The complete history of the Hoover Junior

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great thread!

Hi i dont often post here, only because my vac collection has been left out due to more recent washer &#92 dishwasher tinkerings; which is ironic as it was vacuum cleaners and more specifically Hoovers that got me interested in collecting appliances as a child.
It was the Hoover junior that started that fascination!

If you werent around in the UK in the 70s, you would not have seen how popular this little machine was, everyone i knew owned a Junior of some sort. It seemed you either had a Hoover Junior or Electrolux cylinder vac ( generalisation i know but to a child at the time it seemed true ) to see an electrolux 502 or moulinex or goblin house maid seemed exotic !

My parents owned a green junior, my aunt a dirt searcher, one gran a 119 they other dark blue junior, neighbours orange one, blue one etc etc.

what i loved about these machines was that it was a insite in to engineering, there were pulleys belts fans agitators bearings tool attachments, all things which a child could ( although probably shouldnt !) dismantle and re fix. Friends and family became quickly aware how good i was at repairing them, and were often amazed at the difference a simple belt brushes and bearing clean would make to there sweeper! I got a reputation about my obession with hoovers! so much so i was warned off asking about them at peoples houses from my parents. I even got a huge stash of Hoover stickers and emblems off the "Hoover man" when he came to fix our family washing machine as a bribe to get out of his way. ( i remember being so upset that i promtly lost them !)

What makes this thread so apt for me at the moment is that ive been selling some of my collection of old radios, tape players etc as its spread over 3 house ( the shame ! lol) and i found this 1334 i forgot i had, I've decided to use it as a daily driver for a while.

I've always thought they were friendly looking little fellas with the big Hoover roundel grin and like the color, as you can see its an early one.

I bought it from our local rubbish tip when you could buy things, i spotted it was all original but required re painting. It has aluminium front and early bag its serial number is K L 279623 but i don't know as to what year that makes it.

I've discovered the supressor is missing and i fear the motor is running slow, it spins freely but fear it may need a new armature etc. What do you guys suggest to do , buy new bearings armature etc and restore motor? or buy another machine and nab motor, does any one have a good / new working one for sale? Would a later one fit if i swapped over pulley as i think they have a bit more power?

i also have the boxed tools and instructions that were given from a relative but no pictures of them.

thanks again Richard

ricky5050++4-26-2014-05-01-57.jpg
 
some of my other juniors

As i said my collection is in my house and both my parents homes, (sheds garages and bedroom!) so i only have a few in my house. Here is a picture of the ones i consider my best lol. I do have a dirt searcher, regular blue junior, later model dirt searcher with screw on front ( sorry i don't know numbers like you guys ) at my dads.

As you can see this picture shows a nice early 375 with slim wheels, a complete but short cabled 119, and a nice green junior that reminds me of my childhood.

Oh one thing i noticed in one of Als pics of the 1334 assembly line they looked like they were fitted with little pink plugs! how cute and how rare , i have a black one that says hoover but never knew they made pink ones! I remember when appliances never came with plugs, as it was always the bit i wasn't allowed to do !

ricky5050++4-26-2014-05-15-24.jpg
 
Hoovers

Hi Richard

That's a grand selection of Hoovers you have there and you are very wise not to keep the cables tightly wound.

I cannot comment on the best way forward to your 1334 (its funny how, although the bags were quite delicate sometimes these 1334s turn up in superb condition) but there are plenty of recent threads on here which will take you step by step through the process.

All Hoovers cleaners were fitted with a two pin plug up until 1961 which was actually matched to the colour of the flex to which they are attached, the main colours are black, brown, light and dark blue and pink

Like your other bits in that picture too, you don't see many of those square faced Teasmades, I have one with the round face myself

Al
 
motors

All 1334 "style" juniors produced from 1959 up until production of the "round belt" style finally ceased around 1983, used the exact same size motor. Over the course of time, suppressors, terminal blocks, foot switches, and fans may have varied in design (in the case of the latter, the most recent cleaners had plastic fans), but the entire motor as a whole remained the same size. So, no matter what 1334 "style" Junior you lay hands on, the motor will fit yours no problem.

It was the flat-belt U1036 "style" motor which was different. Although the motor casing was the exact same size as used on the 1334 "style", the armature was longer and the pulley a different size & shape also. These motors ran at 300 watts instead of the 250 watts used by the round-belt motors. These motors will not fit your cleaner at all, although the motor casings and suppressors can be used to repair the round-belt motor. But that's about all.
 
