Sunday's car boot sale bargain

[davetranter]

I picked this up yesterday (Sunday) at my local car boot sale. I never knew that Hoover made such things. It was FULL of dust and dirt, and the bearings were so dry that it wouldn't run at all (at first). After some cleaning (compressed air line) and lubrication (bearings and switches) it's 'Good as new'. It pulls a full 2kW on low and a full 3kW on high.....

Here's the pic......

All best

Dave T

I have posted this to the AW site, too, since the manufacturer made those as well....

Yes, that is a Tek 7704A it's standing on....

 

[vintagerepairer]

What wording is on the plug? Is it "Electra" or an older, regional name?

 

[davetranter]

Name on plug

I have to say that it's not a question that I was expecting... But it's branded 'Midelec', so I assume it refers to the local (Midlands) Electricity Board. So perhaps it still has it's original plug. It's a basic, brittle, white UF type, so it's probably a miracle that it has survived this long. It is also possible that the original plug was a 15 Amp round-pin, since the cable is Red/Black/Green.

All best

Dave T

 

[vintagerepairer]

Hello Dave, thank you for the information. You are indeed correct, this plug would have been sold through Electricity Board showrooms in the Midlands area, but the same style was also manufactured with the Electra name too, this being a name which replaced regional branding 'stanadardised' the exclusive merchandise sold through the showrooms. The old-style flex colours were still in use well into the early 1970s (I think 1971 was the change-over year), so whilst your heater may well have had a round-pin style plug, the type it has now might also original to it. Either way, yours is a great find.

 

[vacbear58]

Heater

Dave I posted some more stuff over on AW, but a couple of comments for here

Benny is right on the money for 1971 being the change over, although I think the two colour schemes may have run in tandem for a while.

13amp sockets started around 1950 or so, so it could have been either 13 or 15amp - this dates from middle 1960s, or maybe 1964.

i could have sworn that plug was a Volex, I am sure I have seen them branded as such, but much later than the Midlec name would imply - I am not sure when it change over from regional to national branding but I would think very late 1960s or early 1970s - in vacuum terms Goblins were the electricity board cleaners both pre and post Electra. Swebline, Seebeard, EBNI (Northern Ireland), Norweb are just a few that come to mind

Al

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?50690_15

 

[vintagerepairer]

Vacbear, the plug is a WG (Ward & Goldstone) a brand which took over the Volex name and then produced a whole variety of accessories with both WG and Volex names, as we as several names for stores & traders.

Over the years I saw all sorts of plugs attached to the cleaners which came for repair. This plug here I have seen many times with "Electra" stamped on it, but also I have seen at least one of the later soft-plastic style which has a regional name of EMELEC. But then this style of plug carried on with a hard back and soft front, under the WG brand. Seems so odd that they (WG) had so many styles of 13 amp plug available at one time.

I found this link, it may or may not be of interest.



http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=102278