Olympia SF/Splendide - ribbon installation

Eye-popping Remington 5

I was just seeing if there were any clues to fixing notagain's carriage problem on his Travel-Riter (there weren't) when I noticed that the ribbon spools on my Remington 5 shift. I can't think of any other typewriters where the spools shift with the carriage. That explains why this and other incarnations of the Remington Portable family use such small spools. Anyway, perfect excuse for a 2 frame animation.

The Union Flag flanked by maple leaves on the paper table are because this was made by Remington in Canada in 1939.

Black stuff

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.

Fresh ribbon

From Olympia SM-4 DeLuxe

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.

Antares the progenitor

Open publication - Free publishing - More antares

typecast #12

Defaced date: October 1977. HMSO=Her Majesty's Stationery Office

Thread-bare

Anyone know where I can get replacement ribbon for a Blick Universal/Klein Adler? Because of the horizontal striking action, and being a three-bank, the type-head depth calls for a 3/4" ribbon. Is this unique to this machine? Was 3/4" the Betamax of Golden Age Saxony? I re-inked this ribbon with a tube of ballpoint ink with some success - but it is perforated and becoming thread-bare.