Typewriter Heaven

Black stuff

2012-02-23T18:32:00.000Z

For the past couple of weeks, this blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) has been feasting on the block of seed-enriched fat hanging from our mock currant. It has been taking turns, albeit grudgingly, with a robin. Every time I look out of the window, there he is, stocking his fat reserves for another chilly night. These members of the warbler family only turn up in winter time, to escape the worst extremes of Scandanavian winters. Most years we see females but this year just this male. Though yesterday a female turned up and then went again. The females look pretty much the same, except their caps are chestnut brown.

I managed to get this blurry picture of the blackcap from the garage where I was also trying to breathe new life into a dried out ribbon. I was using an elaboration of Bill M's technique. Being lazy, and assuming ribbon to be absorbent stuff, I laid out the whole spool and misted it with WD-40.

Rewinding the ribbon, I dragged it through a piece of old towel - pinching the ribbon as it wound on to the spool - so there weren't any bits that were too saturated. You need three hands for this really. And did it work? Well, yes. I wound the refreshed ribbon onto my green Remington Noiseless Portable, types a few lines and it promptly decided to practically seize-up. Don't worry, it isn't the ribbon doing this. It just needs a drop of oil and maybe the shift spring adjusting - but I haven't got round to doing either, so you'll have to take my for it that it seems to work OK. I misted it by spraying upwards, so the droplets fell like drizzle on the ribbon.

Imperial Good Companion 4

2012-02-15T16:55:00.002Z

Erratum: line 16 should read model 4 in the first instance.

Poems for sale...

2012-02-15T01:53:00.001Z

...not by me, I should add. I picked up this story about Ryan Ashley Knowles that I think's worth sharing.

Read Mauricio Rocha's full story in Denver Westword...

After Gropius

2012-02-10T21:53:00.003Z

Going Dutch

2012-02-09T16:16:00.006Z

Adler Tippa. s/n 5458311

10/10 for cool logo. Adler is German for Eagle.

0/10 for brittle plastic body.

Now added to my Eurotrash gallery.

Stars

2012-02-06T09:44:00.002Z

McGet, Mr Wahl, Mr Adney, Tori and Ted. Worth sharing.

Top quote: “My therapist told me to use a typerwriter.” Only in New York...

The Human Calendar®

2012-01-19T00:42:00.001Z

NOTE: sorry, typewriter-free post

I found this over on Fresh Ribbon.

Click it to get your very own, or go here.

This one's set at GMT/UTC but you can pick any time zone.

Typecast?

2012-01-17T23:02:00.000Z

More pictures
Recipe

Videos

2012-01-09T12:14:00.006Z

Maschinengeschrieben had a knack of turning up interesting videos which feature typewriters. Here's a couple which came my way via Google alerts. The first is from British Pathé.

...and a short film from Groton, the cradle of Corona. (Opens in new window)

RR1-carriage strapped

2012-01-05T14:22:00.003Z

I received an enquiry from James (hi James) by e-mail. Here's the gist of it:

"In the middle of last year I bought a Remington Rand Model 1. It looked great but came with a few hitches, which I had managed to sort out, myself. One of which was a faulty bell mechanism. I found your blog and I fixed it with a safety pin. So thanks for that.

Anyway, I was using it today and it has broken in a new and exciting way. Underneath the typewriter there is a wheel (I don't know the proper lingo for the parts) and there is a chord that comes out from this wheel and goes off somewhere. I don't know where it goes because today it snapped off and bits of thread and dust went everywhere on the desk and beneath the machine and I can't tell where it originally belonged.

...in short: The chord snapped beneath the typewriter. The end attached to the spring-loaded wheel is still attached. The other end is not. Do you know where it should be?"

The path of the carriage strap, the darker part being obscured from this (and any other) angle.

The fix:

Get some fresh cord. Something around 2mm diameter as it will need to be fine enough and flexible enough to travel from the motor round the pulley. Old nylon guitar string/tennis racket gut/cobbler's thread - improvise.
You'll also need a 12" length of stiff wire and a small screwdriver.
Knot the end of the cord and slot it into the appropriate slot in the motor's rim. The remaining short end should point you in the right direction. Having the machine in your lap on a cushion works best for me but however you hold the typewriter, you'll run out of hands.
From below, wind the cord around the motor once in a clockwise direction and, with the carriage moved out of the way to one side, drop the free end of the cord (which has now miraculously transformed into a carriage strap) over the pulley where it immediately doubles back on itself. A blob of BluTak may serve to keep the cord temporarily on the rim of the motor before step 5.
Gently and gingerly, thread your length of wire along the path shown in the photo. If you hit an obstruction, stop and use something thinner or improve your aim. An unbent wire coat hanger may work, if that's too thick or you don't have one, try my favourite makeshift tool - a bicycle spoke.
Tape the end of the cord to the wire and carefully pull it through and clamp it lightly at the far end of the carriage.
With the carriage exerting the just a little tension on the motor, and positioned at the end of the carriages travel (as if you were typing), knot the cord and secure the clamp.
The tension in the motor should be just enough to overcome the weight of the carriage and the friction it encounters as it travels along the rails. Just enough to get to the end of the line. Any greater tension could cause the escapement to skip spaces as you type. You can wind on more tension (or slacken it off) using the ratchet lever on top of the motor, visible when the carriage is all the way to the right.

I think that's it. Comments or improvements to this technique welcome!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T11:33:00.000Z

An animated seasonal greeting by the junior partner.

Spring Chicken

2011-12-20T11:00:00.006Z

Dave's 50 today. A Spring Chicken, compared to this 1932 Corona Four in Bruce Green and Gold.

Happy Birthday, Dave.

NB: no keys were chopped in the manufacture of this gif.

All that was once solid...

2011-12-14T00:18:00.007Z

...is melting into the air

Seventy ad-free minutes from Alan Yentob about books, their inky history, digital present and 'cloudy' future. Worth watching by authors, writers and anyone remotely interested in printing or graphic arts.

Be quick, it is available on BBC iPlayer until 12:39AM (GMT) Wed, 28 Dec 2011

Click image to view.

If you are outside the UK, click here to download 273Mb mp4 file.

Cautionary note: there are no typewriters in this documentary

STOP PRESS:
Noon-14 Dec. Thanks Bill M for advice that iPlayer is not available in the US. I do have a non-time limited, non-DRM mp4 file at 237Mb. Just need to find somewhere to put it.
14:00hr GMT. adrive.com allows 2Gb uploads to a free 50Gb account!
Update: 02 Jan 2012: Adrive shared files expire after 14 days! They don't vanish but you have to replace them in a shared folder to get a new url - which I just did. I might get fed up with renewing the url. If the link doesn't work, just drop me a note in a comment below and I'll renew it.

Typing for cash

2011-11-30T12:26:00.000Z

Skippy, the Noisy Noiseless

Globalisation

2011-11-23T00:54:00.002Z

Every picture tells a story.

This one shows what happened in the hour or so before midnight (GMT) after PC World and Laughing Squid shared a story about Type-O-Matic.

I'm not sure to whom I'm indebted for the traffic but if you are reading, thank you. And thanks again to everyone who's finding space in their side bar for a Type-O-Matic badge. I now have customers on both seaboards of the USA, Romania, the south of France and somewhere in Brazil.

First to benefit is Typewriter Movie - now I'm a backer!

PS: Will update if or when Type-O-Matic turnover hits three digits.

Last of the summer wine

2011-11-18T14:16:00.001Z

Round Hill, Little Wittenham

2011-11-15T15:47:00.002Z

Ooops, wrong blog :-)

Might as well leave it here now.

Beech trees on Round Hill, one of the Wittenham Clumps which are a landmark sequence of hills in South Oxfordshire. They form part of the Sinodun Hills and are also known locally as Mother Dunch's buttocks! The site is managed by the Earth Trust.

Panorama of Round Hill, Little Wittenham supplied by Panoramic Earth

Sequence: 30˚ up + level + 30˚ down.

Tamron SP 10-24mm @ 10mm

ISO 100, f11

Projection: equirectangular

Projection stitched and rendered in Hugin

The eleventh hour

2011-11-11T11:00:00.006Z

On 11.11.11 at 11.00, this is a guest post from friend and neighbour Emma Anderson who recently went on a tour of Great War sites of conflict and remembrance.

Transcribed on a 1916 Corona 3

No mans land. Going over the top, Thiepval

Someone's son. French German and British unknown soldiers' graves

Thank you Emma for the words and the pictures.

dirkdavy

2011-11-08T12:02:00.000Z

...lots of videos of this El Salvadorian's collection. Here's his latest, an Underwood Standard No.3.

