Manufacturers date
- Thread starter clive
- Start date
As I understand it, Hoover USA cleaners' months and years of manufacture have been coded in the first four digits of the company's serial numbers since 1988. For example 0389 would be March (03) of 1989 (89).
Without access to a database of the company's serial numbers and their corresponding production times there is no way to determine the information of an earlier Hoover cleaner. Unfortunately, I think those company records were discarded and/or deleted.
Hoover Ltd. began coding the time of manufacture in its serial numbers in 1967 using 3 digits: one for the last digit of the year, and two for the month. They came after the model #. To illustrate: U10166081234, displays the model, 'U1016' (Junior Dirtsearcher), and the '608' following represents August 1976.
Without access to a database of the company's serial numbers and their corresponding production times there is no way to determine the information of an earlier Hoover cleaner. Unfortunately, I think those company records were discarded and/or deleted.
Hoover Ltd. began coding the time of manufacture in its serial numbers in 1967 using 3 digits: one for the last digit of the year, and two for the month. They came after the model #. To illustrate: U10166081234, displays the model, 'U1016' (Junior Dirtsearcher), and the '608' following represents August 1976.
vacuumdevil
Well-known member
dirtmaster37
Well-known member
how would you read this one then?
I assume that the question can be answered by someone other than Paul?
Taking that for granted, I would like to interject a few ideas I have, about the machine that you have in question; which is a Self Propelled Concept One, which began life technically in 1978 (for sure, and catalogs and ads prove such), and ran thru about 1978-81/2 IIRC in the guise of the striped blue bag, with blue trim.
The way I've understood it, and was explained above, that there was no ACTUAL discernible way to know EXACTLY when a machine was mfg'd out of Hoover pre 1988. And only then it was year, and month. That usually suits most.
So this U3101 was well BEFORE that year. So it's virtually impossible to know exactly when. But...
I have been, and many others have too; been privvy to a few actual truths from various Hoover guru's and more. Many plausible explanations, using factory document(s) or "the production book", filled with corporate typewritten "proven" bits of information that can kind-of help get a basic clue, are out there to help those who "need to know" have a semblance of a clue.. which is:
Hoover at that time usually built most models in batches of 5000. That was how they as I've learned, built the Convertibles. So it's logic that they did the same with their entire upright line(s). Then the line would shift for the various sub models of that particular style. And would in a safe assumption, rotate back every few weeks, to a month maybe, back to the model in question, as stock was depleted etc.
Hoover also almost ALWAYS began production with serial number 1001. So in production your machine was : 00001001-(start) to-(yours)- 00020277. Using the 00001001 as our guide, your machine was the 19,276 model out the door, probably in the very late months of 1977 or very early in 1978. Only someone who could exact the start date of production could narrow it down better.
But let's assume "for-fun", that they began production in November of 1977 ( like a car model year), and the batches were 5000 (monthly). The unit you have would have been in batch #4, which is logical if it's proven somehow that they did IN fact build them still in the batches of 5000, for the Concept One. So again, this unit would have been the 4,276th machine off the line in that fourth batch. So very late in the (month). Than said, yours would probably have, or even could have actually been built in February of 1978. Which in theory seems quite plausible, and to an extent almost a given.
But again, we use "for fun", for just that. Again, it's all in corporate, typewritten records long dumped or destroyed by a once great company, bought by an old M brand wringer Company, sold again, wrung out, then slaughtered/ killed off. And now is a faceless conglomerate smacking out caca.. Or whomever did the deed..my guess is COUGH****TTI***COUGH!
Chad
Ann Arbor Michigan
I assume that the question can be answered by someone other than Paul?
Taking that for granted, I would like to interject a few ideas I have, about the machine that you have in question; which is a Self Propelled Concept One, which began life technically in 1978 (for sure, and catalogs and ads prove such), and ran thru about 1978-81/2 IIRC in the guise of the striped blue bag, with blue trim.
The way I've understood it, and was explained above, that there was no ACTUAL discernible way to know EXACTLY when a machine was mfg'd out of Hoover pre 1988. And only then it was year, and month. That usually suits most.
So this U3101 was well BEFORE that year. So it's virtually impossible to know exactly when. But...
I have been, and many others have too; been privvy to a few actual truths from various Hoover guru's and more. Many plausible explanations, using factory document(s) or "the production book", filled with corporate typewritten "proven" bits of information that can kind-of help get a basic clue, are out there to help those who "need to know" have a semblance of a clue.. which is:
Hoover at that time usually built most models in batches of 5000. That was how they as I've learned, built the Convertibles. So it's logic that they did the same with their entire upright line(s). Then the line would shift for the various sub models of that particular style. And would in a safe assumption, rotate back every few weeks, to a month maybe, back to the model in question, as stock was depleted etc.
