New addition: a 10 yr old Aussie made Hoover top loader with BOSS (Balanced Orbit Suspension System)

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mayfan69

mayfan69

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Hi everyone,

I bought this 10 year old Oz made Hoover top loader off ebay for AU$100.00.

These Hoover's were the last to be Australian designed and made before Electrolux bought them out and the Hoover name quietly disappeared from the Australian market.

These Hoover's won an Australian Design award for their BOSS suspension system (Balanced Orbit Suspension System). As you'll see from the inner workings, it sits on shock absorbers and has brick counterweights to balance the weight of the motor. There's also a balance ring attached to the bowl.

From what i can see, the new belt drive Whirlpool's follow a similar mechanical set up, with the agitation appearing similar.

I've attached links to a couple of quick video's....a full cycle video will follow.

Cheers
Leon

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

mayfan69++10-29-2011-16-14-4.jpg
 
Inner workings

Inner workings....note the brick counterweight. For a 'modern' machine (albiet 10 yrs old), i was surprised at the weight of the machine when loading and unloading it.

Quick video of the inner workings in action....

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

mayfan69++10-29-2011-16-26-31.jpg
 
Very nice Leon! Our school had this machine in the cafeteria kitchen right next to the counter, always on when I was in there. Later replaced by one of those 'Hoover'1200F front loader things, looked like early british Bekos's.

Cheers

Matt
 
Absolutely wonderful. I know these machines are not vintage, but they are no longer manufactured and it is sad to think that these unique machines are going to start disappearing soon. To think that these machines were so commonplace, truly dominating the market.

These Hoovers had the best washing action ever! The Hoover agitators were more simple looking than what Simpson offered, but that wild and funky long stroke made up for it 100 times over.

So glad that you have preserved and shared this with us. YAY!
 
I'm surprised to hear that you can still buy top loaders in Europe. I thought that they had pretty much gone away by the 60's/70's.

I'm also quite impressed by that really long agitation stroke. It looks like it's a bit more than 360 degrees! Do you have issues with clothes tangling?

It seems to me like the majority of "portable" top loaders here use the same approach as this machine, with the belt driven agitator and no transmission, just a dual direction motor.. Just an observation..
 
This machine does have a transmission - below the belt you can see the plastic transmission case - it is a 7:1 reduction gear when agitating, and 1:1 when spinning. When the solenoid releases the brake, (getting ready to spin) it also engages a clutch which locks up the transmission, so that spin speed = input speed.

When the solenoid releases, the outer shaft (spin shaft) is braked and the clutch is released, so input speed is reduced X7.

So if spin speed is 800 rpm then agitate speed is about 115 rpm.

This slower agitate speed is the main reason that they don't tangle too much. Earlier machines of similar design (Including Simpson from memory) used a 4:1 reduction gear, the agitator moved very fast and could tend to twist the clothes together.
 

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