Sounds of the Hoover Keymatics..
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Hoover Keymatic Sequencing Chart
Here is the model schematic identifying the stages of the OPEN and CLOSED CIRCUITS SWITCHES and the following CAM POSITIONS which energise the valves / heater/ pump & motor and then move the programme to the NEXT SEQUENCE so completing the identified programme.
Here is the model schematic identifying the stages of the OPEN and CLOSED CIRCUITS SWITCHES and the following CAM POSITIONS which energise the valves / heater/ pump & motor and then move the programme to the NEXT SEQUENCE so completing the identified programme.
Hoover keymatic Programme Chart
And here is a larger chart identifying the wash programmes you can select, this is from the A3062 Hoover Keymatic washing machine. The programmes shown here are classified as ITCL (International Textile Care Label) codes numbers 1 - 7, which is why we Brits refer to a number 2 Hot Wash or Number 5 (40d cotton darks wash) or doing a Number 7 wash (Woollens)
Hope this makes a bit more sense of the wonderful world of "Hoover Keymatic Keyplate Washing !!
And here is a larger chart identifying the wash programmes you can select, this is from the A3062 Hoover Keymatic washing machine. The programmes shown here are classified as ITCL (International Textile Care Label) codes numbers 1 - 7, which is why we Brits refer to a number 2 Hot Wash or Number 5 (40d cotton darks wash) or doing a Number 7 wash (Woollens)
Hope this makes a bit more sense of the wonderful world of "Hoover Keymatic Keyplate Washing !!
Sounds of the Hoover Keymatics
Hi Arthur, glad you enjoyed the thread, they are quite legend in their own right. There are no known coin op fitted versions that we know of and listed in the "Hoover Manuals -
BUT as the French Gas Hoovermatic showed up recently Who Knows !!
Hi Arthur, glad you enjoyed the thread, they are quite legend in their own right. There are no known coin op fitted versions that we know of and listed in the "Hoover Manuals -
BUT as the French Gas Hoovermatic showed up recently Who Knows !!
Sounds of the Hoover Keymatics
Thanks Al, thanks for the info and links, forget how good they all look teogether. yes looking forward to seeing the latest Keymatic by James...another one restored.
Thanks Al, thanks for the info and links, forget how good they all look teogether. yes looking forward to seeing the latest Keymatic by James...another one restored.
Keymatic In The US?
Several US members in this and other Keymatic posts have commented that Hoover did not sell the Keymatic in the US and Canada. I believe that there are several reasons for this.
Firstly you have to give Hoover the credit for (generally) knowing their market and how to make the most of it. The washer market was already very well catered for by the major players (and indeed by 1961 several of the smaller, earlier manufacturers had either disappeared or were on the way out) and the market was almost entirely top loading washers. As a front loader this would have been very much a niche product, a niche already being very well serviced by the Westinghouse Spacemates which, incidentally, had their own matching tumble dryer. There was no matching dryer for the slant front machines. Aside from the Hoovermatic did Hoover ever manufacture laundry appliances themselves in the US? I know they sold other products, but were these not sourced from other manufacturers? Know your market and how to make the most of it.
Secondly, speaking of Westinghouse, although I believe mechanically different from the earlier Westinghouse slant front models, there are a number of conceptual similarities which might also have prevented their introduction into the US on patent grounds.
Thirdly as Mike noted above, particularly the early models, are mechanically very complex and we know that they were difficult to service in the field - we have heard stories of how Hoover service agents would keep spare machines that they could swop out with faulty machines so that they could be repair back at their own shop. Bad enough in the UK, but could imagine trying to do this all across the US? You might say, well what about the Hoovermatic which sold for many years in the US? This of course was another niche product, but very different in that it was a product cheap to manufacture and easy to maintain - two things that could never be said about the Keymatic which would have been produced in relatively small numbers - I cannot see how a justification could ever have been produced to warrant the financial investment Hoover would have needed to manufacture in the US. If they had been imported into the US there would, most likely, have been import tariffs too although they would probably not have been the same barrier into Canada.
Finally, they would most likely have needed to have made substantial modifications to the machine to sell in the US. Although most machines were hot and cold fill they still conformed pretty much to the European habit of heating the water (at least to some extent) in the early stages of the wash which would most likely necessitate special wiring and, even if they could get over the lack of a heater, timers etc. would have had to be made to run on US voltage. And there was no provision for the use of LCB and other additives so beloved in the USA - in the slant front washers you just chucked the detergent in with the clothes and that was it. And of course they would have taken longer to complete the wash etc.
