This "sucks"... the Hoover And Other Vintage Vacuum Cleaners

[jamespowers]

After a Summer of restoring / tinkering with my old 1920s Beatty "Cadillac" vacuum cleaner, it's finally working well!
I was able to set some time aside, and got 'er done.

To remedy the problem of the noisy motor, I took it to that repair shop specializing in older motors. They suggested I add a couple washers beside the ball bearings, it looked as if just a spacer was missing. Apart from that, the brushes could use a good cleaning.

I added two washers, cleaned of the areas where the brushes contact, then added a new rubberized power cord, with a little help from my Dad.
Plugged it in and fired it up.... and it works like a charm, it's quite a powerful vacuum! Turns out the bearings weren't worn out after all! Yessss!!!
Soon after I was done the repair I started cleaning up the floor around the legs of my 1930 Victor Radio-Electrola. Took these photos as I pushed the vacuum around.

So happy it's finally working. Thanks for the continued encouragement Forgotten Man.

I will have to borrow my friend's digital video camera soon to record it in action.

Those things were powerful. Be careful you don't suck the knobs off those doors.

 

[RetroToday]

Those things were powerful. Be careful you don't suck the knobs off those doors.

Yeah, it is quite powerful.

It tends to pull the carpet up off the underlay!

 

[jamespowers]

Yeah, it is quite powerful.

It tends to pull the carpet up off the underlay!

lol lol lol lol Makes sense.

 

[Forgotten Man]

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Good deal there sir! Looking sharp and glad to hear the motor is running smooth and is in good service!

I just found a Hoover model 105 on ebay that has the bag I need... I really shouldn't buy a whole vacuum to get just the bag but, I see no other way to get the part I need... darn it!

Anyone here wanna buy the 105 and I'll send them a clip and bag from a later cleaner and I can have the original for my 700? Sounds like a deal to me! lol

 

[Forgotten Man]

Well, no takers eh? Well, tell ya what... I'm just going to buy that little 105 Hoover, take it's bag and put it on the model 700... ah, you might think that's mean but, that isn't the original bag to that model anyway. I plan on restoring that machine and clean it up to a nice condition... I'll turn around and sell it in better condition and all will be right as rain!

Oh boy, Rob's taking on another Hoover restoration project to finish the one he started this thread about... lol I know, ain't I crazy?

 

[RetroToday]

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Good deal there sir! Looking sharp and glad to hear the motor is running smooth and is in good service!

I just found a Hoover model 105 on ebay that has the bag I need... I really shouldn't buy a whole vacuum to get just the bag but, I see no other way to get the part I need... darn it!

Anyone here wanna buy the 105 and I'll send them a clip and bag from a later cleaner and I can have the original for my 700? Sounds like a deal to me! lol

Thanks FM,

Happy you found the bag you needed for your Hoover!

And thanks for the vacuum cleaner offer, but sorry, I can't take it. Although I'd love to save a Hoover, I should stick to just having one vintage vacuum.
There's already a few vintage collections here that get me in trouble with the family.

About my Beatty: After using it a few times I get the feeling that I'd really like to have the hose and nozzle attachments, for detail cleaning.

Beatty was a very popular household appliance company in Canada, so it did produce a very high volume of these vacuum cleaners and other appliances - maybe not as many as Hoover, but impressive. Although finding parts will be like finding a needle in a haystack, I know that at one time there were hundreds of thousands of these 'needles'.
Hopefully there is some sanity to my hope that parts still exist, maybe there's a bunch in the basement of an old house, or some neglected corner of an antique shop.

If I really go crazy, I could always have a foundry cast the attachment rings (based on the bag and the front hole cover) and make my own attachments.

For now, I'll just keep looking around for them.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Well, I want to wish you good luck in your searches for attachment parts for your wonderful Beatty! Keep your eye out on eBay of course... you never know what may turn up there! In fact there were two sets of dusting tools for the model 700 Hoover just last week... I think they just ended. Anyway, you have to just keep looking on eBay and also in every corner of antique shops and estate sales and garage sales and ya know, everywhere!

