Royal hand held rescued from Thrift Store $1

You got a real gem there and for just a buck! These are great little handhelds, built just as tough as the metal Royal uprights. They were made from the mid '60s on up into the late '80s. The early ones have gray handles with red and gray cloth bags, while the later ones have the light blue color scheme like yours. I'm going to guess yours might be from 1986 or 1987 as it does not have the switch guard that my 1988 model does. It's just a little angled piece of metal that screws down under the nut that holds the switch in place and has a blue soft plastic cover on the upright part that matches the plastic on the handle.

In answer to your question, they do still make belts for these machines, but what they don't make anymore are the brush rolls. Replacing the belt is a little tricky. There's a little tool (readily available online) that will help you get it over the motor shaft but a big, flat blade screwdriver would work just as well. What's tricky is getting the belt twisted the right way. If you get it twisted the wrong way, it won't stay on the shaft. I had quite a bit of trouble with this, perhaps because I'm left-handed.

One other nice thing about these machines is you can choose to use the cloth bag as a shakeout bag or you can get disposable paper bag liners to keep the cloth bag clean. I thoroughly cleaned both of mine and use the paper liners. You don't have to make any modifications to the machine to use the paper liners but for some reason, it's easier to attach the bag with a paper liner in place if you turn it upside down so that the printed side of the bag is facing downward when everything is locked into place.


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Post# 357485 8/11/2016 at 12:17 (2,812 days old) by superdave (Tulsa)
Checkrate/Likes I saw this Royal hand held chrome vacuum cleaner not working for a dollar, it was in good shape and I plugged it in and the motor sounded like it was stuck and trying to turn and might have dirt in the motor. I said hey for the thrill of it for a dollar, why not it might be fixable. I took it home and disassembled it and found the belt jammed inside, Wow it works now! Do they still make belts for this? And it's missing a screw that covers an oil port, I think that's what it is, I don't know what year this is but my grandmother had one in the 70s. It's says volts 115 watts 175 Royal Appliance MFG.CO Cleveland Ohio Mod. 501 No. B62862 Photos... < > Photo 1 of 7 View Full Size

Post# 357492 , Reply# 1 8/11/2016 at 15:35 (2,812 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *A dollar well spent* You got a real gem there and for just a buck! These are great little handhelds, built just as tough as the metal Royal uprights. They were made from the mid '60s on up into the late '80s. The early ones have gray handles with red and gray cloth bags, while the later ones have the light blue color scheme like yours. I'm going to guess yours might be from 1986 or 1987 as it does not have the switch guard that my 1988 model does. It's just a little angled piece of metal that screws down under the nut that holds the switch in place and has a blue soft plastic cover on the upright part that matches the plastic on the handle. In answer to your question, they do still make belts for these machines, but what they don't make anymore are the brush rolls. Replacing the belt is a little tricky. There's a little tool (readily available online) that will help you get it over the motor shaft but a big, flat blade screwdriver would work just as well. What's tricky is getting the belt twisted the right way. If you get it twisted the wrong way, it won't stay on the shaft. I had quite a bit of trouble with this, perhaps because I'm left-handed. One other nice thing about these machines is you can choose to use the cloth bag as a shakeout bag or you can get disposable paper bag liners to keep the cloth bag clean. I thoroughly cleaned both of mine and use the paper liners. You don't have to make any modifications to the machine to use the paper liners but for some reason, it's easier to attach the bag with a paper liner in place if you turn it upside down so that the printed side of the bag is facing downward when everything is locked into place.

Post# 357496 , Reply# 2 8/11/2016 at 16:44 (2,812 days old) by superdave (Tulsa)
Checkrate/Likes *Add oil to this Royal model* The handle on this vacuum has five screws, the one near the handle must be a flat screw that is missing, it just covers the oil hole on the motor, it did sound rough at first switching it on, I put four drops of motor oil in and Voila! Smooth running now. View Full Size

Post# 357610 , Reply# 3 8/14/2016 at 02:25 (2,810 days old) by hygiene903 (Galion, OH)
Checkrate/Likes *Nice Find Dave!* I have one just like it! Real handy for stairs and furniture. I'm thinking it may be a little older that Human posted, more like late 70's or early 80's. Here's mine. Jeff

Post# 357612 , Reply# 4 8/14/2016 at 02:30 (2,810 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)
Checkrate/Likes GREAT little machines-Too bad TTI still doesn't make them.