Davis Typewriter Works

Our newest contributor

2011-06-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a while, hasn't it! But as you can see in the above picture, Mrs. Davis and I have a new acquisition! Yes, it's beautiful isn't it? True, there are a lot of these around, but it is hard to get one in this kind of shape, that is this beautiful and works this well. Wait, you thought I was talking about that Remington Noiseless Model 7? No, HAHAHA, no. The little guy learning to type on it, at 7 months old, is our son Dawson, and he is the reason I haven't posted anything to the blog lately! Pretty good reason, eh?

But don't worry, there are new articles in the works, including yet another installment of "what's wrong with this" (that might just be the picture machine AFTER Dawson has had his way with it!), features on Brother machines, some more SCM stuff (what a surprise, right?) and other stuff. Yeah. And I have a new little helper, too, so you ought to get another perspective on things for a change.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! I know we all are here. And welcome our new son to the hobby. He's stuck now!! I mean, these he can kind of play with. True, as you can see he still looks at the keys, but COME ON, he's only 7 months old for cripes sakes! The golf clubs he can't use yet. Yet. Golf clubs? Those in the background there, in my office where this was taken. What are they? Well, now that you ask.........oh we need another blog!

Just a "Standard" blog post.

2011-03-28T13:35:00.001-07:00

Get it? "Standard" blog post, and see? It's a "standard" typewriter? Who said that? What, what was that? That's lame? Ok fine. You think up titles then.

Having been participating in the Yahoo Portable Typewriter group chats lately, I came up with this idea for a post after a couple participants began discussing standard machines. I realized that I only have 3 or 4 standards, and they are not at all common ones! So, here we go. What do they all have in common? Well, other than that I own all or them, only a few things. Namely, only one of the designs would have any lasting power at all! Yet, these are some beautiful machines to look at.

The first machine it that seen at the top of the page, a Harris Visible No. 4. This machine is in fantastic condition, and is useable too. Gotta love the blue and gold pinstriping. For lots more on these machines, and the fascinating story behind them, see Will's foundational article here:

http://machinesoflovinggrace.com/ptf/Harris.html

These shots are all of my machine, serial number 24568, which is in pretty darn good condition as you can see. I really like the blue and gold pinstriping, don't you? I have always felt that these machines were not junk, but not at the top. You know, kind of a solid middle of the pack performer, not losing to every other machine out there feature for feature or comparing useability, but not winning ENOUGH to make it any further than it (or the company) did. This whole business venture is an excellent study in business theory and application, and shows just how hard it can be to compete in a tough field business-wise. Yes, the story is cool, totally apart from the machines.

Here is a really beautiful machine, my Pittsburg Visible No. 12. This is a fantastic machine, and as seen here is totally useable. Yet, it is another one of those machines/companies who ended up failing. Again, refer to Will's in depth study, and also there you can see many more pictures of this very machine!

http://machinesoflovinggrace.com/ptf/VisDaughertyPittsburg.html

Ok, other than the Smith Premier 1 that was on this blog a while ago, this last machine is currently the only other standard I own, and I just got it today! Purchased on EBay from a well known and excellent collector, this machine fulfills a want I have had for years: a good condition, useable noiseless standard machine. Clearly this machine is useable, in fact the rear decal says: "Reconditioned at the Remington Noiseless Factory"!! Well, that could have been last week! These thrust action machines are a class in and of themselves.

Now then, we have the Harris No. 4, the Pittsburg No. 12, the previously described Smith Premier 1, and this last machine, a Remington Noiseless 6, factory reconditioned as some point. Go back and look at all the pictures above. Gee, the noiseless doesn't look too good compared to those others, does it? I mean, it isnt terrible, but these machines have a high, bulky look, odd with that rounded type bar cover contrasting with the square blocky shape of the body. No paper table either on these (these didn't have one!) to put a nice big decal on. No pinstriping at all, just liberal crinkle paint. Nope, no contest as far as looks go. All 3 others are better looking, even with one being an upstrike!

The serial number of the noiseless shown decodes to 1930. Long after all three other machines were made. And this basic design, never really a front runner in sales, would soldier on many more years. Despite it's mechanical complexity, it can be considered a successful design.

Here's the crux of the comparison: this Remington Noiseless 6 is an absolute DREAM to type on! It buries the other machines and not just by a little. Not only is it MUCH quieter, it is FAST. I couldnt pile keys on it unless I got sloppy with my typing. This machine responds to fast, strong, staccato fingers, just like someone who types a lot might be expected to have. This machine survived its original company of origin (The Noiseless Typewriter Co.) because it is inherently a GOOD MACHINE that is strong, solid, and does what it says it will do, that is reduce noise. But there is no sacrifice with that gain, other than the complexity. Not pretty, not ornate, no pinstriping, and yes I know it isn't exactly apples and apples but the least visually attractive machine here is the best to use, longest lasting of them all? Yes. And it also has an almost as good business story behind it too, but the thing about THAT is that this design had an edge, some advantage, that could keep it around. Just like Jack Nicklaus said about golf tournaments, he always felt that if he could just hang around till Sunday, maybe not even near the top, he had a good chance of winning the tournament. Some of the machines we all own did just that, their designs hung around, had something to offer, some edge or advantage, and even if their original company faltered, someone else saw the possibilities and kept the machine in the market, one way or another.

So, this display of just a few standards is at once a study in what I like personally, AND in business theory and application, useability, aesthetics, all kinds of things! Yes, those first three, the Harris, Pittsburg, and Smith Premier are top notch display machines. They all work too. Would that Remington turn any heads? Is it the "ugly friend" to the others? Maybe, but if I had to use one every day, it would be the Remington. No contest. Not even close. The Harris would certainly be second, but not a close second. Is the number of each of these you see roughly comparable to the success of the machines/companies? How many Harris' do you see? Now, how many Noiseless machines of all variants do you see, whether the original company, or Remington's, or Underwood's?

My Smith Premier 1 makes a wonderful display in my house, and everybody that sees it comments on it. Same with the Pittsburg, and no doubt why. I think they are beautiful too. But, being mechanical more than artistic in nature, and having typed LOTS on a LOT of machines, if a Noiseless were on display in someone's house, it would get the same reaction from me! The mechanical complexity and unique story of these Noiseless machines made me want one, to add to my small group of standards, and now after experiencing it's awesome useability I'm even more glad to have added it to my collection. Do you have machines on display, maybe in your office or in your home? How do they compare to your other machines NOT on display? Do you display machines that look good, or ones that WORK well, or is that even a consideration for you? Comment, and have a great week! David A. Davis

DTW Wreck Report

2011-03-06T18:32:00.000-08:00

When I say, offhand, to friends, or other collectors, or even as I sometimes do on the internet that we're up to our keesters in typewriters around here I'm not kidding. Many times you get to see the machines only when they're repaired, cleaned, adjusted and ready for typing. Sometimes you get to see specially selected machines that we put in the DTW because we think they're interesting subjects, and so these machines you get to see go from damaged or maladjusted to repaired. What you don't normally get is a tour of the absolute junkers that are around here waiting to be fixed, or used as boat anchors, or thrown in a ravine. Bridging this perceived gap, and very likely answering a question nobody asked, we now present our first-ever DTW Wrecked Typewriter Report.

Rex Visible No. 4. Serial number 42980. This machine is in fairly bad shape; not only is one of the feet cracked off of it, we don't have the foot. It was this way when we found it at a large antique mall in Ohio, and since we love Harris and Rex machines and the price on this thing was something stupid like $5 I bought it. It's worse than just that frame problem, though; the shift is absolutely jammed through what was very likely a total misunderstanding of how the shift / shift lock override works on one of these things (for those who don't know, there is nothing intuitive about this functionality on the Harris/Rex standards) and sometimes you'll find these with the shift jammed. It's worst when the levers are really bent like they are on this one. There are other problems with this machine, too; I think maybe two or three type bar links are off, or broken. I didn't look again. This machine will likely get parted out since the fatal problem of frame breakage without the missing piece dooms it. However, we are still looking for a Rex with the side-button ribbon selector and if we had to get a really bad one we would absolutely use as many parts out of this one as needed to make a working machine. So I guess it stays. Heck, we've had this one a couple years now. I think.

Here is our Continental Silenta. This is one that will be going up to Your Typewriter and Computer for a good tanking. The machine is not among the worst here, but any type of thrust action or Noiseless machine needs to be really really clean, in our experience, in order to function properly. This one was very dusty and dirty when we got it, and I can see it's gotten a bit worse since whenever it was I left the dust cover off of it. Oh, well... This was at one point supposed to be the designated 'Very Next Machine' to go up there for a soak and I honestly can't remember what happened. It's been a while.

