Why Collect Vacuums?

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Oh...and the most important memory of all:

The grey General Electric MV-2 Portable Cleaner displayed along with all the other General Electric appliance gifts in the Grande Finale Christmas scene of the "Carousel of Progress" exhibit at the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair's General Electric Pavilion! The pavilion was designed by Walt Disney and his amazing Imagineers, and the famous "Carousel of Progress" took audiences around 6 stages to see the advances made in home appliances through the 20th century by General Electric. I even know the song by heart: "There's a great big beautiful tomorrow....."

I wanted to ride that carousel over and over again just to see the little GE handvac!!!! :-)
 
I frequntly get Modern and Electro Hygiene mixed up.

That blue tank is one that I owned. It was also the first vacuum cleaner I bought brand new, though it was not called Electro-Hygiene, or even Royal, it was called 'Super Macy!' What had happened was that Macy's department store had bought about 50 of these, stuck their name on it and sold them in the vacuum cleaner department. The year was 1966, I was not quite 16, and saved up the money I earned from mowing lawns, and doing odd jobs. I had to use the ruse that I was buying if for my mom as a Birthday present. Fact was, I bought it for me! My mom loved it, but as she hated housework, was delighted when I offered to vacuum the house. Did she know the truth? Sure! As much as I loved vacuum cleaners, she hated em! Wasn't too happy about my interest either, but I got even. My mom was an executive secretary, and when I started to do our newsletters, made her club secretary. It was a win/win, because she turned me into an editor'publisher. Something that went far beyond the club.

As for that Super Macy/Electro-Hygiene, it was a great machine, and almost as good as our Electrolux XXX.
 
Yes Dave...I know....I have been following the journey made by the Carousel of Progress ever since it re-opened in Disneyland's Tomorrowland in 1967. A second version opened in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in 1971, with a new theme song ("Now is the Time") and a revamped final scene. In the mid 1980's, the California version was replaced by "America Sings" which took audiences thru various scenes of singing Audio-animatronic animals. I'll have to check out your link, because at some point in the 1990's, the carousel at Disneyland stopped turning and a static exhibit was installed. I had no idea that the Carousel of Progress had been revived in California!!! :-)
 
Oh man, I loved that carousel of progress at the New York worlds fair. I could have gone on that a million times. I was abou 11 years do at the time. Great memories
 
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I collect mostly because the vacuums I wanted that were new at the time I was a kid were better quality than today's vacuums.  Although the majority are often found used, I'd be paying <span style="text-decoration: underline;">LESS</span> now than if I (or my parent) bought that (those) particular vacuum(s) new back then.</span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> </span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">A family friend of mine bought a red TriStar CXL 2-speed around 1984-85; later on that same time frame my parents bought a red TriStar CXL 2-speed.  I still have that same vacuum my parents bought new around 1984-85.  After that friend's passing (around 2006), I also aquired their CXL & Rainbow SE from the estate auction.  Both vacuums were rode hard, the Rainbow SE & R-4375C PN was beat-up & both the Rainbow PN & TriStar PN brush rollers were VERY worn down.</span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> </span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Around 1998, which was when I seriously started collecting more vacs, I found several 1970s/1980s Kenmore canisters in various conditions from the curb.  Recently I found even a TriStar EXL on the curb.</span>

 
Alex,

I had heard of the Macy before but have never seen one in person. But I have no doubt that there were more than 50 of them made. Macy's, as well as other retailers, contracted with P.A. Geier/Royal to build vacuums for them, and I'm thinking they may have done this for several years or more. Stark, Regal, Good Housekeeper, Electro-Hygiene, and Modern Hygiene were all built by P.A. Geier as well, but that is about the only connection between Electro-Hygiene and Modern Hygiene--that they were built by the same manufacturer. However, the prewar tank models of Royal and Modern Hygiene were almost identical to each other, but the prewar Electro-Hygiene tank was a little different, with a blue tank and Electro-Hygiene's exclusive crystal chamber on the front cover.
Also interesting is that Health-Mor contracted with P.A. Geier to build the Health-Mor Sanitation System for them, as well as the first few models of Filter Queen, until Health-Mor opened a plant in Chicago and began building their own machines in the early 50's, part way through the production of the model 350.
Here's a picture of my prewar Royalaire model 186. The prewar Modern Hygiene was identical to this.
Jeff

hygiene903++1-25-2013-23-56-18.jpg
 
And here's the Good Housekeeper model 189. Bag is a little faded but you can see Good Housekeeper. Other than the name it is identical to the Royal 189.