Thanks

Hi thanks Al , I thought the plugs were from the 1930s they looked so cute , the attention to detail would have been great. Hoover in the 50s 60s etc were really top notch when you think of the constellation and keymatic washer. I'd love a pink plug ! Any one got one ha ha ? And thanks vintage repairer, I'll look in to motors I just thought I could swap the pulleys over from a later model, but to be fair the regular motors do a good job. Plus for someone who collects vacuums I've only got carpeting in one bedroom and the stairs and a small rug in the lounge! As Barbara from the Royal family would say " I've been laminated right through! "

I've asked at my local appliance shop , he laughed and said god we had crate fulls they got wet so we binned them!

Cheers Richard
 
Plugs

Richard
The plugs always had the same general style, I have seen them in both 5amp (the most common) and 15amp two pin varieties.

They crop up on ebay reasonably often although mostly black and brown, the pink and blue not so much so unfortunately.

I am in the same situation in my house regarding carpeting too, not much carpet to keep trying out the cleaners on :(

Al
 
plugs

Vacbear, it is interesting what you say, that the blue and pink plugs show up the least. I think by the time these cleaners went on sale, 3-pin plugs -be they round or square pin- would have been the norm, thus quite likely that the original 2-pin plug was immediately disposed of in favour of a 3-pin which fitted the majority of the sockets in the house. The older cleaners with their brown and black plugs were possibly used in homes with wiring which still supported that type of plug, long after the nation had switched to fused square-pin plugs!
 
Orangey/Red

While browsing through ebay this morning I noticed the Junior on the link (yes, I know its missing its front cover) and I wondered if this was a main line Hoover colour or an exclusive?

And wasn't there a dark blue one but with a similar grey bag?

I had been trying to think what Sam's Union jack Junior reminded me of this morning. If I remember it right in the late 1970s series (I would hesitate at calling it a comedy as it was very bitter sweet) Butterflies the sons of the family had a mini which I think was pained union jack colours or maybe it was just the roof. Anyway, I still think the UJ Junior was a great idea

Al


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-o...Collectables_Household_RL&hash=item19ec6c00ac
 
As an eBay Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Vacbear that was an exclusive. There is a version where the orange bits were blue. A very odd colour combination I always thought, you know, something cheery as the main colour, with white accents. Would have been better (and cheaper) to have white as the main colour.
 
HOOVER JUNIOR

The Hoover Junior 370 was in production from 1935 not 1934 and was in production until 1936 when it was replaced by model 375. Model 375 was in production until 1949 when was it was replaced by model 119. Model 119 was in production until 1955 when it was replaced by model 1224 which was in production until 1958.
 
I know someone here that had one many years ago. Late 70's early 80's. was always curious as to how well the suction was thru the hose. I like the direct connect to the fan. She also had a Kirby 519. But didn't have the hose set up for the Jr. How did or does the suction power with the hose compare to a 4 amp Kirby or 5 amp Kirby Dual Sanitronic? I know what a commercial and domestic Royal can do with the hose attached. Not quite as good as the Kirby's of the 70's and beyond. I was never impressed with the slide in adaptors or front converter of the convertibles or eureka up rights. There was a huge loss of suction because you couldn't make a tight seal. in spite of the fact you can pick up an area rug off the floor and pull it along using the machine as an upright.
 
The seal of the hose to the fan on a Hoover Junior was ok, but never the less the suction was poor.

Despite this, one often saw tools that had been used to an inch of their life, so clearly some Junior owners used the tools a lot. Perhaps they knew no different when it came to suction power, or maybe they did but owning a cylinder cleaner as well was not an option.

I have of course seen many tool kits that have hardly been used, if indeed at all. Again the possibilities are many; did those people have another cleaner to use, or did then simply not bother with any sort of tools and relied on hand brushes to supplement their upright cleaner?
 
Nate94, of all the people I knew of who had Juniors, not one of them had a dustette and all of them had the Junior tools. You have to remember at the time of the Junior, vacuums were not the throw away items they are today and we much more expensive to buy, so having 2 cleaners was not always an option for a lot of people.
 
The whole concept of two vacuum cleaners is something of a conundrum for me, because up until my mother bought an Electrolux 302 around 1978 or so to supplment her Electrolux 504 which was still very new at that time, I was not aware of people owning two vacuum cleaners. I didn't purchase my shop until 1979 and before then I didn't take much notice of what people were cleaning with.

My mother was a housekeep for numerous people over the years and was well liked by those she worked for. One family bought her an automatic washing machine; another -a Doctor- bought her the Electrolux 504. Up until that time she had been saving for a new vacuum cleaner, but when the 504 was given to her, she didn't go out and squander what she'd saved. Her old vacuum cleaner, a Hoover 262, was sent to live upstairs and when it finally died my mother -who by now was getting older and had found having a cleaner on each floor most satisfactory- used some of her savings to buy the Electrolux 302. She went for a cylinder as she really liked the advantages of both types and liked the idea of having one of each.