UN77: first impression

2011-11-07T15:45:00.003Z

1947 Underwood Noiseless Portable aka The Pringle

November

2011-11-01T10:34:00.000Z

November from Thomas Hood. Typecast from my Royal KHM

Of course November dawns bright and sunny with a faultless blue sky and smug bonhomie of blue tits chirruping in the garden.

We scare because we care!

2011-10-31T16:26:00.003Z

A scary pumpkin animation from Robin, occasional contributor to Typewriter Heaven.
Last year's pumpkin, recycled.

...and a MUCH older one from 2007. Don't have nightmares!

Spaced

2011-10-31T11:36:00.004Z

Olivetti pmc elite 44 on eBay UK for £65

Having wondered about the Jet Age's influence on the naming of Cameron's Webster XL-747, you have to wonder about the Space Age influence on these two Sottsass Olivettis. They could easily have been the first typewriters in space, if styling is anything to go by. I have never seen anything like them before, and now two at once.

The leather-look trim on satin metallic echoes SLR camera design, the covering aids grip. But the font on the keys of the machine above is pure sci-fi and much more at home here than it was on the Valentine. For these reasons, and my complete lack of a portable Olivetti, I'm tempted... if only they weren't priced so highly.

The pmc elite is the better looking (and has a silver/black, leatherette case!), but the DL has the Olivetti logo up front. Is the pmc a licensed clone?

I think they are stylistic variants based on the prolific Lettera 32 print engine.
The best info I can find is on DE SCHRIJFMACHINIST.

Olivetti DL on eBay UK for £90

Pringles

2011-10-28T00:57:00.001+01:00

The individual ribbon covers on my 1947 Underwood Noiseless 77 are one-piece plastic, not two-piece painted and chromed steel like the older Remington Noiseless Portables I have, or the Remington Rand Model 1, for that matter. Because the ribbons wind onto a built-in core without the need for a spool, flat ribbon covers are useful in keeping the ribbon neatly wound and coiled. You can see from the picture above how haphazardly the ribbon's wound.

These plastic tops are warped like Pringles. Is this the reason the coils of ribbon are bunching up in places? I think the tops are molded thermo-plastic and I'm wondering if weighting them on flat surface after a minute in boiling water might help to set them back as flat discs. Advice welcome...

PS: Turns out Pringles are on Blogger too!

Mid-Atlantic 77

2011-10-26T19:15:00.001+01:00

Back in July, I shared photos of three typewriters which cost very little money. All eBay. All fell in the "nothing to lose" price bracket:

First, a British-made Corona-Empire. Approx £9. Works fine. I don't like it - not sure I'd want to inflict it on someone else, so probably won't sell it. I may give it away. Then again, I might just need more time to get used to its ways. At least it doesn't take up much room.
Another Brit. This time Hull's finest Imperial Good Companion Model 5. £0.99p. Despite pristine paint and innards, this typewriter had been dropped and the soft case didn't offer much protection. I spent a long time fixing the space bar and it will work properly... one day. I can't complain, the seller rescued it form a skip. Right now, it is a 'work in progress'.
Finally, an Underwood Noiseless 77. £15. I just picked this up from its half-way house where it has languished for the last three months. I already had a brace of earlier Remington Noiseless Portables and their awkward cousin, the Remington Rand Model 1. Three heavier, less quiet machines you'll never find. And of course the Remington Noiseless was an Underwood Noiseless made under licence. You have to love it when something is made and sold with such hope and promise, despite falling so short on most counts. It is not really a Remington, nor is it Noiseless in any generally accepted sense of the word, and Portable? Put it this way, I wouldn't like to have to run for a train with it! Surely, this explains why a genuine Underwood-badged 77 seemed such a good idea.

First impressions: surprise! Pretty much like a Remington. Solid and crisp controls for everything except typing, which hesitance of touch is an acquired taste - that's the famous 'silent' treatment at work - it is pretty amazing how it works. This post-war model has the finger-friendly plastic key tops and stealth matt paint job. Compared to the Remington incarnation, the return lever has the élan of a fencepost. And the bobbin-tops are plastic too. But this WAS 1947, even in the USA - post-war austerity and all that. Still, it is built like a tank and to an impressively high standard. I'd do a typecast to show how it types, but it is late and it would make too much noise.

Two anomalies: the $ key produces a £ sign, and the cent key produces the slashed c it promises. Obviously there was some confusion in the final assembly about which side of the Atlantic this one was headed for - so the assembler compromised. Or was it a cunning US imperialist plot to assert a new currency on an unsuspecting British public. 64 years later and we still aren't ready to part with our £.

No NaNoWriMo

2011-10-25T19:15:00.003+01:00

I'm not sure I have a novel in me, so no NaNoWriMo for me. But I know there are a lot of writers out there sharpening their pencils, oiling their various writing irons and generally limbering up in readiness for some serious wordsmithing in November's Na(tional)No(vel)Wri(ting)Mo(nth). Brave souls. Good luck.

My second cousin writes a little and he shared a link today to what I thought was a useful looking mag, especially aimed at aspiring writers. If you are interested, you can get a paid hardcopy subscription or the e-pub for free. Words with Jam.

Meanwhile, here's a back issue to wet your whistle:

Open publication - Free publishing - More writing

Stormy weather pancakes

2011-10-24T21:15:00.000+01:00

Only made this a few times but it was very tasty. It was howling a gale the first time, hence the name.

Typecast on a Remington Model 5

KHM: tab problem solved

2011-10-22T00:33:00.001+01:00

The grime inside isn't doing any harm - it has taken 74 years to build up. I reckon that's part of its heritage and I'm positive I'd do more damage removing it than leaving it alone

I have figured out the solution to the sticky tab illustrated in my previous post.

Removing the left-hand rear dust cover reveals the motor and what I'd originally thought was a retaining collar for the clockwork motor's spindle. At second glance (and in better light) I spotted a worm gear. A drop of oil and a trial and error turn in both directions and voila! No more sticky tabs and enough pulling power wound into the spring for the carriage to move briskly along to the set tab. If I hadn't had all the covers off again for a more thorough cleaning of the paintwork, I'd probably never have spotted that worm gear.

I hope this is of help to any other Royalists (aristocrats? typocrats?) with sluggish carriages. This fix took two full rotations of the motor spindle to load the spring sufficiently. To save straining yourself with heavy carriage returns or stressing any parts, slightly over-wind the spring first and then gradually slacken it off until there's just enough tension.

Sticky tab

2011-10-21T16:33:00.007+01:00

Though the rock-hard platen is the perfect paper perforator - confetti of little 'o's fly off the type heads - the Royal KHM's almost running perfectly.

But there's a problem with the tab brake. Unlike some older machines, this machine has a cork brake pad which slows the carriage down as it disengages the escapement to rattle down the rails to meet up with its set tab. It is actually a pretty sophisticated solution!

Trouble is that pressing the keyboard tab button actuates the brake a bit too fiercely. It brakes the carriage's motion to the extent that it never actually arrives at its station. You can see the surface which the cork pad actuates on in the photos. The pad itself is hidden away in the campanology department. A problem like cycling AND braking at the same time.

The video below shows what happens when the space-bar is used, then the tab button. You can see the problem when I press the space-bar a few times, then the tab, then repeat. No tabs are set. Any advice on how to overcome this would be extremely welcome!

PS: Yep, I cleaned the friction surface the pad bears on

PPS: UPDATE - problem now solved! See next post.

Royal KHM - answers

2011-10-20T01:00:00.002+01:00

Well, I have dusted, polished and oiled this old Royal and in the process found out a few things:

Why's it so heavy? That's a cast iron body!
Typewriter covers are sort of OK, but not as effective at keeping the dust out as a proper box. Good reason to stick with portables?
Adwoa: the cover is one-piece alloy with hinged ribbon tops (re-coined 'bongos' from now on). Not hinged but bolted on. And I honestly don't have space for this typewriter either...
Mike: thanks for the pointers. The ribbon advance is actually driven by the clockwork motor. Incredible, ingenious! Disconnecting the carriage strap and pulling and releasing it you can watch the ribbon inch its way along.
Richard: soft lighting hides a multitude of defects. The paintwork isn't up to usual Royal standards. The front plate especially has a slight 'orange peel' look about it - not dead flat.
Matt: the top left lever is to enable free-spooling from left to right - it disengages the ribbon drive. This will help when re-spooling fresh ribbon.
MLG told me about the cunning key tension control knob and indicator - nice touch.
The Royal KHM is an amazingly well-designed and built bit of pre-WW2 machinery.