This machine is another one I bought at an antique mall. I think. What we are looking at here is something kind of interesting; it's a Fox No. 4 Standard, which is the original style of Fox that is an upstrike or "blind writer." What's unusual about this one is that it has a built in decimal tabulator (with denominations up to one hundred million.) I don't recall seeing too many Fox machines with decimal tabulators; I'm not calling this one rare, but I am saying I myself haven't seen too many. This is another one that I got home and designated as that "Next Big Project," but like so many other ones it got shelved for reasons I cannot recall. Sometimes things happen in bursts and some machines get forgotten! I do recall now that when I looked at this one the first time, the price was right about at that magic cutoff "speed of sound" number for me and my spending habits, but when I realized that in addition to its lid (no base) it also had the decimal tabulator I quickly decided to buy it when that little bell went off inside that says "I don't think you see a lot of these." We'll see; now that it's on HERE, they'll pop out of the woodwork.

Here is one I don't think we've ever shown anywhere either. This is a No. 10 Remington Standard with five-key decimal tabulator. What is interesting about this machine is that it is actually a 10S variant - in other words, this machine is late enough that it has a slotted, solid one-piece type bar segment instead of the individually mounted type bar bearings that the No. 10 was introduced with in 1908. On the European Typewriter Project site, we showed Tilman Elster's 10S that very clearly has a letter "S" on the front, above the top row of keys. This machine doesn't look like it ever had that there before. It seems to work all right (not great, but all right) so I'm not too sure why it never got on any of the websites. I didn't pull it out to fully test it though; that is something for a later day.

Hey-- I think I found something that isn't a junker!

This is what looks like a 1930's Adler Standard machine, and it's really in good shape! Now I'm really confused -- however, this was stuck away in a corner that got buried pretty quickly with other machines and that would explain why we had this one cleaned professionally (it's really clean) and adjusted. This thing seems to work fine, and look closely - a QWERTY keyboard! That means I can put it through its paces without having to temporarily retrain my mind. What's more, this thing is segment shifted so it's sure to be pleasant. Once again, I have no recollection of having put this machine on any of the sites and I cannot think why not. I'll make sure to test this one on this site soon.

Well, that's enough looking through the debris field, detritus, and flotsam for one day. There are plenty more machines to be covered that ARE fixed.. and lots, unfortunately, that aren't. There's a brass framed Underwood around somewhere, and a matching parts machine for it with iron frame. There's a parts Reliance around somewhere too. There are at least two beat to death portables around too that will be a good source of small fasteners. But enough! Onward with machines that don't need to be fixed, at least for a while.

Smith-Corona-rama!!

2011-03-06T17:22:00.000-08:00

A few years back, our Dad went berserk and started having me buy, as his agent, every Smith-Corona variant I didn't already own myself. We even duplicated a couple I did have to opt up in quality. Let's take a very random look through this ocean of Smith-Corona machines -- among the collector-typists' favorites -- in what I'm going to call the Smith-Corona-rama!

Note: There are two ringers in here; one acquired recently, and one is mine.

Smith-Corona SUPER. Serial 5T 118429. This machine is actually the first of the 'ringers' since we recently acquired it from Tim Champlin. Now, I've been telling everyone for many years that the first Smith-Corona machine with the key-set tabulator was the SUPER, and that these are about the hardest conventional Super 5 machines to find. Quickly, two more keys were added and the machine became the Silent-Super. However, during all this time I never actually owned one! So recently we rectified this situation with this fine example. This machine dates to 1954. For reference as we go along, let's point out one of the more obvious trim changes that occurs on these machines -- the logo. On this machine, it's green plastic and has an underline. On the very earliest Super 5 machines the logo on the front is actually burnished metal, with an underline. This logo style came next, and then after that a logo still of plastic but with no underline.

Smith-Corona Silent-Super. Serial 5T 459437X. This machine dates by its serial number to 1957, and is finished in Desert Sand color. Note the white keytops - white appeared sometime after the introduction of the Super 5 as a keytop color. But look closely at these keytops; they still have the "T" cross section of the early Super 5 style keytops. Note also that the logo is plastic, with an underline. You can find Silent-Supers in very many colors out there if you look hard enough. Certain colors were fitted with the original green keytops, while others got these white ones. Later on, only white ones were used. I don't have a hard date on that, yet.

Smith-Corona Sterling. Serial 4AR 42795. How many people remember my brother Dave's last "What's wrong with this picture" feature? Many must, judging by the traffic it got. Those who do will find this machine of interest. Not only is this another mutant Speedline (4 series) machine painted in essentially Super 5 era paint, it's painted in Desert Sand and has white keytops! Note the keytops are "T" cross section, and note also that the logo is plastic with an underline. In point of fact, the keytops and the logo happen to closely match the previously seen Silent-Super with a production date of 1957. Is that even possible? It might just be, although I'm fairly certain that this color was available before that time. Still, this is about the latest-schemed 4AR I personally know of and it's also important to note that the other 4AR machines we showed with Smith-Corona name brand applied used decals to indicate brand, and model (if used.) This machine has the logo punched through just like the Super 5 machines, and in fact it's the same logo, making the decor even a bit closer overall to being truly Super 5.

Smith-Corona Silent-Super. Serial 5T 624260X. Here is another Silent-Super, this time in a very nice darkish green color. I can't remember the factory name for this shade right now. We see again the most common Silent-Super decor features, with underlined plastic logo and white keytops with T cross section. About the time of introduction of the 6 series, also known as the Galaxie series, the keytops were altered and had the same top contour but a bowl-shaped bottom. This change doesn't affect the typist since the feel is no different at all, but it's another one of those small changes that's easy to spot outside the machine. This machine dates to 1960 by serial number.

Smith-Corona Electric Portable. Serial 5TE 137750. Here is our second 'ringer' of the presentation -- this is actually my machine, not my Dad's. I acquired this machine many years ago, and it was my only electric typewriter of any kind whatsoever for a long long time. I got it at a resale shop for just a couple bucks because they thought it didn't work. It had a minor loose wire which I fixed quickly, but then I found out that all the type bars were stuck. The original lubrication had dried up and the machine was stuck. I very lightly used some oil and some brushes and some very light force with fingers, freeing each type bar and cycling it until the machine worked like a charm! It still does even today. It's very nice to use, actually. One fact many don't know is that these very early electric portables were not totally electric - some of the functions are still totally manually operated. The serial of this machine indicates it was made in 1958.

Smith-Corona Clipper. Serial 5C 419075. This is a 1959 machine, at the bottom of the line of large portables for Smith-Corona. It has no tabulator, no paper support arms, and two fewer keys than the contemporaneous Silent-Super and Electric machines we've just been looking at. However, note one obvious change on this 1959 machine; the logo on the front has been changed and is now no longer underlined. The logo on the Electric was also not underlined, either. We might then guess, roughly for the moment that the underline disappears in about 1958 or 1959. Of course, this is purely decorative and implies nothing about design- it's just a spotting feature. Note the keytops. Green, still T-section.

We just yesterday saw the Golden Shield Silent Meteor, which is in a modified body style that Dave and I have tagged as the "Chop front Super 5." This means that the ribbon cover has a flat front to it, instead of being rounded as originally designed. Now, many Sears (Tower brand) machines have flatter fronted top covers that are close to, but not always identical with, regular Smith-Corona branded chop front machines. In fact, Tower machines had the same style of top cover for many years, making one wonder if the chop front style was not just directly adopted by Smith-Corona to hold its own costs down a bit since it was a sure bet they'd be selling through Sears. With that in mind, let's go to Sears!

Tower Challenger. Serial 5CT 369487. Made for Sears, Roebuck & Co. by Smith-Corona. It's no mistake that I show this machine next; it's the Sears equivalent of the Clipper we just looked at earlier. Note the identical setup, with no tabulator, no paper support arms on the carriage and two fewer keys than the Silent-Super and Electric. Note however the very different looking profile used for the top cover; you will see this on the Tower Commander (with tabulator) and Tower President (like the Silent-Super) as well as other Tower models. It's very much like the chop front cover used on in-house branded Smith-Corona machines, but it isn't perfectly identical. If we assume that this machine's serial number is running in line with Smith-Corona's regular production, this machine is only a year or a year and a half older than the Clipper seen above. Let's move a bit later, and up the price scale a bit, at Sears for our last machine of this feature.

