The Sandy Andy Toy

[hoover300]

I know of a collector who said he had one/saw a few about 15-20 years ago but this is the only one I can find on the internet outside of the original ads. In the Wolverine toy company story it lists them developing this in 1925 as the first totally working toy vacuum.

It actually works quite well, better than the Marvel friction vac which was not a toy. The fan spins at quite a high velocity, and the blades are even curved like a real vacuum. I do have the bag, however it is in such bad shape I am having it copied and the original framed. The front end is made of pot metal, so it has a large chip in the top as well as stress cracks in many spots.

I've been wanting one of these for about 2 years, and was not expecting how small it is. The handle is around 29 inches but the vac itself fits in my hand! Pen for scale.

 

[huskyvacs]

Wow! Fascinating little toy. It's amazing that with how many toys are collected by everyone, many of them no longer exist physically, and then out of nowhere people have found some.

Funny how even for a child it is so tiny, notice the little girl illustrated is having to bend over quite a lot to operate it.

There's more info on the Wolverine Toy Co. here;

https://geekfrontiers.com/pittsburgh-history/wolverine-mechanical-toys/

 

[electrolux137]

I have quite a few toy vacuum cleaners. The first one came from Santa when I was three years old! Mama said, "Now you have your own sweeper so you can stop pestering me to use mine.

I loved it so much I wouldn't take it out of my sight, even taking it to bed with me!!

 

[vacmadman]

congrats

Wonderful find indeed! It's always rewarding to find something you wanted to add to your collection...congratulations. I'll look forward to seeing it restored.

Charles,

For what it's worth, thanks for sharing your story, I love the pictures! Great memories.

Jim

 

[hoover300]

Thank you! Sadly I don't think I can restore it. The front head has cracks - everywhere - in the pot metal and the force of screwing and unscrewing the mechanism from the fan case I think would break it.

 

[hoover300]

Love the Pretty Maid toy! Was that the version with the fan driven by the wheels?