The Royal Metal Upright by Benjamin Edge & Jeff Schroff

[ornery]

Well Ben and Jeff, I couldn't wait any longer for you to write your book, so I compiled your posts from the last few years into a PDF about the Royal Metal Upright. I'm going to call this a draft, and keep adding to it. I'll leave the file name the same.

If you, Alex Taber, or anyone else has an issue with this compilation, or the links in it, just shout out, or delete this entire post.

Also, please make any suggestions for additions or changes, and I'll do my best to get it done.

Thanks a million for all the work you've done, and especially to Mr. Taber for creating and maintaining this excellent site.

http://www.ornery.net/Royal_Metal_Upright.pdf

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

John,

You're welcome. I too would appreciate final thoughts by the webmasters here about your book.

~Ben

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

John,

I know this book you did would still be a work-in-progress, so any further revisions as to the models sold would be appreciated here.

~Ben

 

[hygiene903]

Hi John,

I do have some corrections for you, but would prefer to email you privately with them. If you would send your email address to me at [email protected] I would appreciate it.
Jeff

 

[dysonman1]

Royal's first vacuum cleaner was made in 1910. This is the model 1. Royal built the Health-Mor upright, then the first two Filter Queen model (200 and 350). They also built Modern Hygiene vacuums.

Also, Alex Taber founded the VCCC, and is considered one of the premier historians of vintage vacuums, but Vacuumland is not Alex's site. It actually belongs to the Webmasters, Robert and Fred.

 

[ornery]

Off To A Flying Start!

The Model 1 is prominently featured in the compilation thanks to Tom Gasko, but I've never heard of Robert and Fred. I thought the VCCC and Vacuumland were one and the same. I hope they'll forgive me!

 

[dysonman1]

Vacuumland was started by the VCCC, years ago, using funds from the annual dues. About a year ago, the VCCC's Board of Directors gave up control of Vacuumland to Robert (who started Automatic Washer . org). Vacuumland belongs to Robert and his partner Fred S. who are the webmasters. It now has nothing to do with the VCCC, which is a club for dues paying members to gather at an annual gathering. The VCCC is not the only vacuum collectors club, but one of several. Many folks on Vacuumland do not belong to any "club" at all.

If you need information on the first 20 years of Royal history, the Vacuum Cleaner Museum in St. James, MO has all the information you might need.

 

[ronni]

Wonderful compilation, John. Looks like you took a great deal of time to assemble and organize all the Royal information for you and other Royal vacuum cleaner enthusiasts. I am not a collector, either, but appreciate references like yours if ever I have a purchasing opportunity. I can imagine that it will assist many who have Royal metal upright questions.

Kudos also to Ben, Jeff, Alex, Tom, and others who have generously shared their researched information with the rest of us.

Perhaps others will take the notion to compile information on other brands!


Here is a 1965 Royal ad:

 

[ornery]

"...thanks to Tom Gasko..."

And, now I know Dysonman1 is is Tom Gasko. Gawd, I feel like a weenie!

I would so love to visit your museum, but I can't imagine the next time I'll be anywhere near Missouri. If I were to show up, it would be with camera, and I'd shoot a thousand pics!

Not sure you could really help, or would want to help with the questions I had when I found Vacuumland. I simply had a well worn Model 1030Z, that needed parts and some TLC. I didn't search long before I found what I needed to know, mostly from Ben. I'm just a user, not a collector, but anything I can learn about the metal upright will help in the long run. That will be my vacuum of choice forever. Which model I finally settle on is still to be determined. I am so fond of the 131, I know it won't be replaced, but I may add a partner. That would make me a collector, eh?

Anyway, while searching for parts and information, I stumbled on post after post by Ben, that so much work had gone into, and frequently no replies at all. At this point, if the archives disappear, I'll still have those posts.

