Thread Number: 29853  /  Tag: Pre-1950 Vacuum Cleaners
Hoover Cloth Bag Cleaner 		[Down to Last]

Vacuumland's exclusive eBay Watch:
scroll >>> for more items --- [As an eBay Partner, eBay may compensate vacuumland.org if you make a purchase using any link to eBay on this page]
Post# 332258   8/22/2015 at 16:13 (3,166 days old) by ronreeland (Granville, IL)        

Hi: Please take a look at this Hoover bag cleaner on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HOOVER-UBER-RARE...

Can anyone explain why the tube containing the brushroll is such an extended length?

And just what is the right angle elbow tube at the motor end?

Finally, it appears the motor itself should be positioned so that a dirt catching bag would be attached to the exhaust flange with the thumb screws.

The photo below is my Hoover bag cleaner which my Father and I used repairing vacuums back in the 1950's and 60's. Notice the shorter brushroll tube and lack of the strange elbow that are shown on the ebay auction.

Thanks,
Ron Reeland

Post# 332264 , Reply# 1   8/22/2015 at 18:32 (3,166 days old) by electrolux137 (Los Angeles)        

electrolux137's profile picture
~
~

That eBay specimen =is= a mystery. I also have a bag cleaner (used to have two of them) and they're both like yours.

The second one in the photos below had a bag that I believe was made by Hoover especially for the Bag Cleaner.

It was silvery-gray with darker-gray pinstripes, and the name "HOOVER" ran vertically down the front of the bag -- but it was upside-down, so that it read right-side up when mounted upside-down on the Bag Cleaner. (Does that make sense?!)

I've never seen another silver Hoover bag like it, and why else would the Hoover name have been printed on it upside-down?

That bag went missing somewhere along the way. I thought maybe I had tucked it away when I sent it to another collector to rebuild it (it was a real mess when I found it), but it never turned up.

The last image I posted was from a 1940s issue of Popular Mechanics. The bag cleaner shown there is yet another variation and one I've never seen in real life.

  Photos...       <              >      Photo 1 of 6         View Full Size
Post# 332266 , Reply# 2   8/22/2015 at 20:21 (3,166 days old) by 3rdGenVacGuy (Columbus, Ohio )        
bag cleaner

 I have one of the short tube models that is pictured. I used it this afternoon to clean a cloth bag on a commercial Koblenz cloth bag. My great uncle use to make the tube portion of bag cleaners, under the Finkes manufacturing company. I still have some, I will post a picture on Monday. The model on Ebay is strange for three reasons, one the bag tube is very long, not sure what brush they would have used. The original used the tufted type 1 brushroll, (102,103,105,541). Second, the right angle tube coming off usually had a flat plate that was cast into the housing. it has bosses for three bolt holes, but they are not tapped and there is no hole there. Third, the casting to mount the motor is a separate casting. Maybe it is just turned to the side. The original points down, and the bag hangs below the machine.

Post# 332273 , Reply# 3   8/22/2015 at 22:08 (3,166 days old) by HisMastersVoice (Ferndale, MI)        

hismastersvoice's profile picture
From what he told me when I talked to him on the phone last year, his dad had this bag cleaner connected to a tank, I believe the Hoover motor just drives the brush, and external suction was applied to the pipe on the side. Of course this is just speculation.

Post# 333089 , Reply# 4   9/2/2015 at 17:55 (3,155 days old) by ronreeland (Granville, IL)        

Thanks for the comments. I took a closer look at my own Hoover bag cleaner and it does indeed have a cast in flat plate that could be bored, drilled and tapped to attach an elbow as shown on the eBay offering. I had never noticed that feature before.

I speculate that the unit on eBay was used in a large service department with a central suction vacuum that was attached to the elbow with a flexible hose. The fact that the bag cleaner casting provided for the elbow or similar opens the possibility that Hoover may have used them in a factory service department.

The long tube does use the same brush-roll as on a standard bag cleaner so the actual intake opening is the same as my bag cleaner. Tough to guess why the tube is so long. A standard Hoover cloth bag would not extend the entire length of the metal tube.

