Model 903 Electro-Hygeine

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Greg and Charlie,

I could not make the scan work so on here, so I forwarded you each an email. I will send the book to Fred and have him post it to the home page.

Morgan
 
My Uncle's Royal with the blue rear-end!

One of my many childhood memories of vacuum cleaners is at my maternal uncle CHARLES RICHARD Jessup's house (yes, for whom I was named!). He went by his middle name, Richard, and everyone in the family called him by his nickname, Dick, except for his wife who always called him "RICH-errrd" - in her husky, wheezy, cigarette-smoked voice. He was a Commander in the Navy, and all the times my family visited his family when I was a little kid, it was at the Naval Base in Annapolis, Maryland where he lived in a housing complex in a two-story duplex. It was always a treat to go visit him because he had several vacuum cleaners - none of which, from the generally disheveled look of his place, did he or his wife use very frequently!

Let's see ... he had a Hoover Constellation, tan and creamy yellow; one of those big Hoover commercial models -- the "Hernia 913" -- then one or two hand vacs, some kind of porta-vac (GE maybe?), and an old straight-suction Singer hand vac.

My cousin Jackie still teases me about how one time when we were visiting, when I was about 8 years old, I brought that big Hoover outside from the garage where it was stored, and vacuumed their entire cement driveway with it! With the motor running!! For some reason I fell in love with that huge old sweeper, and the entire time we were there I dropped very broad hints about how we had "only one sweeper and you have a lot of them," and how I would love to take it home.

When we got ready to leave, I had my little suitcase in one hand and was rolling the big Hoover out with the other hand. Mama told me I had to put the sweeper back. I looked at Uncle Dick hopefully. He said, catching Mama's frantic 'NO!' expression, "Why don't we leave it here, and whenever you come to visit us you can use it."

Well, I started bawling and crying, just utterly despondent and FURIOUS that I could not take the Hoover home with us! There was no consoling me, and I stewed and pouted about it for several days.

-------

NOW THEN, TO BRING THIS ON-TOPIC (I know you're all waiting with bated breath!!) .......................

He ALSO had a Royal upright that, when I was very little kid, I was absolutely terrified of because I thought it was a Kirby.

I am sure I saw that Royal several times, but my most vivid memory of it was one time when when we were visiting when I was only 3 or 4 years old. It was standing in the front hallway. Fairly frequently, I would tiptoe to the corner leading to the hallway, timidly stick my head around, and peek at the Royal for just a second, and then go running off in the other direction, petrified.

Later that day, however, it became a real problem for me: It stood between me and the stairs where I had to go in order to go to bed. I would not for the life of me go anywhere near it despite the coaxings, pleadings and ultimately threatenings of my mom and dad.

Uncle Dick asked what on earth was wrong, and I wailed, "I don't like Kirbys! They're scaaaaareeeey!!!"

He said, "Well, Chuckie (which everyone called me at the time), it's NOT even a Kirby! It's a ROYAL!"

But there was no convincing me. I simply would not go near that monstrous vacuum cleaner!

Finally, Uncle Dick "took the bull by the horns." He took me by the shoulders and steered me, kicking and screaming, right in front of the Royal! He said, over my hollering, "Now look! It's not going to hurt you! It's not even plugged in!"

Finally, fear gave way to curiosity once I realized it was not going to eat me alive. I convinced Uncle Dick to plug it in and turn it on. Before you could say ROYAL, I was vacuuming the hallway with it. Had it not been so late, bedtime (which was probably about 8 p.m., haha), I would have vacuumed the entire house with it.

I remember quite a few details about it, especially considering it was so many years ago when I last saw it. It had a polished aluminum brush and fan housing and had a headlight. The bag was dark blue with silver and red (?) lettering. The little cap on the front to access the belt was red with white lettering. But the thing I remember so clearly was that the motor casing was painted hammertone blue. I am sure of that! I can still see it very vividly in my mind's eye!

Anyone know which model that was, and maybe have a photo of it? If you post it, I promise not to run down the hallway, screaming and crying in terror!! hahaha

I haven't seen another one since that time. I've seen lots of Royals over the years in all sorts of colors, but have never seen one with a hammertone-blue motor housing like Uncle Dick's.

-------

In 1970, my family moved to Annapolis into a house just around the corner from my uncle who had bought a house there after retiring from the Navy. In 1975, the year after I graduated from high school, I got a job working for an area Kirby dealer rebuilding and polishing traded-in Kirbys for him to sell as reconditioned machines. I set up my own first workshop in my parents' basement and would bring home 3 or 4 Kirbys a week to rebuild. I made my own buffing wheel out of a big electric motor, setting it up on a low, narrow, wooden work-bench so I could sit down while polishing machines. (Billy Lipman is now the proud owner of that polishing rig!)