I'm going to win that Hoover and restore it and make it a good looking piece and then take the bag and clean it up and put it on the 700! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT ON THERE!!!
-=R

 

[RetroToday]

Well, I want to wish you good luck in your searches for attachment parts for your wonderful Beatty! Keep your eye out on eBay of course... you never know what may turn up there! In fact there were two sets of dusting tools for the model 700 Hoover just last week... I think they just ended. Anyway, you have to just keep looking on eBay and also in every corner of antique shops and estate sales and garage sales and ya know, everywhere!

I'm going to win that Hoover and restore it and make it a good looking piece and then take the bag and clean it up and put it on the 700! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT ON THERE!!!
-=R

Thanks for the wish of 'good luck' FM, I'm going to need it.

Good luck to you too on that ebay Hoover. Will be keeping my eye on this thread for your progress pics.

 

[Forgotten Man]

You know, I've done a little research on the model 105... the main reason you never find any original 105's or 541's with the original bag is because they were a sateen type of cloth that was treated with a chemical at the plant to filter dust... Hoover didn't recommend washing the bag due to the chemical would wash off and the bag would fall apart. The original bag on those models can be seen in many early 20s ads... they were a light gray/silver with 'The Hoover' printed on the side... I did see one photo of an original bag on a model 541 in some guy's online collection... Check it out:

That's the only original bag of that type I've ever seen and maybe ever will.

That's why I mostly find the earlier replacement bags on those earlier models because people had to replace the original bags because they just wore out FAST!

I may see what it would take to have a bag like that made for the 105... shouldn't be that tough.

 

[jamespowers]

Wow! sounds like a big job to make something like that. If you have the hardware then it would be much easier as the bag is not as complicated to reproduce.

 

[RetroToday]

You know, I've done a little research on the model 105... the main reason you never find any original 105's or 541's with the original bag is because they were a sateen type of cloth that was treated with a chemical at the plant to filter dust... Hoover didn't recommend washing the bag due to the chemical would wash off and the bag would fall apart. The original bag on those models can be seen in many early 20s ads... they were a light gray/silver with 'The Hoover' printed on the side... I did see one photo of an original bag on a model 541 in some guy's online collection...
That's the only original bag of that type I've ever seen and maybe ever will.

That's why I mostly find the earlier replacement bags on those earlier models because people had to replace the original bags because they just wore out FAST!

I may see what it would take to have a bag like that made for the 105... shouldn't be that tough.

Hi FM,

Cool! Just wondering, what year was the 105 introduced? I might be able to find a newspaper advertisement of one for you if I know the year.

Because it's just a straight bag, and not a bag directly sown into a metal attachment ring (like my Beatty) it shouldn't be too difficult to reproduce.

Would help your efforts if you can get photos of one from all sides.

 

[Forgotten Man]

The Hoover pictured in my last post was a model 541, the 102's and 105's had the same bag as the 541's did... the 541's were the last Hoover's to have that type of bag.

The bag is sewn around a metal ring to attach to the back where two screw type fasteners hold it to the back. I could get that piece without much trouble from one of the other models I have since they're the same. For the other hardware I could just tweak a coat hanger... lol

We shall see what happens when it comes. I do believe I have a buyer for it after I do a little work on it... he lives locally and loves old cleaners... it'll go to a good home.

 

[Forgotten Man]

By the way, the era of the model 105 was from 1920 to 1923. Then came the 541 I believe... lighter, better and was priced better then the 102 or 105. It was the model T of vacuums!

 

[Forgotten Man]

Well, it came! I got the 105 just about 40 minutes ago! It came in two boxes... the guy took off the handle and packaged that up from the motor and the rest of the unit. Man, was that bag DUSTY!!!!!!! I shook it out a little outside and then gave it a bath! I emptied out that dust bag with water like 10 times and the water came out as dark as coffee!

