My new Hoover Constellation and 119 Junior
- Thread starter markus79
- Start date
Help Support VacuumLand:
vintagerepairer
Well-known member
No beacause the Air ride did not have that feature. As I said, there were two celebrity cleaners in the UK, one had wheels and automatic cordwinder, the other lay very flat on the floor and would float too. The superior model had the wheels. The basic model was the floating version. I do not know the wattages but I am sure the Air ride was getting on for 900w. You can see it and others here:
http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?8212
http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?8212
vintagerepairer
Well-known member
This was the other Celebrity on sale in the UK, although the UK model had no P N.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Hoover-Celebrity-II-Elite-Vacuum-/170653937163
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Hoover-Celebrity-II-Elite-Vacuum-/170653937163
As an eBay Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Hoover Connie
Hi, our constellations had been made here in Finland with licence by Havulinna Oy as most of Hoover products like washing machines. These made only to finnish markets. Havulinna made Hoover products at least 1952-1962 when company owner Veijo Havulinna was Hoover CEO in Finland. I think a yellow Hoover 427 vacuum was latest finnish made Hoover in 1978.
And because we didn´t have any wall to wall carpets (only 1970´s), maybe Constellation doesn´t float so good and exhaust air raised the dust in the air=)
Best Regards
Markus
Hi, our constellations had been made here in Finland with licence by Havulinna Oy as most of Hoover products like washing machines. These made only to finnish markets. Havulinna made Hoover products at least 1952-1962 when company owner Veijo Havulinna was Hoover CEO in Finland. I think a yellow Hoover 427 vacuum was latest finnish made Hoover in 1978.
And because we didn´t have any wall to wall carpets (only 1970´s), maybe Constellation doesn´t float so good and exhaust air raised the dust in the air=)
Best Regards
Markus
I love the connies and use both my original one and maytag satellite regularly, very quirky little retro vacuums. ultimately, I think they're still quite an effective machine, they don't do a terrible job on carpets and they're lovely to use for the above the floor stuff.
How would you say the Constellations perform on carpets with the standard floor tool Ryan ?
I know a pet hate of mine is "scrubbing" a carpet with a straight suction cylinder which is why I keep my cylinders for hard flooring mainly, but perhaps the Connie is better ?
Reason being, I'm THINKING of perhaps looking into buying one for my collection.
I know a pet hate of mine is "scrubbing" a carpet with a straight suction cylinder which is why I keep my cylinders for hard flooring mainly, but perhaps the Connie is better ?
Reason being, I'm THINKING of perhaps looking into buying one for my collection.
vintagerepairer
Well-known member
Jamie yours is an interesting question, as there were three different floor tools supplied with the Constellation as time progressed. Two were used for about 10 years each, one after the other. The final one, the pedal tool, was not used on this cleaner for long but was of course used on a good deal of cleaners on sale both at the same time as and after full discontinuation of the Constellation.
Originally the floor tool was mounted on rollers at the front of the tool. Early cleaners had a long row of rollers along the length but a later and more common style of this tool had two small rollers, one in each front corner. A red plastic strip assisted in the removal of threads and a spring loaded brush stripe moved up and down inside the head. For a more firm cleaning action, the brush strip could be locked firmly in place. It could also be locked out of the way altogether, but the instructions didn't ever seem to mention this. Unless of course my memory fails me yet again and it was the locking the brush out which was not mentioned. Either way, there were three options for the brush strip.
When the emerald green Constellation went into production around 1970, Hoover dispensed with this floor tool in favour of the style which could be used with brush side down for floors, or flipped over to the smooth section for carpets. I am sure a good deal of people used these tools brush side down for carpets to aid cleaning performance. Like I say, this tool was used for about the next ten years or thereabouts, it may possibly have been a little less. The pedal tool which was being supplied with the top model Freedom cleaner was used as the third and final choice. As time progressed even further into the early part of the 1980's, so Hoover used the same plastic tool kit on the Constellation, as was supplied with both Freedom models which flanked the Constellation in the cylinder range for this period.
Of all of the tools, I liked the pedal style the most as I felt it had good surface contact with carpets and also a good set of bristles for floors. My least favourite was the original floor tool. I don't think it was very good for carpets, but it was very easy to use. It was not at all good for hard floors and any Constellation owner would have done well to purchase the standard Hoover floor brush separately.
Originally the floor tool was mounted on rollers at the front of the tool. Early cleaners had a long row of rollers along the length but a later and more common style of this tool had two small rollers, one in each front corner. A red plastic strip assisted in the removal of threads and a spring loaded brush stripe moved up and down inside the head. For a more firm cleaning action, the brush strip could be locked firmly in place. It could also be locked out of the way altogether, but the instructions didn't ever seem to mention this. Unless of course my memory fails me yet again and it was the locking the brush out which was not mentioned. Either way, there were three options for the brush strip.