I also started fixing up and selling reconditioned Kirbys on my own - machines that I'd find at thrift shops and yard sales. (Early-series 500s were quite plentiful in those days!) My first sale was to Uncle Dick. He was visiting us one night, and was grumbling about vacuum cleaners. He said, "Millie [his wife] has gone through two vacuums in six months. The new machines today really are junk! Nothing like the old days."

Daddy piped up, "You ought to see the old Kirbys that Charles has been fixing up."

My uncle's eyes lit up -- "Kirby?! I didn't know they still made those! Mother had one when I was a boy."

Mama said, "Yes, I remember it all too well --- don't forget, it was MY job to use it!"

He looked at me with a very surprised expression and said, "You mean you're fixing up Kirbys now? I remember a time when you were scared to death of Kirbys! Do you remember the old Royal that Millie had, that you were so frightened of that you wouldn't even go down the hallway where it was standing, because you thought it was a Kirby?"

(Yes, of course I remembered it very well, and regaled the entire episode in more detail than he had remembered, of course!)

He said, "I'd like to see one of your Kirbys."

Well, taking a cue, I went and got one that I had just finished rebuilding. It was a 514, gleaming with a fresh buff job, and all tricked out in "Sirroco" tan trim, cord and bag. My uncle just looked at it for a moment. He reached for his wallet. "How much?" he asked.

I said, a bit timidly, "a hundred dollars." He looked at me kinda funny, so I stammered, "Well, a new one goes for about 300 dollars. This one is as good as new. I completely rebuilt it, and it has all new trim and stuff, and a new bag. So a hundred is a pretty good deal."

My uncle replied, "Son, you're an IDIOT to be selling these for a hundred bucks! My wife just burned up two machines that cost twice that much. So I am going to give you 200 for it, and I want you to promise me you won't sell them for any less than that."

Well, what could I say?!
 
Uncle Dick

in 1973, pretty much as I remember him. (He died in the mid 1980s from lung cancer - was a heavy smoker - note the cigarette in the pic...)

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Ahhh. here's the best one...

Uncle Dick and me, in 1975 -- the very year I sold him the Kirby! I know that's the year because I remember this photo -- taken at the console of a then-amazing, new Allen DIGITAL COMPUTER church organ!

Uncle Dick, being electronically minded, was curious to see this new and wondrous musical instrument, so he came to the church when I gave a recital on the new organ, and my Mom snapped this photo of us.

(I have a Family Tree CD that one of my other uncles, a genealogy nut, prepared for everyone. I was hoping that some of Uncle Dick's vacuums may have appeared in one or two of his photos, but alas, there were none.)

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Morgan your Electro-Hygiene is beautiful. I love the red attachments too. While we are on Royals here are some pics of my Royal 888. It has a removable nozzle like a Kirby complete with a belt lifter. I have always wondered what years Royal made these machines.......such blatant copies of Kirby features.

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Here is the connector that attaches to the machine. BTW.....there are no safety switches on this machine. It run with nothing on the front.

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Roger, is that one before my 880, even though it has a higher number? The bag design makes me think it is. I just polished the 880 the other day, and it looks great! :)

Charles, in the 1940 photo your uncle is a dead ringer for you!
 
Hey Roger,

Thx for the pics of your 888. It looks really cool with the hose attached! I have never seen that!! What kind of suction power does it have with the attachments?

Royal may have been "imitating" the Kirby with this model, but there's no contest in terms of the quality of the attachments! That Royal hose is one of the most durable hoses ever made, and look at how excellent the steel wands and aluminum attachments are.

To Kirby's defense, I will note something that many people may not realize. They were very much advanced and ahead of their time when in 1948 they introduced the new gray plastic attachments nade of Dupont resins. (Prior to that, the Kirby wands were made of rubberized fiber -- that same material that early Electrolux crevice tools were made of.)

I have an article cir. 1950 from a magazine called "Plastics Engineering" or something like that, that tells all about the innovative uses the Scott & Fetzer has put this new wonder material to! The attachments were, in comparison to other brands, light weight, easy to use, and fairly durable.

Over the ensuing years, as plastic started getting a bad rap and indeed the word "plastic" coming to actually mean "cheap," Kirby's attachments lost their initial appeal. And as time went by, they got even cheesier and cheaper. Look at the junky attachments that came with the Generation series! Just awful crap! Especially for a Two Thousand Dollar vacuum cleaner. (Have they no shame?!)
 