Most things started to work once the dust was cleared out of the segment and the carriage tracks were hosed down. But there's stuff that still needs attention, like the strap tension. Can't figure out how to adjust it - any advice welcome - or I could just wrap the strap around the drum twice? It is good enough to advance the carriage during normal typing but not strong enough for tabulating. The fiddly bell-ringing trigger is only sort of half-working - a solution'll come to me though. And one side panel's been backed into by something - needs careful bending so it lies flush.

Back story on this one is that my friend had it getting on for forty years after his dad brought it home from a place he'd been working. It was used for essays and college work but was forsaken by a switch to a Selectric when he went into fanzine production in the '80s. Needless to say, the ribbon works but badly needs replacing. Lowercase 'o' punches holes in it from time to time - interesting effect but that's some serious ribbon fatigue.

The bigger picture

Royal Standard

2011-10-19T11:32:00.002+01:00

No, not THAT Royal Standard.

Last night, I picked up a Royal from an old friend who needed space.

It has no bell that I can find and a few odd-looking levers. I should look for a manual somewhere.

So I think it is what's generally referred to as a "Royal KHM", circa 1937, one of the finest writing machines of its day. When it is cleaned up and running smoothly, I'll let you know.

Meanwhile, here's a pre- spit and polish photo.

SN: KHM 2191365

Big thanks...

2011-10-18T17:13:00.005+01:00

...to Richard Polt and Ryan Adney for their sidebar links and Jennifer Kennard for her article spreading Type-O-Matic joy far and wide! View counts are up, but no takers yet. Watch this space... or that space.

Did I miss anyone out?

Click for full story

Fresh ribbon

2011-10-13T00:57:00.000+01:00

From Olympia SM-4 DeLuxe

Printing Office?

2011-10-11T12:03:00.006+01:00

After much gratefully received advice and encouraging words, Type-O-Matic is open for business! Having been a long standing advocate of impressing ink upon paper, I'm beginning to think of this service as something akin to printing. Mono-printing? And with such grandiosity, I believe I may have turned the spare bedroom into a potential Printing Office - of sorts. Hence the stirring address below, courtesy of Ms Warde. Once my first customer crosses the threshold, I'll feel justified in hanging this on the wall.

Hand printed on an Everest K2 manual typewriter

PS: Anyone feeling so inclined is enthusiastically encouraged to post a write-up, grab a 150px side bar badge or otherwise point people in the direction of http://type-o-matic.blogspot.com As a business concept, it needs all the help it can get! Thank you.

How Television Ruined Your Life

2011-10-06T20:30:00.000+01:00

This blog feeds posts to my Facebook page (cheers Dave), so it only seems right for some occasional two-way traffic.

Facebook friend and notable Icelandic academic Kjartan just reminded me - via his wall - how great it feels when Charlie Brooker answers the question "Is it just me?" with a resounding "No". Phew.

Type-O-Matic feedback

2011-10-05T02:22:00.004+01:00

First off, thanks for the feedback on Type-O-Matic to everyone! I have had really valuable responses by comment and e-mail. What a brilliant community the Typosphere is. And nobody laughed me off the park. You are either too kind or as deluded as I am. I don't care, and I try not to judge. So, I have merged duplicate responses and taken the actions indicated below, as well as a few fiddly bits. If you haven't commented but want to, don't be shy. I'd still love to get feedback. Meanwhile, watch this space, as they say.

Click to enlarge

PS: Google alerts just spat this typewriter case renovation procedure into my inbox. Worth bookmarking?

Welcome to Type-O-Matic!

2011-10-04T01:22:00.003+01:00

Last month, Cheryl threw down a gauntlet. In the face of almost impossible odds, Type-O-Matic is my experimental response to her question, "Can you create income with a typewriter?"

I'm considering Type-O-Matic to be in Beta. It is public but not launched because I'd like some feedback and advice from the good folk of the Typosphere. That's you, dear reader.

I'd be extremely grateful if you could spend a few minutes checking out the service and letting me know what you think. Of course, you aren't the intended market for this service, but you are all well-placed to have opinions which I'd really value.

I have intentionally kept the site as simple as possible, but I'd especially value feedback on the home page and the way the service is described. I know I really should try to get a little movement on there, possibly in the info-graphic?

And how's my language? Too personal? Not personal enough? Too many words?

Seriously, don't pull your punches but DO please temper anything wholly negative with a useful remedy (even if it is "give it up"). I have nothing to lose giving it a try.

Finally, I have a few ideas for marketing but feel free to throw in any of your own.

Comments welcome below, over on Type-O-Matic's contact form or by e-mail if you have my address.

Link to Type-O-Matic

Many thanks in advance.

PS: I should add, the order form is live and functioning. Please don't trial it unless you really want a typed letter sending!

So there I was...

2011-10-03T19:51:00.002+01:00

...you know, checking our stats on the YouTube, as you do. Discussing the new channel screens and double-tapping to go full screen. You know, that sort of thing, like. Then the YouTube home page shows THIS sprawled across the banner for some creative agency. Like Richard's recent comp, if it isn't typed, it doesn't really count.

Useful typewriter

2011-09-29T18:05:00.002+01:00

On this day in typewriter history...

2011-09-28T11:22:00.004+01:00

I'd just like to call for a public round of applause in appreciation of Robert Messenger's outstanding contribution to the enrichment of the Typosphere.

Robert's On This Day in Typewriter History series has delivered a wealth of historical, technical and cultural insight over on his blog at oztypewriter.

He's having a break from the history lessons but promises to be back next year!

Low hanging fruit

2011-09-25T01:43:00.000+01:00

It always seems to end up being the last weekend of September by the time we get around to picking raspberries, today was no exception. Raspberry jam is one of those things that makes the prospect of shorter days, overcast skies and colder weather more bearable. There's a choice of a few fruit growers nearby, but Mrs Lester's mum at P J Lay's PYO on the Brightwell road is closest - about a mile away.

Mystical cat guards choice fruit

Mrs Lester's mum didn't want to be in the photo so she stayed out of sight behind the door

Typed recipe. Check those dates! Looks like we ran out of jam too early in 2007.

9lbs of fruit softening on a low light

Jars sterilising in the oven

Coming to the boil

When it comes to weights and measures, I have to describe myself as a metric migrant. One foot in the decimal present, the other in pounds and ounces and the days of yore

Sunshine in a jar

Chanson d'automne

2011-09-23T12:53:00.002+01:00

Autumnal equinox. An exercise in melancholy. I learned this in school. Still one of the only poems I can recite by heart. It was written to be read aloud, slowly. Typecast on my Remington Rand Model 1, the one with accents... and feet. Thanks to Florian for the timely reminder!

Cocktails

2011-09-22T09:44:00.001+01:00

Some ideas are so obvious, you wonder why nobody ever thought of them before.

Find out more...

The end of the beginning

2011-09-14T02:06:00.004+01:00

Not with a bang, but a simper...

Today is the day our local analogue TV signal begins its "digital switch-over". Never again shall I watch Charles Durning fall head over heels for Dustin Hoffman, non-digitally. BBC2 is the first to go and is playing out with Tootsie. The others follow towards the end of the month.

Over the years, analogue BBC2 has brought all sorts of wondrous programmes into our living rooms. Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, The Old Grey Whistle Test, One Man and His Dog, The Goodies, to name just a handful. Less mainstream than BBC1, BBC2 was the channel for experimentation, minority interest and unconventional humour.

Of course I haven't actually watched the analogue signal for years. Why would I? The digital picture is so much better. More consistent, less signal noise. I doubt it will be missed. BBC2 will still be there, though its digital signal arrives about two seconds later than analogue. The comparison will become meaningless within the next 20-odd hours*.

The thing is, this isn't the end. Once the TV signal is wholly digital throughout the UK in 2012, our broadcasters will turn their attention to radio - the wireless. A quick tally shows over a dozen analogue radio receivers in our house, plus one in the car. These are mostly small, portable devices which, if you had them all tuned into the same station, you can follow seamlessly through the house - brilliant!

Of course with Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB), the signal's quite clear and you get a programme description where there used to be a dial. You also get either a good signal or interference that makes the broadcast sound like it has been through a paper shredder and reassembled in the wrong order. No middle ground. DAB radios eat batteries twice as fast, and don't all deliver the same signal at the same time. Post digital, the famous 'pips' on the hour will be forever inaccurate by the time little DAB processors have reassembled them.

Shame. Progress.

Still, should be fun tuning in to what's still available after radio follows TV into analogue oblivion. Will there be any stations punctuating the hiss and whine along the dial? Are those Eastern European propaganda stations still broadcasting analogue? What happens to Long Wave and Short Wave? One thing's for certain, you'll still be able to hear the sound of the universe being born. The echoes of the big bang whose radio waves don't need an Earth-based transmitter. Maybe 'white noise' will be all there is to listen to on analogue sets. Might be worth tuning in after all...