When the emerald green Constellation went into production around 1970, Hoover dispensed with this floor tool in favour of the style which could be used with brush side down for floors, or flipped over to the smooth section for carpets. I am sure a good deal of people used these tools brush side down for carpets to aid cleaning performance. Like I say, this tool was used for about the next ten years or thereabouts, it may possibly have been a little less. The pedal tool which was being supplied with the top model Freedom cleaner was used as the third and final choice. As time progressed even further into the early part of the 1980's, so Hoover used the same plastic tool kit on the Constellation, as was supplied with both Freedom models which flanked the Constellation in the cylinder range for this period.
Of all of the tools, I liked the pedal style the most as I felt it had good surface contact with carpets and also a good set of bristles for floors. My least favourite was the original floor tool. I don't think it was very good for carpets, but it was very easy to use. It was not at all good for hard floors and any Constellation owner would have done well to purchase the standard Hoover floor brush separately.
I found them pretty useless on very short pile but on medium and thick pile they seem to do well. The standard floor tool is wheeled and has 'comb' strip which grooms and seems to part the carpet fibres so that deeper dirt can be lifted out by the suction. Mine does a great job on my living room carpet. later ones had a flip over floor tool which wasn't as effective
vacbear58
Well-known member
Constellation
Congratulations on more great finds Markus.
Firstly what a great 119, it is a very long time since I saw one on such good condition. Can you let us know the serial number and perhaps we might be able to get a date of the cleaner for you. From what you have told is I expect that Hoover upright cleaners were rare in Finland. You are particularly lucky that the handle appears to be original and intact - these often dry up and crumble away.
Now for the Constellation. Is that an original colour for this machine? It looks great but I wonder from what seems to be paint spray from the inside of the top of the cleaner. But once again more detail differences between cleaners of different territories ...... This is the earlier style of flipover nozzle only ever seen here on the TOL Conquest model - eventually all models had the flip over (until the pedal style that Benny describes on the Freedom) but with plastic coupling and hoover roundel on the front - as Markus demonstrates from his catalogue scan other constellations in Finland had this version with the metal coupling.
Again Markus, could this hose be a replacement? That style of suction control was only seen here on the Harlequin (419/429), Conquest (507) models and Comvertable/DAM models. Although the constellation always had one right back to the 822 (and the 822 might have been the first UK suction cleaner to have such a suction control) it was of a smaller design - I was going to say simpler but it does not get much simpler than this.
Back with the catalogue for a moment - although that style floor nozzle was used with early models 417G, by the mid 1960s (around the time of Smoke Pine/Swedish Green) it had been dropped here in favour of the larger white floor nozzle as with Ryan's Constellation. That smaller style nozzle did carry on here on the Hooverette until production ended. The 417 shown in the catalogue had the later style flipover nozzle - it was not in production long - it was the last version being replaced after amost 20 years by the updated styling 427.
Benny, I hate to correct you but in fact there were four different nozzles on the Constellation - you are absoluly correct for Constellation 862 onwards, but the 822 and 822a had separate carpet and hard floor nozzles - the floor nozzle was similar in style to the white one used on Senior/Harlequin models (in fact first seen on the 417 in 1953, but first series only - on 417C & E variants it reverted back to the earlier 402 style). The carpet nozzle was similar to the US Aerodyne nozzle again first seen on the first 417 series but dropped on the 417c onwards.
I would agree with what I think is the general opinion here that the white carpet nozzle that Ryan shows just above was actually pretty good at cleaning carpets - much better than the earlier or following versions - when I bought my Maytag Satellite I did a comparison with my 867A and although the Satallite was much better I was surprised at just how good the white nozzle was.
Markus, it is interesting insight into the Finland manufacturing facility, in some Hoover documentation I have from 1958 they describe it as being their own facility although perhaps they sold it off at some stage to the CEO.
Al
Congratulations on more great finds Markus.
Firstly what a great 119, it is a very long time since I saw one on such good condition. Can you let us know the serial number and perhaps we might be able to get a date of the cleaner for you. From what you have told is I expect that Hoover upright cleaners were rare in Finland. You are particularly lucky that the handle appears to be original and intact - these often dry up and crumble away.
Now for the Constellation. Is that an original colour for this machine? It looks great but I wonder from what seems to be paint spray from the inside of the top of the cleaner. But once again more detail differences between cleaners of different territories ...... This is the earlier style of flipover nozzle only ever seen here on the TOL Conquest model - eventually all models had the flip over (until the pedal style that Benny describes on the Freedom) but with plastic coupling and hoover roundel on the front - as Markus demonstrates from his catalogue scan other constellations in Finland had this version with the metal coupling.
Again Markus, could this hose be a replacement? That style of suction control was only seen here on the Harlequin (419/429), Conquest (507) models and Comvertable/DAM models. Although the constellation always had one right back to the 822 (and the 822 might have been the first UK suction cleaner to have such a suction control) it was of a smaller design - I was going to say simpler but it does not get much simpler than this.
