A 1961 Olympia SM4 with a jammed carriage arrived on my workbench a couple weeks ago. I started calling it Murderbot. It’s a long story, so I’ll start at the beginning.
Rough Beast: Underwood Rhythm Touch
In these troubling times of widening gyres and blood-dimmed tides, I have been holding my centre through quiet typewriter tinkering. A distressed 1952 Underwood Rhythm Touch slouched into my garage around Thanksgiving last year, and working on it has brought me much comfort since then.
Slow Cook Recipe: Smith-Corona Electric 5TE
Sometimes a troubling typewriter issue needs time stewing in my brain before I find a satisfying solution. I’ll put it on the back burner and think about the problem from time to time, stirring it occasionally. I recently worked on a Smith-Corona Electric 5TE with bell and right margin problems that is finally behaving properly after long slow-cook pondering.
Hope Springs Eternal: Coronet Electric
A $5.00 “as-is” machine is often worth much more than $5.00. If you can repair it, it’s worth more, obviously. If you can’t, it’s a good parts machine. And for me, a life-long learner, a broken typewriter is a wealth of educational opportunities. I recently had a doozy of a “learning experience”.
Attachment Issues: Smith-Corona Clevis Problems
Monica and Stephen are local collectors who have many typewriters that are just my type, my personal kink being dysfunctional machines that need a lot of work.
Farhad’s Coronamatic 2500
A local typewriter enthusiast named Jean asked me to look at her 1980s Coronamatic 2500’s nonfunctional “N/n” key. Jean is a persistent typist, and she loves this typewriter so much that she was making do using double “l” with a handwritten diagonal in place of “N/n” when she typed on it.
Missing Spring, Missing Handle: Royal Futura 800
I recently worked on a 1960 Royal Futura 800 and became familiar with what my research says is a common problem in Futuras: ribbon vibrator forks that flop open allowing the ribbon to migrate out of the ribbon vibrator while typing.
The Rusty Sabre
Gather ’round, me hearties, and I will tell ye the tale of the Rusty Sabre of Portugal. Aye! ‘Twas a Royal Sabre!
My Summer Vacay with a Hermes Babay
Summer got away from me, and here it is mid-August already. In June, I drove out to the wilds of the DC suburbs where I picked up a couple typewriters in need of some attention. They are owned by a local typewriter enthusiast, Suzanne. One was a 30+ lb behemoth, a KMG with a tabulator issue that I fixed up, and the other was a teeny 1943 Hermes Baby.
Good Enough Is Very Fine: Royal KMG Tabulator Issue
I headed to a nearby suburb a couple weeks ago to pick up a Hermes Baby with a carriage bail issue. Owned by local typewriter enthusiast Suzanne, the Baby needed a spring replaced in a procedure that sounded much more complicated than I would have thought. Replacement involved something about special tools and torsion springs. 😬
Black Beauty: Royal De Luxe Portable
A local typewriter enthusiast named Ross has a stable full of Royal portables. These fine fillies are spirited creatures, but after 70 or 80 or 90 years of being ridden hard and put away wet, many need attention. I recently worked to fix some nagging issues on a 1950s QDL and a 1939 QDL, and he had another 1930s De Luxe that I looked at. Continue reading
Mother and Daughter: Hermes 2000 and Hermes Rocket
Monica and Stephen are a delightful local couple who are really into typewriters. They not only collect, but they organize type-ins and bring people together for typing fun. I was a little late to the Monica and Stephen Party, but I’m so glad to know them now. Good people.
To the Dogs: Royal Quiet De Luxe
We have a couple special books for our grandson on the mantel at our house. One is called Bad Hair, and it’s just a collection of weird hair photos from vintage barber magazines—my grandson finds it fascinating. Another favorite is a book of dog photos taken by Elliott Erwitt. We handle these two books very carefully (soft-soft—no chewing!) and examine the pictures.
Escapements and Carriages: Purple Porto-Rite and Royal QDL
I recently attended a type-in at a local public library. Two members of the Mid-Atlantic Typewriter Collectors Group, Monica and her husband Stephen, organized the event. They’ve done this a couple times in the past, and they always get a good crowd of local enthusiasts, library walk-ins, and kids.
Soft-Soft: Underwood No. 4
Since my son and daughter-in-law have moved closer to me, I have been busy in Grandma Land chasing a newly-walking terror intent on finding the most fragile, most dangerous items to crush or mouth.
myoldtypewriter 