Dustette handheld vacuum cleaner
Selected as an object made by Streetly Manufacturing Company: we have 21 other objects by the same manufacturer and information about one may help to unearth information about the others.
Case number - PHSL : 315
A CWS (Co-operative Wholesale Society) Dustette hand-held vacuum cleaner with fishtail attachment, made of phenol formaldehyde by Streetly in the 1930s.
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Designer | Unknown - Wanted |
Manufacturer | Streetly Manufacturing Company |
Manufactured for | CWS |
Country | UK |
Date | 1937 (circa) - Wanted |
Dimensions | height 180 mm, diameter 120 mm |
Materials | plastic, PF, phenol formaldehyde, bakelite - generic term |
Method | compression moulded |
Colours | black, brown |
Images on this site are for non-commercial, educational use only. MoDiP has included images of this object with permission from BIP.
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Case notes
Handheld vaccum cleaner, Case PHSL : 315
Streetly's first named designer was A H Woodfull
14/11/2013
David Harman Powell says that Streetly generated an enormous quantity of general mouldings adapting designs from other materials. Many were then redesigned to make moulding more feasible by A H Woodfull (Woodie), who became staff designer at Streetly in 1931.
Could Woodie be the designer?
Not a Dustette and probably not manufactured by Streetly Manufacturing Company
23/11/13
Ian15.mdx tells us that Streetly usually published their mouldings in the Moulded Plastics Trader. He has looked through all relevant issues and not found this one. He has also been in touch with a website, www.vacuumland.org, and found a collector called A1 who has one. He says it is not a 'Dustette' but a 'Dudley'. We are awaiting an image of his which still has its navy blue dust bag lettered 'Dudley' attached.
So the question now is who designed this Dudley and when?
Dudley hand held vac made for the CWS by a company called Dudley which the CWS owned
29/11/13
Ian15.mdx has found that the CWS purchased a prouducer co-operative in 1908 and that by the 1930s many manufacturers were refusing to supply co-operative societies with electrical goods if they paid dividends on the items. Therefore, CWS began to produce more 'own-brand' electrical goods, moving into larger premises in 1934.
Source: http://150.co-operative.coop/150-to-150/electrical-goods
This is corroborated by a history of Dudley Bean that states that an offer was made for its bodyshop works in 1934 by the CWS and that co-operative products such as electric fires, irons, and vacuum cleaners were made in the factory.
Source: http://www.blackcountrybugle.co.uk/shells-shelves-decades-manufacturing-...
Valuable info but we still need to know who designed our Dudley and when.