The Royal Metal Upright by Benjamin Edge & Jeff Schroff

[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

 

[ornery]

Holy Encyclopedia, Batman!

Gawd Ben, do you know as much about Kirbys? I can't imagine where you would find time to learn, with all you know about the Royal!

This pdf is just an outline of what you could put to paper. I wish I could tell you, you'd have a marketable commodity if you wrote that book, but I know the market would be fairly small. I for one would buy it, though!

I just remembered the information I wanted to add. That is, "The Best Model To Have". I've got about ten days to search for those diagrams, and add that best model chapter. Better get to it...

http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?18440

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

John,

I wish you luck on your book, and I know it won't be on everyone's list.

Again, in the realm of Kirby it will be a tough journey to locate any master service books, especially those for the commercial units.

~Ben

 

[shoshani]

PDF Export Programs

John,

The OpenOffice suite is free and will export to PDF. It will also read from (and write to) just about any standard word processing file format.

As someone brand-new to the world of Royals, btw, I have to tell you that I really enjoy The Royal Metal Upright booklet. Eagerly anticipating having one in front of me!

http://www.openoffice.org

 

[ornery]

No Book For Me

Thanks Michael, but it seems any solution other than the genuine Adobe application is able to keep the text and image hyper-links intact.

That's OK. Within the next week I'm going to polish it up a bit and leave it. It's hardly a book. It's just a compilation of Ben & Jeff's contributions to Vacuumland.

The true, unwritten book about the Royal Metal Upright is in Ben's head. That tome would be the last word on the subject. I doubt there is a Royal employee on the planet that knows as much about it. And, what little Ben doesn't know about the history, Jeff could easily fill in.