Strange, the Hotpoint looks like a shoe to me too. I thought of that before I read this thread. Love that design, and the Sweeper Vac too. Since 1907, a year before You Know Who!
UK Meet 2009 - the vintage machines!
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vintagehoover
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'Since 1907, a year before You Know Who!'
Ah - but until around 1919, Sweeper-Vac only made a non-electric carpet-sweeper-with-bellows type contraption. So the company may have been around slightly longer than The Hoover Suction Sweeper Company (as it was then known!), but by the time Sweeper-Vac started producing upright electric vacuum cleaners, Hoover were on their 19th model!
The Sweeper-Vac uprights are very interesting to me; they used some clever technology to get round Hoover's patent on the motor-driven brush - I'll explain a little more about them here if anyone's interested?
Ah - but until around 1919, Sweeper-Vac only made a non-electric carpet-sweeper-with-bellows type contraption. So the company may have been around slightly longer than The Hoover Suction Sweeper Company (as it was then known!), but by the time Sweeper-Vac started producing upright electric vacuum cleaners, Hoover were on their 19th model!
The Sweeper-Vac uprights are very interesting to me; they used some clever technology to get round Hoover's patent on the motor-driven brush - I'll explain a little more about them here if anyone's interested?
rolls_rapide
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"I'll explain a little more about them here if anyo
Carry on, my dear fellow!
Carry on, my dear fellow!
vintagehoover
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J M Spangler's patent on the revolving brush made it impossible for anyone else to use this device in their machines until after 1925, giving Hoover the edge on rug-cleaning efficiency. Clearly, Hoover - 'the world's oldest and largest maker of electric cleaners’ - had a very strong selling point, which presented a problem for other manufacturers, who were forced to find various ways of handling the issue in their own products.
Some, like Cadillac, Ohio-Tuec, Torrington etc., used an electric suction motor, twinned with a wheel-driven, carpet-sweeper type brush. Air-Way, General Electric, Eureka and Royal used suction alone. Many of these manufacturers also twinned the claims about the 'superior' performance of their machines with the charge that the Hoover's brush was harsh and damaging to rugs. This rang rather hollow when the patent expired, and they all rushed to add motor-driven brushes to their own machines!
The remaining few brands, like Ira Lee, and Sweeper-Vac, were slightly more ingenious in finding other ways of getting the motor on their cleaners to revolve the brush.
While Ira-Lee (I know a club member has one of these, since I saw it in person at the convention, but I forget who owns it - sorry!) used a spring-drive to convey motion from the rear of the motor-shaft to the nozzle, Sweeper-Vac used a Worm Drive. Mounted at the rear of the motor unit, and driven by the non-fan end of the armature, it powered a belt which ran horizontally underneath the motor unit . Sweeper-Vac also included a lever on the rear of the motor, which meant the Worm Drive could be disengaged to shut off the brush-roll.
Sweeper-Vac had a totally different modus operandi to Hoover. They believed that lifting the rug from the ground and gently beating it – like Hoover’s machines did – was damaging to the rug’s nap and glue sizings. Sweeper-Vac’s technology offered what they saw as 3 main advantages over Hoover’s.
1) The worm-drive gear system allowed the brush to rotate at a much lower speed to the motor, which was ‘better’ for carpets. Meanwhile, the motor could run at a much higher RPM for suction than Hoover’s motors did.
2) The Sweeper-Vac - which had no front wheels, gliding on its soleplate alone - didn’t lift the carpet from the floor at all, which again was ‘better’ for carpets.
3) By disengaging the load of the brush from the motor, the motor could go faster when the hose was attached, allowing for more powerful suction.
It seems the main fault with Sweeper-Vac’s design was that you were only supposed to engage or disengage the lever with the motor off. Of course, no one remembered this, and the fibre gear, running on the brass worm gear, would be stripped of its teeth in seconds. I imagine that after the company expired, parts were impossible to source, hence the rarity of these cleaners today.
Also, although I’ve never used such a machine myself, I’d guess such powerful suction, on a cleaner with no front wheels, would have made the cleaner very heavy to push. As you can see, by the time they made the Model 22, they’d added front wheels, placed either side of the brush to pin the carpet to the floor. Hoover abandoned this design in 1909!