hygiene903++1-25-2013-23-58-53.jpg
 
Here's the Health-Mor Sanitation System. Other than the nozzle, bag, and foot switch it is almost identical to the straight suction Royal. The previous owner had the Health-mor logo embroidered on a generic bag.

hygiene903++1-26-2013-00-16-33.jpg
 
The vacuum-collecting bug bit me very early in my life. It all started with my mom's Kirby Classic III, which my dad bought for her November 7, 1978. He wanted it and she did not, but he was the one that won out on that argument, and there my mom was stuck with this machine for the next 16 years.

My paternal grandparents (my dad's parents) also acquired a Kirby Classic III in 1987 shortly before moving to the St. Johns neighborhood of north Portland, OR from Boise, ID.

At my grade school, there were two Royals both from the 1987-90 period. One was the standard 14" wide model 660 and the other was the 18" super-wide model 680. Other vacuums were thrown into the mix on occasion, including the 1979-83 Hoover U7037 Heavy Duty. In junior high, the Royals used there included a model 671Z 14" wide (1990-92) and the 680 (or 690) 18" super-wide.

Unfortunately for me (ages 9-15), I took apart a lot of my vacuums I'd acquired to the point where I can't remember how they all fit together again. That was my "Humpty Dumpty" moment there. I totally regret that period. After having acquired my paternal grandparents' Classic III (I was then 17), I never took apart another vacuum since.

~Ben
 
Hi Hygiene903.

Thanks for the info on the P.A. Geier Co., it was indeed the factory where the Health-Mor uprights were made. It was also the home of Royal (which was originally a non electric upright pumper in 1905), and later the Electro-Hygiene. But it was much more involved than that, because many Royal-like uprights, Bee-Vac, Cadilac, and others were made. P.A. Geier also made all the wands, hose handles, couplings, rug, bare floor, upholstry tools, and other metal parts. I understand that they also made hoses, and bags. The actual brushes were made by 'Fuller Brush' (who else?), the wooden brush rolls were made by the Cleveland wood Company (again who else?), the cords for most brands, including Kirby was The Belden Wire and Cord Company, and all instructions books were published by the donally company in Chicago. Another powerful company at the time was The Britman electric company, but my info on them is not as good as P.A. Geier.

It was nice to see the Health-Mor, I have one, as well as the Filter Queen model 200.

Thanks for the information.

Alex Taber.
 
I'm a little confused ...

I have a Royal 880 with the attachments and original service folder. In the folder is the receipt for the vacuum, and it was bought new in 1978. As a matter of fact that store is still in business today. This machine has the crystal chamber under the headlight cap. How could that be if Royal didn't include it until Electro Hygiene went out of business?

Joe
 
I have loved vacs since I was a kid, and, like the OP, I too collect antique telephones. (my main hobby) I have always liked mechanical stuff, phones, vacs, coin operated stuff, computers, etc. I am a geek and proud of it.

It's cool to see why others collect vacs, as up until a few years ago, I didn't realize it had such a following.

Keep up the good work everyone!
 
I started collecting vacuum cleaners when I decided that I needed an indoor hobby to supplement my main hobby of collecting classic cars. Vacuums are a good thing to collect because there are a huge number of different models, even from a single manufacturer, and they are reasonably inexpensive and readily available.
 
Good Question, Joe

Unfortunately I don't have an answer. I do know that my 880 Royal was built in October of 1973, and it doesn't have a crystal chamber. Here's a pic.
Jeff

hygiene903++2-4-2013-20-22-42.jpg
 
Joe, and Jeff,

I want to point out that such restrictions over that were relaxed by 1976, because I know Drake Smith (thevacuumguy96) has a Stark-branded Royal 880 dating from then and make no mistake, that one too has the crystal chamber underneath the headlight. I know, because I asked him all about and he confirms it does have the crystal chamber.

~Ben
 
Eureka Prince

I soo get your observation of HSP and living in a chaotic home environment! I appreciate that you put into words so perfectly what I have been experiencing since a child and have not been able to express. The vacuums clean away the Chaos in the home, calm me and is a process in beautifying. I would like to add to this something about the back-and-forth motion of vacuuming. I relate to this "motion" as being relaxing, in a trance like , when a mother rocks a baby back-and-forth in her arms. I feel that back-and-forth movement both have this same like calming quality. This makes soo much simple sense to me. I can now have compassion for my family members and friends who have teased me, laughed at me, and thought I was very "Strange" for having a love and fascination for vacuum cleaners.This is so brilliant!

