Royal Model 129 Mid 30's?

[phaeton]

Hello Royal fans,
I have added 8 pictures of my Royal Model 129 and a picture of my 189. I thought the nozzle plate from my 189 would fit the 129, it did not as the 129 has a much thicker front and rear lip. I could flatten the nozzle plate inner edges and it would work as I have 2 of the plates or I guess it could work. Note that the Brush Roll is a bit odd in fact that it has a brass sleeve over the wood. I would guess it could be original to the machine. Also the 129 seems to have a leather bumper on it and one of the brush roll clips has been repaired at some point. I can remember that my mother’s aunt gave her an old Royal, before I was born, in 1946 or 1947 and I remember it in 1952 as having a sold black bag with Royal on it and the revolving brush. Could that memory of the black bag be true? I have read a number of Posts on the Royal vacuum from many of you and the article “The Royal Metal Upright”. There are many pictures of Jeff’s Royals and Electro-Hygiene and other Vacuumland members on that site. Jeff authored a passage on a Royal 65 which comes close to looking like the 129 except for the head light. The little Royal 129 runs really good surprisingly for the way it looks. The bag, cord and Belden Edison plug are beyond repair. Please let me know your thoughts on the nozzle rug plate and if a black bag would have been correct. I would like to know where this Royal 129 fits in the Royal History and if there are any other ones owned by Vacuumland members. I guess a lot of you will be off to the big museum sale this month so good luck in finding the vacuums you have wanted.
Thank you for looking,
Pete

 

[fcs3]

For what its worth...

Hi Phaeton (Pete), I dug around a bit and found an old
VL posting you probably already saw #21502. It talks about
and has pictures of restored Royal 189's.

As for your 129, there's an old ad of a late 30's to early 40's
model sporting a black bag.

Also, there's a YouTube vid of a 131 (almost 129?)

I suppose its too early in Royal's history for there to
have been any England or Canada versions (if they ever
were manufactured elsewhere?).
Hope this helps a little.
Frank

 

[hygiene903]

Hi Pete!

I would say if you have an EXTRA nozzle plate go ahead and do what you need to make one fit the 129, but if you only have one of the plates save it for your 189. Either way, I would still watch out for the original part, one may turn up when you least expect it. I have never seen the model 129 before, but I think it may be one of the first (if not THE first) revolving brush Royals. That would probably date it to about the mid to late 30's. I also think the black bag would have probably been correct, but can't say for sure.
Actually, I think it was John who wrote the passage on the Royal 65, not me. He was the main writer of the Royal Metal Uprights article, I only collaborated a little and made a few additions and corrections.
Jeff

 

[phaeton]

Hello Frank and Jeff,

Wow, so there really was a black Royal bag and it is not me having marbles in my head of a memory that went back to 1953. I don’t remember if the Royal had a headlight or not nor do I remember what the belt cover looked like. I remember the sound of that old Royal and the big black bag puffing up when it was turned on. I do not seem to remember pushing it around or using it. I do remember asking my mom and dad not to get rid of it, but then I also remember asking my dad not to get rid of his 1934 Ford Cabriolet when I was 4 or 5 also, that did not work out either. He bought a new 1954 Mercury and my mom got a new Eureka Roto Matic that was maroon and gray. Sorry, I digressed. I do have a second bottom rug plate thanks to Steve Henry of The Henry Company – VacPartsPlus, he is the best. I also bought a gray generic shake out Royal bag from him without a logo and I am thinking of dyeing it black. The kid next door does stenciling so I just might make it look like my memory. Did you notice the brush roll with brass over the wood? I never saw that before and all the Royal ones we sold at the shop were wooden without the metal. Speaking of Royal brush rolls Steve Henry found me one for the Royal 189 and new square rubber ends for the 129 brush roll. A question, were these early Royals buffed out like the Kirbys of the 40’s and 50’s? I do have a 2-wheel buffer and all the compounds but in a way I like the way it looks as a forgotten machine. If I buff it and paint it the belt cover plate will look out of place as I do not have a way to make it look new. Oh, yes I have looked all over Vacuumland and the Internet for a Royal 129 but could not find another one, the 65 and the 131 yes but no 129.

