The Hurley Thor!

[myvacsrock]

This will make a fantastic restoration! The sad thing is the company opted to literally “chrome” the vacuum. It has been chrome plated, and after 104 years the plating is indeed failing. So the look of the vacuum can and will improve, but it will never look as good as my polished aluminum vacuums.
However, a rebuild of the motor and wiring will at least make it work nicely, and talk about that original bag! Too cool.

For such a rare vacuum, I’m at least happy to have saved this one from hitting the landfill.

 

[dysonman1]

Such a rare machine. The original bag is just too cool. It looks to have the attachment adapter already. So glad you saved it. I do not have one and have only seen one in pictures from the Maytag advertisement.

 

[brando_husky]

What a strange machine! It looks like it should have a nozzle but guess that's the nozzle we see. Never seen one pictured before

 

[vacmadman]

Very rare find

Good luck restoring it! Glade to see this old one wasn't left be-hide, and it's in good hands.

 

[hoover300]

Very nice!

The bag clip looks like the one on my Energex, with the hinged bar in the middle. Do you have the front cover for the attachment port?

 

[rugsucker]

RARE! Thor

If I haven't seen one it's rare.When Tom hasn't seen one it's beyond rare!Amazing to find in any condition much less with original bag.Part early and primitive,part as modern as a mid 30s vac.Love the height adjusters.
Plating-Chrome or earlier nickel?

 

[myvacsrock]

I don’t have the port cover outside of the attachment one, but I do have the attachments!
For the front cover, I’m leaning towards a cap that goes on a sink. Something will have to do!

 

[myvacsrock]

Jimmy-

We need to connect— I’d like to come down your way buy some machines. All of my runnings around everywhere picking these up and I have not made it down yet! That won’t do!

 

[elecroluxmodel1]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!

That is so cool! I have never heard of or seen one before. Good luck on the restoration!!!

 

[rugsucker]

And you have--

--the attachments!?!Does switch rotate or push?What is the story on where this has been for the last 100 years??
Come on down!I have had 7 collectors here in the last month.There is MUCH MORE for you & others.Best to have few people during good weather.(If on weekend you could also see our 4 block Sat night car show.)Call ahead.
Jimmy
423-268-4841

 

[brando_husky]

We need folks like you out here in Nevada hah

 

[madman]

Being that old, it would be odd if it was actually chrome plate. It's more likely nickel, but even that's really weird. Nickel plated aluminum? I'm assuming it's aluminum. Is it steel? Or brass maybe?

Once you polish it, nickel will shine with a slight yellow tint, chrome will not.

Anyhow, nickel plating aluminum is possible, it's just not a normal plating procedure. I'm not really familiar with the details.

 

[myvacsrock]

It’s essentially

Just horrible, horrible pot metal. Just the worst kind of scrap lol. I don’t know why they did it this way.
Either way, it’s been plated.

 

[hoover300]

Why they made it out of pot metal? It was cheap to make and molded relatively easily. That is probably why fan companies made tons of fans out of it in the 1910s and 20s. I actually did not know they made a whole vac out of pot metal, interesting. The only cheaper metal I have heard of being used for making vacs was the tin Torrington model A.

 

[portable]

I thought the name THOR rang a bell. I have a brochure for it. Here's the first page. Someone dated this as 1919 in pencil on the cover, as you can see.

 

[portable]

Two of the inner pages.

 

[portable]

Some inner page(s). Sorry about splitting them - my scanner is not wide enough to scan the pages fully opened.

 

[portable]

Back page, showing attachments., and the West Coast distributor locations of Pacific States Electric Co.. Note the small comapny info of Hurley Machine Company.

 

[hoover300]

WOW

I wonder what the difference is between the 5 and 12? The head seems smaller on the 5, yet there is no way its 5". Makes me wonder why they chose those numbers for it. Maybe it was a setup similar to the Premier Duplex and Junior uprights, the smaller being sold for apartments and the like?