*STOP PRESS: At 1.13am BST, it actually happened. I wasn't waiting for it but BBC2 analogue has just disappeared, for ever.

David swimmer

2011-09-08T01:28:00.000+01:00

Still waiting for the typewriter muse to kick in so I'm sharing a couple of photos of a guy swimming the 140 mile length of the Thames for charity. This is just one of the 43466 strokes he's put in since the start. This evening, and a little behind schedule, David Walliams (...you know, the tall one out of Little Britain) beached at Wallingford. It seemed like the whole town had turned out to welcome him. Checking out Little Britain USA on HBO, seem's like David Schwimmer's a big fan.

Eccentricty exhibition

2011-09-04T00:52:00.000+01:00

OK, so I mentioned this a month or so back and today, being a sunny 1 September, and having in tow the boy-with-the-broken-arm, it seemed a good opportunity to take the bus to Oxford and check it out.

As you can see, Oxford's Museum of the History of Science is an august edifice, sharing a row of classical busts with the Sheldonian Theatre next door. We call one of the statues "Uncle Stewart" because of the striking similarity to a family member.

Astrolabe

Previously I'd seen a steampunk exhibition there which was impressive - chiefly for the marriage of craftsmanship with twisted imaginations. But most of the space is permanent displays of astrolabes, orreries, microscopes, telescopes and gadgets for generally figuring out how the world (and things which creep over it) ticks. The basement was a laboratory some time ago and giants of chemistry and the physical sciences have passed through it. From more recent times, they have a blackboard with notes chalked on it by Mr Einstein when he gave a lecture. That's the kind of place it is.

Clockwork bird scarer


William Stanley Jevons' logic piano

So we had great expectations of Eccentricity as we followed the sign down the steps to the back part of the basement. The first exhibit was a clockwork bird scarer. Hadn't I just seen a bunch of those for sale at an antique market in Villefranche-du-Perigord?

Hmm, expectations had started to fall in the dimly lit corridor to the next gem, a logic piano! An 1860s device which, at a stretch, could be a predecessor to the computer. The inventor intended it to be used to prove philosophical theories, apparently.

Round the next corner were a beer mat with a sundial printed on it, Marconi's civilian dress sword and cocked hat, an early wooden prototype of a rotary combustion engine and, at last, a few typewriters (why typewriters in an exhibition called eccentricity?) which had been the main attraction, at least for me.

Star of the show was the Japanese Nippontype Chinese language typewriter. I haven't a clue how they work, but it surely must be more of an index machine than a 'true' typewriter. The case of type looks intimidating.

As well as a fairly predictable Oliver No 5, an Imperial Moya-design desktop and a Remington Home Portable, there were some interesting machines which I tried to photograph as best I could (camera set at ISO 3200, deep breath):

Globe index machine, spot the rusty bell


Hammond Multiplex with key cards for Greek, Hebrew and maybe German?


Columbia index typewriter, very cute

So, you can see them here MUCH better than in the exhibition itself. I wish my eyes had an ISO 3200 setting, or the museum had just put a few more light bulbs in.

Wandering through to the old lab next door, I spotted Reverend Dodgson's plate camera. He was a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church college but he's much better known by his nom de plume, Lewis Carroll. Photographing the Liddell girls and writing crazy stories of Wonderland must have been a welcome distraction form dry academe.

And so up the stairs, out of the rabbit hole and into sunlight and fresh air in search of guitar strings for the young man.

Never Too Late to Look into the Future

2011-09-02T05:38:00.002+01:00

Thank you

2011-08-31T22:01:00.002+01:00

Thanks Richard and Ted for keeping the place aired and making guests welcome in Typewriter Heaven. I'm back from a few weeks holidaying in France and feeling bereft of any inspiration to witter about typewritters. Having said that, there are new acquisitions on the horizon. A vaguely described Olympia portable and an even more cryptically described "typewriter". If they make it through the Pearly Gates, dear reader, you'll be the first to know. Until the muse visits, I'll leave you with a panoramic virtual tour of the village we stayed near, and the sad wartime tale which accompanies the memorial.

Panorama of Frayssinet-le-Gelat supplied by Panoramic Earth

In Frayssinet-le-Gélat, members of the French resistance shot and killed a German officer. For this, 15 young locals were taken hostage and assassinated. Most were young men from one-child families… to prevent any further family line of descent. Five were young women. The schoolmaster attempted to escape, and was shot outside the school. Outside the church there's a monument and a plaque bearing the names of all the fifteen young victims.

T.A.R.D.I.S. Fuel - A Guest Post

2011-08-26T23:35:00.004+01:00

Goldurnit, blogger doesn't work the way I expected it to. I guess you have to click the images to actually read 'm.

Separated at Birth?

2011-08-12T20:35:00.003+01:00

Guest typecast by Richard P.

An incurable itch...

2011-08-11T12:41:00.004+01:00

A service label for the 21st Century?

Cacoethes Scribendi

If all the trees in all the woods were men;
And each and every blade of grass a pen;
If every leaf on every shrub and tree
Turned to a sheet of foolscap; every sea
Were changed to ink, and all earth's living tribes
Had nothing else to do but act as scribes,
And for ten thousand ages, day and night,
The human race should write, and write, and write,
Till all the pens and paper were used up,
And the huge inkstand was an empty cup,
Still would the scribblers clustered round its brink
Call for more pens, more paper, and more ink.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Eccentricity

2011-08-10T14:59:00.000+01:00

Anyone passing through Oxford? Not sure what's eccentric about typewriters, but the Eccentricity Exhibition promises a few and it might be worth a look at some 'museum pieces' before it closes. If I get to see it, I'll post some photos.

Full museum collection listed here.

Bryan S Ryan

2011-08-09T19:27:00.000+01:00

A follow-up on a mission of Mike Clemens' about extinct and extant typewriter dealers and repair shops.

Bryan S Ryan, that's what the silver label on the paper table of my 1933 black Underwod Portable reads. Some Googling and an e-mail later, the mystery is uncovered. Present director of Bryan S Ryan is Adrienne Prendergast who replied:

Hi Rob,

Bryan S Ryan was established in 1948. However, we would have been a major supplier of Typewriters and Service in those years and it is likely that this is a service sticker that we placed on it.

There might be more follow-up from her colleague of long standing at some time, but for now, Mike can put Dublin on the map!

Twins

2011-08-07T01:52:00.002+01:00

Linea 88 (Mrs L Wilson) giving shelter to Mr De Vito

...but only in the Schwarzenegger-De Vito sense. The G5 and iPad of their day. I mean, they both do the same thing, right? The Olivetti types very smoothly with an even touch. Now the spring-loaded margins are working and I figured out the only way to properly reinstall the carriage cover/paper table was by simply removing the bail well, there's nothing much wrong with this machine. I have spent an hour or so cleaning it but it is still grubby and ugly and it has been well enough used by someone with long fingernails for the key tops to bear some scars. I'd run out of 0000 wire wool so I cleaned the platen with a light sanding of 400 grit emery paper. Tip: dampen it a little first or you get black dust on the dining room table. The accuracy of the paper feed is such that you can confidently wind in a fresh sheet without getting the usual bent corner or having to straighten the paper before typing.

For an ugly machine, there are some tasty style cues. Radiused and sharp right angles from every viewpoint.

The other main difference between this and a portable is the chunky quality of the carriage control surfaces. The carriage release levers are jewels of cast and polished aluminium and the return lever's profile echoes the characteristic 'wide mouth' Olivetti smile on the cover.

My Dad bought this typewriter sometime in the 80s, probably for correspondence about the church renovation project he was involved with after he retired. Or maybe he just rescued it from a fate worse than dust. So, who is Mrs L Wilson? We'll never know, but she loved her Olivetti so much, she engraved her name on it. I wonder what the L stands for. And whether she wore her nails long.

Diversion

2011-08-06T01:02:00.002+01:00

Panorama of Bradfords Brook, Hithercroft supplied by Panoramic Earth

This is what it looks like standing on the edge of a field of corn on a bridge over a brook with reed warblers chattering below - and just the faintest shadow of a robot.

No work on the Olivetti this week - the plumber's been in fitting a new bathroom so it is bagged-up under the bed. But the sun's been shining and I have been out and about trying my new wide angle lens. And sometime yesterday, Typewriter Heaven gave its ten thousandth page view. Imagine that!