Gregg and Roger,

Both of your machines (Gregg's 980 Electro-Hygiene and Roger's 888 Royal) are mid 70's models. And although I used to sell Electro-Hygiene, Gregg's is the FIRST 980 I've ever seen! When I went back to work for Electro-Hygiene in 1976, we were selling a machine called the GALAXIE PRESTIGE model 990, which was a carbon copy of Roger's 888, except the blue bag had red printing instead of dark blue, and said Galaxie Prestige instead of Royal Prestige. It was a new model at the time. We didn't have the EH 980 at our store, but obviously they were available then, or maybe a year or 2 later.
But all 3 were top of the line at the time, and if I remember right, the Galaxie, complete with attachments, sprayer, and accessories to convert it to a portable, went for $389.95. I wish I would have bought one back then, but I do have the sales manual for it.
Jeff
 
Charles,
I had a Royal a few years ago that had a blue hammertone motor case. The front was polished as was the fan case. It had a dark blue bag.....if I remember correctly the name royal was in red and there were some short silver stripes somewhere on the front of the bag. I think the model number was 602. It did have a headlight but not the flip up kind....the cover was fixed...hard to put a bulb in. the belt cover was just plain sivler on mine....a replacement maybe? I no longer have it or I would post pics for you.
 
Roger,

Yes, that's exactly the one! Although, I am certain my uncle's machine had a red belt cover plate. Red pastic with white lettering but I don't remember what the lettering said.

Mind you, I am not really looking for one as I am not a huge Royal fan (nothing personal to the Royal fanatics!), I'd just like to see photos of one.
 
ive seen that very model on eBay more than once, Charles. i have an Electro Hygiene model 603 and it too has a painted motor (hammertone grey). has the more rounded nozzle, which the Royals you talk about had as well.
 
A 603 Electro-Hygiene?

That's yet another model I've never seen. I'd like to see a picture of that one. By description it sounds similar to the model 285 from the late 50's or early 60's. Did it also have the fixed headlight hood? Toss-out bags, or shakeout, and what color was the outer bag? I'm assuming either light or dark blue with red & gold printing, or possibly white cloth with red and silver printing. I'm also assuming this one is from mid 60's, after the 285 but before the 903.
And Charles, I'm sorry I didn't get back to you on the Royal with the blue motor housing. I have seen them before, but not many. There was one on ebay not too long ago and it was about a half hour away from me in Ashland, OH, and if I remember right it went fairly cheap. Think I was either away from home orsomeone else was on the computer when the auction closed, or I might have bought it myself.
Jeff
 
Hygiene903, you mentioned that you worked for Electro-Hygiene in 1976. I didn't realize they were still around even then. Do you know how long they ultimately were around?
 
Scott,

I believe it was about 1981 or 1982 when they bit the dust. And if I'm not mistaken, they ran into some trouble with the government about some of their business practices, including banning them from doing their own financing. Also under attack was their method of getting the machines into the potential customer's home, which was similar to "bait & switch, but differed in the respect that we actually HAD the advertised merchandise (or as we called it, the "leader vac"), and it WAS for sale--I know this for a fact as I sold SEVERAL of the "leader vacs," much to my boss's dissapointment!
After being told they could no longer do "business as usual," they soon reached a point where they could not do business at all, and went out of business, and that was about 1981 or 82. However, to this day there is still a store in Indiana and one in Ohio with Electro-Hygiene as part of the name, even though Electro-Hygiene is no longer made. I'd like to find out if they still honor the EH guarantee, as I'd like to get my 966 tank rebuilt!!
Jeff
 
Safety Switch

It just occurred to me that the reason the Royal with the removeable rug nozzle doesn't have a safety switch is because such a switch probably was patented by Scott & Fetzer.

Can you imagine a company selling a vacuum cleaner today with no such safety switch? The first dumb idiot who lost a fingertip trying to attach the hose without shutting off the machine would retain a blue-chip Product Liability attorney to file suit against the manufacturer for every penny they owned! Because OF COURSE, the fault would lie with the vacuum cleaner and not the stupid person using it!
 
Sure did!!

