November, 1920 
53 
THE CASE 
OF THE STATIONARY VACUUM CLEANER 
The Advantages of the Built-In-Machines and the Situations in 
Which They Are Most J aluahle 
ETHEL R. PEYSER 
A S soon as we get accustomed to the 
. intricacies of one method of doing 
anything today, something new crops up. 
This is probably more true in the realm 
of housekeeping than in any other except 
that of military science. We have no 
sooner mastered the points of what not to 
do and what we should do with portable 
vacuum cleaners than up comes the sta¬ 
tionary vacuum cleaner and we have to 
know about it, too. And so this article 
follows a few months after one on the 
portable cleaner. If you forget the tech¬ 
nicalities discussed in that article it would 
be well for you to look up House & Gar¬ 
den for January, 1920. 
To refresh your memory, every vacuum 
cleaner has five elements: 
1. Air producer (vacuum is a mis¬ 
nomer) : the pump or fan series 
employed to create the air current. 
2. Dust collector: bag, box, pail, etc. 
3. Dust conduit: piping. 
4. Cleaning tool: brush, felt, etc., etc. 
5. Human direction: the hand that 
steers. 
The portable type of cleaner has the 
first four parts mounted on one unit, so 
that the whole machine is moved in its 
chase for the enemy Dust. Besides this 
the electric wire must be applied to an 
electric connection in a baseboard or elec¬ 
tric fixture. 
In the case of the stationary cleaner, 
the mechanism is larger and the air pro¬ 
ducer and dust collector are in the cellar 
or basement, and the dust conduit impar¬ 
tially spreads itself throughout the house 
through walls and ceilings and politely 
connects at convenient intervals with the 
cleaning tool, via the agency of the vents 
in baseboards. With this cleaner the 
only thing that is manipulated by the 
worker is the cleaning tool which “bites 
the dust.” 
BEJ> 
RQdM 
DR146IMG R<fcM 
DINING Raw, 
I st rincr 
its various adaptabilities and small run¬ 
ning and installation costs? 
It has been held against the installed 
vacuum cleaner that it is— 
1. Expensive. 
2. Unusual skill must be employed in 
installation. 
3. Suction is altered by length of pipe. 
4. Cost of operation is high. 
5. Wear and tear on the house too 
great. 
6. It must be installed when the house 
is built. 
Of course the stationary type is more 
expensive than the portables, because of 
the larger machine, the indefinitely long 
pipe system and the larger motor. The : 
motor has from six to twelve times and 
upwards the horsepower of the portable 
machine. It is, therefore, more costly to 
run because it eats up more electricity, 
but it can do heavier work and quicker. 
Great skill must be employed in the in¬ 
stalling of all machinery. Not long ago 
mistakes were made when putting in the 
air system, but now engineers know this 
department of work as well as they know 
gas and electric installations, and with the 
length of hose used there is no lessening 
of suction because of the construction of 
the entire pipeage. 
The objection that with this apparatus 
there is tremendous wear and tear because 
the hose is taken through the doorway 
from the hall so that the door must needs 
be scratched when it closes on the hose 
as it is dragged through, may be nullified 
by installing double end hose connections 
in the wall near the door so that one line 
of hose will connect from the valve to the 
connection in the hall and another shorter 
piece of hose used inside of the room. 
There is no trouble at all about in¬ 
stalling the stationary vacuum cleaner 
{Continued on page 76) 
Pros and Cons 
But why should one have tire installed 
cleaner? Why not have the portable? The 
fact is that neither of these cleaners is in com¬ 
petition very directly. But let us quote an 
expert who has given most of his time to the 
subject of air cleaning: 
“There is unquestionably a legitimate field 
for both types of cleaners, but the stationary 
type more nearly reaches the ideal.” The next 
statement of his will explain that: “If we 
observe the action of the wind in an open field, 
we find that a gentle breeze will move light 
material. ... If the breeze changes to a 
hurricane, we find that the moving air has the 
power ... to move anything in its path, 
including fences, trees, houses, etc.” 
Therefore in considering purchasing a 
cleaner we must ask ourselves first: “Do I 
want a gentle breeze or a little hurricane in 
my home? That’s the first and foremost ques¬ 
tion! Is my home large enough to afford the 
much more expensive plant which makes the 
hurricane, at a higher running cost; or isn’t 
the portable just the thing I need because of 
The jans, dust collector 
and all machinery parts 
are located below stairs. 
From them the built-in 
piping extends up through 
the house with an attach¬ 
ment for the cleaning pipe 
on every floor. Courtesy 
American Radiator Co. 
Instead of a bag, 
the stationary 
cleaner has an easily 
removed dust pan. 
With the incoming 
and outgoing pipes 
as indicated by the 
arrows, all the 
working parts ex¬ 
cept the cleaning 
tool are included 
here. Courtesy B. F. 
Sturtevant Co. 