But when I had my shop I quickly realised that more and more people seemed to have another cleaner tucked away somewhere - in many cases people told me they inherited a vacuum cleaner when a relative died. But I know some did say they purchased two at different times.

But as Turbo500 says, it was not really the "done thing" at one time to have more than one of anything like that. Heaven knows some households didn't have a vacuum cleaner at all!
 
Ok. Would you equate "poor" to the suction power of a hoover convertible with the slide in adaptor? You could feel air moving but it was like a light breeze out side. I realize the machines had small motors by todays standards 2 and 3 amp motors. I forget what the watt conversion is to compare watts to amps. My Kirby Heritage II has a 4.5 amp motor for floors and 5.5 with the hose. Much better air flow than the 50's and 60's Kirby's with 4 and 5 amp motors. just goes to show the advances in technology. At the time they were exceptional performers and still do a respectable cleaning job today. Never got to try the Hoover Jr. as I always opted for the Kirby. She had the Kirby set with the hose and used the Jr for the carpet as it was easier to push.
 
Hoover Junior

@chris Turbo 500.

Chris just wanted to say I love this thread. For some reason I never noticed it until the other day.

I think the Hoover junior was one of the best selling vacs in the UK, not only that they lasted for ever. I would like to see a modern Vac last for years.

Paul
 
Kirby519 I have seen comments on here from UK members who say they feel the suction of the Junior was slightly better than that of the UK Senior (your Convertible), given the arrangement with the hose connections.
 
Seeing Vintagerepairers post earlier in this thread it reminded me, My Mom had a Hoover Junior from new, the first one with the top fill bag. We never had tools until a few years later in the 80's after some badgering from me so I could hoover the car. I'd be about 7 at the time. Even then Mom never once used the tools, too fiddly to fit, instead she used to use a hand brush with stiff bristles to do the edges of the carpet and the edges/corners of the stairs. Then she would use the Junior locked in the upright position to hoover the stairs, always starting from the top. Years later with a Turbopower Junior the stair cleaning was still done in the same way and I have to admit its very quick and effective so I can see why she used to do it that way.
 
Paul, it was probably THE best selling vacuum ever. It ran from 1944 - 1988/89, and from its launch until the early 80's was the best selling vacuum in the UK, only knocked off the top spot by the Turbopower's.
 
Vintagerepairer
Thanks for the insight. I kind of thought it maybe along those lines. Some times tough to "get a visual" when you aren't talking in cubic feet, watts etc. My so called Yard stick of measurement has ways been based on the Kirby performance as that is my brand of choice and have used the various models. I have also used other brands as well.

One time I saw mentioned that the Kirby's you have there in the UK and European market are all single speed motors. In comparison to our two speed. Low for floors high for hose use. Is that accurate? If so any reasoning for only having one speed on the machines in your market?
 
Hello again

Sadly I can tell you very little about Kirby as they are not at all popular in the UK in the same way other makes are, and it did seem that those who had them would take them to the offical dealerships to get them repaired. I only ever had experience of repairng a Hertitage Legend II once and that was 2-speed.
 
Hi,

<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">Steve (Kirby519) What I believe your referring to is the UK's Tradition's eneded up being single speed. It's possible that happened when they altered the saftey switch from the headlight back to the bottom again. But I'd need to check that before confirming if that was the case. </span>


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">Classic III's back and the Heritage onwards all had two speeds. The same as yours in the USA.</span>


 


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">Hope this helps.</span>


 


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">James
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</span>
 
Thank you.

Not sure where I saw or heard that the machines were not the same in both markets. Thought that sounded odd. But then anything is possible.

That could be that the single speed was in reference to failing safety switches

When the G3 came out the tech drive failed in many machines here. Did you have the same issue or had the bugs been worked out by the time it was rolled out there?
 
Hi,

<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">Steve, We didn't get the Generation 3 till 1992 over here and the G4 quickly replaced it.</span>


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">So most of the issue's were sorted out by time we got it. I seem to remember Ken (a distributor) telling me that on the Generation 3 if you attached the hose and sat on the floor and pulled the cleaner towards you sharply when the techdrive was on, the handle would move making the drive go in to reverse and you could have a game of tug of war with it. Never tried it myself. Apparently from the G4 onwards you can't do that.</span>


 


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">If you have any more questions about Kirby over in the UK market feel free to message me direct so we don't end up highjacking this thread.</span>


 


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">James
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</span>
 

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