Tower Tabulator. Serial 5CT 440003T. Made for Sears, Roebuck & Co. by Smith-Corona. If the serial for this machine is also in line with Smith-Corona's production of its own machines, then it dates to 1959. Note the radically different look given this machine through use of a smooth finished paint, and the large chromed logo. What is interesting is that this machine has a serial that runs in the Clipper serial number range, and like the Clippers this machine has the 42-key keyboard and no paper support arms.. but it DOES have a tabulator, albeit a manually-set one. It is interesting to see, in addition, that the serial numbers for the Silent stop in 1957. It would appear that the construction features were blurred between the former Silent and Clipper, and the Silent serial number range ended. This is educated speculating, and more investigation is needed on this sequencing. However, we're on it and the results will continue to appear here.

That's it for our meandering through the Smith-Coronas for this evening. But keep looking back for MANY more!

Harry A. Smith No. 4

2011-03-05T19:15:00.001-08:00

We've just spent an hour and a half unpacking something very special... and something that we're in an unusually good position to examine directly and comparatively. Rather than bore you all with text, let me take you along on the ride!

First we see the object at hand before unpacking. This is a Harry A. Smith No. 4, which is purportedly in its original shipping crate, with some tools and paperwork. Now, let's recall for a minute that there's no such thing as an 'original' Harry A. Smith typewriter unless it's the machine based on the Blick-Bar; thus, when we say "original" shipping crate we have to be slightly cautious. But nevertheless we've already got a good idea what we have here, so let's continue opening. This thing was bulletproof with what felt like miles of tape around it. Good packing job!

Here I've gotten enough of the outer cardboard packing and the tape pulled away to reveal one end of the wooden shipping crate. We can see a number on the crate; this is exactly what you'd expect given the knowledge that the machine inside is actually a rebuilt Victor. Victor shipping crates have the serial in this location. This one says 3544. That sure seems like an early serial number right off the bat, but let's go on.

Now we can see that there were as many as five stickers applied to the top of the crate, which are all but unreadable now in terms of any useful content. But we do see clearly that this is the product of one Harry A. Smith, 231 N. Fifth Avenue, Chicago Illinois who describes himself as "Rebuilder and Jobber of Typewriters." The term "jobber" as used back in those days most closely means "wholesaler" to us today.

Here we see the newly acquired machine (still in its crate) on the left, next to our Victor No. 3 and its original crate. Do you see what notorious "rebuilder" Harry A. Smith has done? That's right. He has chipped off the area of the crate that says VICTOR and the area along the bottom that gives the original location of manufacture. I am not too sure you can see this comparison anywhere else in the world - but look! It's clearly what has happened. The areas of the crate on the left are literally chiseled away. Amazing!

The seller said there was some original paperwork for the machine, not in the best of shape but present and discernible. We find a three-sheet, single sided set of instructions for, as is labeled, the "Smith Model #4" and there are also two fragments of an illustration used for parts location. Remember that all pictures here when clicked blow up larger -- and we'll provide another view of the diagram sheet such as it is below, much larger.

Notice the name "Smith" on the paper table. I only know of this decal or lettering variation on two machines; there was an Emerson at the Milwaukee Public Museum, which was shown in Beeching's "Century of the Typewriter" which had this exact label on its paper table, and then there is an illustration I have on my website showing a Harry A. Smith No. 12 (again another relabeled Victor) from an ad, which has this exact style of decal. So then, this machine is a Harry A. Smith No. 4 and it also has this label, being the third model I know of with it. I believe all other Harry A. Smith relabeled Victors have different paper table decals. If you know of one other that has this style, please let us know. Now back to the process.. and the picture I didn't show you which I took before getting the envelope of paperwork out.

I think all of you out there who have a number of standard antique machines, who are familiar with open sided frontstrikes and who have used packing peanuts know full well what this picture really means. For those who don't, this is exactly why it's now 10:40 PM as I am writing this and this is also why the ABC continuation won't appear until tomorrow.

Here I'm using the original cleaning brush, whose bristles are many decades gone and which is now really just a handle, to poke these C-shaped styronuts out of the machine. This would eventually take lots of machine inversion, three pairs of pliers, a linkage I found in the bottom of the shipping crate, and my stainless steel Zebra F301 pen to remove from literally every area inside this typewriter. I might never have seen peanuts so well compressed into a typewriter. Maybe. But hey- except for a bit of old paint loss on the top, this machine is in near-mint condition. I can't complain about the shipping- the machine's great.

Here is the inside of the shipping crate lid. Original felt still in place; note the semi-circular piece to hold the type bars down. Looks very much like it did when it was new. The outside of the crate has done its job protecting the inside and its contents over probably ninety years or so.
Harry A. Smith No. 4. Serial number 5324. Rebuilt and relabeled Victor Standard No. 2. Here we finally see the typewriter, without packing peanuts and dusted off but still needing a good cleaning. We can quickly see the open nature of Victor No. 1 and No. 2 machines; note the space bar on this machine that is not full width, and note the presence of a backspace key (the bar in the center above the keyboard -- not a tab key!) It's clearly visible where Harry A. Smith's workmen painted out the Victor name on the front, and the "V" emblem on the paper table and replaced these with Smith's own labeling. The machine is in great shape and the ribbon was even threaded right when we opened it up! The machine surely has not been used for many decades and probably hasn't seen the light of day in many decades either.

On the left, the Harry A. Smith No. 4, serial 5324. On the right, Victor Standard No. 3, serial 9573. In the future, I fully intend a part by part comparison of these two machines (Victor No. 2, Victor No. 3) and the Victor No. 10 you've seen in an earlier post on this site. This should be interesting to collectors who have never really compared all three, and will surely be to us. But for now the direct implication of this photo is all to obvious; Harry A. Smith's deceptive practices early on in his career could not be made any more obvious than they are right here. Not that he didn't straighten out and fly right -- he did. But this is the beginning of the story; how Smith did business in the first part of his career.

In the immediate future I hope to do a full roundup of the various Harry A. Smith Victor rebuilds, by serial and by model (both Victor and Smith model numbers) in order to determine just what was going on .. it seems there are now four identified Smith model numbers for rebuilt Victors. Whatever the case, it might be instructive and considering the labeling variations found on the various Harry A. Smith machines it will make for an attractive photo montage.

One final picture for now; the Harry A. Smith No. 4 sitting on its crate, next to the Victor No. 3 on its crate. We hope you've enjoyed this little trip with us and hope you'll look back again when we try to get more details on the various Harry A. Smith / Victor rebuilds on line.

Golden Shield portable

2011-03-05T15:50:00.000-08:00

Many collectors and writers have noted the occasional appearance of either the larger desk model Smith-Corona portables, or else the smaller plastic bodied Smith-Corona portables, with the name "Golden Shield." Often these have attractive, extra decor not typical of that found on other relabelings of Smith-Corona machines. After years of having passed on these, I finally decided to get one for a look.

These machines will invariably say "Golden Shield" and "by Smith-Corona" on them, and this one as we can see says this on the front. (It is on the back of the carriage too.) There is also an attractive insert in the center, which has a small gold shield and the text "The Deluxe Line."

What is clear about this machine is that it is in the body style that we refer to around here as the 'chop front Super 5,' which indicates that the machine is overall a Super 5 series machine but one which has a top cover whose front is straight, and rather vertical, making it look decidedly chopped when compared with a conventional Super 5 machine. (Much, MUCH more to come on our whole line of collector designators for various Smith-Corona machines in later articles.) The only really unusual thing on the machine is the large paddle-style tab stop set/clear bar on the right. Other than decor, the machine is wholly conventional. This leads to one wondering why the labeling of the maker AND the distributor.

A bit of work here has found that Golden Shield Corporation was founded in March 1959 and incorporated in Delaware 3-11-59. Apparently the company's main place of business (offices, warehouse) was at Great Neck, Long Island, New York. The company essentially existed to distribute home equipment such as radios that it had designed, which were made by either itself or more often other companies. Many Golden Shield, or else Astrotone radios are found even today. The company had other product lines such as sewing machines, vacuums and of course, as we know, typewriters. We are pretty sure that this company itself did not survive the middle 1960's since it appears that its only registered trademark ("Astrotone") was sold to Magnavox in 1967. That makes us think that the company's life span was essentially 1959-1967 and that matches up well with the typewriters we see labeled as "Golden Shield." So then what Golden Shield was doing was having Smith-Corona specially decorate and label these machines, which it then distributed. It is interesting that the Smith-Corona name is not only so visible on these relabeled machines, but even on there at all.

