A PIPE DREAM
As soon as you get accustomed to the intricacies of one method of doing
anything to-day, something new crops up. This is probably more true in
the realm of housekeeping than in any other except that of military
science. You have no sooner mastered the points of what not to do and
what you should do with portable vacuum cleaners than up comes the
stationary vacuum cleaner and you have to know about it, too. And so
this article after one on the portable cleaner. If you forget the
technicalities see Chapter IV.
To refresh your memory, every vacuum cleaner has five elements:
1. Air producer (vacuum is a misnomer): 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 electric fixture.
In the case of the stationary cleaner, the mechanism is larger and the
air producer and dust collector are in the cellar or basement, and the
dust conduit impartially 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.”
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of American Radiator Co._
LOOKING FOR THE DUST WHICH WAS SUCKED DOWN FROM ABOVE STAIRS!]
PROS AND CONS
But why should you have the installed cleaner? Why not have the
portable? The fact is that neither of these cleaners is in competition
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 you must ask yourself
first: “Do I want a gentle breeze or a little hurricane in my home?
That’s the first and foremost question! 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 its various adaptabilities and small running 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 installation 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 installing the stationary vacuum
cleaner after the building is erected, but naturally it is less
expensive to put it in during the building and when planned for ahead
than it is to put pipes through a house after it is built.
OPERATION
With the stationary type cleaner you have no machine to move about--you
simply move the tool attached to the hose and the tools are just as
light as those of the portable machines. There is no electric connection
to make, no electric wire to carry unconsciously along. All there is to
be done by the worker is to slip the end of the cleaner hose into the
suction pipe opening in the baseboard of the room. A patented device
prevents the hose from becoming detached accidentally.
The usual tools come with the installed cleaner, such as handle, blower,
felted sweeper, book cleaner, duster, etc. Other tools can be made to
order to fit any particular need.
One thing delightfully obviated in the stationary cleaner is the noise.
The writer has what she considers the best portable cleaner on the
market, yet the noise is a great drawback. The stationary cleaner is
therefore a boon to the sick room and it is easy to see why the newer
hospitals take as readily to them as to the piped water system.
Then, too, having the baseboard vent in each area in large houses, with
the consequent needlessness of carrying a cleaner upstairs and down,
over hill and dale, is a selling point for the piped cleaner. Also the
swiftness of the cleaning, due of course to the tremendous air
velocity--a canned hurricane. However, in the small residence the
greater cost would be unwarranted because of the great efficiency of the
portable machines.
Where there is a garage in the family, and it is piped for cleaning, the
machinery, instead of being permanently installed, can be mounted on
rollers and can be wheeled and attached to the pipes in that building.
Therefore the necessity of two machines is obviated where the other
building is piped.
Yet when the buildings are widely separated it is best to have one of
the good portable machines which are on the market in so many designs,
and are adapted to so many and varied uses. Therefore you see the
portables as indispensable and see them filling fields that the
installed can never hope to fill.
The fact that the stationary entails no dust-bag cleaning is a time and
labor-saving actuality. Then, too, no matter how good the dust bag is on
the portable vacuum cleaner, some of the very fine dust must escape
through the bag into the room. In the stationary type the cleaner
politely does its exhaling in the cellar. This point has been made
valuable to chocolate makers who want to save the loss of chocolate in
packing boxes, to manufacturers who want to obviate the retaining of
poisonous dust among the workers, etc., etc.
In the stationary as well as in the portable vacuum cleaners the suction
is caused by the pump or fan type machine. Some manufacturers advocate
one, some another. In picking your winner you must go to the best
manufacturer of each type and let him give you his tale, and then see
whether you come out a pump fan or a fan fan!
The other intricacies of this simple machine need not bother you. Go to
the best makers and make them responsible for your purchase. Not all of
us being engineers, you have to depend on the reputation of the best
makers.
The stationary cleaner can do more work than the portable, it will last
longer because the machinery is heavier, yet there are drawbacks to it
as to all machinery which is not at all points open to the eye. For
example, the pipes may clog. But you must remember that water pipes can
clog and that gas pipes do very exasperating things; yet you use them
without blinking.
For the very large residence, factory, hospital, hotel and institution,
of course the stationary machine is best, mainly because it is difficult
to get help to-day to carry about the premises anything that is heavy.
To lift, push or carry the lightest portable over a very large
residence or institution is a trial, and the stationary type overcomes
this difficulty.
In some cases the heavy duty portable is advised with its increased
horsepower, but when the purse and area of residence match, the
stationary type is really the best, although we know householders who
prefer to use the portable and heavy duty portables everywhere.
The stationary plant is only another real “pipe dream” come true, and in
addition to piped water, piped gas and conduited electricity it will
tend to hasten the processes of home maintenance and free the
home-keepers to do more spiritual home tending.
But remember that in the average home or apartment the portable machine
is the ideal sweeper and fulfills more than every requirement of
sanitary sweeping combined with the least effort. The stationary is for
the large house, not the small.