The wee fellow

2011-08-01T17:00:00.015+01:00

I'll typecast from the Big-O when I have fixed the left margin and got the paper table/scale properly reinstalled, and I'll try to include an appreciation of the 'feel' for notagain. That's if I'm not too distracted by each seismic shock when the escapement releases a ton of iron southwards, one character at a time.

Meanwhile, here's a better photo of that other, smaller Brit - a 1962 Empire-Corona s/n 4Y 664648. Uninspiring in silver Hammerite, but interesting to see it listed on tw-db under British Typewriter's Empire brand. In production immediately after the 'I-can't-believe-it-isn't-a-Hermes' Aristocrat. If I have it correctly, the Baby begat the Aristocrat which begat the SMC Empire-Corona et al. It is a familiar format but this one looks like it is built to a price. Imagine, a 1962 typewriter with no bichromatic option. Maybe they saved the frills for the De Luxe? The nearest in layout to this one in the collection is Antares Parva - the SMC looks and feels cheaper by comparison. I'll check under the hood sometime for similarities - it has the same slotted alloy billet with keys secured by a dowel.

The platen is very spindly, so it has a tendency to put a curl in the paper causing it to feed back in. Then again, it has been pretty humid lately - which can't help. The good news is that a couple of pages typing and a drop of oil seem to have freed all the keys and got the line return ratchet engaging properly. This machine appears to have many incarnations so, if anyone wants a copy of the 6pp A5 instructions, just yell and I'll post a pdf. I suppose the copyright holders won't be paying much attention.

Behemoth

2011-07-31T15:15:00.000+01:00

Not nearly as pretty as a Valentine - or a house brick - the new Olivetti I have is, I think, a Linea. That's about all I can guess at, on the assumption that the only other desktop Olivettis I can find reference to are Lineas. The serial number is B03 0537 which, with inference from the Typewriter Database, possibly makes it a 1969/70 Linea 88. Advice to the contrary welcome!

It is actually a pretty good typewriter. The keys and tabs work fine. The left spring-loaded margin setting needs some oil and the paper table needs a good scrub - I'll find out how to re-fit it properly. As well as weighing a ton, you can comfortably 'park' a portable under its extended carriage! There's even a little bounce in the platen rubber. And the plastic shines up OK with lighter fluid and a soft cloth.

Thanks to Robin for the photos

Surprising as it may seem, it doesn't really hold a lot of appeal. OK, it types really well, but it is pretty soulless. The best part is the return lever and the smoothly restrained action of the carriage as it glides under braking all the way to a long-set tab.

Olivetti unearthed

2011-07-29T18:18:00.000+01:00

Mum's giving me an British-made Olivetti desktop machine. Dusty after years of wardrobe confinement - but it WILL work once it arrives back. Before and after pictures coming soon, It types very nicely, even if the odd key sticks through lack of use!

PS: It isn't one of these!

Five's a handful

2011-07-28T03:11:00.003+01:00

Pretty clean. Skinny rubber. Early Model 5: twdb says 5A 756 is 1957-ish.

You might expect a 99p Imperial Good Companion Model 5 to be too good to be true. I can't complain, but the immaculate all-round cleanliness belies a problem or three. Here's the running order:

The platen won't engage the internal clutch so it is just spinning - no line returns. Yes, I undid all the screws but still having trouble removing the platen.
The tabs won't set and the linkage is buried deep!
The space bar linkage was hanging off and was quite inscrutable to reassemble. This connects to the whole escapement so is pretty critical to get right. Working well now though!
There's an annoying snag just as you depress the shift - problem isolated but I need a 3mm right-angle cranked spanner to adjust - or a file.

On lots of machines the cover comes off to reveal the workings - having little practical use except to hang luxuries like feet and paper rests off. This one, though, is an incredibly intricate alloy molding with various bits bolted to it and assembled around it. Maybe because it is a basket shift, but I'm blowed if I can see how to remove the carriage. Could be just a matter of time. I'll leave it a week and have another look then.

The Imperial came from a lady who rescued it from the dump. It belonged to the daughter (who now lives in the States) of a recently late friend. It has suffered some traumas and there are enough gnarled screw-heads to suggest it has been regularly repaired. Out of the case it is a very low-slung machine and the space bar linkage barely clears the desk top. The soft case has no retaining clips and offers very little protection.

Full decals and no skid marks on the lid. Spot the minor crack between the tab keys.

Don't let this put anyone off getting one!

Sneak peek

2011-07-27T01:39:00.001+01:00

It may be some time before I get my hands on the Underwood Noiseless. Meanwhile my Harrovian typewriter mule (nephew Al) made the connection with the Man, and then he sent this photo:

Imperial GC5 update: This was a skip-rescue from a late friend's house clearance by absent family... so the seller was OK with only making 99p on it. Good home and all that. Suffice to say, it is VERY clean, little used and a very early 1957 model 5. Bad-ish news: it needs some work on the space bar and the tabulator and the internal platen clutch is stuck off. Ribbon's good though and it types a treat - just without spaces and with 'freestyle' line returns.

Can it be fixed? Watch this space...

Bargain basement

2011-07-26T10:56:00.001+01:00

Three upcoming additions to Typewriter Heaven. Proof that classics are out there, just waiting to be re-homed:

Empire Corona (who needs a Hermes?): £5 + £9 postage

Imperial Good Companion 5 - 99p (yes, 99p)

Post-war Underwood Noiseless 77 - £15

Guest typecast!

2011-07-24T03:00:00.011+01:00

From the Emoticon Kid

Play Time

2011-07-23T01:58:00.000+01:00

Pretty unrelated to typewriters and all, except the young 'un was typing while I was watching it and, if you look closely, you might see some in this still. Play Time is a truly remarkable 60's film in the way it examines how humans manage to live - after a fashion - in 'modern' efficient living systems. It took several years to make and practically ruined Jacques Tati - no expense was spared in the production. The 70mm colour process is unique to his studio and the sound design is an extra comic character. What little dialogue there is, is mostly in English.

Foreign correspondent

2011-07-20T15:44:00.000+01:00

Life feels so empty and meaningless now the Remington Rand Model 1 is finished. Whatever will I do with all this spare time? Maybe I should dust it.

Looks a bit wonky because I photographed it that way. The typewriter's fine.

Happy feet

2011-07-19T01:00:00.007+01:00

The cobbler in town wouldn't sell me any rubber soles to whittle new feet for my down at heel Remington Rand Model 1. Said he didn't want people going off mending their own shoes, even though I told him it was for a typewriter. Fair enough. But he did sell me a piece of 8mm flat rubber he uses for stacking soles for £2 - enough for 8 feet. Much better material than the heels would have been. It is dense enough to just be able to deform it a little when you pinch it. I used the metal 'shells' as templates, then cut pieces to size and shape with a Stanley knife, chamfering each of the edges and sandpapering to round the corners. For these to work, close is good enough. Clamping the shell to the new foot, I drilled a 4mm hole through to take the bolt. The photo shows the sequence.

The bolts have a shank which prevents them being screwed in too far and I'd evnvisaged having to cut a recess to accommodate the square washer but tightening the bolt snugged it well into the rubber. By the time I'd installed all four new feet, it was obvious that there was a small chance the bolt heads would scratch whatever surface the typewriter may be used on. There might have been 0.5mm clearance, and these will inevitably compress over time. If you could get this stuff in 10mm, it would be ideal. I just stuck on a handy patch of 3mm neoprene to cover the base of each foot. A bicycle inner tube repair patch would probably have been OK too.

Happy feet

For bikethru - RNP vs RR#1

2011-07-18T01:27:00.003+01:00

Remington Rand s/n P31552 c.1938

Remington Noiselesss Portable s/n N48665 c.1934

Bikethru queried the 'noiseless' weights on the type bars linkage referring to Richard's Remington round-up.

I'm not sure that the pictures are much help. The Remington Rand Model 1 (s/n P31552) certainly looks to have disk shaped weights on part of the linkage, my Remington Noiseless Portable (s/n N48665) doesn't - yet it has that distinctive 'Remington silent' feel to the action and is, in fact, a little quieter.

You'll spot the additional felt cushioning at the top of the RNP photo and the elbows which are visible just below that are weighted sections - sort of wedge shaped, as far as I can tell. The only way to be sure would be to strip it down, which I'm not about to do any time soon! The type heads on the RR#1 certainly don't whack the platen like, say, a Corona 4, but they do hit the paper with more energy than the Noiseless.

PS: Bikethru, who are you?

RR#1-ding fix

2011-07-17T00:36:00.002+01:00

OK, I had four more jobs to do before considering this typewriter fit for purpose:

Replace the rubber roller that keeps the tabs from falling off the tab bar
Fix the bell
Make new feet and source some replacement rubber bushes for the cover screws
Clean the bodywork.