Now we can take a look at the machine in our normal format!

GOLDEN SHIELD Silent Meteor. Serial number 5TG 21565. Will Davis collection. Manufactured by Smith-Corona for Golden Shield Corporation, Great Neck, New York. The model name of this machine is very interesting; this model is what had been, prior to the introduction of the "6 series" or Galaxie machines, the Silent-Super but after introduction of the Galaxie machines had various model names in either the old Super 5 body or the new chop-front Super 5 body. The incorporation of half the old model name, plus a new name never used by Smith-Corona makes the model name all the more interesting to collectors. Of further interest is the serial number prefix, which is "5TG." Surely the G is to delineate Golden Shield, since the 5T is exactly what one would suspect to find otherwise. The five-digit number is unusual, to say the least.

So there we have it! Another mystery solved- even if not a major one. This machine gets extra points in our book too because internally it's the same wonderful reliable Smith-Corona machine coupled with a very assertively stated decor on the outside. It's now my favorite of all the chop-front 5 series Smith-Coronas!

Book Review: "The Magnificent 5" / R. Messenger

2011-03-05T15:21:00.000-08:00

The Magnificent 5 and 250 Other Great Things About Portable Typewriters .. by Robert Messenger. One hundred pages; soft bound. Published 2011 by the Australian Typewriter Museum, Canberra.

Our friend Robert Messenger has been, over the last several years, perhaps the most prolific, public and active proponent of collecting and researching typewriters on the vast Australian continent. Robert has formed a collectors' association there and along with Mr. Richard Amery, another of our friends, has done more than anyone in many years to get collectors elsewhere to understand what the whole typewriter scene, as it were, was and continues to be in his homeland. A very accomplished author, Robert has a writing style that is like an open road on a sunny day when you've just been presented with a convertible coupe. You just have to go; and with Robert, you just start off and find yourself ever accelerating.

Robert is very clear in his introduction about what this little book (in size only) is and is not - and reading his statement of what it isn't makes you keep reading instead of going to get a drink and a snack to have handy for when you put the book down. Once you're on board with the concept, you take a wide, fun and sometimes very tangential but always focused look at typewriters and typewriting from every conceivable angle. In this way, this book is completely unique in the field of collectors' books written for typewriter enthusiasts.

I highly recommend this book. Available direct at $20A per copy from the publisher.

Australian Typewriter Museum
12 Gormanston Crescent, Deakin 2600, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Japy portable discovery

2011-03-05T14:23:00.000-08:00

by Will Davis with assistance from Thomas Furtig

Recently, I was very excited to acquire a machine I felt sure I'd never seen before. This machine is clearly labeled as a Japy, but upon a bit of checking I quickly realized it isn't a Japy at all .. at least, that's not who made it.

JAPY portable, no model indicated. Serial number 511648. Will Davis collection. At left we see the machine in question; I myself, not owning a Gromina didn't recognize it at first but after having e-mailed Thomas Furtig I discovered that this is what it was. I quickly went searching in my array of machines for that later, very attractive Groma Kolibri I knew I had and waited for Thomas to tell me where to find the serial number. He did of course, and also sent along some observations and some photos of his early Groma Gromina. Let's take a look briefly at that machine -- which is in the earliest decor -- to see the root design and then we'll get on to what this odd relabeling might be all about.

Groma Gromina / serial number 503409 / Thomas Furtig collection. The serial numbers for the little flat Gromina begin right at 500000 in 1951 so that Thomas' machine is indeed very early. Thomas points out that the square red keytops are the first style, and that he also owns another one with the same keytops having serial number 504322 (although that machine is grey crinkle paint.) These machines are incredibly flat -- certainly in the Rooy class of vertical space. However, what is interesting is that the internal design is not any special piece of engineering in terms of tricky design to achieve the flat size envelope. The parts are just plain tiny. The machines employ primary key levers that all head from keytop toward the centerline and which end underneath the segment. Short links take the motion from the key levers to small intermediate rocker arms which directly drive the type bars on the opposite end of the first link by way of a gear tooth design very similar to that used in many Remington and Imperial portables. The amazing thing is not the design itself, but the miniaturization of the parts and the precision of manufacture.

At left, we see the burnished metal label plate applied to the top right of Thomas' Gromina. It appears that the little flat Gromina was not produced in what we might think of as vast numbers judging by available serial number records, even though flat typewriters were definitely in vogue in the 1950's. By the end of 1953 only 8000 machines had been produced.

While the official serial number records available seem to end short and are sparse, Thomas Furtig has informed me that the Gromina ran through two distinct forms -- the second looking much more like the later Kolibri than the first kind -- with the Kolibri beginning production at a serial number in the middle of the 500,000 range.

That takes care of a quick briefing on the root machine, the Gromina. Let's take a look now at the actual newly discovered Japy machine again and place it in some context.

Here for comparison to the label plate affixed to Thomas' Gromina is the label plate affixed to the newly found Japy, serial 511648. Let's note the shift to grey keytops on this machine with the body finished in grey crinkle paint; we can limit the change in keytops at least to between serial numbers 504322-511648. No other changes are apparent. This machine also matches one on the Elsters' site with a serial number of 511692.

Why was Japy, a well known maker in France, importing and selling the little Gromina with its own name on it? One has to wonder if German-made machines weren't somewhat unpopular in the immediate post-war era which might have led to attempts by German makers to get their machines relabeled for sale in France. Many German machines of almost all makes were relabeled in the post-war era at some point.

What would this machine have competed directly with in France? In other words, did Japy have a market niche that needed to be filled by a small, flat typewriter?

Absolutely it did. These were the days when the Rooy Portable was being sold - itself one of the most innovatively designed and manufactured flat machines of all time, and the only machine on the market whose case (or enclosure, if you prefer) was totally integral with the typewriter. This one feature is really the heart of the whole Rooy design -- the inventor, Borel, states this clearly in his voluminous patent material -- and this deliberate integration of typewriter and case which leads to (supposedly) the ultimate convenience in operation and storage is what makes the Rooy Portable my designated "Holy Grail" of portables. It is in essence the final developmental concept - tried only once. Surely, even if experienced typewriter men were not completely won over by the design and execution of the Rooy Portable they'd have realized that to concede the small flat machine field would have been damaging. Japy had no such machine in house; surely the Gromina, relabeled for Japy, would fit the bill.

Above we see the Japy relabeled version of the Gromina, dated to later than 1954 on the left. On the right is the larger Japy portable of the 50's in green crinkle paint. This machine is serial number 166216F and dates to roughly 1953. (I think the "F" might indicate French keyboard, which this machine has.) We can see how much smaller the newly found Japy is than the Japy portable (probably the model P18 in point of fact, by serial number records but also possibly called the Japy Personelle) and it's clear that this one-two combination is exactly that fielded for many years by Paillard (Hermes)and L.C. Smith & Corona / Smith-Corona. It is sheer luck that these two are so close in date. I'm sure everyone recognizes the machine on the right as belonging to the later Euro-Portable family design produced in many places over the years.

Thomas tells me that he's never seen another machine like the little Japy. Unfortunately we cannot perform any further identification on the machine other than the brand and the serial number because the thin long plate on the rear is totally missing from the machine. On the Gromina, it carries the manufacturer's name. We will have to wait until either another machine turns up like this one, or else some sort of advertisement or catalog appears showing the machine in Japy trim.

As a point of interest, I've placed my Groma Kolibri, serial number 603607 next to the Japy for a size comparison. The Groma Kolibri is a whole generation more refined, you might say, even including parallel key action and many improved details and features.

And that's it! We don't know anything more about this little Japy, which Thomas described as scarce. We'll certainly be on the lookout for any further information and if there is any to be had, you'll see it here.

Ten years ago...

2011-03-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

Friends, it was ten years ago this month that I was very fortunate to begin a series of collaborations with noted German typewriter collector Norbert Schwarz. Norbert was the very first person from anywhere outside the United States who I worked with in developing new content; the article in question was the first attempted detailed presentation of ALPINA machines anywhere either in print or on the internet at that time. And Norbert has some great machines in that line, too!