By Model 22, they'd also abandoned the Worm Drive/lever set-up, with a much more conventional belt-driven brush.
It seems there were quite a large number of Sweeper-Vac models. In addition to Models 22 and 49, there were:
Model 20 (motor-driven brush)
Model 18 (straight suction)
Thrift
Castle
Vaclight
Filter-sac
DeLuxe
Satin
Standard
If anyone has any pictures or info on other models, or any history about the brand itself, I'd love to hear!!
Some, like Cadillac, Ohio-Tuec, Torrington etc., used an electric suction motor, twinned with a wheel-driven, carpet-sweeper type brush. Air-Way, General Electric, Eureka and Royal used suction alone. Many of these manufacturers also twinned the claims about the 'superior' performance of their machines with the charge that the Hoover's brush was harsh and damaging to rugs. This rang rather hollow when the patent expired, and they all rushed to add motor-driven brushes to their own machines!
The remaining few brands, like Ira Lee, and Sweeper-Vac, were slightly more ingenious in finding other ways of getting the motor on their cleaners to revolve the brush.
While Ira-Lee (I know a club member has one of these, since I saw it in person at the convention, but I forget who owns it - sorry!) used a spring-drive to convey motion from the rear of the motor-shaft to the nozzle, Sweeper-Vac used a Worm Drive. Mounted at the rear of the motor unit, and driven by the non-fan end of the armature, it powered a belt which ran horizontally underneath the motor unit . Sweeper-Vac also included a lever on the rear of the motor, which meant the Worm Drive could be disengaged to shut off the brush-roll.
Sweeper-Vac had a totally different modus operandi to Hoover. They believed that lifting the rug from the ground and gently beating it – like Hoover’s machines did – was damaging to the rug’s nap and glue sizings. Sweeper-Vac’s technology offered what they saw as 3 main advantages over Hoover’s.
1) The worm-drive gear system allowed the brush to rotate at a much lower speed to the motor, which was ‘better’ for carpets. Meanwhile, the motor could run at a much higher RPM for suction than Hoover’s motors did.
2) The Sweeper-Vac - which had no front wheels, gliding on its soleplate alone - didn’t lift the carpet from the floor at all, which again was ‘better’ for carpets.
3) By disengaging the load of the brush from the motor, the motor could go faster when the hose was attached, allowing for more powerful suction.
It seems the main fault with Sweeper-Vac’s design was that you were only supposed to engage or disengage the lever with the motor off. Of course, no one remembered this, and the fibre gear, running on the brass worm gear, would be stripped of its teeth in seconds. I imagine that after the company expired, parts were impossible to source, hence the rarity of these cleaners today.
Also, although I’ve never used such a machine myself, I’d guess such powerful suction, on a cleaner with no front wheels, would have made the cleaner very heavy to push. As you can see, by the time they made the Model 22, they’d added front wheels, placed either side of the brush to pin the carpet to the floor. Hoover abandoned this design in 1909!
By Model 22, they'd also abandoned the Worm Drive/lever set-up, with a much more conventional belt-driven brush.
It seems there were quite a large number of Sweeper-Vac models. In addition to Models 22 and 49, there were:
Model 20 (motor-driven brush)
Model 18 (straight suction)
Thrift
Castle
Vaclight
Filter-sac
DeLuxe
Satin
Standard
If anyone has any pictures or info on other models, or any history about the brand itself, I'd love to hear!!
rolls_rapide
Well-known member
Interesting
Would you say that Dyson uses a similar cleaning action, in that the cleaner head rubs on the carpet?
Would you say that Dyson uses a similar cleaning action, in that the cleaner head rubs on the carpet?
vintagehoover
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'Would you say that Dyson uses a similar cleaning action
Similar in concept, if not exactly in function, yes! Same goes for any floating-head design of cleaner - many of the Panasonic uprights use this set-up, too, among others.
Similar in concept, if not exactly in function, yes! Same goes for any floating-head design of cleaner - many of the Panasonic uprights use this set-up, too, among others.
