my first Hoover Dustette! (OIB)

[whirlpolf]

Today I got my first Hoover Dustette EVER! So glad I have it! It is still in its original box with handle and closing hook/rivet. Ah, what a beauty! And so many well thought-of details! The motor is surrounded by the exhaust air, the bag has this little wire "spine" to keep it up and bulging, the nozzle has some grid underneath so you wouldn't pick up precious things inadvertedly. This housing is so hammersmith golden, it is just a beauty! That old brown resin switch going "clack-clack" and that fabric insulated (and never to be trusted) cable! YAY! God bless Britain! I just love it to pieces. SUCH a lovely little machine! Just the very choice of the letter printing font on the front label is something to go for. Stamps and manufacturing marks included. I MUST get an adaptor to make it fit in our wall outlets, exchanging THIS plug would be a sin!
Yeeehaaaw! ;-)))

 

[twocvbloke]

Get yourself a Schuko to UK travel adaptor (though not those cheap chinese POS ones (they are VERY dangerous!!)), such as the one in the link below, they just sit in your sockets and make it into an apparent UK socket...

I have a blue Dustette bag somewhere, I got it in a boxful of Hoover junior parts, I haven't a use for it though, I don't plan to get a Dustette..



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190476767356

 

[vacbear58]

Plug

Has it got a moulded Hoover two pin plug?

Al

 

[whirlpolf]

hi Al, yes obviously so.
Sorry for the delay, I've been a bit preoccupied with my brother being in hospital.

The plug seems to be of rubber or vinyl, it looks mushroom shaped, There is a Hoover logo (well just the lettering in capitals) on it, on the other side there is a patent number. From underneath you can see 2 brass prongs fitted onto some cardboard cable mounting things (you can see the wire strands dissappearung under the brass screws.)

The brownish textile cable has some dotted pattern and close to the motor unit there is some cigar shaped bakelite housing (probably to fit the HF condensers). It is right behind the handle of the vacuum.

Joe

 

[vacbear58]

Plug

Will it not fit in a two pin (un-grounded) socket?

I use an old electric kettle connector (round) to connect my two pin plugs to mains and I think it fits European plugs as well

Al

 

[twocvbloke]

Just a note, the UK two-pin plugs have slightly wider pins compared to the standard Europlug, so will most likely damage your sockets if you try to force it in, as already mentioned, buy the above adaptor as that is set up for what is commonly referred to as a "shaver plug" here in the UK (which is a distant derivative of the old 2-pin plug you have there), better to be safe than sorry...

 

[whirlpolf]

nope.

The two-pins plugs have an identical distance of the pins compared to a Euro plug. The problem is elsewhere: There is nothing but Schuko wall sockets here, ungrounded flat 2 contacts wall sockets having gone during the late 60s. So getting an adaptor from 2-pin ungrounded to "shaped" Schuko grounded sockets will do, I guess.
I have compared the old Hoover plug with modern "flat plugs" (or Euro style plugs for double insulated units) (2-pole ungrounded) and the "shaped plugs" (2-pole ungrounded, but shaped as a "Schuko") and the regular grounded "Schuko" plugs (Schutzkontakt = protection contact (aka grounded).
All have the same size and distance of prongs.

I will simply get that adaptor and try. (Before, I will ohm-measure all components, I DO NOT trust this cable....)