I never sold sewing machines when I worked for EH, but when I didn't have sales appointments I used to help out in the back room--er, I mean service department, and probably worked on as many sewing machines as vacs. The machine in the link was our cheaper model. The top of the line model had design cams that dropped in the top, automatic buttonholer, automatic knot tyer, automatic zigzag, the whole 9 yards that was available on sewing machines at the time.
And yes, I noticed that too, about the connection between sewing machines and vacuum cleaners. Quite a few stores sold both, and Singer was especially noted for it. Some stores even had sew and vac or vac and sew as part of their name. I don't think you see it as much now as back in the day.
Did you also notice that in the old catalogs (Sears, Wards, Spiegel, etc.) they even had the vacs and sewing machines on the next pages to each other?
I tried to get a thread going on this subject a while back, but I think I only got 4 or 5 replys on it.
Jeff
 
Morgan... great looking vacuum! Very retro. Very cool. Very

It looks brand new. The red cord makes it pop and the red tools look great too.

I'm excited to see so many Royal fans. (And glad to hear all the nice things everyone has to say about them. I was worried that I would be all alone.) I just purchased a new Royal Everlast MRY8300 on eBay this afternoon and can't wait to get it. It will replace the commercial Royal upright I gave away several years ago.

I'd like to get attachments to go with it, but couldn't find any mention of them on the Royal Web site. With all the Royal enthusiasts and experts here, does anyone know if attachments can even be used with the new uprights? If so, can someone suggest where to get them.

It appears that the new models still have the deodorizer feature, which sounds really cool... According to the Royal Web site, the "Deodorizer feature freshens your carpet as you vacuum." I put vacuum cleaner beads from Restoration Hardware in my Mieles. Is that sacrilege?

Mike
 
hygiene903

Jeff, thank you for your email and advising me on my Royal purchase. I'm sure by now you've read my reply. Very disappointing about the Vita-Vac. :(
 
charles~richard

Charles, great story about your uncle and his Royal. I know this is a bit off topic, but... Your story is so similar to the experiences I had as a kid with my grandmother's Kirbys. I wonder how many members can relate.

My paternal grandparents lived in a huge, old, mostly dark, Victorian farmhouse in the Northwest corner of Iowa. Some of my earliest and most vivid memories are associated with my grandmother's Kirbys and that farmhouse. They both terrified me. She kept two Kirbys in the dark, front hall, which was basically a separate room with this foreboding staircase and its big, thick banister built out of some very dark wood. The hallway and staircase were rarely used, except to get to the upstairs "guest" bedrooms. As a toddler, I was terrified of having to walk through that hall, past the Kirbys and up the stairs at bedtime. Very creepy. Even though I grew to love her Kirbys, they and that house always seemed so ominous. Creepy.
 
Air freshners in Mieles....

Mike

Unless you are just using the Super Airclean filter(the one that comes with the bags) dont bother- both the Active Airclean and Hepa filters have a charcoal element so you wont be able to smell it !

Seamus
 
SeamusUK

Hey Seamus,

Thanks for the advice.

Actually, I've been using the vacuum beads in my older Miele and I can smell them, even with the HEPA filter in place (they're pretty strong and I put a lot of beads in the bag). But, I don't want to use them if it's bad for the vacuum.

By the way, I know this is off topic... are you a Doctor Who fan? If so, send me an email offline if you're interested in discussing. I've seen season one and two of the new series, and am dying to see season three.

Mike
 
Scary Kirbys

Here's my story about my Aunt Dabney and her Scary Kirby - and below is a composite photo I made of me, her house, and a Kirby!

=======

... [T]he second-most prolific brand of vacuum cleaner in that area, in those days (late 1950s), was Kirby. I can think of a half-dozen families right off the top of my head who had Kirbys - mostly the machines with gray or red-and-gray trim - and I hated them. (The sweepers, not the people!) I was absolutely terrified of Kirbys, but at the same time also fascinated by them -- as long as I kept a safe distance!

My aunt up the street had a very old Kirby with a big gray bag. I was so afraid of it that I would not even go into her house on the day for vacuuming -- every Thursday. If we pulled up in the driveway and I heard it running, I would only go up to the front porch and that was all. I would watch her vacuuming through the screen door but that was as far as I would go.

She sometimes -- but not often (because she had mostly hardwood floors except for one large area rug in the living room and a few throw rugs) -- used the Kirby as an upright. I was fascinated to see that big gleaming machine glide to and fro, with her holding the handle in one hand and the cord held aloft in the other hand to keep it out of the way. She would take long, slow strokes with it, rocking back and forth on her heels as she led the machine around.

However, she favored using the Kirby as a straight-suction machine, using the hose and attachments instead of the rug nozzle -- even when cleaning her rugs! She kept the long handle attached, and I would watch with rapt attention -- from the safety of the front porch, peering through the screen door -- seeing that long handle jiggle and bob back and forth as she pulled the machine around the living room.

