Some Forgotten About Pictures

I was tooling through my 'Vacuums' picture folder on my external hard drive, and came across a few pictures that I thought looked nice, and a few oddities as well.

First, a blurry picture of the (later) 88. I like the perspective on this one.

The 89, with the PN III, cleaning the carpet. A very common sight during my younger days.

The Epic 8000 sits on the table. It isn't as elegant as the Renaissance C104A, but much more so than the C104H.

Yet another table picture, for the Guardian C154B.

This is the second of the vacuums I had when I was living in China, the Electrolux Ingenio. It was fairly powerful, had a variable speed motor, reusable cloth bag, and a telescopic wand. I regret not snagging this and bringing it back home.

The bronze Model G. Very elegant...in fact, the most elegant American Electrolux.

Another view of the bronze G:

The blue Model G, decked out with hose cord and power nozzle. I'm not sure if the original hose cord would have been in matching blue or not.

Black vacuums look better in the shade?

The first of the two vacuums I had when in China, the Electrolux 'Tabby'. This is the first, and to date only (thank heaven) machine that ever conked out on me. I was vacuuming with it one day, and it gave a dismal groan and blew up in a puff of smoke. Oh well. It did serve me well enough for a couple of years.

Time Traveling Adventures in Filtration

Here are three curiosities I had hidden away in a drawer of my vacuum collection room.

First off is an unused air filter for the Models 30, 55 1, 55 2, 55 3, 54, and 57. I really can't remember where this came from. It might have been thrown in when I got one of my 50 series machines, or it might have come from somewhere else. Either way, this is never going to be used, but saved for posterity.

Here is an unopened 80 series air filter, although, as can be seen, it looks black (!). I can only say that the package is unopened, and its going to stay that way. This must have been issued during the run of the ZB/Z 89 and 87, although the latter is missing from the model list, and note, too, that the American models E and LX use the same filter (and, presumably, the Automatic E/AE?)

Yet another 80 series replacement filter. This one, going by the graphics and the Consolidated Foods logo, was issued sometime during the AP series run (1973-82). It COULD be during the run of the AP 200/Super J, going by the gold graphics on the package, but who knows?

I'm not really sure about the efficiency of these filters versus modern ones, but I'm pretty sure they're not quite up to par. That being said, they do capture quite a bit of fine dirt and carbon brush dust. They also make the already near-silent 50 and 80 series vacuums even quieter!

As an addendum to 80 series filtration, I wonder if any Electrolux aficionados out there remember a filter that attached to the (outside) blower end of the machines? I definitely remember my grandparents having one for their 86s. It was white in color, and vaguely rectangular in shape. I have never seen one of these before or since, so I'm totally stumped as to its function. Was it the 'hospital filter', not shown, but mentioned, in the ZB/Z 89/87 manual, or was this supposed to be the same as the one on the American Hospital G? 

Another possibility is that this was some kind of scent filter, perhaps a precursor of the Clean Sweep Chips. I do remember a lot of 80 series Electroluxes having a distinct scent...I don't know if they sold some sort of product to suck up in the bag and emit a scent, as with the Clean Sweep Chips, or was it a scented oil on the interior filter, or this mystery filter I'm remembering, or what. I'd love to figure this one out.

Speaking of the 80 series, if I have no other vacuum-collecting ambition (and I really do, but never mind), its to have a complete set of all of the 80 series machines, in all their possible variations, with all possible changes/differences in hoses, hose handles, hose cords, wands, power nozzles, standard attachments, optional attachments, manuals, etc. I want the whole bloody kit and caboodle.