Vintage Vacuums and Future Collectors

[dysonman1]

One of the perks of being the Curator of the Vacuum Cleaner Museum is the ability to influence the next generation of vacuum collectors. There have been so many young collectors who come visit with their families - they always leave with some vacuum from my collection, which I'm happy to present to them. Recently, we had a family with a very enthusiastic young collector, who seemed to already know everything about vintage machines. Makes you wonder about reincarnation... Here are a few pics of him enjoying the vacuums, and teaching me what he already knew about them.

 

[dysonman1]

In the 1900's room, explaining the Regina Model A to him. He never saw a non-electric cleaner before.

 

[dysonman1]

Pushing the 1914 Royal Standard. I know it's off, but he did turn it on a second after I took the pic, and vacuumed the entire rug.

 

[dysonman1]

Explaining the Indicator on the Air-Way. I was shocked that he already knew Air-Way had a disposable bag and that the motor swiveled out of the way for cleaning under furniture. He thought the hollow handle was the coolest thing he ever saw.

 

[dysonman1]

In the 1950's room with the Lewyt Big Wheel. He noticed the Mercedes emblem on the wheel immediately. He was also fascinated by the Wheel-Away wheels on the Air-Way model 66.

 

[dysonman1]

In the 1960's room. He knew all about virtually every one of these vacuums before he got to the Museum. How refreshing to meet a young man with such a keen knowledge of vacuums.

 

[electrolux137]

What a great write-up! I always enjoy reading about young collectors coming up through the ranks, and my family (who, along with me, thought I was the only nut in the world fascinated with vacuum cleaners) gets a kick out of reading about them, too.

 

[durango159]

That's so neat. You definitely have to admire young enthusiasts. This reminds of seeing a youtube several months back. The youngster, probably about 10 years old, did a fantastic sales style pitch of a Riccar canister. He knew absolutely everything about it!

 

[mjm0424]

Vac museum

My favorite is the 1960 Kenmore upright.

 

[tolivac]

What a wonderful story-glad there are some young folks out there that like vacuums and other appliances-and are not glued to the video game machine,computer,or TV.Your young guest was paying real attention you and your vacuums-and so willing to try them!And we see examples of vacuum cleaners that should be brought back-The Lewyt Big Wheel-now that vacuum won't "trip" over its own cord,rug edges,or door thresholds.That older upright suction only Royal-would make a good bare floor vacuum for folks with lots of hard floors.The AirWays ingenious design-could work as a powered brush upright,canister-or using the handle as a wand!Then a familiar machine-that Turquoise Sunbeam Courier vacuum like what my Mom used to have-she gave it to me-then my sister need a vac-so gave the Sunbeam to her-I had a Kirby at the time-used one-Classic.Now I am kicking myself for not keeping that Sunbeam-would work good with the Kirby!

 

[scvacuumguy]

Tom, you are doing great things with this museum. I still have my 1923 Royal that you sent me displayed prominently in the oldest store. It is nice to see people educating youngesters on these great machines of a bygone era!

 

[petek]

It must be wonderful to go to work everyday to a job you love. I liked my job for most but the final few years where I hated it but I never loved it.

re the antique wooden bellows sweepers. I have an immaculate Pneu-Vac and I've noticed others on Ebay much like it or maybe identical exept in name, like the one in your picture #1, the leftmost. I'm guessing, maybe wrongly, many are all identical and were just rebranded to different distributors around the country.

 

[dysonman1]

I do love my job. I get to go to work every day, play with any vacuum cleaner I want (from vintage to not-yet-launched prototypes), talk to the public about vacuum cleaners, and spend one day a month with the engineering department educating them on what makes a good vacuum 'good'. There's lots of great things coming from Tacony in the next 12 months, one model (k-1) that you will ALL recognize its origins. My favorite part of my job is talking with young collectors and letting them experience vintage cleaners for the first time in their lives. It's amazing. I'm very blessed.

I hope that ALL vacuum collectors take advantage of the availability of the Museum. You don't need to come to a 'convention' and spend a fortune to enjoy the entire history of vacuums. The Museum is open six days per week, it's free to come by, and I'll spend as much time as you want. We have 648 vacuums in the museum, or you can take a tour of the factory. It's a huge resource available at any time to any one.