Perhaps, something other than vacuum cleaner bags were cleaned on it that required the extended length.

Ron Reeland

Post# 336502 , Reply# 5   10/29/2015 at 19:38 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        
Bag cleaner

 Hey y'all! I have a Hoover bag cleaner I've had for years and use constantly on both vintage and modern cloth bags (it's the usual type) a while back I noticed the original 105 style. brush roller wasn't really doing it's best, so I managed to cut a Hoover wind tunnel brush to size and fit it on the long drive shaft in place of the original brush. It made a world of difference! Also about this time last year, I noticed after cleaning only a few bags, it's efficiency would drop due to the pores in it's cloth bag becoming blocked with the fine dust being removed from the dirty bags. So I did some thinking... I removed the original cloth bag, took the bag mount ring to the hardware store and got a rubber pipe reducer to fit both the bag ring, and a larger diameter shopvac hose. Using hose clamps to connect it all, I ran the shopvac hose to a large industrial dust collector. The results were amazing! After cleaning 30 or so bags, (without emptying) not only did the dust collector dramatically increase the bag cleaners suction, but it maintained it's airflow due to the larger surface area of filtration of the dust collector. I'll do my best to add photos...
As for the eBay bag cleaner... as far as the unusual length of the brush tube, especially if it was in fact a part of Hoover service on a factory level, there were at one time those massive commercial machines that looked like a 700 on steroids which had much larger bags! Also I have noticed that in using my normal size bag cleaner on normal size Hoover and other bags, when bag cleaning, once I get to the end of the bag opposite the end I started at, the excess of the bag ends up bunching up around the motor end, making it slightly more difficult to keep rotating the bag around the brush tube. So, if this was a machine being used constantly on some factory level, the longer tube would make bag cleaning of any bag much easier a task. As for the bag exhaust pointing to the side rather than down... I got curious last night and removed my bag cleaner motor, I found that the pattern of screws that hold the fan housing to the bag cleaner housing does not allow the fan housing to be rotated in the direction that the eBay cleaner is in. New screw holes would have to be drilled. But why? A bag hanging from that would become restricted! Here's y thought... if not mounted on a pedestal, normally they can only be mounted on the side of a bench for the bag to hang off the side. However, if this machine was to sit in the middle of a bench, turning the fan housing in the manner it's in would allow the cleaner to sit flush on a surface, and the collection bag would lay flat being supported by the bench behind it.?
And then there's that side tube!... it makes no sense to me, I get the concept (mine works as a "tandem air" bypass and flow thru design, and works great, the one suction motor helps the other) but that tube leading to a dust collector, being placed Before the exhaust of the Hoover motor seems like it would work against itself. (By the way, the eBay machine must have a fan on it, because the seller said upon trying it, it blew a dust cloud out of it) tho I'm sure it must have worked somehow, it was in fact built that way. What I'm curious about is, did anyone notice on the front side of that dust collector elbow, there is some kind of pipe fitting covered in duct tape??? Looks like a canister or other vacuum hose must have hooked into it, possibly to clean the inner corners of the cloth bags, or to vacuum the areas surrounding the bag cleaner to keep clean..? I've also never seen that brush adjustment plate on top, or the screw sticking out the side of it. The normal ones do have a brush adjustment for brush wear, but by removing screws in the tube and moving the bearing holders.
Anyway, there's my 2 cents on the matter! For anyone reading, I would also be very interested in anyone who might have or know of any spare bag cleaner parts at all!... mainly round caps that ciiover the end of the brush tube, also bearing holders, bearings, brush rollers (same as a 541, 102, etc), brush shaft pulleys, etc, anything would be a huge help. Happy to hear from anyone out there in vacuumland!
Thanks and happy vacuuming (and bag cleaning).

