1960 Blackstone Washer Factory

[brisnat81]

Hi Chris,

I think it was the late 80s, very early 90s, Hoover had three seperate mechanisms by that stage. The small, medium and large units. I don’t know when they all homogenized though.

What year did Blackstone/Hoover build the Hoover autos in the US with the green control panel? That launched here as the Hoover in 69/70 with the same but blue coloured panel, so I’d the last model run in the US was 68/98, it’d make sense that the whole lot was shipped to Australia.

Cheers

Nathan

 

[mayfan69]

Last Blackstone desgined Hoover's

Hi Chris,

Nathan is pretty much correct.

The last Blackstone designed Hoover's were the 940/950/955 series of about 1989/90. The Hoover 960 and subsequent 1000 and 1200 series dispensed with the gearbox altogether.

From my discussions with 'Meadowbank' who was in the engineering department of Hoover at the time, the decision was purely cost driven.

Here's my 1986 Elite 920 in action:

 

[blackstone]

I might have that publication, or one similar to it.

Those models did have the fill valve in the control panel. One annoying feature about that design was the difficulty of replacing the control panel & top, while making sure that the water valve fit into the opening. The valve had a paper/fiber wraparound cover, held by a rubber band, which you had to make sure stayed in place. If not, water would spray where it shouldn't spray.

Blackstone stopped appliance production in the mid-1970s. I have a letter from Blackstone, in which they offered my father leftover machines at reduced prices. Letter was dated 1978, give or take.

I also have a gyroscope, packaged in a box looking like a washing machine.

 

[peteski50]

Blackstone!

My gyroscope came in a box that looked like picture #3