1] Replace the rubber roller that keeps the tabs from falling off the tab bar (A)

You can see, it doesn't resemble anything especially purposeful, but you can tell what it used to do. Now, I only have one tab (B) in all the world, and I can live without tabs. I got as far as removing the nuts that hold the roller but then decided to service and grease the carriage return linkage instead. You can't see the dead rubber (C) from the front and its condition has no impact on the function of the typewriter.

2] Fixing the bell

The spring had broken so there was nothing pushing on the flat spot on the bell's connector rod (D) - a simple assembly compared to some that works fine with a lightly tensioned spring. I don't have a drawer full of parts, so I generally have to improvise. I thought a neatly trimmed and partly unwound safety pin would work - springy wire with a loop for the bolt. Guess what? Works great. (E)

Yep, I know, it is rusty!

3] Make new feet and source some replacement rubber bushes for the cover screws

Any owner of a 1930s or '40s Remington will know it has hollow hard rubber rectangular feet in truncated pyramid section. They don't have them at the hardware shop. I'd intended using carved pencil erasers but just can't seem to find any. After some head scratching about the source of a likely material, I wondered about rubber heels from the shoe repairers. If they are flat, they should be easy enough to carve and if they are around 8mm thick, they'll be the right height to keep the typewriter snug in its case. Cover screw bushes? I wondered if 'O' ring seals from a car mechanic's workshop would fit the bill, I'll find out and let you know how I get on.

4] Clean the bodywork

There were a lot of subtle but ugly marks and a generally grimy patina about the paintwork. I tried soap and water but this just made the paint go temporarily grey and blotchy. So I tried T-Cut, a very mildly abrasive paint refinisher in a petroleum distillate. You shouldn't apply it too vigourously as it is abrasive. I went lightly around the decals especially, but it shined-up pretty well. I'll wax it too. No T-Cut in the US? Try Turtle Wax T415 Premium Rubbing Compound

Postscript

Bikethru commented on my previous post about the comparative type bar action of this RR#1 and an RNP. JUST after I'd put the cover back and restrung with part-used red and black I'd been saving. So, next post will be a "spot the difference" contest.

Remington Rand Mod. 1 - progress

2011-07-15T22:29:00.000+01:00

Nothing much worked at removing the hardened key cushion material, and I had some paint stripper left and... well, you know how it is. The Nitromors softened the brown stuff enough to scrub off, mostly with a toothbrush, but I had to resort to a green pan scrubbing pad to get the more stubborn bits off. The steel's plated with copper and then a black finish. Some of that's intact. Some of the copper is visible (see pic) and some of the bare metal is showing through. Who cares? It works! I lined the (now cleaned) cushion groves with strips I cut from bouyancy block material which is used as a transport block for car-topping a my kayak. Replacing the key comb was pretty straightforward, it being clean. I didn't have to resort to my diagram showing what key goes in which slot - it sort of just fell into place. Shame to waste the effort of my reading it out and Robin writing it down, so I'll share it at the foot of this post. For now, it works a treat - interested to see how long it lasts. Compared with my Remington Noiseless Portable, a harder rubber was used originally - but then the NP's cushions aren't brown...

I'm going to leave the comb as it is for now. If I could find a way of cleaning the keys themselves (they are crud-contaminated but not in places which prevents them functioning), then I might have repainted it.

One similarity (with the NP) is where the carriage release lever spring goes at the left end of the carriage. To begin, the platen needed to come out so I could clean it and the rusty paper tray. I'd run out of 0000 wire wool, so I used 400 grit emery paper for both. I thought it would help to remove the left-hand carriage cover plate - it didn't - just two screws, not a big deal. Until you find that the two screws also retain vital bits of the carriage release lever, and a spring, which sprung right off the machine. So, out comes the NP and off comes the end plate. Different set up, but similar enough to find which boss the spring had to sit on and where both ends should be tensioned. So, spring back on, keeping everything lined uptakes two hands but you have to pick up the end plate... and then a screwdriver. My mum would describe it, wrongly, as "frabbing". It was a struggle to the point of exasperation. The air was blue.

Of course, in retrospect, I should have let gravity lend a hand by tipping the machine on its side. Then I'd only have been one hand short. Needless to say, there are no photos of this part of the process.

And finally, for now, replacing the platen. If you ask me now, I'd say it was the easiest thing in the world. Thirty minutes ago I would have just snarled. It might have been the beer (London Pride), but I spent nearly an hour trying to get the platen back on. The detent roller (which makes the clicking sound when you wind in a clean sheet of paper) needs to be moved out of the way before the platen will go snugly home. It is so easy, just approach the job from behind the carriage and lever it down against its spring. The platen practically self-installs.

Next time: Feet, bell and tab-securing-rubber-roller-thingy.

Which keys go in which slot in the comb?

Liberté, egalité, fraternité

2011-07-14T23:58:00.004+01:00

Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People

First Canada Day, then Fourth of July and now...Bastille Day! It is at times like this I wish I had a French typewriter. But I don't. And French typospherians, revolutionary or otherwise, are thin on the ground. Better be quick, only three minutes of Bastille Day left, santé!

PS: Delacroix's Wikipedia holds little of interest for the dactylographologists. Cracking painting though. There's even a poor chap who sacrificed his trousers for the cause.

Remington crud

2011-07-13T00:57:00.000+01:00

I thought I should take a few reference pictures to remind me how this thing goes back together. Under a layer of brown crud, I found the final two tiny grub screws fastening the bottom of the key comb to the main part. Easing the clogged comb up over the keys was slow progress, but only after making a note of which key goes through which slot. The two space bar restraints (one of them is blurred in the foreground) needed one of their screws removing so they could swing down to allow the removal of the bottom part of the comb. I also had to lever the bottom edge up to clear the key tops. The metal seems to be coppery under the black paint.

Anyone else ever had to this? If so, this would be an ideal opportunity to share the answer two questions:

How do I remove the solidified crud? (First try will be gentle scraping - after that I'll get more abrasive)
What do I replace it with? (I was thinking 3-4mm soft rubber strip/tube)

Suggestions welcome, otherwise I'll just make it up as I go along. Many thanks.

Keycomb + guestblog

2011-07-11T16:00:00.013+01:00

Anyone nervous about taking the cover off a Remington Rand Model 1? I was, until I lifted the top plate (the four bushes crumbled to dust at this point) and unscrewed the congealed tarry feet and the four screws at the back holding the pressed steel to the aluminium backbone. The cover slips off very easily so you can get a better look at things.

A previous owner had used a liberal dose of oil to free the keys in their comb* from the 'fudge' but that's as far as it goes. The action is otherwise pretty clean. Now I have a Chinese puzzle: how on Earth do I get the comb out if the keys go through it, without removing keytops? Maybe it is two pieces. I'll loosen a few likely-looking screws, wiggle it, see what happens and let you know.

I think the guest blog idea got a reasonably warm reception - and it has been done before. How to make it work? I have a couple of people's e-mail address so I'll start there. I don't imagine there's any obligation to post, or to reciprocate. Should be fun to:

think of what to say
potentially reach a new readership.

*Thanks Martin for the disambiguation!

Blog-swap?

2011-07-10T15:47:00.002+01:00

This photo makes it look much better than it is! The paper table is rust-lined, the tab rubber's mush, the feet are semi-liquid and the keys are stuck to the comb (or whatever you call the key lever guide thing) because the original rubber cushioning - I'm guessing that's what it was - is now a hardened brown toffee residue. You can just make it out between the K and L. Beautifully made. That cover is cast aluminium and the engineering beneath it is breathtaking. The paint stays on this one!

I'll shortly post some 'work in progress' photos of the out-of-the-attic, cover-plate-off, assessing the situation, not-as-bad-as-it-looks, but-still-scratching-chin, Remington Rand Model 1.

Suffice to say, it is a rubber fetishist's worst nightmare.

On a completely unrelated tack, I was sat here wondering, as you do, what it would be like to write another's blog? Like a house swap but just for one post. Imagine how cool it would be to post on Joe's blog. Or be Matt for a day. Or make a cowboy preacher's proclamation in homage to Father Ted. Or pioneer some previously unimagined typecast transportation road movie type bike cast as Richard. Or a "this day" cast for Robert. You get the idea.

Walk in another's shoes, just for one post. Maybe share post content by e-mail and upload as usual. Easy, and potentially a lot more interesting than the way I have made it sound.

I don't know, it was just a thought. Empathy, and all that. I'm up for it. Have an opinion.