Post# 336504 , Reply# 6   10/29/2015 at 19:54 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        



Post# 336505 , Reply# 7   10/29/2015 at 20:04 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        



Post# 336506 , Reply# 8   10/29/2015 at 20:04 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        



Post# 336507 , Reply# 9   10/29/2015 at 20:06 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        



Post# 336508 , Reply# 10   10/29/2015 at 20:07 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        



Post# 336509 , Reply# 11   10/29/2015 at 20:08 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        



Post# 336510 , Reply# 12   10/29/2015 at 20:08 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        



Post# 336511 , Reply# 13   10/29/2015 at 20:09 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        



Post# 336512 , Reply# 14   10/29/2015 at 20:10 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        



Post# 336513 , Reply# 15   10/29/2015 at 20:12 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        



Post# 336514 , Reply# 16   10/29/2015 at 20:12 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        



Post# 336515 , Reply# 17   10/29/2015 at 20:16 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        

I apologize for posting all the pictures of my bag cleaner separately (I could not get the option to list them all together to work) but there is how I have mine set up! And tho it's not kept all original, it can easily be put back to original. It works like a beast!

Post# 336516 , Reply# 18   10/29/2015 at 20:22 (3,098 days old) by CharlesKirby66 (Manteca, CA)        
Awesome shop!!!

 charleskirby66's profile picture

I am so envious!  All I have is a Handi-Butler, hand tools, and some polishing cloths and compounds.  Your setup is amazing!
Post# 336521 , Reply# 19   10/29/2015 at 22:46 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        

Thank you very much. I basically did the best I could with the space I had, that's my basement under my house. You wouldn't know it from the photo, but there's close to 600 Vacs behind the staircase that's behind the bag cleaner, as well as hundreds of hoses, parts, etc. Not to brag, but that buffer machine is a kids toy compared to my other one.. it's about 60 years old, HUGE, the pedestal alone weighs a couple hundred pounds! Its similar to what would be used in the Kirby factory for rebuilding. I got it from an old airway dealer in upstate new York years back. But it's so heavy, I didn't trust taking it down my cellar steps! Buffing has become my specialty, I myself started a long time ago with a handi Butler. I have had thoughts of offering services of buffing, bag cleaning and general rebuilding to other fellow collectors, given all the equipment I have, along with other specialty dealer tools from Kirby, Hoover, eureka, etc. Also have a lot of oddball rebuild parts.. this has been a lifelong obsession since 2 years old, 25 years later I've become an expert on a lot. A dream I'm working towards is to open my own vac shop/museum! I'm also more than happy to pass along any knowledge I may have, as well as answer any questions or help however I can! What started as a hobby and passion, has turned into quite a profession, and I couldn't be happier with it! And if you (or anyone) is ever in the new Jersey area, you're more than welcome to stop by. Happy vacuuming!

Post# 336522 , Reply# 20   10/29/2015 at 22:50 (3,098 days old) by lilkidtech ()        



Post# 336531 , Reply# 21   10/30/2015 at 02:22 (3,098 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)        

VERY CLEVER tandem air bag cleaner!!!Do you have the Shopsmith power tool that is used with that dust collector?I have two Shopsmith machines-but don't have the dust collector.I have thoughts of trying my Kirbys or other uprights with my central vacs I just added to my collection.You have a "Monster Vac" bag cleaner-First connected the Kirby to my NSS M1-will try with the NuTone central vacuums I now have.

Post# 336562 , Reply# 22   10/30/2015 at 14:40 (3,097 days old) by lilkidtech ()        
Monster vac bag cleaner

