An Unusual thing: It has a Robbins-Myer guard, but an Emerson motor (Marked 73648AK). The guard is 16 inches in diameter. Perhaps someone made a hybrid.

We have determined from the serial number, and the handy reference guide at the website of the American Fan Collectors Association that the motor, anyway, was made in about 1934 and is one of a group of 164,000. In the Emerson serial number (73648) The first two digits tell the model number ("73"), the next digit tells the alternating current required ("6" = 60 cycles), the next digit tells the number of blades ("4" = 4 blades) and the rightmost digit tells the radius of the fan ("8" = 8 inches). Of coures, this was obvious when we looked at the fan...

The fan needs a good cleaning. The cord needs to be replaced, and everything needs to be repainted. We are still very puzzled as to why the Robbins-Myer guard is on the thing --- it seems to fit perfectly and it does not appear that someone drilled new holes to fit it on.

Our Fan Guru, who is also a "Fan" of Rob Bamberger's show, has this to say:

From Dave: "Emersons are extremely well built and usually will last forever if taken care of."

This is a A Freshn'd Air Model F-12 "Hassock Fan" tan on top, battleship gray on the bottom. We haven't got much more information than this, although we have sent out inquiries.

Our Fan Guru has this to say:

From Dave: "Hassock fans were introduced (I think) in the mid 40's. Keep an eye out for a 'Welch Air-Flight' in clear Lucite. Real neat looking."

This fellow is pretty far gone. The interesting thing is the speed control which appears to be some form of rheostat. (this is a device which lowers voltage by resistance, converting electrical energy to heat). The thing that looks like a microphone is a system for venting this heat.

That's about all we know yet but we have made inquiries.

This is another vacuum cleaner in the shape of a jet engine. This one is quite unusual in that it is named the "Super Chief" which was a very famous luxury passenger train operated by the Atcheson, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad. If you compare this with the Elgin jet vac and the Electrolux Model XXX, shown in our Finished Projects page, you will see that we have some mixed metaphors here The Elgin clearly evokes jet aircraft while the Electrolux is clearly inspired by streamlined trains.

This vacuum cleeaner works just fine, but it is clearly inferior to either the Elgin or the Electrolux. It has been sort of languishing in the workshop because we can't figure out how to display three vacuum cleaners.

The lamp is very unusual. Made of pot metal, it depicts Franklin Roosevelt in storm gear steering the ship of state through troubled times. Although the public knew that FDR was permanently confined to a wheelchair, they seemed to be perfectly willing to accept him in this heroic posture. Rooseveltiana tend to be very valuable, so we are going very slow on restoring this object until we get it exactly right. All assistance will be welcome!

This is a great plastic table model radio. It actually works, although we are missing one knob. Since we have several of these, work on this item is being deferred.

This is a familiar item --- they used to hang on almost every wall in every public building. To operate it, you turn it upside down --- an acid solution mixes with calcium carbonate and liberates a foamy water charged with carbon dioxide that is particularly effective in extinguishing anything but electrical fires.

The interesting thing is that the thing is solid copper! It will polish up to a beautiful glow. The inspection sticker says that it was last recharged in 1964