I am amazed how we human beings react to something we do not understand, but know somehow we DO want to understand, as in the above.

Maybe we are searching for ways to experience, calm, love, order, and beauty also in other ways, but we just are not conscious of that.

What do you think...
 
Brad!!! Big hug of understanding to you from me here in central Canada.. :-)

You are very welcome - I'm so glad that my work on trying to understand the "uniqueness" (mean people would call it "weirdness") of me has helped you too. It has been an amazing relief to read Elaine Aron's book "The Highly Sensitive Person" as it really explains so much of how I react to the messy world out there. Thank you for adding the notion of the back and forth movement of the vacs as another calming feature of our favourite household appliance. This makes perfect sense to me, too!

You know, in a previous post in this thread, I mentioned the Eureka Mobile-Aire canister owned by my aunt and uncle in the 1960's back in my hometown Montreal. Apparently, when my cousin was born, her parents use to run the Eureka in her room to help her sleep!!! They claim the hum of the motor helped to lul her to sleep!!!

What is so strange about all of this is that I was initially terrified of our blue Eureka Automatic 260 upright! The design of the vac made it look like an angry monster to me: it had that single eye headlight with the metal eyebrow and the tool port cover looked like a nose! The wide mouth seemed to be ravenously swallowing up everything in its path. In an attempt to try to convince me that it would not chase me on its own, Mom tried a little experiment one day: she turned it on in the hallway in the upright storage position and opened my bedroom door behind which I had been hiding to protect myself from the crazy monster. And she tried to explain: "....you see? It won't chase you on its own...don't be afraid..." At which point, that grumbling Eureka with its scary headlight began moving forward on its own towards me!!!!! "You see!!!!!" I cried...."it IS coming after me!!!!" And I slammed the door in Mom's face! LOL! :-). It was at that point that someone decided to put white tape over the eyes of the Eureka so that it would look less sinister. And that seemed to reduce my feared reaction everytime she took it out of the closet to clean the carpets.

It was only with the advent of the internet and eBay that I began to see vintage ads for those Eureka uprights which actually promoted the fact that they "practically walk on their own"!!!!

So its really weird how my fear somehow was conquered and how that turned into a magnetic fascination with these domestic "conquerors of chaos."

I thank Vacuumland for giving me the opportunity to really share this fascination with like-minded cleanerphiles, and to help me come out of the vacuum cleaner closet along with others! :-)
 
I think the reason I collect vacuums has something to do with my childhood.
I remember as a toddler, watching my mum vacuuming with an old argos vacuum,
and I used to have a toy one that looked just like it, and whenever she was vacuuming, I was doing the same with my toy one.

And one time, when I was a 2 years old, me and my parents went on holiday to center parcs, and there I found Henry! I used to play with it and vacuum with it, and I remember leaving and feeling really sad that I left Henry behind!
And now, at the age of 22, I have my own Henry :)
 
Beerad ...

... thanks for sharing!

I was also teased for my love of "sweepers" (as we call them in Western PA).

As I mentioned before, I think (for a gay man like myself at least) the fascination is a Perfect Storm of the male love of machines -- loud, shiny, and with lights -- along with an association of an appliance with our mothers.

Also for someone like myself, a love, reverence, and connection to the past with vintage machines.

And as someone else mentioned, the vacuum is a tool that brings *order* to a chaotic lifestyle. No matter how upset your world might be, the sound of Mom vacuuming when you were little meant the natural flow and order of the household was right on track.
 
I collect vacuums beacuse I feel sorry for them, I see them at the tip or on eBay or some other used items internet listing website and I see them in a right sorry state. They have been abused and most likely never cleaned in how ever many years and are just dumpped for a new one! So I come and "rescue" them and restore them so they can keep on going.

Perhaps that sounds witty but that is true. :P about the fasination for certain models and different feautres, I have no idea, we are all facinated by different things. (make of that what you please!)

I do like the way some vacuums look aswell, same reason a girl would love the look of a certain dress!

I have no idea why I really love vacuums and certain models, but there is nothing wrong with loving things that make us happy. (make of that what you please!)
Alex.
 