Reliant Ribbon

2011-07-09T01:20:00.000+01:00

The original list for the quiz was from a very quick trawl through eBay, plus a few from a Google search

Thanks to everyone for entering the draw for a copy of my photo of the stripped and polished Underwood. If you entered, your print will be in the post next week.

Star prizewinner of the bonus prize of a fresh-typed Declaration of Independence is... (drum roll)... Tori Forte! Only Tori and Paolo Lorenzi (from the Antique Typewriter Collectors* Facebook group) got it right: Parthenon was the only spoof brand ribbon, the rest were genuine. I might even drop in a spare print for Ted (-:

One of the highlights (there were so many) of this minor research was to find a brand called Reliant Ribbon. Not to be confused with Reliant Robin: a popular three-wheeler of the 60s and 70s. The great thing was that you could drive one on a motorcycle licence. Not so good on corners though. Admit it, you want one. I actually once meet the chap who designed its sporty offspring, the ultra-cool Bond Bug. Damn, I wouldn't mind one of those too.

Next week, we'll be guessing the locations of Malaysian rubber plantations where platen rubber was grown.

Like a badly driven three wheeler, this post has wandered off track.

Seriously, any ideas for another competition?

*Love the ambiguity - I'm sure some of the members are under 100 years old.

Lepus europaeus

2011-07-08T00:01:00.000+01:00

I didn't have anything much to say about typewriters. Been thinking about exhuming a Remington Rand Model 1, which is in much worse shape than it looks...

Anyway, I was archiving some photos and found this. It is a stuffed European hare (Lepus europaeus) which is part of a hands-on exhibit at an Ofxord museum. You can sometimes see live ones in the local fields. Anyone knows a connection between a hare and a typewriter - please let me know!

PS: Only 24 hours left to get your FREE Silver Surfer photo.

Competition - prizes galore!

2011-07-06T21:22:00.001+01:00

It has been a while since the Typosphere ran an online competition, so here goes...

I have postcard size photos of the Underwood 4 Silver Surfer to give away to the first ten entries drawn from the hat. The tenth name out of the hat wins the bonus prize of my original typecast of the Declaration of Independence! My generosity knows no bounds.

Enter the competition here

Competition ends midnight 8-9 July 2011.

GOOD LUCK!

In Congress...

2011-07-04T14:58:00.002+01:00

Newly polished Underwood Portable 4 bank in action declaring independence

July 4's the perfect day to read Jefferson's revolutionary 1776 declaration - which I have done for the first time, and type as much as would fit comfortably in a typecast. Full version with oppressions listed here.

As you type, you can hear Morgan Freeman reading it out loud - I wonder if he ever has? There's a certain poetry behind the gravitas.

Happy 235th Birthday USA, you don't look a day over 234!

Silver surfer

2011-07-03T03:27:00.002+01:00

Several pints of elbow grease later, the last of the paint is gone.

If you'd like a print, I have arranged with BWC Photo Imaging, Dallas, Texas to supply them in various finishes and on canvas. Just click the image for the link. 20% of all profit will be donated to charity: Wallingford Rowing Club Weights Shed Appeal .

Happy Canada Day

2011-07-01T20:48:00.003+01:00

...and thank you, Canadian workers, for my 1939 Remington Portable Model 5 and my 1936 Corona Silent, maple syrup, canoes, Leonard Cohen, Catelyn Bett, etc. etc.

My stats show a small readership in that fair country - enjoy the day.

Meanwhile, Project Underwood continues.

Silver dream machine

2011-06-30T09:00:00.005+01:00

...well, not quite. I put it back together to see just how good the finish on the inside needed to be. Turns out it is good enough. I used a wire brush in the electric drill to get the paint off the inside, so it isn't anywhere near a mirror finish. You can see there's still the odd patch of paint to come off, and then the whole thing needs polishing to get the worst of the abrasion scratches and watermarks out (see bottom pic) ...and I have to make 4 new feet. And the shift and rails need lubing and the keytops cleaning. I scoured the spotty growths from the platen with dry wire wool. So now it is shiny, but paper still feeds OK.

But none of that really matters. The important thing is, it looks pretty damn good so far!

(Click pics to supersize)

Underwood Portable typewriter restoration

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Ribbontop's-a- gobo

2011-06-29T09:00:00.008+01:00

Bobbin lid, reel shield, spool cowl ...ink-cap? Take your pick.

Here's all that's left of the branding on the Underwood Portable Typewriter. I'll try to polish some of those abrasion marks but steel's so much harder than alloy. Getting there...

Grumpy wizards

2011-06-28T23:05:00.001+01:00

Click image to go to Google Web Font

Just been alerted to Google Web Fonts new collection. If you fancy adding a "... Smith Corona Special Elite Type No NR6", and don't mind getting your hands dirty under your website's hood, head on over to the collection and pick a font to add to your site. For legibility, I'm sticking with Georgia, for now. Special Elite could be good for headlines though!

Beyond the pale

2011-06-28T02:26:00.001+01:00

An update on my stripping of the Underwood 4

I'd harboured a hope that after the first application of Nitromors, I would be able to restore this 1930 Underwood 4 to its original finish. I tried to control the degree of paint removal by applying the paint stripper and leaving it for only short periods before rinsing and scrubbing it. But the glimmer quickly turned into a gleam as the aluminum began to show through, both as normal wear patches at the corners of the keyboard and elsewhere.

The original black was largely intact but the rear gold decals on the back were already softened and blurred by my first attempts and the original clear laquer had come off with the brown enamel. This left the black dull and lifeless.

I'd generally consider it a sacrilege to rub down to bare metal on such an old typewriter but there wasn't much option to do anything else. I could have left it partially stripped but I'm not going to beat myself up about it. After the application by its former keeper of the brown enamel, this was never going to make a museum quality specimen - I reckon they made quite a few of this model. After a minute's reflection, I decided to go for it. The frame and front plate are both aluminium but the paper table and ribbon covers are steel and seem to be painted with different stuff which is harder to get off.

On the aluminium, I'm using 400 grit wet paper which I'll follow with 0000 grade steel wool, finishing up with Autosol chrome and alloy polish. I tried this routine on the back as a test and it seems to work OK.

After finishing, I'm not sure whether to clear laquer it to preserve the polished finish or paint it with some design or other. Suggestions welcome!

Rear of the year

2011-06-26T16:15:00.002+01:00

Lots of reasons for getting this typewriter:

One-piece quick-release alloy footbed (not sure why)
The colour is just about interesting enough to make it desirable
Groovy cat-flap at the back hides the tabulator pins
It is Italian
It is beautiful type on (despite warnings to the contrary)
It had my name written all over it (see above)!
From the rear, it has the profile of a freshly baked crusty white cottage loaf.

Test: See if you can spot the deliberate 'mistake' in its Eurotrash gallery mug-shot.

Answers welcome in the comments box below.

PS: If you get stuck, I'll post the answer in the next post.

Angels

2011-06-24T20:28:00.002+01:00

So, Typewriter Day 2011 has been and gone. Trips were taken, photos made and videos captured. Google's response to typewriterday2011 numbers 129 results and counting - the typosphere's 40 watt light bulb glows a little brighter this evening.

For me, it was a day in two parts: first, I have made better movies with typewriters in them - but when you see everyone tapping away on the same day and for the same purpose, well, it brings a tear to the eye. Fun to be part of it. Like Facebook groups, another strange 'out of body' experience, bumping into folks on the 'Tube. But then, my view count went through the floor. Could it be all my regulars were out with their camcorders? Not that stats matter. This is all about personal expression and a fondness for typewriters... right?

The Good Companion has just left the building on its way to my little sister, courtesy of another good companion. Sorry it is late Di, worth the wait, should be there by 11.00pm. And there's a gap in the carpet on the dining room floor where it used to sit. Sigh.

NOT to worry, please allow me to introduce you to Everest K2! You'll have spotted it in action in the video of the previous post. At £32.45, it was VERY expensive (for me) but worth every penny. Proper photo under controlled studio conditions will follow soon when the K2 is greeted at the Pearly Gates and finds a final resting place among Typewriter Heaven's other Eurotrash.

Typewriter Day 2011

2011-06-23T17:37:00.003+01:00

Happy Typewriter Day! The best intentions, and all that. A deadline and then rain stopped play - or at least put me off a canoe trip. At least I'm not trying to do something serious, like play tennis. Reckon stage fright got the better of my spelling by the look of it.

Alicia Keys - Typewriter

2011-06-22T10:38:00.001+01:00

Just in time for International Typewriter Day (23 June) a new anthem for angst-ridden typorati. Nice change from Leroy Anderson's The Typewriter.