It's now hanging in the bathroom over the tub dripping dry. The machine is still in the box covered in dirt! I did take the handle out, it's really early, I'm telling you it's really a piece of Hoover History! Nothing more then a real broom stick! Black painted wood with a few metal parts... that's it.

Did you know that the 102-105 models in England were priced at £25 which would mean £840 or so today's English pound... not sure what that would convert to USD but, ya get the idea. You can see that to own a Hoover in the late 10s or early 20s meant you had money!!! And it wasn't till the late 20s that the machine became better, lighter, more durable, prettier and lower priced to boot!

Hoover came a long way, and I'm really excited to help preserve a little portion of it's long history... from the 1907 Model O to the 1927 model 700... what a bid difference in only twenty years!

Photos will come very soon, stay tuned!!! In the mean time, here's the photos from the auction till ebay takes them down.

Note: The badge is in pretty darn bad shape... now, I'm glad I did buy that lot of badges because I have a perfect one just waiting to get on there!!!

 

[Forgotten Man]

Here's the bag laying in the tub drying... it looks dark due to the bag being damp still. Notice the print came out a little brighter... that thing was FILTHY!

We'll see how it comes out when it's fully dry.

No matter what, it'll be lots better then it was when it arrived! Notice one tab at the top center of the bag... there should be two other tabs; one at each corner... well, I figure that someone may have taken them off at some point over the last 80 years.

No matter, I can find some black cloth and make new ones for the corner for that scissor brace that may turn up some time soon! In the meantime, I figure I'll just slip the later styled clip onto it for now.

She's comin' along boy howdy! And now I have another to fix up! lol

 

[jamespowers]

Here's the bag laying in the tub drying... it looks dark due to the bag being damp still. Notice the print came out a little brighter... that thing was FILTHY!

Considering it was used to clean filthy rugs for God knows how long, it should be filthy. lol lol lol lol lol

 

[Forgotten Man]

Considering it was used to clean filthy rugs for God knows how long, it should be filthy. lol lol lol lol lol

They must haven't read the instructions... EMPTY AFTER EACH USE!!! :eusa_doh:

I still haven't dug the unit out of the box to reunite it with the handle and such... so dirty in that box! Goin' to have to take it out to the back yard and work on it.

 

[jamespowers]

They must haven't read the instructions... EMPTY AFTER EACH USE!!! :eusa_doh:

I still haven't dug the unit out of the box to reunite it with the handle and such... so dirty in that box! Goin' to have to take it out to the back yard and work on it.

They read the instructions. Empty after every 25 uses. It was on its 24th at the time.
Take it out into the yard and use the leaf blower on it.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Bad news everyone:

I pulled the unit out of the box last night, then I noticed to my horror... the horseshoe fork thing that the handle attaches to is busted into three parts! There's a section about two and a half inches long that has broken off... it's made of cast aluminum... I'm not sure what can be done to fix it... it was in one piece in the photos from the auction as you all can see... I don't want to return it because I do need the bag... but, maybe if I can fix it some how... geez, I don't know I'll post photos soon. I am going to send photos to the seller and tell him about the problem.

 

[jamespowers]

Bad news everyone:

I pulled the unit out of the box last night, then I noticed to my horror... the horseshoe fork thing that the handle attaches to is busted into three parts! There's a section about two and a half inches long that has broken off... it's made of cast aluminum... I'm not sure what can be done to fix it... it was in one piece in the photos from the auction as you all can see... I don't want to return it because I do need the bag... but, maybe if I can fix it some how... geez, I don't know I'll post photos soon. I am going to send photos to the seller and tell him about the problem.

This stuff will put it back together. I have used it for a host of problems---lately a pan handle. Don't get it on your hands though.
Put the two parts back together with JB Weld after they are both clean and maybe roughed up a bit for better adhesion. It will stay together and probably be stronger than when new.