MODEL E Vacuum Cleaner

Page Five

Differences between the early and late Model E (cont'd.)

Early rear wheel. Both the early and later wheels were made of the same material -- a very hard, dense plastic that -almost- looks and feels like bakelite (but isn't). The early wheel has a slight concave (bulging out) inner area with three deep indentations. The rear wheels and axle were held in place by two cotter pins, one on each end.

Later rear wheel. Inner area is concave (curving inward) and no cut-out areas. The wheels and axle were held in place by permanent rivets on each end. (This is the same wheel, btw, used on the Model S.)

Early switch plate (left) attached with two screws. Later switch plate (right) attached with one screw. (You really have to wonder how much money this corner-cutting move saved the company in terms of screws and labor. I guess given the millions of these machines made, the savings might have been significant!)

Early and late rug/floor nozzle swivel connector. Sorry, these are in the wrong order but I didn't realize this until after I uploaded the photos to my Mac and by then didn't feel like redoing the photo.

Early connector - (right) - has an "Electrolux-Top" badge made of fiber material with the lettering indented and polished for contrast. Also, the furthest left and right side area of the connector are different, having more curved shapes.

Later connector - (left) - has an "Electrolux-Top" badge made of polished aluminum, with the wording "knocked out" of a black background. Also, the furthest left and right sides are more squared off.

(Incidentally, the wording "Electrolux-Top" was changed to "This Side Up - Electrolux" with the Model R and has been used ever since.)

Early and later dusting brushes. (Again, in the wrong order - sorry.)

Now, a word about the early combination dusting brush / upholstery nozzle (right) is in order. This is the ONLY specimen of this version I have ever seen. It was tucked in the carton of an "Air-Powered Floor Polisher and Scrubber" (along with the polisher and all its accessories) that I found at a thrift shop. Also in the carton was a copy of the early version of the instruction manual (more on that below). Note the lack of ribbing around the brush insert area, the thicker wings of the upholstery nozzle, the more primitive styling of the wings, and the wider lines on the sides of the brush housing. Looking at its comparatively crude design and the fact that I have never found another seems to indicate the brush was updated very early on.

Compare the styling details with the later style shown on the left. (Incidentally, there has always been a slight difference in color between the upholstery wings and the base of the tool. I don't think this was deliberate since the difference is so subtle; I believe the two parts were made of different plastics that reacted differently with the dye used to obtain the blue color. I also believe this was accidental because the difference in color is more pronounced in some brushes than others. I clearly remember the dusting brush on the E Automatic my mom had when I was a little kid and even back then the wings were a different color. And, yes, it bothered me!)

Side view -- early, left; later, right.

Front view -- early, right; later, left (sorry!)

Rear view -- early, top; later, bottom.

And, last but not least, the instruction booklets. Here's the early version, dated 1954. Note it is for the Model E only.

Here's the later version, dated 1957. Note that it is for Model E and Model E Automatic. What Electrolux did was just add sufficient illustrations and instructions to cover the new features of the E Automatic (full bag shut off, suction vent on hose, etc.) Also note the three commendations from "women's" magazines.

There were at least two other versions -- version #2, dated 1956, was the same manual as the 1954 E, with a folded insert covering the new AE model; version #3, also dated 1956, was the same as the 1957 version shown here except it was dated 1956 and still showed the earlier air-powered floor polisher whereas the 1957 showed the new "Turb-O-Tool" which was first introduced in 1957.

A final note - the motor in all the versions of the Model E were the same, and it was the same motor used in the LX and LXI.

Well, All in all, more information, probably, than anyone but me cares about. But at least it's all been documented for posterity!