Royal Junior Hand Held Vacuum Model 81

[phaeton]

Hello All and Jeff of hygiene903,
You know how at times you just can't pass something up. Well that was the case with this little guy. I had never seen one of these before even back in the 70's and 80's when I worked at a shop. There is something familiar about the odd style of paint on it but I don’t know why. The nozzle is of plastic or Bakelite. It does appear to have the original cord and Belden Edison plug on it. I don’t want to say this and I don’t like to use the word cute, but It was too cute and I wanted it. I listed this as pre 1950 which it seems like it should be but the P. A. Geier Co. name plate looks more like the 50’s style. All comments welcome.
Thanks for looking,
Pete

 

[toastermike]

Royal Royalette

I bought a rare Royal Royalette about 3 years ago, and they look very similar! This one is estimated to be from the mid 1930's based on a department store ad for the Royalette dated 1936. I also have 3 other hand vac's from other manufacturers that have the same styling that I believe are from the 1930's- 1940's. Congratulations on your Royal Junior!

Mike

 

[phaeton]

Hello Mike,
That is a nice looking Royal Royalette. P. A. Geier Co. I guess made a verity of small hand held vacuums. Yours is only the second one I have seen. I have 2 Singer small hand held vacuums a H-7 and an H-10 and they seem to be everywhere like the Royal hand held with the revolving brush. I also have 3 Singer uprights R-1, R-4 and R-4D. Royals I only have a poor little 129 that needs a red & black bag and a 189 Good Housekeeping that also needs a red and black bag and a nice Electro-Hygiene 2-230. I also have a number of Hoovers 105 up to 305 about 12 but not all the models that would be in between. Plus, a Hoover 28, Dial-A-Matic with Automatic Power Drive 1170 and an odd Hoover RS Convertible Model U4597 that I guess us the last Convertible Model which if so I did not know when I bought it at St. Vincent De Paul's. I liked it like I liked the Royal Junior and it look almost brand new.
I never listed all the machine I own on my profile and you sure own a number of Royals, that is a really nice collection. Royal were my fist favorite vacuums then the Singers, Hoover 28, Electrolux G and then the older Hoovers. I would say I have good running but not all are cosmetically perfect vacuums which is okay.
Sorry I tend to yak a lot.
Thank you for looking,
Pete

 

[hygiene903]

Hi Pete!

I'm guessing your Royal Junior is probably from the 20's based on the braided cord--you would not find that on later models. Probably one of their first hand vacs.
Jeff

 

[huskyvacs]

I just found some old ads and amidst my other research on a different hand vac I have, and when sorting through the screencaps I took, I found your Royalette.

I have deduced the following from reading over raw newspaper ads date by date;



It was first advertised for sale through the Montana Power Company's electrical board on April 7, 1930.

P.A. Geier filed to trademark the "Royalette" name on Aug 2, 1930 (likely because of name conflict with the Royalette radios). P.A. Geier claimed to be using the Royalette name since Nov. 15, 1929 - however I could find no ads for a Royal hand vac from 1929.

 

[huskyvacs]

Oh nevermind - I got Phaeton and toastermike's vacuums mixed up.

For the Royal Junior, the earliest I could find it mentioned was Jan. 21, 1935. I can not find any other times it was mentioned by the "Junior" name before or after 1935.