Recently I acquired what has surpassed my Model 102 to become the earliest Hoover in my collection, this Baby Model C. Not to be confused with the later Baby Model 103, this one was made between 1916 and 1918 (the town of New Berlin was renamed North Canton in 1918 as a result of anti-German sentiment following World War I).
This came from Kyle Krichbaum, who (I believe) found it in Illinois several years ago. He included a length of twisted black cloth wire as I mentioned that the modern gray vinyl power cord would be the first thing to go once I received it!
Many thanks to my friend Ray Machen, who hunted down not only a sewing machine belt that would fit (it's in between the size of a Hoover 115/Junior belt and a Convertible belt), but also two of the Edison screw type cord caps that this machine would have originally had. One light bulb hanging in the middle of the room was the standard if you were lucky enough to have electricity, and you had to unscrew the light bulb if you wanted to connect anything else! Wall outlets, at that time, were an uncommon luxury.
The machine works and looks nice, to me...I hesitate to start repainting and polishing and get rid of all the patina that one would expect a 100+ year old appliance to have, so I polished the brass badges and I'm leaving it at that. The original push switch has had a newer one fitted inside its housing, and the bag appears to be a very old, skillful copy of the original.
The Baby Model C had serial numbers ranging from 78,000 to 99,999, and from 600,000 to 614,999. This one's serial number of 86,027 places it early- to mid- run.
This came from Kyle Krichbaum, who (I believe) found it in Illinois several years ago. He included a length of twisted black cloth wire as I mentioned that the modern gray vinyl power cord would be the first thing to go once I received it!
Many thanks to my friend Ray Machen, who hunted down not only a sewing machine belt that would fit (it's in between the size of a Hoover 115/Junior belt and a Convertible belt), but also two of the Edison screw type cord caps that this machine would have originally had. One light bulb hanging in the middle of the room was the standard if you were lucky enough to have electricity, and you had to unscrew the light bulb if you wanted to connect anything else! Wall outlets, at that time, were an uncommon luxury.
The machine works and looks nice, to me...I hesitate to start repainting and polishing and get rid of all the patina that one would expect a 100+ year old appliance to have, so I polished the brass badges and I'm leaving it at that. The original push switch has had a newer one fitted inside its housing, and the bag appears to be a very old, skillful copy of the original.
The Baby Model C had serial numbers ranging from 78,000 to 99,999, and from 600,000 to 614,999. This one's serial number of 86,027 places it early- to mid- run.