So, whilst I certainly understand the curiosity value to members here, I think to have tried to sell the Keymatic in the US would have been a nightmare from start to finish and Hoover would not have gone near it.
Al
Several US members in this and other Keymatic posts have commented that Hoover did not sell the Keymatic in the US and Canada. I believe that there are several reasons for this.
Firstly you have to give Hoover the credit for (generally) knowing their market and how to make the most of it. The washer market was already very well catered for by the major players (and indeed by 1961 several of the smaller, earlier manufacturers had either disappeared or were on the way out) and the market was almost entirely top loading washers. As a front loader this would have been very much a niche product, a niche already being very well serviced by the Westinghouse Spacemates which, incidentally, had their own matching tumble dryer. There was no matching dryer for the slant front machines. Aside from the Hoovermatic did Hoover ever manufacture laundry appliances themselves in the US? I know they sold other products, but were these not sourced from other manufacturers? Know your market and how to make the most of it.
Secondly, speaking of Westinghouse, although I believe mechanically different from the earlier Westinghouse slant front models, there are a number of conceptual similarities which might also have prevented their introduction into the US on patent grounds.
Thirdly as Mike noted above, particularly the early models, are mechanically very complex and we know that they were difficult to service in the field - we have heard stories of how Hoover service agents would keep spare machines that they could swop out with faulty machines so that they could be repair back at their own shop. Bad enough in the UK, but could imagine trying to do this all across the US? You might say, well what about the Hoovermatic which sold for many years in the US? This of course was another niche product, but very different in that it was a product cheap to manufacture and easy to maintain - two things that could never be said about the Keymatic which would have been produced in relatively small numbers - I cannot see how a justification could ever have been produced to warrant the financial investment Hoover would have needed to manufacture in the US. If they had been imported into the US there would, most likely, have been import tariffs too although they would probably not have been the same barrier into Canada.
Finally, they would most likely have needed to have made substantial modifications to the machine to sell in the US. Although most machines were hot and cold fill they still conformed pretty much to the European habit of heating the water (at least to some extent) in the early stages of the wash which would most likely necessitate special wiring and, even if they could get over the lack of a heater, timers etc. would have had to be made to run on US voltage. And there was no provision for the use of LCB and other additives so beloved in the USA - in the slant front washers you just chucked the detergent in with the clothes and that was it. And of course they would have taken longer to complete the wash etc.
So, whilst I certainly understand the curiosity value to members here, I think to have tried to sell the Keymatic in the US would have been a nightmare from start to finish and Hoover would not have gone near it.
Al
triumphdolomite
Well-known member
Mathew/Mike
Thanks for that, I see now how it works, for some reason I was expecting the timeline indicator to come out of the top, hence the question. I'll have to have a look next time.
Ian.
Thanks for that, I see now how it works, for some reason I was expecting the timeline indicator to come out of the top, hence the question. I'll have to have a look next time.
Ian.
aquarius1984
Well-known member
WOW
what a video!
Thankyou for creating and posting it Mike..
Now are we going to have a remix and a dance track of all the different noises to go with the flashy disco lights?
what a video!
Thankyou for creating and posting it Mike..
Now are we going to have a remix and a dance track of all the different noises to go with the flashy disco lights?
Oh good point Mike
I was on the Isle of Wight 1976 or 1977.
So it had to be an earlier machine ? For some reason I remember the white door around the window, I don't remember it being chrome all around like the other machines .
I was on the Isle of Wight 1976 or 1977.
So it had to be an earlier machine ? For some reason I remember the white door around the window, I don't remember it being chrome all around like the other machines .
matchboxpaul
Well-known member
Great video Mike!
Always a privilege to see them and wonderful that, barring a couple of UK models, there is a representative of each preserved.
Hopefully my example will work again one day (it did try, when it was re-energised briefly last year).
Paul
Always a privilege to see them and wonderful that, barring a couple of UK models, there is a representative of each preserved.
Hopefully my example will work again one day (it did try, when it was re-energised briefly last year).
Paul
vacerator
Well-known member
keys, disco;
His keys, her keys? Austin Metropolitans were exported to the states and sold by Nash Motors for the second car for her.
Remember this one? Sheila B Devotion: He's a spacer. Written by Sheik.
His keys, her keys? Austin Metropolitans were exported to the states and sold by Nash Motors for the second car for her.
Remember this one? Sheila B Devotion: He's a spacer. Written by Sheik.
