Summary

Alternative Name(s): Floor Polisher; Vacuum

Toy vacuum cleaner made in Japan. With a wind up mechanism activated by a switch, the two discs on the bottom spin.

Part of a dolls' house, built around 1920 by Neil McArthur for his much younger half-sister Elizabeth (Beth) Twycross, born in 1917. Neil made the doll's house out of found materials including cigar boxes; he also made many of the furnishings in the doll's house. Some of the contents of the doll's house may date back to the 1860s, played with by ancestor Charlotte Twycross; most date to either the 1920s or the 1940s-50s. In the early 1950s the donor was given the spruced-up doll's house as a birthday present by her parents. In later years her own daughter later added items, although she wasn't allowed to play due to its fragility.

Physical Description

Toy vacuum cleaner or floor polisher. Made of moulded cream plastic with aqua blue components, being the handle, the base and the discs. Two stickers attached to the top and bottom of the front; the top blue and the bottom silver. Discs on bottom of cleaner have felt attached to underside. A wind up mechanism which is activated by turning the small green knob and switching the black switch on the base, makes the discs spin.

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