At left, Norbert Schwarz's ALPINA SAFETY TYPER. This is a bank or office check writing machine that has a rough typeface that is meant to perforate documents for proof. In addition, this machine is also the very hard to find DT33 variant with decimal tabulator which uses the lowest row of keys as the decimal tab keys. Normal operation of the keys as you might expect leads to typing characters; but pushing the keys away from the typist, or in toward the internals of the machine results in decimal tabulator operation. An ingenious and so far as I know unduplicated arrangement. Norbert owns the only one of these I've ever seen or heard of.

Getting back to the brief story -- at that point no one was heavily promoting portable typewriters of any modernity whatsoever. As soon as the Portable Typewriter Reference Site began to take off and grow, Norbert very graciously posted on a forum that I had invented the hobby of collecting portable typewriters. I don't know about that -- Norbert already had a slew of them when we did that first article! -- but maybe if anything I made it acceptable with a serious and thorough, technically based approach and respectable with photo montage presentation and even maybe cool. But Norbert - and many others who didn't talk a lot about them - already loved some portables and looked for them too even if they never posted anywhere about buying them.

Norbert eventually connected me with two other very well known German collectors; Thomas Furtig, with whom I'm working even today on new material, and the late Tilman Elster. And there are others, too, who I've met online from literally all over the world as a result of having tapped into this "German connection."

Today... well there's just no describing all that has gone on in the intervening ten years since that first collaborative article. The Portable Typewriter Forum is the largest and busiest typewriter enthusiast venue in the world, the various websites have featured (with the help of MANY other collectors, authors, researchers, and photographers whose names are always stated) probably more "new to print" makes and models than any other sites, and with my 'usual suspects' we've written some very well received technical and historical articles. All the members of the PTF, and very especially all the friends I've collaborated with over all these years have been on board from over ten years to just now and everyone can contribute as this wonderful hobby of ours continues to expand -- and as the acceptance of all machines of all ages and types widens out too.

And let's not forget my brother Dave and my Dad who also are on board with this madness and who can be seen posting articles here (Dave) and many posts and responses (my Dad) on the PTF. They make this all the more fun and interesting.

Well, enough reflection. No resting on our laurels here. Stopping to smell the roses is all right, but I'd much rather get on with TYPEWRITERS. So buckle up everyone and get ready for a literal SLEW of posts today and tonight in celebration of my Ten Years of Collaborative Articles. (I made that title up, just now. It's really just a ten year anniversary of major research articles on the net.) You will see the next installment in the ABC series too, so stay tuned.

POSTSCRIPT, March 7th: Thomas Furtig has informed me that he also owns an ALPINA Safety-Typer! With any luck I'll be able to get his opinions of this machine, and some photos, in a future presentation.

Letterhead for Typewriter use

2011-02-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

Don't you miss a more formal era? Oh sure, things like the computer I'm typing this on are handy, but really I'm using it to talk about "obsolete" typewriters! But there was something really neat, really cool, about typewritten materials, stuff "copied" by hand, by typewriter that is. Something that I fondly remember from my youth is when Dad would bring home papers from work, on fancy, official looking letterhead. Sometimes they were from other companies, sometimes from where he worked, but nothing made a letter look official or formal like letterhead did.

With the realization that we miss these things, or enjoy them, we seek to recapture them. With typewriters, it is still easy to do. And, with the help of our computers, we can have nice looking letterhead too. Yes, I am talking about using a computer to print out letterhead to then use in a typewriter.

For those who have PC's, Microsoft offers many free templates that you can download, which open in Word, which you can then modify to suit your likes. The photos accompanying this text are such a template, modified to suit our liking. Here is a link to the microsoft templates that you can use, just as we have here.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/

The above photo is of the letterhead style we liked the most for everyday use. This style isn't too formal, but formal enough that we feel it could be used for virtually any purpose. It's modern enough to not look outdated, but still conservative. Of course, you only need letterhead for the first page of a multi-page document, so you need only cook up one style, as subsequent pages use blank paper.

One of the fun things you might want to do related to this task is to whip out one of your typing books, if you have one, and revisit the various instructions for letter writing! How do you format a business letter on a typewriter? Or how do you format one that is informal, to a friend? What if your letterhead, like ours, does not contain an address? How do you add that? Find an old typing instruction book, and put it to use!

Another fun thing to consider is this: how does your font choice in your letterhead look when compared against your chosen type face? That is, do they look compatible, do they "go" together? We tested several machines, with different type faces, in both pica and elite, and settled on one in particular as looking the best for going with the letterhead font style we chose. We can't really quantify this, but since it is an aesthetic thing, we don't have to! But at least one of the type faces that I really like, on a machine I really like, just did not go at all with this letterhead. Somehow it looked wrong. So, what kind of font/type face combination will you come up with? Could you then customize the same letterhead style with a couple different fonts to purposely match a couple different machines? Sure! Or, could you intentionally design a letterhead with a particular machine/type face in mind? Of course! There's lots you can do with a project like this. And then, the next time you want to use the good 'ol fashiones U.S. Mail, you can whip out a nice fresh sheet of your new (old fashioned) letterhead, put it into your favorite typewriter, and really send something unique.

the Cherryland

2011-02-04T16:04:00.001-08:00

We take a break from our ongoing installments in the "ABC in Detail" series to cover some breaking news from the other side of the world.. Australia!

Chris Ronayne has reported to us today the discovery (and thankfully the purchase) of a heretofore unknown name variant typewriter.

This machine carries the label "Cherryland," and was purchased from an antique store very recently in Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia. Chris reports that although the owner of the shop noted that the machine was of good quality, and was worth around $70 AU, he was able to purchase it for $60 AU. We like that! Let's take a look at it now.

At left, the Cherryland. This picture blows up larger than usual for this site, since it's a one of a kind label. This machine's serial number is 401670. Quickly notable are the machine's distinctive green hue and green keytops; note also the gull wing ribbon spool covers, or doors and the markings on the margin release key at the top left of the keyboard. These are all the hallmarks of the very earliest NIPPO machines, from Japan .. and in fact we can very nearly match this new find with a known machine, already on the net, that most of you will probably know.

This is the Del Mar, from my collection. This machine is serial number 400455 which is only about 1200 units earlier than Chris' newly found Cherryland machine. This coupled with the fact that the new discovery is in Australia nails the heritage of the new find.

There is something inherently pleasing to the eye about these early machines - in fact, this shape is almost deliberately totally contradicted in every way by the very ultra-modern design of later Nippo machines. The body shape on these early Nippos is very like the shape of the last variant of Halberg Traveler, on which these are based, and the early Royal portables derived from the Halberg after Royal bought out and integrated that operation into its own and began distributing the machines made to that design all over the world -- a very early case of typewriter outsourcing, as it is now called here!

The earliest of these Nippo machines are always all-green, with green keytops. There is some rough indication by way of illustrations found in instruction manuals that there might have been a gray color used as well, but none are yet known.

Above, a page from the instructions found with the "Graduate," which we'll see in a moment. Note all the distinctive early Nippo features and the typical zipper carry case. No other style of case is known for these machines -- yet!

At left, the Graduate. Also from my collection, with serial number 602777. This machine is still all green, with the green keytops but has a more conventional double arrow marking on the margin release key. Also still has the typical gull-wing doors.

The second phase of production in this body is found in smooth-surfaced, glossy and very attractive enamel paint. The Japanese were very adept at manufacturing very fine looking machines for home use - they'd learned this with their sewing machines. The painted surface on these later units is very like that of many sewing machines in my collection. However, the machines themselves remained unchanged.

This machine, also from my collection, carries the name ATLAS and is serial number 709985. This machine actually has something in common with the Cherryland - it was discovered in Australia! This was the very first typewriter I ever bought on an overseas auction, quite a number of years back. It was the first early style Nippo identified, and was our first hint that there was someone in Japan other than Brother, Nakajima and Silver-Reed making manual portable typewriters. Note the white keytops and overall smooth paint.. but otherwise this is still the same machine.

Of course, machines like this were sold in the United States as well.

At left, another one of my machines, the Elgin Collegiate. Serial number 711207. This machine's name seems tied to the Elgin Watch concern; there were very many companies that tried very brief shots at typewriter sales and distribution in the 1960's here in the United States, especially because batches of fairly inexpensive foreign-made typewriters seemed to make a good short-term profit plan workable. This helps explain why so very many unusual or 'off brand' portables with odd names are very hard to duplicate here; not too many were sold and very often there was no second batch for many distributors. This seems to fit many machines made and distributed by Nippo - and might fit the Cherryland too as a scenario!

Many thanks to Chris Ronayne for telling us about this machine, for showing it to us and for allowing me to present it here on the Davis Typewriter Works blog for the first time.