She also at that time had a green Eureka canister vacuum that she kept in the garage -- my uncle used it to clean his Rambler station wagon. She liked to use the rug nozzle from that machine with her Kirby - she just stuck the green nozzle with the long chrome elbow onto the end of the gray wand and used it that way on both floor and rugs. Because the length of the single wand (even though the Kirby wand was rather long) and the Eureka rug nozzle was so short, she had to stoop over a bit, and when cleaning the carpets and rugs she sort-of "scraped" away at them with the Eureka nozzle. What a lot of work! One time I asked her why she vacuumed with her Kirby that way, and she said it was just too much trouble to switch the machine around from upright to attachments!

My aunt would frequently baby-sit me when Mama had to run errands or go to the church to practice the organ. She always had to be careful about not taking me over there on Thursdays because she knew I wouldn't go inside! One time, she dropped me off when I was sick. I was all bundled up in a blanket and Mama laid me on my aunt's sofa with a pillow, telling me to stay there and "behave."

Well, it was not a Thursday, but ... it was "spring cleaning time" for my aunt. She was in the room overhead cleaning. When I heard her fire up the Kirby, I got scared and scurried under the blanket. The motor stopped and there was silence.

Whew!

But then the machine started up again, this time making a vibrating, rumbling, whirring sound against the hard-wood floor -- she was using the floor polisher head. I got so terrified that I ran off the couch, across the living room, into the dining room, and dug my way underneath a buffet table in the corner of the room, knocking over a bag of empty pop bottles in the process.

I stayed under there, crouched, trembling, and cold for what seemed to be an eternity. Finally, the sweeper stopped running. My aunt came downstairs, and when she did not see me she started calling for me. I was afraid she had the Kirby with her so I would not answer. She worked her way into the dining room where she saw the pop bottles scattered on the floor. She came over to the buffet table, crouched down and said, "Chuck, what on earth are you doing back there? Come on out of there!"

I started crying, "I'm afraid of the sweeeeee-peeer!"

Her stern look softened. She cluck-clucked her tongue and shook her head and said, "Oh, CHUCK..... I promise I won't use it any more until you leave. Why don't you come upstairs and get on my bed, so you can watch TV while you wait for your Mama -- and I can keep an eye on you!"

Reluctantly, I followed her to the stairs. I could see the Kirby towering above at the top of the landing. I held back and said, "I don't want to go up there! It might turn on!"

My aunt sighed, trudged up the stairs, unplugged the cord and waved the plug at me -- "You see, it's not plugged in. It CAN'T start up now! She pushed it against the wall so I'd have a clear path around it. "Now, be a good boy and come on up here."

Very reluctantly, I made my way up the stairs. Slowly and gingerly, I crept past the Kirby leaning against the wall. I remember very clearly seeing the floor polisher nozzle and the rows of fluffy bristles. The nozzle was much newer and shinier looking than the rest of the machine, and the red belt lifter glistened and reflected the hallway light fixture.

When I got safely past the Kirby I made a dash for her bed and jumped up. My aunt turned on the TV - the game-show "Concentration" was on. I remember seeing the rotating panels that would clickey-click into place showing pieces of the hidden puzzle!

One time, we came over there and the Kirby was standing in the living room. It looked all shiny and new-looking, but somehow I knew it was the same one. I saw that it had a different bag -- dark gray with a silver mottled pattern, and even though I was too young to read, I did know how to read "Kirby" -- and I remember the new bag that the "K" and the "Y" extended in a long line down the front of the bag and met at point at the bottom. (It was not until many years later that I would see another bag like this!) It also had a new handle, with a shiny red handle grip.

I don't remember the exact conversation but it was something along the line that my Aunt had just had it repaired, and it was not as loud any more (that was partly why I was afraid of it, because it made an absolutely deafening roar - in retrospect, caused by a chipped or broken fan blade).

She coaxed me into pushing down the switch to turn it on, and sure enough, it made a completely different sound! I was still a little afraid of it, though, and did not want it to run for a long time. But she had to use it. I did, at least, stay inside ... but still kept a safe distance!

When she was finished, she lugged it over to the closet by the front door where she kept it. I ran over to see it in the closet. I saw that the bag - new and sort of stiff - was all puffed out. I told my Aunt that she should pat the bag down flat. She said, "Well, why don't you go ahead and do that?!"

That became something I had to do every time I came over there -- open the closet to see if the bag was all puffy, and if it was, I could not rest until I patted it down flat. Don't ask me.....! (At least I did not have a bag-sniffing thing, like Stan Kann did!!)

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