vintage industrial shop vacs

[KIRBYDUDE]

does anyone remember the shop/industrial vacs with the big round style bags on them ? were they a lewyt or a clarke. are they still around & does anyone have one or a picture ? the last one i saw was a gas station i worked at in 1974.would love to have one.

 

[electrolux-dude]

I can remember when I was in grade school back in the early 70's the school had an industrial shop vacuum with a huge bag on it that when the vacuum was turned on the bag would inflate. If I recall correctly the vacuum was a Tornado. It sounded like a tornado and blew a cloud of dust out the bag. It had a stiff rubber hose on it. The vacuum could be used for wet or dry pickup.

 

[tolivac]

I have a Tornado "Task Force" external filter wet-dry vacuum.Mine doesn't leak dust.Also NSS used to make an external filter wet-dry vacuum-under the "Bronco" name.This is one of my dream machines.Saw one in a Daycon showroom years ago(Janitorial supply in Wash DC area)The machine had a polished SS drum-polished motor and fan housing-and a huge blue bag with the NSS "Horse" logo!
Cadillac makes an external filter vacuum-they are still around.They also make a portable vac-blower and plastic film welding machines.
I like external filter wet-dry vacs best becuase they don't clog as easily as internal pleated filter machines.And the debris doesn't go thru the motor itself-just thru the fan-large debris stays in the drum-fine dust and such goes into the bag.Of course all wet-dry vacs made for commercial use must be of bypass design-so moisture can't get into the motor.
You can get the Tornado vacuums thru WW Grainger.They also have the models that you use with an air compressor-but you will need a 50Hp compressor to run the vacuum-their airlift is something like 200"!Keep body parts away!