Back with the catalogue for a moment - although that style floor nozzle was used with early models 417G, by the mid 1960s (around the time of Smoke Pine/Swedish Green) it had been dropped here in favour of the larger white floor nozzle as with Ryan's Constellation. That smaller style nozzle did carry on here on the Hooverette until production ended. The 417 shown in the catalogue had the later style flipover nozzle - it was not in production long - it was the last version being replaced after amost 20 years by the updated styling 427.
Benny, I hate to correct you but in fact there were four different nozzles on the Constellation - you are absoluly correct for Constellation 862 onwards, but the 822 and 822a had separate carpet and hard floor nozzles - the floor nozzle was similar in style to the white one used on Senior/Harlequin models (in fact first seen on the 417 in 1953, but first series only - on 417C & E variants it reverted back to the earlier 402 style). The carpet nozzle was similar to the US Aerodyne nozzle again first seen on the first 417 series but dropped on the 417c onwards.
I would agree with what I think is the general opinion here that the white carpet nozzle that Ryan shows just above was actually pretty good at cleaning carpets - much better than the earlier or following versions - when I bought my Maytag Satellite I did a comparison with my 867A and although the Satallite was much better I was surprised at just how good the white nozzle was.
Markus, it is interesting insight into the Finland manufacturing facility, in some Hoover documentation I have from 1958 they describe it as being their own facility although perhaps they sold it off at some stage to the CEO.
Al
Hoover Constellation
Hi Al!
I am sure that the hose and the color are original because I owned the same machine about a ten years ago. I also wondered why there is red paint inside the top=) Here is a picture from 1971 magazine. This model sold with detachable wheel stand until the 1977. Last colors were red, blue and gray.
PS. Junior type number is 503247
PSS. Tomorrow I get my first Hoover Portable which I bought with 10 euros+postage last week.
Best Regards
Markus
Hi Al!
I am sure that the hose and the color are original because I owned the same machine about a ten years ago. I also wondered why there is red paint inside the top=) Here is a picture from 1971 magazine. This model sold with detachable wheel stand until the 1977. Last colors were red, blue and gray.
PS. Junior type number is 503247
PSS. Tomorrow I get my first Hoover Portable which I bought with 10 euros+postage last week.
Best Regards
Markus
That has to be the best floor tool I've ever seen! Or maybe I'm just biased for Hoover... 
Either way, if I do buy a Constellation I now know it will do a good job on the carpets. I must admit though, nothing will beat (pun intended) the good ole uprights!
Either way, if I do buy a Constellation I now know it will do a good job on the carpets. I must admit though, nothing will beat (pun intended) the good ole uprights!
vintagerepairer
Well-known member
Jamie the wheel stand will likely before the none-floating model.
Vacbear, it was rather short-sighted of me to mention in an earlier message the first two Constellations available in the UK and then not refer to them later on when talking about floor tools. As you quite rightly say, these models had two separate attachments but do you happen to know if all these cleaners had the buckle arrangement to hold the attachment or did some early attempts ever have the push fittings like the 417 cylinder, the sort I call the Electrolux style?
Vacbear, it was rather short-sighted of me to mention in an earlier message the first two Constellations available in the UK and then not refer to them later on when talking about floor tools. As you quite rightly say, these models had two separate attachments but do you happen to know if all these cleaners had the buckle arrangement to hold the attachment or did some early attempts ever have the push fittings like the 417 cylinder, the sort I call the Electrolux style?
vintagerepairer
Well-known member
No Jamie, Hoover used to have buckles on the back of the tubes on some of the oldest cleaners made after the 612. They also had straight push fit tubes on some cylinders, before standardising the fitting to a buckle on the front. This would have been early 1950's.
vintagerepairer
Well-known member
Yes I realise that, but what I am saying is, is that during the 1940s and 1950s Hoover were also using push fit tubes on some cylinder cleaners, the same as they began doing again in the 1980s. You said by your reasoning these would be later models, but the reality was that it was earlier models which had push fit tubing and accessories. Hoover then ran with the buckle / lock arrangement on the front of the tubing for all cleaners, changing only in the early 1980s to the ring fitting on plastic tubes instead of a lock / buckle on a metal tube. Push fit tubing was then used from the mid-1980s on budget cleaners like the Portapower and Sprite, and on total system uprights, becoming much more widespread during the 1990's.
The only exception to the above was the Hoover-branded Aqua Vac wet and dry cleaners sold in the early 1980s. These had the same fittings as the Aqua Vac of the same period, which was a 32mm plastic push fit with push button clip similar to that of a Philips cleaner.
The only exception to the above was the Hoover-branded Aqua Vac wet and dry cleaners sold in the early 1980s. These had the same fittings as the Aqua Vac of the same period, which was a 32mm plastic push fit with push button clip similar to that of a Philips cleaner.
