The Vintage Hoover Emporium

Fuelled by the desire to offer consumers the best machines on the market, Hoover favoured a policy of continuous development of their products. New features emerged as the company benefitted from both the advance of manufacturing technology and the materials available, and from feedback from Hoover users and dealers.

Their Research and Development Progamme, founded in 1909, worked tirelessly to create this new technology. By 1922, just 14 years after its foundation, the Hoover Company owned 52 exclusive patents, ensuring they were always one step ahead of the competition. Some of these new advances, such as the Agitator brush-roll and the 'Hedlite' dirt-finder lamp made their way into production. Others, like the permanently attached onboard hose, and the power-nozzle for built-in home cleaning units, never saw the light of day.

Below, some of these design refinements are examined in detail.

When the first Hoovers were introduced, one of their key selling points was their motor-powered revolving brush. Since Hoover owned the patent on this device, competitors were unable to include it on their machines until the patent expired in 1925. The cleaners of other manufacturers struggled along employing either suction alone, or a carpet-sweeper type wheel-driven brush-roll, to dislodge the dirt. Hoover's design gave the company an advantage above and beyond all other vacuum cleaners of the time.

Hoover demonstrated that the motor-driven brush, sweeping the carpet over 1000 times each minute, was far more efficient at removing the dirt than any other method. The principle depended on the carpet being drawn to the suction opening, where the brush could gently tap against it - the resulting vibration dislodged the buried grit and threw it into airstream, to be carried through the machine and into the bag.

This effect replicated the older method of cleaning carpets by hanging them on a line and beating them by hand, but required far less time and effort, and was much less wearing on both the carpet and the housewife! Since the carpets didn't have to be taken up, it meant the user could clean without moving all the furniture. It also meant that carpets could be thoroughly cleaned regularly - Hoover suggested twice a week - as opposed to once a year, allowing much higher standards of cleanliness in general. 

Hoover also noted that the revolving brush restored trampled-down carpet fibres, restoring the brightness and freshness of worn carpets.

Once Hoover's patent expired, other manufactures rushed to include their own version of the revolving brush in their machines. Hoover had anticipated this eventuality, and had been developing a new feature which would re-affirm their position as market leaders. Their Research and Development programme had noted the beneficial effects of vibration in the extration of dirt when seeking to improve the performance of the original Model O, and were looking to enhance the vibrations caused by the bristles hitting the carpet. They concluded that the bristles had too much 'give', and didn't tap the carpet hard enough. Hoover's engineers experimented with numerous designs intended to amplify the effect, such as the system shown in this 1922 patent. It comprises of a spiralled row of bristles, twinned with a spiralled row of balls mounted on springs:

The balls-and-springs design proved problematic; the springs wore out rapidly, and the whole system made far too much noise. The design Hoover finally settled on is shown below; the Hoover 'Agitator' combined the sweeping actions of former models, but added a much stronger beating action via 4 metal bars, extracting even more of the trodden-in dirt. Hoover called this effect 'Positive Agitation':

Hoover debuted their new design on 1926 Models 700 and 543, and continued to use a variations of a similar design until the early 1980's.

Hoover US introduced the first re-usable, disposable paper dustbag with Models 575 and 725 in 1929. It was developed after years of research, and Hoover claimed it was the first practical, convenient and efficient non-cloth dustbag designed for electric cleaners.

The Airway company had already introduced a disposable 'cellulose filter fibre dust container' on their machines, and owned the patent on it, effectively preventing other manufacturers from using them until the patent expired in 1953. They filed a lawsuit against Hoover for patent infringement, but Hoover won as their bag was re-usable, as opposed to Airway's single-use version. Rather than sitting inside the outer cloth bag, Hoover's Hygienisac replaced it altogether when fitted, requiring a converter-device to allow it to be securely fitted to the dust outlet on the chassis.

Made of treated pulp-felt, it was durable, and could be empied and re-used several times before requiring replacement.

Introduced as the 'Hoover Hedlite', the headlamp began as a US-only feature, which first appeared on Models 750 and 900 (and was offered as a $5 option on Model 425), becoming standard equipment in March 1932*. 'Special' models - ie. older machines rebuilt by Hoover - were sometimes retro-fitted with headlights.

In the early days of electricity, many houses were only wired for electric lighting, and appliances would be run directly from lamp sockets with the use of an adaptor plug. This meant that the user would frequently find themselves vacuuming under low-light levels. The Hedlite, essentially a lamp fitted to the motor cap at the front of the cleaner, provided a beam of light which illuminated the carpet directly in front of the machine, making cleaning easier.

