Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

The 'Freedom' and 'Slalom' uprights, and the 'Xarion' cylinder cleaner. All employ 'Airvolution' technology.

You'll have to wander about the Argos site yourselves, as I can't be bothered battling with the silly formatting of pictures on this forum, and the website linking didn't work either.

The Royal Warrant upon British appliances had Hoover referring to "vacuum cleaners", and Electrolux described them as "suction cleaners".

Hello Trilobite:

Your post refreshed my memory.  I want to further clarify my earlier post.  Early Hollywood movies used the term 'electric sweepers' for upright vacuums not tanks/canisters [cylinders for the UK].  

I suspect with 'carpet sweepers' around long before the advent of household electricity [thanks to companies like BISSELL and catalogue retailers like SEARS] , referring to electric rug/carpet sweepers was a natural transition for the electrified version of the previously hand powered device. 

CarmineD.

Speaking of carpet sweepers, you refreshed one of my memories.

My grandmother once told me that her mother had a machine called a 'Whirlwind'. This apparently looked to all intents and purposes like a Hoover, but did not use electricity. Instead it had a friction-drive and gearing, to turn a fan to generate suction.

Apparently relatives were visiting my Great Grandmother, and were surprised that she didn't have a Hoover. She later got a Hoover 'Junior' 375.

Trilobite wrote:

Hello Trilobite:

A similar make/model in the USA is probably called the "Tuec."  Hand powered with a fan for suction.  Very rare.  One vacuum collector, Jim Kirby, [related to the founder of the famous vacuum and who unfortunately no longer posts here] made mention of it to me privately and on several vacuum Forums.  It was indigenous to Ohio, if I recall correctly, much like the pre-electric hand pump sweepers were indigenous to local areas with metal factories/foundries across the US in early 20th Century.  And too, many of the non-BISSELL hand powered carpet sweepers which were made/marketed out of wood in local geograhical areas throughout the USA in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

BTW, in the USA, HOOVER did not use the term Junior [which appeared on the name plate of the UK HOOVER]. Instead 'Baby' and 'Apartment size' were the terms used by HOOVER going back to the first baby HOOVER model in the 20's, the 105.  And for the model 115 in the USA made in 1949 [US version of the UK model 119].

Carmine D.

Hi Carmine and Trilo,

The "friction" vacuum cleaner got carried into at least the 1960s as I recall.  I remember a relatively modern looking UK-made machiine with a houndstooth check dustbag being sold in a Philadelphia department store around 1963.

AND -- if it was ever totally gone from the market -- the friction vacuum may be coming back.  A Mr. Tom Mannington has developed a working model that is said to produce about 6,000 RPM, about half the speed of a leaf blower.  Why would we want a non-electric vacuum? 'Cause its green.  See the following link:

http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/sleek-friction-vacuum-cleaner-runs-sans-electricity/

Best,

Venson

Hello Venson:

Terrific.  But, where does the dirt go?  And how does the user empty?  And the all important question: Price?

Wondering too based on UK bagless product experience, if the friction vacuum cleaner price will be a premium due to the lack of electricity costs?  Like the premium bagless price for the lack of bag costs!!!! 

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

Hi Carmine,

I wondered about that myself.  I guess he's getting around to that.  Just a plain old shake-out dust bag would be kind of anticlimactic. Gotta have a big finish.

As for the price -- who knows what the mark-up for genius is when all "new" may mean is re-emerged doo-dads so old that only a few will remember.  Anyway . . .

Back in the day -- the 1940's and earlier -- when electricity was not fully accessible to some rural areas., friction vacuum cleaners and gasoline powered washing machines may have been seen as great to have by those who couldn't avail themselves of fancier electric devices.

Best,

Venson

CarmineD wrote:
Actually, they did, as early as the 1910's, alongside the "Baby", "Hooverette", "Senior", and so forth.  The Junior (a misnomer in this regard) was still a full-sized upright (12" cleaning width) but intended for smaller homes.  The Senior was considerably wider (15"). 

Then of course came the Junior 115 in the 1940's.  After that, I do not believe the Junior name was applied to any later cleaners, even though the actual Juniors were sold here in the 1970's...those I believe were referred to as lightweight uprights, or apartment size cleaners.

-MH

MH:

Come to think about it, you're right.  HOOVER used the "Junior" designation in magazine ads for the 115, tho I must say in the vacuum industry jargon, 'Baby' and/or 'Apartment' size was more prevalent.  Lightweight was the description name often used for the HOOVER 'Larks' models 12 and 14 which were downsized versions of the HOOVER upright models of the day.

Carmine D.

Was the 115 hoover strickly a shake out bag or have the optional paper insert?

MOLE