white handle, later ones had the red telescopic wand with the cord clipped to the back. When the 89's were out red pn1's with a telescopic wand and the cord built into the wand were produced to retro fit older machines.

Doug

 

[aeoliandave]

Thanks, Doug!

Now, calling all IEC Compact Pundits in a quest identifying and dating the ABC Power Nozzle...someone won this on eBay in January 2009. Bidding was fierce iirc. Was it one of us? Come out, come out, whoever you are...

If the IEC Compact chart is more or less correct, and I have no reason to think it is wildly inaccurate, Compacts can be generally dated by the Model No consistently cast into the bottom of the magnesium shell. More precise dating comes from the decorative graphic Anniversary Decal often applied to the opposite side of the vacuum from the chromed 'Compact' script. The yearly count begins in 1937 with the founding of IEC - Interstate Engineering Corporation - although the first vacuum sold to the public, The C-1, came out in 1946. Compacts were and are sold only door-to-door by Salesmen to the present day, as the Tristar.
Thus:
C-1 - 1946-48
C-2 - 1949-54 - 25th Anniversary 1952
C-3 Revelation - 1949- 54 - sold only in retail stores
C-4 - 1955-58
C-5 - 1959-60
C-6 - 1961-70 - early ones have a single front ball caster, two thereafter.
C-7 - 1971-72 - now called the Compact Electra (?) But then so many early logos have broken off and been replaced.
C-8 - 1972-78
No model designation but known in the hobby as the
C-9 - 1982-85 - sometimes labeled TriStar.
The name changes to TriStar with the 1986 50th Anniversary Model CXL

What follows is speculation based on 11 Compacts in my collection and files. I'm sure it is rife with mistakes. Please correct or confirm these guesses. Compacts are such robust long-lasting vacuums that they are refurbished regularly and re-sold.

Although we know the ABC Power Nozzle was/is a fact - and has a decidedly late 1950s aura - it is likely it was meant to be plugged into a wall socket. The dedicated two-pin power socket below the latch does not seem to appear on the Compact until the C-8 in 1972. There are pictures of an earlier Compact with a PN socket but it is mounted well back by the handle strap and exhaust grill, which is also the cutout location for the switch on the two-speed model.

Pictures of the ABC wand socket clearly show a two-pin socket mount in the back and so I speculate that the ABC would be supplied with a long two-pin cord with either a two-pin plug to insert in the vacuum body, or a two-blade plug on a longer cord to reach a wall socket, as required.

Whatcha'll think?

Dave

 

[kenkart]

I see one mistake in the pics!

What they show as a c5 is a c4, there were 2 c4s, one with a flat lid and the next one with the regular lid, the c5 had 1 ball caster, the c6 had 2, I have one of our old newsletters somewhere, ill see if I can find it.

 

[aeoliandave]

Thanks a bunch, Hans.

I have a gray/blue flat top C-4 complete in a hassock.

I had a lady email me from a town 45 minutes away, to basically give me her single caster C-5 - she was moving - but by the time I got there her son had thrown it out. :-(

 

[vac_whisperer]

*Bump*

I had a lot of fun reading this thread, way back in 2011. I hope you don't mind me giving it a bump, Dave.

 

[aeoliandave]

Not at all, Sam. I'm practically blushing...

This is a great feature or the new site modifications and I'm pleased that several folks have already bumped older threads that illuminate the truly vintage machine discussions that were - and are again - an informational hallmark of Vacuumland over the years.
Searching them out was doable but time consuming for some and now the best of the best are easily resurrect-able.

Dave

 

[vac_whisperer]

That's what I love about this community. So many people willing to share their knowledge.