Play Time

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

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

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

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

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

1. Replace the rubber roller that keeps the tabs from falling off the tab bar
2. Fix the bell
3. Make new feet and source some replacement rubber bushes for the cover screws
4. 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.