Showing posts with label animated gif. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animated gif. Show all posts

Wednesday 28 March 2012

Eye-popping Remington 5

KHM




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.

Tuesday 20 December 2011

Spring Chicken



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. 

Thursday 20 October 2011

Royal KHM - answers



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
    [Addendum: I get questions about the ribbon advance and why it might not be working. Yes, half inch ribbon is fine but you do need spools as illustrated showing top and bottom views. Unlike most other typewriters, the advance is not connected to the ribbon vibrator but to the travel of the carriage.]

    Wednesday 8 June 2011

    Open and shut

    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...

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