Hoover also almost ALWAYS began production with serial number 1001. So in production your machine was : 00001001-(start) to-(yours)- 00020277. Using the 00001001 as our guide, your machine was the 19,276 model out the door, probably in the very late months of 1977 or very early in 1978. Only someone who could exact the start date of production could narrow it down better.
But let's assume "for-fun", that they began production in November of 1977 ( like a car model year), and the batches were 5000 (monthly). The unit you have would have been in batch #4, which is logical if it's proven somehow that they did IN fact build them still in the batches of 5000, for the Concept One. So again, this unit would have been the 4,276th machine off the line in that fourth batch. So very late in the (month). Than said, yours would probably have, or even could have actually been built in February of 1978. Which in theory seems quite plausible, and to an extent almost a given.
But again, we use "for fun", for just that. Again, it's all in corporate, typewritten records long dumped or destroyed by a once great company, bought by an old M brand wringer Company, sold again, wrung out, then slaughtered/ killed off. And now is a faceless conglomerate smacking out caca.. Or whomever did the deed..my guess is COUGH****TTI***COUGH!
Chad
Ann Arbor Michigan
vacuumdevil
Well-known member
@dirtmaster37 Thank you for the response. At least Hoover/ TTI machines now have a date code on them. 
huskyvacs
Well-known member
If only people in the company would have caught all those old files and saved them rather than let them be trashed. Auto workers did that plenty of times but I guess vacuums weren't the same.
bnsd60m9200
Well-known member
huskyvacs
there are copies of the "hoover bible" with dates for machines before 1988 but the only copies i know go from 1908 to 1973. between 73 and 88 there is very little information out there.
there are copies of the "hoover bible" with dates for machines before 1988 but the only copies i know go from 1908 to 1973. between 73 and 88 there is very little information out there.
gregvacs28
Well-known member
It is worrisome that so much information about products that really aren't that old, seems to be so unimportant it's just evaporated.
I suppose it's human nature to just take things for granted that are found in such abundance. Unlike the new technologies of the 1950s when everything was so well documented and carefully handled. Once home appliances matured in the 90s, we as a society, could afford to just throw away old stuff.
I cannot even think of models or model names of vacuums in the last 15 years. .... unless it's my central vacuum. lol.
It seems like the less expensive and smaller in size an appliance is, the less documented it is, too.
Would we consider this attitude 'success' ? I suppose it is.
I suppose it's human nature to just take things for granted that are found in such abundance. Unlike the new technologies of the 1950s when everything was so well documented and carefully handled. Once home appliances matured in the 90s, we as a society, could afford to just throw away old stuff.
I cannot even think of models or model names of vacuums in the last 15 years. .... unless it's my central vacuum. lol.
It seems like the less expensive and smaller in size an appliance is, the less documented it is, too.
Would we consider this attitude 'success' ? I suppose it is.
huskyvacs
Well-known member
Based on when the Hoover Concept One U3101 model appeared in advertisements from newspapers and sales flyers that I can locate, which was from 12 July 1978 to 4 Nov 1984, and when the instruction manual was printed (1978), and based on @paul 's description of the post-1967 serial number formatting ("one for the last digit of the year, and two for the month"), and @dirtmaster37 saying they used production numbers of 5,000, I can go along and pick that out of the serial number and try to make sense of it.
Without knowing what color yours is, I can not find anything of a Hoover U3101/Concept One existing in 1977 in any correspondence regardless of color, so it absolutely was not on the market until summer 1978 at the very least. It for sure would have showed up in Christmas sales rush advertisements if it was ready to roll out in Dec 1977, so there being none for the holiday sales season means it did not exist for purchase yet (assuming there is no more earlier correspondence to be found that has fallen into the digital void). Likewise this model was never mentioned again after summer 1984. So I can presume this U3101 was sold from 1978 through 1984 whether at retail or in discount stores after it aged out. This makes sense because the Concept II came out in 1983.
I found two more U3101'S on eBay - all blue with the floral motif on the bag door.
00540373 - blue w/motif
00258333 - blue w/motif
Based on advertisements, we know the the blue one with the motif came out in 1983.
From this I think I can work out the date as such, where 'u' is unit number, 'ww' is week and 'y' is year;
uuuuu/ww/y
---------------
00540/37/3
00258/33/3
This matches the 1983 production and sales of that specific vacuum.
So plugging in this now-known formatting into your vacuum in specific;
00020277
becomes
00020/27/7
The best I can come up with would be 27th week of 1977, which would be July 4, 1977 to July 10, 1977. With a vacuum production number of the 20th one that rolled off the line that week. 20 vacuums divided by 7 days would be 2.9 vacuums per day - lets just say about 3 - thats just for the Concept One product line of course. That seems reasonable. Also just FYI, "Star Wars" came out 2 months before this Hoover, so we know what those employees were doing!
