Brooklyn Museum: Decorative Arts: Vacuum Cleaner

Vacuum Cleaner

In the period between the world wars, American manufacturers often hired freelance industrial designers to enhance the images of their products. Electrolux hired Lurelle Guild to redesign their vacuum cleaner. He produced an iconic design that embodies the era's fascination with speed and efficiency and incorporated new materials such as rubber and chrome to make Electrolux appear more innovative. This design, with variations such as the substitution of wheels for the gliders, remained in production for over twenty years.

Designer: Lurelle Guild, American, 1898-1986
Manufacturer: Electrolux Corporation
Medium: Chromed, polished and enameled steel; cast aluminum; vinyl; rubber
Place Manufactured: Dover, Delaware, USA
Dates: ca. 1937
Dimensions: 8 1/2 x 23 x 7 3/4 in. (21.6 x 58.4 x 19.7 cm)
Markings: Pressed into metal band on top: "K75892R". Opposite , on under side of bass: "MODEL XXX D. C. TO 60 CYCLES A.C. 115 VOLTS-535 WATTS". Molded into underside of blue canister: "UL" Both sides of canister with band with raised letters: "ELECTROLUX"
Signature: no signature
Inscriptions: no inscriptions
Collections: Decorative Arts
Museum Location: This item is on view in Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th floor
Accession Number: 86.15a-f
Credit Line: Gift of Fifty/50
Image: Overall, 86.15_transp2834.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

Catalogue Description: Canister-type vacuum cleaner with blue body (vinyl-covered on top, enameled on bottom), raised on a pair of polished steel runners; one end of canister chromed steel, the other cast aluminum. Rubber handle. Model 30. Parts are sub lettered as follows: (a) body; (b) hose; (c) upper chrome tube; (d) chrome tube with brush attachment; (e) brush attachment; (f) electrical cord. CONDITION: Worn from use with scratching, pitting, and minor dents to all surfaces.

Collections: Decorative Arts: Vacuum Cleaner