pic of the day

[z30soulbrother]

hi guys
nice pic. have a senior myself One thing i have always wondered. as everyone knows Senior has always (although having a very good reputation for carpet cleaning) had a bit of a poor rating for hose suction. even the 2speed motor models seem to struggle. All due to the fan chamber opening not being sealed by the converter. If i had been part of the design team i would have suggested bringing in the metalwork to the pulley making the fan chamber opening more of a "U" shape so that when the converter slides over it theres no gap. do you get me? permanantly cover the gap that the converter cant reach! i cant be the first person to think of this surely? there must be some hitch in this idea.Any thoughts folks? anyone know if the suction is any good on the earlier senior hose that slides in the side of the machine? i owned one once.No tools! now i own a set of tools..... guess what? no machine to try them on!!!!!

si

 

[charles~richard]

Did the 334 have a more powerful motor, or just the heavy-duty bag? Any other "enhanced" features? Longer/thicker cord? More rugged agitator? Bigger armature etc???

I notice the lack of headlight. I have to say, with all due respect, that's one feature that the lack thereof makes the machines that don't have them seem kinda cheesy. I think it was pretty cheap of Hoover to leave them off of certain models, considering the few cents' cost involved.

 

[74simon]

Hey Charles, apart from the shakeout back and a heavy-duty (and presumably longer) cord, I believe the 334 was no different mechanically to the other Convertibles.

I think you make an interesting point about the cheaper machines. I noticed that in the Consumer's Report posted on here from 1959, there's a very wide gulf between the price of the model 31 and 66 ($40!), especially considering that mechanically they were identical. I guess the cheaper machines were maybe 'loss leaders'.

Si, funnily enough, I was pondering the tool conversion on the Seniors/Convertibles this morning! I did try modding a Senior a couple of years back, but my pan converter was damaged (I hadn't realised, as it was the only one I'd ever seen!), so suction was still lousy. I have plenty of free time at the mo', so I think a tinker is in order again!

The side-converter cleaners aren't sealed either, but when using my 160 today, I noticed that when you cover the hose end, the pitch of the motor does go up, and the bag 'twitches' (like on a Junior), which quite suprised me. Suction is better on the 700/800 series though. I spent today blasting dust bunnies out from behind my radiators with the 160, now it's getting cold enough to stick the heating on...

The annoying thing with the side converter machines is that you can't pull them along, which toolkit d'you have?

(other)Si

 

[myhooverco]

The 334 only differed in that it had a longer cord and a dump bag set up. Otherwise it used regular Convertible parts. These were also painted grey instead of white.

The original idea for the rear conversion used a spring loaded converter that closed the gap and improved suction. This idea was scrapped. Here in the US we had a tool kit for the side conversion cleaners that used a 90 degree converter so that the hose connected facing rearward instead of straight out the side. It was not very effective either.

--Tom

 

[z30soulbrother]

senior hose converter

hi si
i have a toolkit for the old type senior before the 652 type. the brown converter goes in the side of the machine will try and show you a photo. i had 1 0f these machines years ago when i had my 1st house but wasnt into collecting vacs. i used to get hold of any old appliances i could that folk were chucking out and just ran them into the ground, skipped em on to the next junk shop for next "relic" as my mates called them. skint in them days Si! need of them rather than collecive element .how i could kick myself now for letting them go. among them a lovely hotpoint countess washing machine! i must have had a vague interest as i remember "making" a side converter for my vac out of an old crevice nozzle shaping the end into something near to the real thing which i had seen somewhere and joined itup to an old hose and rounded up some old rods and tools. it sort of worked! then decades after the event and long after the vac had gone i found a hardly used toolset for that machine in a clearance sale at the army stores a quid!

speak to you later si

si

 

[74simon]

Tom, that's very interesting! I'd love to know how that would have worked, I guess it must have been rather complicated!

Si, that toolkit is for a 612. Technically it wasn't a Senior, as that name wasn't used until the 1960s - early 652s were known as the 'Hoover De Luxe', and earlier machines were simply 'The Hoover Cleaner' (as opposed to 'The Hoover Junior' etc).

Dunno if you use ebay, but there's quite a nice 612 on there at the moment, although the bag is (I think) a late 1950s replacement. Might be worth thinking about!

Si

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-HOOVE...ryZ20617QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[z30soulbrother]

hoover 612

si
my apologies for letting the side down and calling it a senior. The fact is i used to call it that at the time because i didnt realise at the time. It was 20 plus years ago and my mates came round as i was vaccing with it. Even back then the thing was classed as ancient and my 1 mate said." Good god si! whats that peice of old farming equipment?" My mother who was visiting at the time said "Leave it alone its an old Hoover Senior, they dont make them like that anymore!" So that stuck for a while!.Anyway cheers si speak to you in a bit. love your skip by the way! Off to e bay now!

si

 

[vintagehoover]

The 1st 'Senior'...

...came in 1909. The first 'Junior' was in 1913, and the first 'Hooverette' was in 1912...funny how they reused names!
Hoover titled their pre-war models with a variety of slogans, too - 'Special', 'Baby', 'Standard', 'Deluxe', Popular-Priced', 'Sentinal', 'Jubilee', 'Gold Chevron', 'Two-Speed'...etc

View attachment 10-1-2007-17-46-3--vintagehoover.jpg

 

[z30soulbrother]

hoover uprights

Isnt it strange how after all the effort put into the designs of earlier elaborate upright convertors as we mentioned earlier, in later years ,Hoover reverted back to simple pan converters, before the craze of on board tools. Call me old fashioned but it came across to me as they couldnt be bothered anymore. "Just do it the easy way" those old Hoover converters made Hoover uprights special and unique but now all brands of vac are the same: onboard tools, tissue paper thin hoses that last all of 2 months if you are lucky all push on attachments no push clip Hoover ones etc. Very much the same as how all makes of car today tend to look the same sad ay? by the way when did you last see a new vac with blow option? you havent even got that to unblock your hose! sorry i know i do go on! New boy with a lot of pent up vac issues to get out! Will calm down promise!!!!!