For more unusual portables sold in Australia, check out this link!

The ABC in Detail - 4

2011-02-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

ABC in Detail - by Will Davis and Thomas Furtig

We left off our discussion still in the "Classic Era," during which only the original W. Wagenfeld designed body was in use; the point at which we departed was the final known Cole-Steel machine for distribution in the United States by Cole Steel Office Machines. The large batch of serial numbers assigned to what we might think of the main batch of Cole-Steel machines (there seem to be two smaller batches earlier, but that is not certain from what must be considered incomplete serial number data) is large enough that it appears as if Koch's, maker of the ABC, decided to start over with a new prefix and new serial number range for its own distribution. This is suggested by the advertising image we're about to see.

This illustration is from a 1964 brochure but the artwork appears to be recycled; look closely at the paper in this machine and you'll see a date of 25.11.1960 or November 25, 1960. What's important along with this is to notice the new, more modern and minimal 'abc' logo. There seems good evidence that this logo was introduced about the date shown in this advertising illustration.

For a time after this change in logo, the ABC continued in production as before; that is to say, only one model offered with a variety of colors, and different carrying cases as options. Let's now look at some of the machines built in the remaining part of the early, "classic" Wagenfeld-only era before new designs, new models and new distribution channels made the ABC's story vastly more complex.

ABC / serial 4-224595 / Thomas Furtig collection. The series of Wagenfeld machines with ABC logo, albeit in the new style, continues as before but with a new serial number prefix as well. Adwoa Bagalini owns the lowest serial number with this new logo in terms of our database, with serial number 4-203813 so that we might assume that the new machine series began at serial 200000 as well. This is, however, only a guess. That machine however has the older lever type ribbon selector; Thomas' machine seen here in fact has the newer dial type ribbon selector.

Two things are instructive to examine at this point. Our database is sequential in terms of serial; here are entries 39 and 40

Cole-Steel (pink) serial 3-163529
ABC (green hammertone) serial 4-203813

Note that there is a gap in known machines of roughly 40,000 in serial numbers at this point - further evidence that the serials might arbitrarily have started over again for the ABC labeled machines in 1960.

Moving further into the Wagenfeld machines with the new logo, two actual dates of original sale from Thomas Furtig's shop are known. Here they are:

ABC / serial 4-226764 / sold March 1963
ABC / serial 4-229884 / sold March 1963

Whereabouts and colors of these machines is not known. We now move to the next machine in sequence we're able to show.

ABC serial 4-235980 / Thomas Furtig collection. This machine is only several thousand above the higher of the two known sold in March 1963 so that we might assume it too was made in late 1962 or early 1963. Note the dial type ribbon selector to the right of the keyboard. This machine is a brownish beige which I myself actually like very well.

We're approaching the end of the Wagenfeld body carrying simple names without model number delineation, which will appear shortly in a wider pantheon of machines. However, for the sake of clarity, we'll follow the Wagenfeld machine to the end of its production, then provide some further commentary and overview before moving on to newer designs.

ABC serial 4-237464 / Thomas Furtig collection. This machine displays another, and very uncommon, paint variation; the surface is textured, but the paint isn't the hammertone style seen on earlier machines. The texture is somewhat visible on the paint surface of this machine. Normally these machines are either finished with a smooth surfaced enamel or else with the hammertone paint - this provides an interesting and unusual paint variation for collectors to hunt down!

The highest known (so far) serial for an ABC machine is 4-242199, which was owned by the late Tilman Elster (who, were he still with us, would surely have been along on this project.) Wagenfeld body style machines with higher serial numbers than this are actually model ABC 1300, and are labeled as such externally. At this point, a brief explanation is necessary.

There is evidence that since about 1960, Koch's Adlernahmaschinenwerke had been looking at doing two different things with its typewriters: The company wanted to change the body, perhaps to make it less expensive (perhaps Wagenfeld was drawing royalty checks), or perhaps to update the style (the machine was not as modern looking as when introduced); also, the company was looking at simplifying the key lever / type bar mechanism, which was dated in design in terms of manufacturing cost and complexity since the introduction in a number of places of machines with four-dowel mounted key levers (dowels mounted in a machined block, a plate, or else suspended in space from their ends with key levers aligned by a comb.) The company did both of these things, which resulted in the introduction of new models into the lineup.

Further, after about 1963 or so the company really branched out into other distribution channels so that the number of brand names, and models, applied to machines of Koch's manufacture increased a great deal.

What is important to our conclusion of the Wagenfeld-body, original style machines is to note that this particular machine took its place in the model pantheon, with model number ABC 1300 and it's also important to note that machines in the Wagenfeld body were never changed mechanically to the newer design of key lever / type bar mechanism.

Production of the original Wagenfeld body, with original mechanism, after this expansion in designs in the 1963-1964 time frame was apparently very slight. Only three machines of model ABC 1300 are in our database; we can show the last one in the database now.

ABC 1300 / serial 4-246779 / Thomas Furtig collection. As you can see, the machine is essentially unchanged from the previous production when it was simply the ABC because there weren't other models. In the new pantheon, the Wagenfeld machine only too briefly held a place in the middle range of model numbers and probably in the range of cost to purchase. This machine is the highest serial number in our database in the Wagenfeld body.

Let's now recap the whole classic Wagenfeld-body series with some advertising illustrations and observations before moving on to the almost scattered array of models and brand names to follow.

ABC W. Wagenfeld style body
Produced 1955-1963
Known variants: ABC, Cole-Steel, APSCO, ADS
Changes over production - 42 to 43 keys, additon of ribbon selector and then later movement of selector and change of control style, slight changes in top cover latches, some very early machines with black keytops.
Serials: 1-2442 through 2-, 3- and 4- prefixes through 4-246779. Breaks in serial range identified in test.

The 1957 sales illustration shows four colors (click to enlarge) and two carrying case styles- a snap over lid, of plastic (which Thomas reports on some early machines to actually be clear under paint) and a deluxe leather case. In point of fact the former Swayze machine matches the lowest example in the ad, being 'tomato red' with the leather carrying case. The vast majority of ABC and Cole-Steel machines found today have the snap-over plastic lid.

Above, further illustrations from a 1964 brochure showing the ABC 1300 range (with art probably recycled from about 1960) and showing three styles of carrying case including the two previously mentioned plus another zippered cloth case.

It appears today that the ABC, while never making a giant place for itself among the typewriters of the world, did very well in its own way with steady distribution on the Continent and one decent if not large outlet in the United States, in the person of Cole-Steel. Certainly the styling of the machine was unique in a time when blocky, and later even angular lines were becoming the rage. The smooth, flowing lines of Wagenfeld's design are a pleasure from any angle. Further, the color combinations and options offered on the machine seem very classic to us today. Collectors not only like the style, but these color variations as well. Modern typists seem mixed on these machines; some collectors report high failure rates while others report absolutely none. The action is crisp, more than rapid enough for most typists, and made to very high (if not perfect) standards in terms of fit, finish and tolerance. The other design touches - such as the single lever on the top right of the carriage, used as both paper release and carriage release - are very well thought out.

This concludes the line of Wagenfeld-styled ABC machines. However, don't give up - there is a bewildering array of further models, styles and colors to follow in this story and in some ways what is ahead is much more interesting than what we've already covered. Stay tuned!

The ABC in Detail - 3

2011-01-31T14:33:00.001-08:00

In our last installment we paused at serial number 3-54640, made during the initial Wagenfeld body style era of the ABC portables and which was made just after introduction of the ribbon selector device (which employed a lever at the right side of the machine.) We now take up our examination with thorough coverage of the continuation of the early, all-Wagenfeld bodied production.

ABC / serial 3-69883 / Thomas Furtig collection. This example shows another two-tone combination, in beige and light blue. Many collectors will have noticed the red triangle seen on the right carriage end of this machine; this is a mark for the page end indicator, a feature of the ABC which warned the typist of the page end approaching and which was similar to Smith-Corona's "Page Gage" in the United States.

Above, illustration of the page end device and how it is used for three different sizes of paper. This prevents the writing from trailing away at the end of the sheet- which is shown at the top of the illustration.

ABC / serial 3-75369 / Thomas Furtig collection. This machine is finished in the green hammertone paint. Many collectors find the hammertone paint colors to be the most desirable. There was a green hammertone, a grey hammertone, and a dark beige hammertone. These are seen mixed throughout the early production period 1955-1963 with all machines in one model, and one body style; a few hammertone machines are known after this as well in two body styles. But we get ahead of ourselves!

