Royal Prince Hand Vac

[lux1521]

Has anyone out there spotted a dark blue Royal metal hand vac. That machine has been at the top of my list for about 12 years. I have only seen one in person when I was about 6 (in 1995 or so) at my local vac shop. I may have seen 1 or 2 on ebay but thats it. I have also seen them in Royal paperwork.

In the meantime I have gotten a number of other Royal metal hand vacs. The complete list is in my profile. As of right now I have a total of 7 metal ones and 5 plastic Dirt Devil versions and no two are the same.

Any thoughts about this vacuum (in any version including plastic dirt devils) would be cool to hear. I'd like to have a better idea of the history behind this model and to also have a better list of revisions to look for. I have a partial list I have discovered in my profile in the vacuums yet to find section.

Below is my 75th anniversary model 501. Imagine that in a darker shade of blue.

 

[tolivac]

I have a couple of "Prince" hand vacuums-both are the same model.Got them at the local vac place here-one years ago-the other recently-was used-but in great shape.The delear also sells paper bag inserts that can be used in the Prince machines-keeps the cloth bag from getting dirty.

 

[vacuumkid3]

I have a Prince similar to that one in its original box and some instructions...and a belt somewhere. Got it for like $5 at an estate sale! I use it to clean out my mom and dad's cars. Good vacuum...I even washed the bag, and now it looks great!

~~K~~

(I haven't seen a dark blue yet...)

 

[lux1521]

I have tried the paper bags before. There is one major design flaw with the bags. The bag collar eventualy causes a clog and the dirt backs up all the way to the fan. Eventualy the suction is lost and the motor overheats. It is also a pain to unclog. The dust gets wraped around the motor mounting screws. That is why I don't use them anymore although I have one hand vac that requires them because it has a thin cloth bag material.

 

[myhooverco]

I too have a Royal 501. This one was my mom's vacuum. She got it for her birthday somewhere around 1985 or 1986. My dad got it for her because she broke the handle on our Hoover Dial a Matic doing the steps. She did not use the tools but rather picked up the machine by the handle one too many times. However, she used this little Prince a few times and decided that she did not like it. In fact, I think after she tried it, she never used it again. I used to do the steps with it or the car interior. It got put away in the basement and never saw the light of day until my folks moved 3 years ago. She was going to sell it in their moving sale, but I got to it first. Now I have it, but hate to say that I rarely use it. The tools came with it. I only have the hose, hanger, and instructions for it now. This one never had the paper bag, but I guess it didn't matter since we rarely ever used it. It is a high quality item. And it works very well. But with a house full of other vacuums, this little Prince gets overlooked very often.

--Tom

 

[myvacsrock]

here you go

http://cgi.ebay.com/ROYAL-PORTABLE-...7QQihZ015QQcategoryZ20616QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[lux1521]

That ebay listing is about half way to being what I'm looking for. The color is still a bit too light. On the other hand it does have the royal sticker on the front, a black nozzle plug, and the thumb guard on the switch. Close but not quite it.

I'm going to see if I can find a picture of what I'm talking about.

 

[lux1521]

Ok, at the moment you might need to use your imagination. Combine the dark blue color (especialy the handle) of the hand vac below with the bag pattern of the model in my first post and that's close to what I'm looking for.

 

[myvacsrock]

here's the vacuum you want! it is for sale!!

after a ton of searching i found it!!!

http://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/hsh/347619593.html

 

[vacuumkid3]

Kyle, I think it is darker than that. Imagine a dark blue, like a dark shade of blue jeans. It is harder to come by, too, so I don't know if many people on the internet would be selling them.

~~K~~

 

[lux1521]

The handvac on craigslist seems to be a trick of the lights and not really that dark. It is something I have to watch for every time I look at one.

Ok. Found an example. Take a look at the box in the bottom of the ebay listing. That is the shade of blue. Interesting how the machine on the box has many differences from the vacuum in the listing(nozzle plug cover, thumb guard, color).

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-ROYAL-P...7QQihZ002QQcategoryZ20616QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[danemodsandy]

Royal Dirt Devil Model 500

I have a Royal Dirt Devil Model 500. It's a plastic machine, black with a yellow logo sticker and a black-and-yellow bag. It's a power-brush machine. It seems to be more powerful than the red model. When I bought it at a thrift, the fan was broken, and none of the usual sources had the part, because it's different (larger/deeper blades) on this model than it is on the red ones. I finally found the fan by calling around to local vac shops- one guy who's been in business forever knew what I was talking about.

It's my stair vacuum, and it's also used to get cat hair off the sofas. Works quite well. I would not mind a metal one like you other guys have, though!

 

[lux1521]

Plastic Dirt Devil

They are decent vacuums. The 500 is an interesting model. My mother had one a few years back. From my experience the bag is a bit smaller than normal on some of them. The 500 also came in black with red. I have seen them with both the round nozzle plugs and the newer permanently attached varity.

I though I'd post my entire plastic royal/dirt devil plastic hand vac collection while we are on the subject.

#1: Dirt Devil Plus (2 speed motor)
#2: Dirt Devil 12 volt car vac
#3: Dirt Devil Signature Series (2 speed motor)
#4: A very dusty Dirt Devil model 103
#5: Dirt Devil Pro Series (2 Speed Motor)

 

[lux1521]

While I'm At It

I thought I post images of my metal hand vac collection.

#1: Royal M5000
#2: Royal Pro Series Model 501
#3: Royal 75th Anniversary Model 501 (1980)
#4: Electro-Hygiene Model 501
#5: Hudson Model 501
#6: Asian (Taiwan If I Remember Correctly) Built Hand Vac Based On Royal Design With No Royal Brand Name Markings - To Be Restored Soon

My Montgomery Ward Version is Not Included Because It Is Currently Disassembeled

 

[ian88]

Number 6 interests me because (and you'd never normally hear this from me) you don't normally see products that look like this from Asia, apart from maybe Japan (First Toshiba upright looks like a 30s GE )

Ian

 

[lux1521]

Number 6

That one is fairly good considering where it is coming from, although there are definately signs of cheapness that the American models never had. For example most of the mess you see on the front is not normal rust but some kind of metal plating that is flaking off and rust forming under it. Whatever that plating is it has some iron content as it sticks to my magnetic screwdriver.

Now, I'd like to see a picture of that Toshiba upright. Sounds very interesting.

 

[ian88]

These are by Shibaura Engineering Works, the company which would later become Toshiba as we know it today. the first picture here is the VC-A (first japanese made vacuum cleaner) from 1931

View attachment 6-19-2007-06-23-23--Ian88.jpg

 

[ian88]

And the VC-C from 1947

(photos and more infomation at: http://museum.toshiba.co.jp/history/1goki/1931vacum.html)

View attachment 6-19-2007-06-24-59--Ian88.jpg

 

[lux1521]

Those are interesting. The artical sounded a bit strange. Apparently they thought tha the VC-C replaced the VC-A. They look like totaly different market segments(one being full size and the other a compact). It's fun to see what vacuums are like in different places.