Wow, a lever-operated vac! I would never think of it. You need a crew of two to operate this one. And I doubt a child can provide sufficient horsepower. Or even a strongman.
I remember an episode of "Upstairs, Downstairs" where the two housemaids were using an early vacuum cleaner in just that way--one of them "manned the pump" and the other wielded the hose and nozzle.
Funny how notions of affordable and portable have changed.
"Within the reach of all"--government statistics for the time put the average household income in the US at around $500.00 annually. An Ideal Vacuum, for a house with AC wiring, was $60. This is like me going out today and paying $6,250.00 for a vacuum. You could get the hand-pump model, though--if you were "cheap", or weren't wired for electricity.
You had to plug it into a light, the attachments cost extra, it weighed 20 pounds and I'm pretty sure it didn't have wheels. On the up side, though, even if you had Edison (DC) wiring, they had a vacuum for you.
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Date: 2012-12-24 05:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-24 05:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-24 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-24 07:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-24 01:10 pm (UTC)"Within the reach of all"--government statistics for the time put the average household income in the US at around $500.00 annually.
An Ideal Vacuum, for a house with AC wiring, was $60. This is like me going out today and paying $6,250.00 for a vacuum.
You could get the hand-pump model, though--if you were "cheap", or weren't wired for electricity.
You had to plug it into a light, the attachments cost extra, it weighed 20 pounds and I'm pretty sure it didn't have wheels.
On the up side, though, even if you had Edison (DC) wiring, they had a vacuum for you.