ABC / serial 3-77380 / Thomas Furtig collection. This is the first pink machine we've seen in our look at this line. Interestingly, in the large database we have constructed for this project it is the earliest identified pink machine. Furthermore, there is only one other pink machine known (at least in our database, so far) and we will in fact see that machine as well later on. Pink as an optional color doesn't appear in our advertising material either - you certainly don't see many ABC / Cole-Steel machines in this color.

ABC / serial 3-83765 / Thomas Furtig collection. This machine at first might look like one we've seen, but look again; this machine is not two-tone but rather is the same very attractive blue color overall. Also note that this machine's top cover doesn't have the small metallic buttons on the sides to allow it to be removed; it simply pulls up and off. This is the 29th machine listed in our database, and the next machine you will see is the 30th machine in our database.

ABC / serial 3-99632 / Thomas Furtig collection. This machine features the dark beige (or dark creme if you prefer) hammertone paint discussed previously as one of the three known 'hammertone' paint options. This extra feature in the finish adds a great deal of depth to the paint's appearance, which makes any machine so painted appear very luxurious .. and expensive.

The very next machine in our database is a Cole-Steel, and in fact so are the next nine machines. There is a solid run, or block, of Cole-Steel machines running from serial number 3-108447 (owned by Mark Rosenzweig) through 3-163529, which we will see next. However, one machine in this block is very notable for us; serial number 3-149323, a Cole-Steel owned by Christopher Pilant, is known to have been purchased originally on March 21, 1960. This gives us our first solid date evidence.

Cole-Steel / serial 3-163529 / Will Davis collection. The machine we see here is somewhat significant, in terms of the progression of models of this whole line, so we will carefully detail the things that it represents. Not only is this the last known, or in other words highest serial number known, Cole-Steel in our database, it is also the second and last known pink machine of any label. In terms of mechanics, this machine is the earliest known to incorporate the new dial-type ribbon color selector to the right of the keyboard; this is much easier to see than the lever mounted back on the right side. Machines with higher serial numbers than this one seem to go back and forth between the dial selector and the lever selector with no apparent pattern; however, this is the only machine with a serial number prefix of "3-" that has the dial type selector and in fact is the highest serial number in the database with this prefix.

Next installment: Continuing with the original Wagenfeld body style in the serial number range with a "4-" prefix.. and new labeling.

ABC series note

2011-01-26T11:39:00.000-08:00

I have just received from Thomas a photo of the second known (by serial) ABC mentioned in the series earlier; I will shortly be editing that post to include this machine and some observations. Readers may wish to examine this slightly changed post. Expect another post in this series tonight or tomorrow!

Victor No. 10: A Quick Look

2011-01-25T06:40:00.001-08:00

Years back, when I constructed my "Visible Typewriters" website section, I included a thorough article on the Victor Standard machines, with help from Peter Weil, Richard Polt, Jim Dax, Tilman Elster and Thomas Furtig (who is on board with me on this new site's "ABC in Detail" series, still ongoing.) We reviewed the history, the known models and even some relabels, and fully examined and tested a Victor No. 3. What's left to do is to get out and test my Victor No. 10... so let's do that now. Better late than never.

Victor No. 10 serial no. 52072

The Victor No. 10 was a 42-key, standard, $100 machine meant to compete with the best of the other machines in that price range. The machine has, as standard equipment, a rather novel decimal tabulator device which we'll describe shortly, and completely unobstructed view of the print point from all useful angles from the front. Many machines of the early 'visible' period incorporated front-mounted margin setting (see the Continental we just reviewed) a la the original Remington blind-writers, which of course partly obstructs the front view of the machine; some makers, like L.C. Smith and Royal heavily advertised the openness of the front on their models and the Victor machines all fall properly into this sort of visible machine.

This particular example has been very heavily used and repainted partially at least once; this is why the paper table and front frame decals aren't visible. While it's nice to have really mint condition machines in many cases from a collecting point of view, from a research point of view it's also nice in many cases to have some with high mileage so that the effect of wear can be judged. Further, it's nice to see what we might today call an "off brand" machine that stood up to the test of time.

Of course, the front of a machine gets a lot more surface abuse than the back so that commonly the rear decals are in much better shape than those on the front- and that's the case with this machine. It's interesting to note how prominently the machine tells us that it's made in America; we know from Typewriter Topics' 1923 compendium that Victor had been essentially exporting all of its production for about six years at that point, so that this labeling makes sense. And collectors should note that the list of patents found in the same places on the earlier models is still there, but much longer and running through 1919.

Although we will show, in a later article, a side by side comparison of the No. 3 and No. 10 Victors for point-by-point differences I'll note here briefly that the Victor No. 10 is improved over the Victor No. 3 (the previous model) in two major ways: First, the ribbon spools are now mounted on the top deck horizontally instead of internally and vertically; second, the ribbon vibrator is wholly conventional on the No. 10 and much more agreeable.

The No. 10 Victor has margin stop devices mounted to the rear of the carriage, but fixed to the frame of the typewriter and not to the carriage; as a result, the setting of the margin stops is like that of front-mounted designs, or else like that of the Monarch Visible in that, giving one side only as the example, the stop on your left side controls furthest left motion of the carriage and is thus actually the right margin stop (if we say 'right margin stop' thinking about the number of carriage spaces at which printing ends on the right side of the line.) This system would have been intuitive for those familiar with Remington, Underwood and Monarch machines but is backwards to most modern typists. However, once figured out and set, the device is no problem for modern non-secretarial and non-business work.

The decimal tabulator, standard equipment on all No. 3 and No. 10 Victors, is of unique design. The operating device consists of a depressed or dished button for the fingertip, a marked quadrant near the top and a pivot at the bottom. The quadrant is rotated to the corresponding number of places required for the column at hand (if entering "3042" then move the device to "1000" on the quadrant) and then the button is depressed. The rotation of the device to the desired digit translates by shaft to the rear of the machine and up to the top deck, whereby through linkage the entire tabulator stop rack is moved horizontally to match the number of typed spaces corresponding to the desired figure. Depression of the button then performs the carriage release until the stop is reached, at which point the device is simply released and the figure entered. We have tested many decimal tabulator designs and this device seems easy to use, although not truly intuitive, and would be handy once familiar.

The 42 key layout is fully standard. Note the shift lock key, above the top left of the keyboard. This may be depressed to obtain shift and the lock action simultaneously, or else depressed while the shift key is held. This is somewhat reminiscent of early L.C. Smith machines, if I recall correctly. The shift on this machine must be described as very stiff, and the shift key lever throw fairly short, so that strong fingers are required. However, this is nothing compared to the key action itself. There is no doubt about it - this machine is tuned for professional typists. Simple slow easy depression of the keys results in only the very lightest contact between the type slug and paper. This forces the staccato touch method for this machine. Once this method is employed, the key action is best described as very springy and stiff, with sharply increasing resistance feel with travel. Of course, at the highest speed typing the fingers are not following the keys down that far so that at this odd feel isn't important. Once this speed is achieved, the machine comes into its own. I have not typed a whole lot of late, but am not out of practice - and I think maybe this machine is in the upper rank of speed capability. (If Richard Polt has another get together with typing speed contest, I might bring it.) A very steady rhythm is needed with this machine and is rewarded; the key rest is hard, and the type slugs bounce on return which might theoretically limit speed - but I never did jam any type bars at all with this machine. Further, the type is dark, and in alignment. No skipping, piling, shading from machine error. I note here that this machine does in fact have elite type, in a very attractive type face with just slightly heavier than normal print so that the product looks between, say, that of any normal typewriter and that of an Oliver Printype. Having said all of this, I can add one thing: I do not know of any typewriter that has a feel like that of this Victor. There are distant similarities in feel, but none the same. The overwhelming feel of driving large springs with the fingertips when typing is notable. For the experienced typist, this feel is like that of an open top sports car; it demands more speed, and more speed, until the limit is reached. It pulls the performance out of you.

(Item: Other very fast machines can be subtle. The R.C. Allen, for example, feels a lot like many other machines vaguely if you just type lackadaisically. But as you speed up, you realize that the return speed of the type bars is adequate, the carriage doesn't skip, and the feel is good so you go faster and faster. But nothing about the machine MAKES you realize, at least initially, what it is. It's more refined, more well rounded. The Victor almost demands to be run one way - really fast, and really steadily - and rewards nothing else.)