It does appear from what I am reading that 1977 was also the same year that then-CEO Merle Rawson moved Hoover Worldwide from New York back to North Canton, OH, which might account for delays in shipments to where even though the vacuum rolled off the assembly line in Summer 1977, they were stockpiled and didnt ship out until spring of the following year. Hoover had experienced a oversaturation of the appliance market both from themselves and other makers in 1974 and 1975 which resulted in stagnant sales for the company and a stock slump for 1976/1977, which is why I guess he made the decision to relocate the company HQ in 1977. This of course would delay any and all shipments because return addresses and company mailings would all need to be re-corrected and re-labeled with the new address.
This is just an idea I came up with on how the serial numbers are formatted (on the Concept One at least) from an hour and a half of research so I'm not going to make any claims that it's God's bible, but it does make sense insofar. Maybe it helps? Maybe not. Good luck!
Last edited:
huskyvacs
Well-known member
Also another idea - I asked Grok AI to interpret all this data as a hail mary card. I know, I know, boo AI, throw tomatoes. Hear me out, keep in mind that AI can hallucinate and just make stuff up, so don't take this directly to heart, but worth a thought here. Just trying all manner of possibilities.
=====================================
As a sanity check, to make sure it's not hallucinating, I asked it to decode Kirby's serial numbers, which are easy and well known to everyone.
======================================
=====================================
As a sanity check, to make sure it's not hallucinating, I asked it to decode Kirby's serial numbers, which are easy and well known to everyone.
======================================
Last edited:
Impressive research and analytics!
Wow, you have officially brought Vacuumland into the 2020s! The data is definitely plausible.
centralsweeper63
Well-known member
That is some amazing research! Keep it up!
huskyvacs
Well-known member
Thanks Paul! I was amazed that it knew and sourced Vacuumland. Everyone's data that they posted here for 20 years might come in handy in a way nobody could have imagined.
You're welcome!
Yeah, AI is making data available more quickly and conveniently than ever. Wish it could find the old Electrolux Corporation serial number database, but I think the main one at corporate headquarters was tossed 40 years ago when the factory at Old Greenwich was shuttered long before the Internet was launched for non-military use. There's always a hope that a longtime branch office will make one available, though.
centralsweeper63
Well-known member
I really, really hope it is found one day!
cheesewonton
Well-known member
Wow !!! Detail like this needs to be on a sticky so it is easy to find when you are trying to suss out the production date of a Hoover in your collection.
huskyvacs
Well-known member
I'd recommend cross-checking this info with other collectors first to make sure its correct or makes sense before believing it as fact, but if this turns out to be correct, then yes, do that. One thing AI seems to know about is machine code, so factory serial number formats should be not alien to it, since they are machine generated. (ie; UNIX, Epoch, Julian, et cetera)
centralsweeper63
Well-known member
I would best hope it is correct.
Good point. Really, the most accurate records are the company's original documentation (not even their written histories that are not always carefully researched). Even newspaper ads can be incorrect regarding the line drawings, model IDs, motor ratings, et cetera; so I try to relay that when I compose tables and lists from them.
cheesewonton
Well-known member
Some years ago I called Tristar at their HQ in Texas to ask a question about their Japan market models. At the time Fuji Medical Instruments was selling new 100 volt Tristars under the Airstream brand, their house label, as the Fujiclean Airsteam EX-60. I wanted to know what motor and motor gasket their 100 volt models used. Nobody in the office was even aware they were selling vacuums in Japan.
I have had similar exchanges with ignorant Aerus HQ reps. over the years. One in particular stands out when I inquired how the Prolux uprights differed from their household counterparts, and the woman paused and stammered as she guessed (I have since concluded that they just have longer cords that are red). In previous conversations, R & D or production departments were consulted as I was put on hold, but not that time; which caused my speculation as to whether Aerus even produced its own cleaners anymore. Since that time, Aerus has added terms like "reinforced" and "heavy duty" to some features on its commercial/heavy duty model spec's sheets.
Other conversations also come to mind about items such as the Canadian-designed 2100 Series Floor Polishers that the Aerus rep wrongly stated were never sold in the US (they were from 1985 to 1988) and not knowing about pn models 6B & 7B (made in CA and sold there and the US) make me shake my head that these were apparently not in the company's database. One even remarked that since it wasn't on the models poster it wasn't an Aerus LLC product.
The fact that your Aerus dealer friend was uninformed about where Aerus products are actually made is also a puzzler. Quite a while ago, I was informed by an independent dealer that Aerus cleaners were "Eurekaluxes", because they were made at the Eureka factories. I challenged that at the time and thought that the guy was mistakenly thinking of the Electrolux-branded cleaners also made at the Eureka factories during that era. Since that time, of course, I have found news articles that verify the information.