That reminds me of a chapter I need to add. "The Best Royal Metal Upright to Have." That's probably a question you could have easily answered, if I had known to ask you. As it is, Ben has fielded that question a few times, and I will add his replies. Might even throw in my own two cents, since I've had my hands on a few at this point.

And, that brings me to a question I had for Ben. What did you mean by, "...any further revisions as to the models sold would be appreciated here."

These things are coming in the door two at a time now!

 

[unimatic1140]

I hope they'll forgive me!



Hi John, welcome to Vacuumland, I'm Robert Seger and no worries what so ever, there really isn't a way you would have known that unless you were around here last April when the transition happened. Thank you Tom for filling him in. Yes the VCCC is a completely separate club from Vacuumland.



I had heard through the grapevine that Louis Rescigno and Chad Cunningham from the VCCC were working on a separate website specifically for the VCCC, but I don't have the details, maybe they can fill us in at some point.



Great Royal .pdf by the way!

 

[kevin]

Here are some Royal ads I found on eBay that add to your Royal survey:

From 1941:

 

[kevin]

From 1972:

 

[kevin]

From 1924:

 

[kevin]

Another from 1924:

 

[ornery]

What A Day!

Started this cold, dreary Monday with news that I might have dissed the owners of this site, got overwhelmed at work, spent 20 minutes in line at the post office for a damage claim, lost an Ebay auction for vintage parts I could have used...

Then the tide turned. Took delivery of two Royal Metal Uprights in really good condition, met Tom Gasko and Robert. Got some great ideas for the book and some cool ads to top it off. They are a hoot!

Been cleaning up one of those vacuums and I'm whipped, so I won't be able to edit the book tonight. I'm thinking of sending the Word document straight to Ben & Jeff to play with. I've only got Adobe Acrobat Pro for another 28 days, and then the trial ends, so I hope to have it final by then.

Great to meet you Robert, and thanks!

 

[kevin]

From 1937 (with June Lang who was recently featured in "Ali Baba Goes to Town"):

 

[kevin]

From 1920 "The Trail of Play-Bound Feet":

 

[kevin]

From 1926 "The Easiest Cleaning Imaginable"

 

[tylerawells]

Tip on PDF files

@ornery -

Well - you don't have to have Adobe Acrobat Pro to create PDF files. If you're using Microsoft Office 2007 or newer, you can do File -> Save As... and pick PDF from the drop down menu and it will save your document in a PDF format. The other option is to download PDFCreator, an open source program that installs a print-to-PDF capability so you can generate PDF files from any program. It is rock solid reliable and it's not a space hog or install a bunch of adware. You can see the link to that here: http://www.pdfforge.org/


- TW

 

[stricklybojack]

Thanks for the effort all,

it is much appreciated. Can't wait to see those latest machines Ornery, ya really do make 'em shine.

 

[ornery]

Whipped Again

Stayed up too late last night, and struggled to be productive all day. Got home and blew through the polishing and assembly of the 880. It's pretty as can be, but I'm doubly spent now.

Word does save as PDF, but only text hyperlinks function, not image links. Found out that's an old bug, that's still not fixed. Just installed PDFCreator, and neither the text or image hyperlinks work, nor do the bookmark links. Maybe PDF Architect will work better, but I need a key to allow it to open the Word document.

Needless to say, I'm going to hit the sack without doing any more editing tonight.

Thanks for the effort!

 

[dawn]

What Model Do We Own?

Hi! First time posting here. Thanks for all the valuable info I've used from this site in the recent past! Also, the Royal history link/PDF file is great & thanks for all that hard work!!!

My folks purchased a new Royal upright in I think the 1970-1975 era, according to the history/PDF link on this site (the name plate looks like that era). I'm a little confused though... it looks like the model # on the plate is a 201 or 301 but, I didn't find that in the info. Do you think they own an 801?

It had a light blue bag (which was just thrown away a couple weeks ago), and several years ago when serviced, the following was replaced: cord, top plastic handle, belt, possibly the roller brush, and the furniture guard. I'm not positive but, I think the round "-o-matic" plate on the front light area was possibly replaced but, it could be the original: it's red.

