Southpaw

Pencast by LH Lamy Safari. RH version also available.

Closest on Amazon US

Same nib on Amazon UK

Foundation and Empire

Imperial The Good Companion. s/n EN839, 1948
By Appointment to His Majesty King George the Fifth.
This, and the following four images are at the same scale.
Click any to supersize to 1000 pixels

Imperial Good Companion 4. s/n 4BS401T, 1958

Imperial Good Companion 5. s/n 5A756, 1957

Imperial Good Companion 5. s/n 5G990, 1958

The Good Companion, return lever

Good Companion 4, return lever

Good Companion 5 serial number. Earlier model had the number on the bottom
of the molding, later ones are numbered under the top cover

Ribbon selector is different between earlier and later models

Older and newer line-space ratchet pawls. What is the later arrow pointing to?
Possible platen re-covery? The ratchet on the later model doesn't work consistently when
it doesn't engage with the cog. This might be because it fouls the platen rubber.

Under the hood of the Good Companion 4

Under the hood of the Good Companion 5

What lies beneath. A Good Companion 4's nether regions exposed

...and the Good Companion 5's revolutionary though
more delicate undercarriage

Read my spoof manual for the Good Companion 5

Imperial Good Companion 5

Slower than the speed of light. s/n: 5G 990 c.1958ish

Spaghettification

Coming: typewriter seen from my singularity, apparently.

Going: Imperial Good Companion 5. Kingston-upon-Hull, 1958

Olympia SF

Vorsprung durch Technik

This 1969 Olympia SF came from Oxford at the same time as the Good Companion 4. So, I was walking along the riverbank yesterday and spotted a 52mm Nikon lenscap - just there on the path. Nobody was around so I picked it up and took it home. It is always useful to have a spare.

I was packing the cap away with my old 'analogue' camera kit: a couple of outdated Nikon FMs and assorted lenses, and there were my old macro extension tubes and 50mm f1.8 Nikkor AIS, just sitting there, doing nothing. I clicked them together and fitted them to the DSLR and had a play under the glare of a 60watt Anglepoise.

For image quality, the 25 year-old lens knocks spots off the new kit zoom lenses I generally use - even though it was designed for full-frame 35mm and you have to set aperture and focus manually. Besides, in macro, you set the focus on infinity and shift the camera to and fro to get focus - exposure's just a matter of trial and error. It doesn't take long. Old meets new - I kept looking for the red exposure guide in the viewfinder. You just have to check the LCD monitor though. I reckon using old analogue lenses with a digital body is a very appealing way to take photos.

Doing this reminded me of a conversation I had a month or so back with someone who was praising the merit of 'fixies'. A modern pushbike with neither gears nor freewheel. You either get it or you don't. If you like the idea of fixies - you'll probably like this way of taking pictures for the same indefinable reasons.

Meanwhile, back to the subject. For all-round typing ability, small dimensions and beautiful results - this Olympia SF is the best ultraportable I have used. By miles. I'm not sure what the differences are between this, the angular SF and the Splendides. Until I took the macros, I thought the typeslugs were spotless but even dirty, the type is sharp, clear and effortless. German engineering perfection. Typecast coming soon.

PS: Anyone know why Olympias sometimes use the four domino dots for the margin release? 

PPS: I feel I should add that all these photos are unedited apart from some overall sharpening to compensate for any softening during processing, and re-sizing from 4288 pixels to 640 pixels.

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.

Imperial Good Companion 4

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

Poems for sale...

...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

Going Dutch

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

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®

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?

More pictures
Recipe

Videos

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

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:

1. 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.
2. You'll also need a 12" length of stiff wire and a small screwdriver.
3. 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.
4. 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.
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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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!