 I do not have any other shopsmith tools, just the dust collector. I found it on the curb about a year ago, and new right away it was going to be hooked to my bag cleaner! It was dead when I got it, tore it all apart, was sawdust clogging the armature and all thru the motor and brushes. I blew the whole thing out, improved some gaskets on it both for better suction and to better protect the motor from further dust accumulation. Afterwards it worked like a charm. It only had the top filter bag, so I used a heavy rubber strap to hold a contractor trash bag beneath it. Its massively impressive, to but a dirty bag to be cleaned on the bag cleaner, first turn the Hoover motor on, and then see the difference by switching on the dust collector. I need to make sure to keep a tight belt on the bag cleaner brush, because with the help of the dust collector the suction almost causes the bag to be cleaned to slow if not stop the brush roller if I don't keep that bag moving!
I've always had that "monster vac" mentality tho... a month ago, I used a compact and tried using an oreck as a power nozzle (wasn't impressed) I as well was going to try the Kirby idea, connect it's hose to the blower and hook it to the handle as the cord is hooked to it. Thought it would look cool too, just haven't yet. If you do, let me know how it turns out! I have a "kirbylux", I cut notches in the lower part of a red & gray Kirby handle, mounted a chrome lux 30 cord winder, and replaced the black cord with a matching red Kirby cord. It almost looked like it belonged, used it to vacuum my service area for years too. All good fun... keep me posted, and happy (monster) vacuuming!

Post# 336605 , Reply# 23   10/30/2015 at 23:44 (3,097 days old) by super-sweeper (KSSRC Refurbishment Center)        

super-sweeper's profile picture

Got any pics of those monster vacs? Sounds interesting!
Post# 336607 , Reply# 24   10/31/2015 at 01:44 (3,097 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)        

I am going to try the Kirby with my central vacs sometime soon.will have to figure a way to connect the hoses together.And of course run the machines on separate outlets.Great curb find-the Shopsmith dust collector.Glad you got it working.The machine originally used plastic trash bags to collect the dust after it was filtered out with the cloth top.You can go to the Shopsmith website and order parts for that unit.They still make them.Beleive they also sell replacement top bags that can filter more than the one normally provided.I tried to use an upended Royal metal pright vac as a "bag Cleaner" seemed to work but was awkward.Too bad the Hoover bag cleaner machines aren't still made.With all those Sanitaire dump bag vacuums out there-the bag cleaner could still be useful.And if you have a central vac-connect the bag cleaner to that!

Post# 336616 , Reply# 25   10/31/2015 at 09:20 (3,096 days old) by 3rdGenVacGuy (Columbus, Ohio )        
bag machine

 I have the standard Hoover bag machine that is in use every week at our store. I also have a long tube, that I think was designed and manufactured by my grandfather and friend. It is 13 or 14 inches longer than the Hoover tube. It also does not look like it will even fit in the Hoover bag machine. It also has 3 bearings instead of the 2 on the Hoover. It has a date stamped on the underside of 1-25-1938.

  Photos...       <              >      Photo 1 of 3         View Full Size
Post# 336807 , Reply# 26   11/3/2015 at 03:44 (3,094 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)        

Interesting extension for the Hoover bag machine-guess this is for large,industrial bags used for Pile lifter vacuums and external filter wet-dry vacuums.I cleaned out the bag on my Tornado Task Force vacuum-used two machines-the dust brush on one of my NSS M1,then a Rug Rat brush on my NuTone CV450 as the last step-The inside of the Tornado bag was almost like new!!!The Rug Rat tool almost levitates when used on the NuTone.It doesn't run as good on the NSS-think the Rug Rat tool was designed for high suction pressure rather than high CFM.The NuTone has high suction pressure and the NSS has high CFM.


Forum Index:       Other Forums:                      


Comes to the Rescue!

Woops, Time to Check the Bag!!!
Either you need to change your vacuum bag or you forgot to LOG-IN?

Discuss-O-MAT Log-In



New Members Click Here To Sign Up.



                     

automaticwasher.org home
Discuss-o-Mat Forums
Vintage Brochures, Service and Owners Manuals
Fun Vintage Washer Ephemera
See It Wash!
Video Downloads
 Audio Downloads
Picture of the Day
Patent of the Day
Photos of our Collections
The Old Aberdeen Farm
Vintage Service Manuals 		Vintage washer/dryer/dishwasher to sell?
Technical/service questions?
Looking for Parts?
Website related questions?
Digital Millennium Copyright Act Policy
Our Privacy Policy