The Royal has been a workhorse for sure! It still works! We haven't used it at their home as much in the last 25 years because their retirement home came w/ a central vac but, we HAVE used it quite a bit. My Dad just purchased a commercial Royal to replace the old one but, we got to thinking that it was such a shame to throw a good workhorse away... we tried the new B style orange bag from the new vac on the old one & it almost fit... he thinks if he files down the clasps or grooves (not sure which part he was referring to) that if he ordered another orange B outer zipper bag that he could put it on the old Royal too... What do you all think & do you think it will work well? [He has asthma & likes the quality of the orange bag better than the old cloth one we had to throw away--it was torn]. Any tips for him/us on that for ordering and replacing? --Thanks!!!

Again, do you all think the old one is an 801 since it looks like a 201 or 301 but, we can't make out the first digit clearly even w/ a magnifying glass?... Thanks!!!

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

Dawn,

It probably would be an 801, or maybe a 601.

~Ben

 

[ornery]

Might As Well Keep It

You've got money wrapped up in that unit now. If you replaced the roller brush, that's $25.00 and probably that much again for the balance of parts. If it had a light blue bag, it should have had a light blue belt cover.

The newer bag should fit without modification. Lubricate the rubber gasket in the neck, and see if it doesn't slip on. Don't file the pins!

Probably should have kept the old bag, and just patched it. Those are REALLY porous compared to the orange bags. Helps air flow with the six blade fan and smaller motor. The disposable bag is doing the dirt collecting, and can be purchased in HEPA versions if that would help your dad.

Anyway, you wouldn't get much for it now without the original bag, so might as well make use of it, especially with the money already invested.

 

[dawn]

Thank you to each of you!

Thanks SO MUCH for the info on possible model number and also, the info on repairs, and especially the bag info! They had all those things repaired about 18 years ago but, we love that Royal! We have all agreed that we think the Royal is stronger than the central vac so, I think we'll be using the old workhorse Royal downstairs occasionally now, and the new Royal upstairs exclusively, or vica versa. My Mom is 78 & Dad 80 and they didn't want to fool w/ repairing the bag (I wish they would've but, oh well... I'm not their age & they've done so many repairs of various things all their life so, I guess they thought if they had the money just spend it. ;-) --But, it would've been nice to keep the original bag... oh well). Thank you again for your help; it is GREATLY appreciated!!!

 

[rugsucker]

June Lang was not the only-

-celebrity to have a Royal in their home.A book showing various Elvis items included an invoice from a Memphis carpet store for carpeting AND a Royal vacuum for Graceland in about the early 70s.

 

[ilovevacs]

does anyone have a Royal model 2075

If anyone has a royal vacuum model 2075 please email me at [email protected] or look at my profile heres is a picture of the royal not mine again if have one please email me

 

[ornery]

Ten Days Left To Edit

Updated the pdf a bit, but there's a lot more that can be done. For one, I'm trying to find some decent parts diagrams for the vintage machines from the 90's and older. The ones available at ereplacementparts.com are illegible. I've added a gorgeous one for the Model 4008, but have none older than that.

Only ten days before my copy of Acrobat XI Pro expires, and I can't afford to buy it. Any suggestions for additions or edits? Speak now, or forever hold your peace... for a long while anyway.

http://www.ereplacementparts.com/ro..._37606.html?osCsid=74putisucj87r13nee5ldl5kp3

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

John,

Good luck on finding those old Royal master service books. You might be able to contact a few Royal dealers near you and check with them to see if they have any obsolete service books for you.

One notable edit: the trio of vacuums with the removable nozzle (models 888, 980 and 990) were all produced through early 1987, because there actually were a few out there that had the angular fan case that was used on all Royal metal uprights starting in April 1985. Those last-gen units all had 5.4 amp motors.

~Ben