SM3 induction

2011-06-21T23:51:00.001+01:00

Surprise, surprise, I have decided this typewriter is a keeper. Now on permanent display (and with a foot-fetish friendlier photo) in the Typewriter Heaven Eurotrash gallery.

Underwood stripper

2011-06-21T12:05:00.002+01:00

Regarding the previous post: Shordzi asked about the brand of paint stripper I used to remove the hand-painted brown finish (I think it is model maker's enamel). The can recommends 40 minutes. I left it for 10 before dunking in a bucket of water, brushing and rinsing it off.

Warning: This softened the decals to some extent, especially on the back of the frame where I left it on for about 15mins. This means that the writing is indistinct. The underlying original finish seems unaffected by the stripper.

Underwood uncovered

2011-06-20T21:50:00.005+01:00

This looked sooo much nicer on ebay!

This 1930s machine has sat neglected in the loft for several years but these silver surfers over the pond have shown that a new paint job is achievable, without too much stress. It is a crying shame that removing the paint will destroy the original Underwood decals.

Thinking that if someone could paint it so badly and in such a crappy colour, the technical challenge of dismantling this Underwood wouldn't be beyond me. It didn't take long to find the two screws fixing the aluminium body to the its guts. I'm going to run into a challenge when it comes to the feet. The front ones are bolted to the frame but specifically shaped to take the nut and and bolt and grooved to accommodate the case fixings. Maybe I can whittle something. The back feet also need replacing...

STOP PRESS: I just had a quick dab with paint stripper. The hand-painted brown has started to come off fairly easily - decals and original enamel pretty much OK. Maybe this could turn into a renovation rather than a reinvention?

The glue sticking the aftermarket interior sponge foam (???!!!) is harder to get off than the paint!

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Wilhelmshaven vs Frankfurt

2011-06-19T08:30:00.018+01:00

Got one of these?

The Emoticon Legend types thank you letters to aunts, uncles and grandparents for birthday presents

...get some of these :-)

However will we survive when these are all used up? Note lack of bar-code on the 1980s' packaging

Mint Imperial

2011-06-17T08:30:00.005+01:00

...well, almost mint. Here's a second booklet hand-made by the cherubim in Typewriter Heaven along with the Antares Parva manual. This one is about a basket-shift tabulator from an outpost of Imperial's empire on England's East Coast*.

Open publication

*Try saying that with a mouthful of Rice Crispies.

Disclaimer: publication not intended as a user guide or maintenance manual.

Strip show

2011-06-16T00:58:00.003+01:00

By popular request, a slide show of the stripped plywood case from the Olympia SM3. The case had been somewhere damp as you can tell from the tarnished metalwork and black stain. I haven't tried to conceal any blemishes and the only work on the furniture was to polish the chrome and emery one of the handle fasteners which was all rusty. The tricky part (aside from removing the paint) was to protect the interior which is flocked (not fabric lined) and easily damaged by clamping in a workbench. It wasn't in great condition to start with. Clean flock by dabbing, not wiping.

You can see that the case was only intended to be painted - the joinery is crude and the beech veneer marked, though the original paint in those areas was intact. The rubber feet were compacted, crumbling and damaged. Since they are symmetrical, I sliced the damaged surface off, reversed them so the good side is on the outside, and glued them in place after varnishing the case - they'll need tidying inside with a patch of felt.

Anyone fancy a go? After removing the handle, catch and feet (4x metal and 4 rubber), here's a list of what I used:

1/3 sheet orbital sander (beech is pretty tough and shows no sanding rings)
40 grit Aluminium Oxide abrasive paper to remove the top paint
80 grit once the wood starts to show through
240 grit emery paper to hand flatten the surface prior to varnishing
Rag and spirit to clean between sanding and varnishing
2 coats quick drying polyurethane varnish (at least)
Dust mask, ear protectors and forgiving neighbours.

Have fun...

True grit

2011-06-15T18:51:00.001+01:00

Furniture screwed back in place. The varnish said "satin" on the tin - but it looks almost glossy.

So there I was, thinking I'd never get all the paint off the Olympia SM3's case, but I decided to try a new batch of paper on the orbital sander. Wow! 40 grit Aluminium Oxide paper really shifts paint without clogging. 80 grit swept away the undercoat and primer all the way down to bare wood. All in about half an hour. £3.00 well spent.

Thanks Richard the Bikecaster for the ID tip. Looks like it is a non-Deluxe SM3. I should have guessed by the way it doesn't say Deluxe on the type basket.

Striptease

2011-06-14T11:47:00.001+01:00

Un-painting this Olympia's box could end up being a lost cause. The promise of a fine wooden finish seems out of reach because of the tenacity of hammerite primer.

Richard commented he was curious about how these boxes were made: the bottom and two sides are solid wood and the curved top is steamed ply. They are nailed and glued with any gaps filled with... filler. In short, they were made to be painted. But the same heavy duty sanding which originally profiled the corners isn't proving anywhere near as effective at removing the paint.

I'll persevere a little longer before preserving with varnish and replacing the hardware.

Also, I'd thought I had an SM3 but the manual I downloaded from MLG suggests otherwise. There's no tabulation and the paper support isn't push-button operated. These are reffered to in the manual. It DOES have spring-loaded key tops though. Any helps with ID welcome. The SN is 728899.

Hardcase

2011-06-12T21:38:00.000+01:00


Blond beech veneer shining through the grey hammerite - photos of the SM3 to follow soon.

Dove grey

2011-06-11T12:23:00.002+01:00

I just picked up this Olympia from a nice lady in Cowley, Oxford, home of the Mini. You could say it was Dove Grey - a favourite colour of the Mini's forebear, the Morris Minor. It needs some cleaning and the carriage is grinding on the bodywork, so I'm just off to the hardware shop to get some half-inch tap washers to replace the rubber mounting bushes.

The case is painted metallic Hammerite grey. From the finish, the styling and the age of the machine - I'd guessed it was fibreglass like the case for my Imperial Good Companion 5. Not so. It is steam formed beech ply and I'm tempted to strip it and varnish it! According to Schumann, the s/n 728899 makes it a 1956 SM-3. It has sprung key tops but no tabs.

It was a lazy purchase. I saw it was local and checked I could pick it up from the seller (nobody wants to package a typewriter if they don't have to) and got it for £9. The intention being to fix it up and sell it - just for fun - to see if I could turn base metal into gold like the recent Channel Blue Corona 4 proved was possible. Could be tough parting with it now though...

Open and shut

2011-06-08T09:00:00.003+01:00

I'm in the process of making a new typewriter manual for The Good Companion Model 5 and I just couldn't resist sharing a couple of the photos.

News just in: The Imperial Typewriter factory in Leicester, UK, was raided yesterday and 33 illegal workers arrested. Leicester has a large community with origins in India and Pakistan who have found UK borders alternately open and shut. Read the full story...

Olivetti apparel

2011-06-07T12:00:00.007+01:00

The inevitable T-shirt. The previous Antares and Groma designs are pretty much redundant logos. This one is too, but Olivetti's still trading under a different flag. If you stare at it long enough - it looks like a Japanese character. Just realised the animation might put some viewers in a trance - if so, enjoy...

Olivetti braggadocio

2011-06-06T14:58:00.003+01:00

Having previously pooh-poohed the Olivetti logo of the 50s, 60s and 70s as being neither pictorial nor consistently applied, the celebration of Giovanni Pintori's work by ninonbooks prompted a revisit. I don't know if it was drawn by him but my conclusion: it is a glorious logo.

Have a play with it. Right click to download your very own hi-res bitmap here.

I don't have access to the fonts used in the advertising, though Bodoni italic is a good start for words like Lettera etc. The namestyle on Sottsass'es Valentine is appropriately, for a red plastic typewriter with orange bobbin-knobs, set in Braggadocio. On contemporary machines, so's Adler. And cruelly mis-applied in Boston.

Channel blues

2011-06-05T00:03:00.002+01:00

Have good photography and an active Typosphere helped to inflate prices of used typewriters? You quite often see people on ebay offering, say, a Remington Noiseless Portable with a reserve of £300 - needless to say, they don't sell.

I was I was keeping an eye on a Corona 4 in Duco Channel Blue on ebay - just idle curiosity, you know - and which did sell for a very high price, as did this pretty ordinary-looking Underwood from the same seller. I have ones just like them which cost around £20 a few years ago.

Then there's the article posted yesterday on Technorati about old typers being a good investment. Anyone starting to think about insurance yet? And so much for my dreams one day of finding (and affording) a Lavender and gold C4!

Has the sad day may have arrived when a used typewriter costs many times more than the postage?


This is what a £113 Corona 4 in Channel Blue looks like and...

...this is what a £20 Corona 4 in Channel Blue looks like