Bryan S Ryan

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!

Sneak peek

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

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

Reliant Ribbon

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.

Competition - prizes galore!

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...

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

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 .

Silver dream machine

 ...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

Ribbontop's-a- gobo

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...

Beyond the pale

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!

Underwood uncovered

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!

Naming the parts

© 1919 Underwood Typewriter Company Inc, NY

Double page spread in the back of my user manual for an Underwood three-bank portable.

Click image to supersize.