The complete history of the Hoover Junior

[gottahaveahoove]

AL!!!!!! Aren't you kind!!!!!

Yes, I keep saying 'dirtfinder' when I KNOW it's DIRTSEARCHER!! Thanks, so much. I'm also searcing for that 'flip floortool', SIMILAR to an Electrolux...we NEVER had them on this side of the pond. Isn't it fun to find things on yoiur 'list'?
Shall I keep an eye on something for you as well?
John

 

[beko1987]

Ha my gran had curtains the same as that bag in the last picture!

Such was the Britishness of the Hoover Junior that someone must have painted one up for I imagine a queens jubilee...

Because I saw one looking all sorry on eBay a few years ago and bought it for a laugh!

 

[beko1987]

Will try and reveal the full serial number one day so someone can work out what it originally was!

 

[andy-lux]

Ive always found a junior easy to use. The tool set was ok if not the hose was a bit short and had a diving fit when balanced on stairs on the way down. But that aside. Great machines

 

[moojuiceuk]

My 119

As we're on the topic of Juniors - I was wondering about my little 119. I'm guessing it's a late one, but I wondered how late. I've has it for years now. A car boot sale find for £20. Came with instructions and boxed tools (only the dusting brush was missing).

Also, the cloth bag on this doesn't look like the usual 119 bag. Mine has the Hoover round logo, whereas all the 119's Ive seen seem to have HOOVER written vertically or VACUUM CLEANER for aftermarket bags. Were late 119's supplied with these bags or has this been replaced later on in life?

In any case, it gets used to clean my attic bedroom and that's about it. Lovely little thing.

 

[moojuiceuk]

And the serial number.......

 

[whirlpolf]

I just love this thread ;-)

Been following it for some while, just as I have been observing Juniors for quite some while. But just recently I got myself my own Junior Dirtsearcher 1334 (is it?) in blue and white with a headlight in the front cover.

Some childhood "being home" feeling is spreading: Back then almost half of the households of my school mates had Hoovers, most of them Juniors (sure thing that I'd be crawling their cellars, kitchen cabinets or laundry rooms for "what appliance sort of a family am I in here?" ;-)

Hey, here in Germany the last Junior was called "Hoover Turbopower, Junior Edition (= no hard body but a cloth bag)." (The "real" Juniors still being sold and being called "Hoover Junior, classic version" or Hoover Junior "hardbody, classic Junior" (as opposite to the Turbopower motor base).


But to me a "real Junior" is still the little crouched turtoise shell motor with the side vent for the outer bag. But this is just my feeling.
One thing I have never managed to get over is the suction space above the brush roll: So much room there, so many long minutes for heavier bits to be kept floating in some randomly swirling suction streams of air (until they finally come close to the belt spindle or in other words: to the circular fan opening thus being sucked in). Why hasn't there ever been a try to streamline this? It is just a square hollow space, basta.

Other than that I just love my Hoovers, the Ranger&Remember Shake-n-Vac mustard monster just the same as my little smurf-coloured Junior with its trustworthy (and ever so reluctantly speeding-up) little hum and air rush.

I wish we had such versatile and energy-modest vacs today. Yet lightweight, any grandmom could and would use them for years.
Where are the old "dirty air" blower motors that did so well with their outer bags for decades for just a fraction of the mains power used today?
What is so difficult today to have an internal rubber gasket in the wands (like the Hoovers had it?) to really transport a suction force over a distance of 2 metres to do a decent job right down there at the point of action? I mean WHAT?

 

[vintagerepairer]

The bag

Is a much later genuine replacement. Those which said "Vacuum cleaner" were none-genuine replacements. I don't know if I ever stocked any genuine bags in my shop as the none-genuine bags were no worse.

 

[vacbear58]

119 Date

Wes

As Benny says, the bag is a replacement, unfortunately the original bags, unless emptied after every use did tend to rot if the dirt was left lying in them. Thanks for posting the serial number, your cleaner is amongst the last them to be made, it is from the second half of 1956, with the 1224 replacing it in late 1956.

Its a nice tidy looking example though, and these do go on and on

Al

 

[moojuiceuk]

The bag

I kinda suspected it wasn't the original. Looks in too good a condition to be 50's vintage, especially with the white locking collar.

As for serial numbers, a little searching on the forums here has revealled some serial numbers!

http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?3836 - post #10.

Model 119 Hoover Junior, Bronze & Dark Brown, Produced October 1950 - December 1956
Serial Numbers:
K 10,000 = October 1950
K 100,000 = january 1951
K 200,000 = June 1951
K 300,000 = November 1951
K 400,00 = May 1952
K 500,000 = December 1952
K 600,000 = July 1953
K 700,000 = December 1953
K 800,000 = May 1954
K 900,000 = December 1954
KG 100,000 = March 1955
KG 200,000 = August 1955
KG 300,000 = January 1956
KG 430,430 = July 1956 Production End

As mine is KG438852, I guess it was made in the last few months of production in '56.

 

[ricky5050]

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]

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 !

 

[vacbear58]

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

 

[vintagerepairer]

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.

 

[ricky5050]

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

 

[vacbear58]

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

 

[vintagerepairer]

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!

 

[vacbear58]

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

 

[vintagerepairer]

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.

 

[PhilH]

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.