Hoover 634

[vac-o-matic]

I walked into my neighborhood thrift store the other day expecting to find the usual plastic pieces of crap and couldn't believe there was a Hoover model 634 sitting there. I understand this was a lower end model to the 63 and the bag had a slide top, which you slid off and slipped the outer bag down to expose the C bag and the outer bag was green as well...am I right so far? Well, the vac itself is in very decent shape, could use some new brush strips, but someone replaced the outer bag with a seal griege convertible outer bag, gapping at the bottom because of the larger opening on the connector/bellow. Marty Kaplan has graciously offered his "spa treatment" as a Christmas present to me, and I'm too excited about that, but that bag has to go. Anyone out there that might have even an aftermarket dump bag that might fit, or any suggestions for a replacement, let me know, I'd be greatly appreciative.

Rick

 

[compactelectra]

Hey Rick

You may or may not know that I am now into quilting big time. I have a few sewing machines (Pfaff and Bernina) and have been developing my skill. One of the things that I have planned on doing is recreating vintage cloth vacuum bags. Just need the fabric and a basic pattern for the bag. The pattern should be the same as the 63. Fred S. has a fairly original 634 so we can find out what the original bag looks like and if you can track down some fabric, I'll try my hand at recreating it. Been looking for this opportunity. Here's Fred's. We'll need a top clamp - which can be painted to match, and the bottom clamp. Should be doable. This could be a profitable retirement activity.

Fred

 

[compactelectra]

BTW

Here is my latest quilting project fastened to the basement floor for basting before quilting. A king-size courthouse steps quilt. Thanks to Greg Nunn for getting me into this crazy hobby. Love it!

 

[ohio_tuec]

That's a beautiful quilt Fred. If you do decide to fabricate bags, I think alot of us would love to have the black duvetyne Kirby bags with gold and red graphics for our "C" models and 505's.

 

[normvac]

Beautiful , Fred

Yes, I would have to agree, with Ohio_Tuec. What a beauftiful
job of quilting.
Norm

 

[kirbyvertibles]

oh Rick, I just hate you so much... Just think I could have been visiting that weekend and we could have fought each other to the death for the 634. lol just kidding, after all I did find one just a few weeks before in YOUR city. wahaaaa.
However, sadly mine is an almost imposible restoration project that I might need to ask Marty's help on someday. hint hint hint.

 

[hooverbaby]

Fred,

I'm very interested to hear about your intentions to recreate original-style vacuum bags. I for one would love to see some of the early sateen Hoover bags recreated to the original spec (suitable for 1910s and 1920s machines).

Also, bearing in mind that these bags needed chemical treatment, maybe it's possible to recreate something that looks identical but using an improved material? I'm not sure how you'd get on with the Hoover wording.

It's interesting to see the model 634 and that is certainly a very nice example.

Over in the UK, we only had the model 638 with that style of hood, which most closely resembled the US model 63. We didn't have those five variations ( 29, 62, 63, 634 and 64)...but our 612 had a similar chassis and compared in some ways with your model 60/61.

As for Marty Kaplan's restorations I have a good example of his work here, a Hoover model 575, which I imported.

Stephen