The Lewyt Electronic, Hans Craig, and Mike Hays

[dysonman1]

This past weekend, I had the bittersweet task of going to South Carolina to help the late Clay Floyd's sister clean out his house. We had to distribute his entire vacuum collection. My husband Donnie, and I, met up with Hans and his husband Donald, as well as Evan Rogers and Adam Mercer. Two new vacuum collectors also drove 13 hours to be there.

Hans and I had arranged a trade, a few vacuums from the Museum's collection traded for a few EXTREMELY rare machines. First up is a machine from the late Mike Hays' collection - the Lewyt model 121 in Chrome.

I also traded Hans for a Lewyt Electronic in green, a Haley's Comet in butt ugly Kmart spray paint gold, and the "World's Most Powerful Home Cleaner" - the Apex Strato Cleaner. More on these in another thread.

And YES, the Lewyt does run, and NO, I did not get a shock.

 

[dysonman1]

nameplate

I just love the logo and the copper background finish.

 

[dysonman1]

Lewyt called the power nozzle the "Beater Sweeper" as well as the "Electric Upright".

 

[dysonman1]

Works like a charm

 

[dysonman1]

The Electronic can now take its place of honor at the Vacuum Cleaner Museum in St. James where it's on display for our thousands of guests who come all during the year for a fun stop along Route 66.

Thanks again Hans for facilitating this trade and for making sure the Vacuum Museum has the world's best cleaners on display.

 

[kenkart]

As most know

I don't really get into power nozzles that much, and these are rare and should be seen by everyone, I'm glad that my friend Tom has them now, As a tribute to Mike Hays now everyone will know about them.

 

[vacuumdevil]

That is by far the sexiest thing I've seen posted on here in a long time.

 

[Deleted member 1090]

question

are the wires for the power head in the hose i dont see a pigtail.?

 

[dysonman1]

The wires for the power nozzle begin with the motor. Two turn of the field coil are used for low voltage direct current power. This is transmitted to the hose, which has wires in it. From the hose, it's transmitted through the hose handle, down the bare copper tubes, to the wand receptacle on the power nozzle. It's all done with low voltage, which the user cannot feel. Until they touch a metal sink while not wearing shoes - plus the bag has to be full and the motor quite hot. Then, under the right circumstances, the user will get 120 volts AC through their body. Hence the lawsuits which are the reason there is no more Lewyt company today.

 

[dysonman1]

I also got the model 111 from Hans, which also used to be Mike Hays' machine. It runs perfectly. It's in the process of a spa treatment, but I thought I'd share some 'pre cleaning' pics.

 

[dysonman1]

The Lewyt Electronic Upright

Logo on top of machine. So cool.

 

[frostyvac]

WOW!

Those are awesome! I can't wait to stop back by the museum to see!

 

[dysonman1]

Here are all three of the power nozzle Lewyt machines. The green one as well as the chrome one are "zapper" models.

 

[2011hoover700]

@dysonman1 while you're at it can I have some information on the approximate era the lawsuit that got lewyt out of business took place?
Hopefully I'll be getting things that I happen to have that you want.
Damien

 

[dysonman1]

I'm betting most of the lawsuits were filed either in 1961 or 1962. Certain things had to happen first before anyone got a shock, like the field coil windings fusing together through the melting of the varnish from a full bag causing excessive motor heat, the user being grounded at the same time, etc.

 

[kenkart]

What I want

Is the very last real Lewyt that looked totally different and had a gE style hose connector on the very top!

 

[suckolux]

Interesting machines, they don't melt my butter, but fascinated!

 

[fantomfan]

I used to have that Lewyt Electronic

It too is all chrome. Mine is now in the hands of Greg Palmer. It’s a little rough and there is no power nozzle for it.

 

[collector2]

Hey Hans - Like this one? (my model 210) If I remember correctly there were also two other models of this style.

 

[n0oxy]

can't wait to try those

Looking forward to trying that one at the convention in June. It is interesting that several things had to happen for the user to get a shock, I bet if everyone emptied their bags when they should have it may have never happened. I'm guessing that this probably also destroyed the power nozzle since it was designed to run on low voltage. Wasn't their slogan "do it with a Lewyt?" Because of what happened I would say lewyt blew it, lol. I do think the zapper nick name is appropriate, kind of amusing but unfortunately true.
Mike

 

[kenkart]

YES Doug!!

That's it, Have never seen but one!

 

[dysonman1]

In 1959, consumer reports said “we could find nothing electronic about it”.

 

[kirbyvertibles]

My 3 models

 

[kirbyvertibles]

Tom,
Is that the original hose on your 107? Mine has a plain grey crush proof hose that looks like an after-market but it has a molded rubber cord clip on it for the power nozzle cord.

 

[kirbyvertibles]

could be cream colored not grey?

 

[dysonman1]

That's the hose I got from Hans, who got it from Mike Hays. More than a decade ago, when I was a member of the old VCCC, Mike brought the 107 and that hose to the convention in Louisville where we were fimed for the CBS Sunday Morning News. There's pictures and video of him running it during the REAL cleaning contest that we used to hold each year. There's a little hook to hold the power nozzle cord just back of the curved handle end. That was the hose Mike used when he brought the machine to the convention and entered it in the cleaning contest.

 

[collector2]

The original hose for the 107 is white. That green one is from the model 88.

 

[collector2]

The wands shown with the 107 are also from a model 77. It should have had the same style of wands as the 105 pictured here.

 

[collector2]

The original hose for the 107. Note he long sleeve on the handgrip end and the cord clip and locking piece on the handgrip.