I agree with it all

My entire family had HOOVERS.  I was fascinated going to each home and compiling my "list" of who had which.  I loved the sound,  seeing the bags inflate,  seeing the light,  Seeing the attachments.  I was absolutely fascinated by them all.


  When very young, my grandmother's 28 scared me... so big, brown, loud, almost sinister, compared to the others.  My aunt got me a toy HOOVER, to help me "get over my fear".  I'd say it worked!  I respect the machinery,  as well as the aesthetics.  When I was little, I rurned over our Convertible 67.  It said, The HOOVER Company, North Canton, Ohio.  I KNEW then, that one day, I would go there. The rest, is history.
 
its a childhood thing for me

i also remember visitng relatives and sneaking off to find there vacuum i still have my mums Hoover Senior 652a standing behind the kitchen door where its always stood since it was new back in 63 mums long gone but the hoovers still hear ,its also to do with the styling and the build quality that has always atracted me to them then theres that satisfaction you get when you get an old cleaner working after it has stood dormant for years i have no interest in modern machines at all they just leave me cold
 
I'll chime in, although I am NOT a collector. But,.........

I was born in 1955, and I spent my childhood in Europe. Mom was a college professor, and she didn't do much cleaning. Before WW2 her (and Dad's) family owned vast properties, servants, employees, and staff. They were officially "nobility". Dad was a part of diplomatic corps after the war, although he served "the other side" in that war. Since I was born ten years after the war, all riches, properties, servants, and staff were gone (the "nobility" was not recognized any more, for they were on the loosing side of that war!).

Mom was more interested in theater, opera, and philharmonic performances, than house cleaning. It was "beneath" her. Dad was killed in 1962, somewhere in Europe (Italy). Growing up, I was often embarrassed to bring my friends to our home. And then I started cleaning! Everything in sight. Fast forward few years, and I am in uniform (serving my country, country my parents adopted after the war), and "order and discipline" (along with cleanliness!), was an imperative.

I always loved animals (all kinds), and was surrounded with them most of my life (and animals do their part is creating mess!). So today,......I live on 140 acre horse ranch. In the main house that was built in 1880s, and I often say that I was born "too late". I don't have Facebook account, I detest Twitter, and everything else called "social media". My home is furnished, and decorated with the furniture, and appliances from the years gone by (restored, and in museum quality condition). I also have antique telephones (working), I am drinking my morning coffee right now, that my wife made in the old "dripolator" (just a few examples). I cook almost every day (gourmet meals from scratch, never anything from can, never fast food, never "prepackaged stuff", if I'm not, my wife does. We drive modern vehicles, and that is the only concession we give to the century we live in.

We were married in Tombstone, AZ in the period clothes from the time of the infamous gunfight at OK Corral (the whole wedding party), with horses, guns, and everything that goes with that period. This is who we are,.....people born too late!

Since I've been cleaning almost my whole life, I was naturally interested in the "best performing" vacuum for the job. But not just "the best" (most of the name brands are pretty equal in performance). It also had to have the "looks" (artfully designed machine with the appeal of the years gone by), "sound", and "quality" (no plastic, which I detest!). And then I "discovered" Kirby! (just a little over a month ago now, so I am definitely not one of you! LOL)

And now I have four of them, and it will probably be enough for me. There are six horses, four dogs, three cats, five cars, three motorcycles, countless guns.......(guess you see where I'm going with this?) in this household, and ONE of me. I don't have time left in a day, to take care off all of it. Accumulating things without giving them proper care/maintenance/love/attention is not how I live. But regardless of how hectic my day is (and you can imagine, vets, farriers, trees that need to be trimmed, animals to be fed on schedule....I also cook for my dogs!), .....I need to find the time to vacuum my house. The whole house. Daily. Wife says (jokingly) that I'm sick, but very few things calm me down such as freshly vacuumed house. And I vacuum later in the day (not in the morning), before I start cooking. Wife works full time, and by the time she gets home, house is clean, dinner is on the stove, fire is roaring in the fireplace, and we sit next to it, enjoy a cocktail, and share the stories about the day gone by. Dogs are at our feet, horses are prancing right outside the window, and our little world is PERFECT!

There are wars out there (and I did my part in three of them), there are gangs and drugs (just down the mountain), and terrorist attacks all over the world. We read about it, we sympathize, and we get on our horses, and ride into the wilderness. We cook in the cast iron on the open fire. We practice with our guns. And try to live in times when this country still had a meaning (if you know what I mean?). And that's it.
 

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