Thank you for looking and thank you to Frank and Jeff for their input and information also to Steve Henry for putting my order together,
Pete

 

[hygiene903]

Hi Pete!

Yes, you definitely want to polish it. Mother's Mag and some green scrubbing pads, a few different grades of steel wool, terry cloth polishing towels, and lots of elbow grease usually works for me. If you take the nameplate off of the fan case you'll probably see what it originally looked like as that area has been protected all those years. Also, you can LIGHTLY polish the nameplate and cover plate with something a little less abrasive, such as rubbing compound or white polishing compound, but be careful and don't overdo it, as you don't want to rub off any of the paint. Trust me, it will look absolutely beautiful when you're done. And if you haven't already, don't forget to put a few drops of oil in both of the oil ports.
Jeff

 

[phaeton]

Hi Jeff,
I was brain dead, the nameplate is held on with screws not rivets, I will take it off tomorrow. What do you think about the bumper being leather which seems strange? Could it be original to the Royal or did someone make it? I think it might come close to being one my favorites.
Thank you Jeff and All,
Pete

 

[phaeton]

Hello All, Jeff and Frank,
Yes, it is shinny under the nameplate of the Royal 129. I cleaned the nameplate and belt cover as much as I could without removing the black paint. Also I bent part of the inner nozzle rug plate as best I could and it now fits but I believe the original would fit better. The little Royal actually preformed really well. I don’t know the wattage is as it is not on the nameplate or anywhere on it but the Royal 189 is 300 so if it is not that I would guess it would be close to that. I can’t buff it out now as I am buffing out a D80 and on the search for the P/N 192067 green power cord that has gone extinct.
Thank you All for looking,
Pete

 

[fcs3]

Just a few more pix

Hi Pete, I tried to find examples of your name plate online.
It seems a transitional color scheme between the original
mostly gold to the two-tone red-black.

You've no doubt noticed that Royals started out with the fan
housing exhaust on the right side as you face the front. But
after about the mid 1910's they switched to the left side.

One thing's for sure, they LOVED the black bag look early on.

The first photo's from Tom, the others are "imgrum.com vacuumfans"

 

[phaeton]

Hello Frank, Jeff and All,
That is interesting and the 3rd picture that shows the bag puffed up is similar to how I remember the bag on my mom's Royal with the brush roll. I have no idea why I remember that the bag was black unless my buying the Royal made the memory kick back in. I bought it about 2 months ago and it was 10 miles from my house. It had a red and black bag on it that was toast and it didn’t have the rug plate on the nozzle it oddly still had what I believe was the origin Belden plug and possibly cord. I have added a picture of the on/off switch as it is not the typical one found on the Royals of the 40’s. I have an old generic blue zipper bag I took off the Electro-Hygiene, put a new F&G bag in it and this little 129 really worked great and I was impressed. Well really great might be an exaggeration and I do have to say it isn’t my Omega but it was still impressive for an 83 year old vacuum. When I have it buffed out I will add it to this Thread. This will not happen until I am done buffing out and rebuilding the D80 and a few other things I need to get done.
Thank you All for looking,
Pete

 

[hygiene903]

Hi Pete!

Yes, it does seem strange that the bumper is leather. They have always been rubber on any Royal I've ever seen. Possibly a previous owner made one with whatever they had on hand.
And Frank, it was actually later than that when they changed the side of the bag outlet, 1928 to be exact. I have a Royal that was built in 1926 that still has the old configuration. Here's a pic, taken before I did any work on it. Still have much work to do on it, so no "after" pics yet.
Jeff

 

[phaeton]

Hello Jeff and All,
I agree that it should be a rubber bumper. It looks like if I can get the bumper for a 189 it would work as it should be about the same size. There is a new Royal UR38200 with a black bag and black trim but the bumper looks like it is thicker and too wide for the 129.
In between what I have going on I also had to work on a Hoover 700 which is different than my other 700 so I will get into that and start a new Thread.
Thank you for all of the input on the Royal 129 and others Royals, it really has been good, interesting and fun.
Thank you for looking,
Pete