In 1933, famed industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss totally redesigned the Hedlite - in its original state, it lacked aesthetic appeal. He relocated the lamp's componants under the motor cap, from where the light beam shone out unobtrusively under a beautifully-designed streamlined cowl. Renamed the 'Dirt Finder', it was first introduced on Hoover models 800 and 450 - these machines were also Hoover's first in Britain to feature a headlamp of any kind. American versions were also provided with a toggle-switch, located at the rear of the motor, which allowed the Dirt Finder to be switched off when it wasn't required - British cleaners lacked this feature.

Headlamps continued to be a deluxe feature on Hoover's machines until the late 1990's, by which time the need for such a feature in bright, well-lit modern homes was questionable, and often viewed as little more than a sales gimmick!

* Rare early production examples of these models can be found without the Hedlite.

Not offered in Britain, the 'Aromador' was a very early air-freshening device. A modified fan cover cup held a glass phial containing cotton wadding infused with a scent. By turning the valve knob to 'On', the user could release the perfume into the airstream, covering any stale-smelling dust, tobacco or cooking odours, and scenting the room as they vacuumed. The valve could be shut when not required.

Photos courtesy of Bob Di Stacy

The picture on the left shows the original style 2-speed on/off switch. The right shows the newer style, which was introduced on late-production Model 825's. The original style proved unreliable, prone to jamming, so these switches were frequently replaced. When this done, the cheaper and more readily available 1-speed on/off switch was used, as many users found that the lower of the 2-speeds was unnecessary. Therefore, it is unusual to find either of the styles of 2-speed switch intact. They are often difficult to repair today, because the Hoover Serice Agents often removed not only the 3rd internal handle wire, but the 3rd motor-plug pin, and the 3rd wire attached to the field coil; this usually means an intact 2-speed field coil must be sourced and installed.

The picture on the left shows the original method of bag suspension, introduced with the Model 725 in 1930. A canvas strap, which attached to the bag with a metal hook, was pulled taut by a spring inside the handle. This system was designed to ensure that the bottom of the bag didn't drag on the floor when the handle's position was lowered, or when the bag was full. This elaborate system shows the amount of thought which went into the design of these machines, and also indicates Hoover's desire to offer consumers something more deluxe than its competitors.

However, although well-intentioned, the retractable strap system was flawed; the round metal stud which prevented the spring from pulling the strap into the handle proved to be a weak point, and almost without exception, caused the strap to break after years of use. Hoover Service Agents replaced them with the device seen in the photo on the right: a metal plate, which covered the hole left by the pulley assembly, with a hook attached. A spring was then used to hold the bag up. This system was a lot more durable, and Hoover later used a spring as standard, beginning with the Junior 370, and continuing until the early 1960's.

This small metal stud allowed the user to conveniently store the belt when disengaged from the fan during tool use. This was introduced in 1930 on the Model 725. On previous models, the belt simply dropped into the suction duct, and the user would have to risk breaking a nail scrabbling about for it after use!

The photo on the left shows the original bag-locking design: 2 simple bolts, which the user loosened to remove the bag, then tightened when replacing it. The photo on the right shows the improved system, first seen on the 1931 Commercial Model 900, but introduced domestically on the Model 825: 2 levers, which the user simply flipped 90 degrees to achieve the same result.

These photos show the 2 styles of handle Hoover used on their early cleaners. The left is the older of the two, introduced in 1930 on the Model 725. It had a separate phenol oval-shaped end-cap, which, being held in place by nothing but friction, tended to fall off during use and get lost. It is therefore often found missing from these cleaners today! Its design reflected the organic Art Nouveau style of the 20's and early 30's, with a ribbed grip panel, which was embossed with a vine-like tendril pattern.

The picture on the right shows the newer design of hand-grip, introduced in 1938 on the very short-lived Model 875, and after the war, on Models 262, 160 and 960. It was a Henry Dreyfuss design, very minimalist and modern in style, with a greater concession to ergonomics than the previous grip. A more durable, one-piece rubber molding, it didn't need a separate end-cap. Like the previous design, however, it was prone to perishing over the decades if subjected to humidity and fluctuating temperatures. This problem plagued Hoover handgrips up until the early 1960's, when synthetic plastic parts were introduced.