After getting my Victor No. 10 out following a long period of neglect (you can't pay attention to every machine when you have THIS MANY TYPEWRITERS) I'm impressed. The Victor as we all know played no significant part in the history of typewriters, per se; that is to say that nothing Victor did made any other builder stand up and take notice. Further, from the time of the First World War's end the company really didn't sell their machines here as much as it exported them which might to some give them no sense of real identity; they're American-made machines, but made to be exported for the most part. Bearing all that in mind doesn't negate the fine qualities of this machine, though. While there are some features that aren't top notch, none is really awful on this machine. The machine's worst feature can also be described as its best; the key lever and type bar mechanism's action is such that a new or non-dedicated typist might just give up on using this machine, but is such that an experienced typist might come to really prefer it over many others - including many major makes.

Once again, an 'off brand' or non-major make surprises us with something we would not have known had we not decided to really put all our machines to the test around here! Keep watching for more installments in the "Quick Look" series, which are intended to give readers the best possible brief idea of what a given machine is really like .. next to owning one.

Continental Standard: A Quick Look

2011-01-23T17:46:00.000-08:00

Let's take a break from our ongoing ABC series (much more to come on that this week) and get out a typewriter to examine and test.

Continental Standard s/n 672780 mfd 1938

There is something almost tragic about the Continental brand of typewriter; the company originally introduced its first typewriter, a four-bank single shift visible writing $100 machine in 1904 and later on added portables and the vaunted Continental Silenta prior to the Second World War, and in the decade preceding that conflict had become one of the well-known makers of typewriters certainly all over Europe and in the trade itself, certainly worldwide. Hostilities curtailed production; the tooling for the Silenta, according to Beeching, went off to Russia and disappeared while that for the portables went to Belgium where the machines were built briefly and badly. Other marques continued to fill the void of typewriter production post-war; the Continental essentially did not (although the Communists appear to have restarted the standard machine; see our European Typewriter Project page on the Continentals.)

My example shown in the photo is from 1938 and is in fine condition. Many pre-war machines from Germany weren't so lucky- the war was hard on typewriter production and damaged machines were often patched up and made to soldier on. This machine is in very good shape. I wanted it all the more when it became available as it had an English keyboard (and this is a factory keyboard, not a re-solder job.) I've just run a full sheet of paper through it at various speeds and examined it overall, and here are the details....

This machine might properly be called the Continental Standard A since there is a decal letter "A" on the paper table, although this might just be the carriage width. The machine has 45 keys typing 90 characters; the keyboard includes a numeral 1, an exclamation point, a "1/" symbol for fractional numerators, diacritical and German letters and a standard English layout for the alphabet. Carriage release, paper release and line space / return levers are all duplicated on both sides of the carriage on this machine, which is very handy. We note that most Continental standard machines seem to have much shorter return levers that don't drop down over the front of the machine as to the levers on this example; this lever placement took some getting used to but it seems that when familiar it might allow higher speed since the total hand travel to return the carriage is less than it would have been with the older style short levers. Item: How many machines have return levers on BOTH sides? Only the Demountable comes to mind immediately - and in that example, they are not identical since the left side lever is practically duplicative of that found on the Harris Visible, all models, and Rex Visible, all models.

The action of the machine is very sturdy feeling, with a feel of high key resistance and fairly rapid type bar return. The control arrangement on the carriage is convenient and sensible; the small machined block that is the setting device for the line space mechanism is a great touch, and very easy to use. Line spacing is available in half line space increments from one to three line spaces, as is very typical of European machines. The backspace key seems to be perfect; both the location of the key generally and its height seem to be ideal for me, although this again is a matter of personal preference. The margin release and bypass controls on the front left of the machine take a bit of getting used to but once figured out are easy to use. Unfortunately, the tabulator device on this machine is not functional so that we cannot review it; parts are missing. (Again, not surprising for wartime machines.) The carriage shift is about as light as one could expect for a full size machine. The machine does require strong fingers and does not reward uneven speed or touch at all; in fact, I was able to jam type bars fairly easily with the machine when deliberately typing badly.

Control layout and operation on this machine are above average; touch is average; type bar return speed is average or just below; fit, finish, tolerance, in other words quality of material and quality of assembly are absolutely first rate for any typewriter made anywhere at any time. So then I rate this machine just above average overall for use today. (Your results may vary.) Stated briefly; I like it!

Final note: We do have a Contiental Silenta that's been sitting around neglected since being purchased for quite some time and we'll be getting that machine tanked, lubricated and adjusted in the near future for full review, so watch for it!

The ABC in Detail - 2

2011-01-20T13:22:00.001-08:00

We now begin our examination of the ABC series in order of serial number.

APSCO / serial 1-2442 / Courtesy Carmen, member of the Portable Typewriter Forum. This machine bears the mark "APSCO" which is certainly that representing the Automatic Pencil Sharpener Company (which was actually a business division of Spengler-Loomis Manufacturing Company) and which is familiar to a generation or more of students who daily used APSCO pencil sharpeners in school classrooms all over the United States. This is the earliest known ABC series machine, bearing the lowest serial number and is only one of two known to have a serial number prefix of "1." This example has 43 keys (typing 86 characters.) The exact arrangement by which APSCO acquired these machines has never been discovered, nor have any advertisements. Further, it is not known if the following Cole-Steel contract was the result of a buyout of this arrangement or license or if it was totally unrelated. Regardless, this is a rare typewriter by virtue of its name. As with all of the early machines of this original make there is no model number or name.

ABC / serial 1-4929 / Thomas Furtig collection. Another very early ABC is this fine green example owned by Thomas. This is the second of two known machines having a "1-" prefix. Both of the machines, seen on this page, are notable as being different from all other ABC machines in the early series in that they have dark keytops. No other color but white is seen until much later on in the series. This photo expands when clicked larger than most on this site so that readers can get a very close look at the second oldest known ABC.

COLE-STEEL / serial 2-24954 / Will Davis collection. This is the third known machine in our database, which is interesting because it was formerly owned by famed television news pioneer John Cameron Swayze. This machine is in the 'tomato red' color and has the leather carrying case. 43 keys. This may be one of the most-used machines in this entire presentation, but it operates perfectly. There is evidence of a few repairs and one modification - the ribbon cutout switch, for making stencils, that this series of machines has (under the ribbon cover) is permanently overridden. Much wear is seen on the carriage by the carriage release, and the keytops show wear as well. Swayze himself was featured in magazine ads for the "New 1958 Cole Portable" and in those ads is quoted as saying that "my Cole Portable has been all around the world with me." This machine certainly looks it, and was well taken care of. Note that while the serial prefix has changed to a "2-" that there are no major changes to operative features of the machine. Further, it is of interest to examine the serial numbers seen so far:

1- 2442
1- 4929
2-24954

Considering the findings in the rest of the large database we have collected, it seems improbable that about ten thousand machines worth of production are missing even today or were skipped. It might be that the serial numbering was deliberately jumped by addition of a "2" in front of the serials, in which case Thomas' machine and the ex-Swayze machine would only have been 25 units apart. This is only speculation, however, and is supported by nothing in terms of hard fact.

Whatever the case, it does seem very likely that Swayze's machine was among the very earliest Cole-Steel machines and given the advertising information we can roughly tie the serial 24954 to late 1957 or early 1958. This is the first serial in the known production that we can even roughly tie to a date, given the fact that Koch's appears not to have supplied a serial list to any organization.

The ad depicting Mr. Swayze further indicates (by complete list) a total of 186 dealers nationwide offering the Cole-Steel at that time, for a price of $94.50 without tax. Three colors were offered; Mist Green, Desert Sand and Cole Gray. It is interesting to note that the color of the ex-Swayze 2-24954, "tomatenrot" in the original German, or "tomato red" in English, is not listed in this advertisement. Further, the machines were offered with the plastic case lid and not the leather case found on the Swayze machine.

Cole-Steel / serial 2-26472 / Will Davis collection. This machine is seen in the attractive hammertone green paint, which in all likelihood corresponds to the 'mist green' mentioned in the Cole advertising copy. The machine has a green snap over lid. It is interesting for collectors to note that the four earliest known serial numbers for ABC machines are not in fact found only on ABC-branded machines at all; one is the already seen APSCO, and two are Cole-Steel machines which are shown as well. Given the previously discussed serial number discrepancy, and US trademark information to follow, it seems clear that something not yet known to us was occurring early in the production of these machines and it may be that the start of major production volume did not in fact occur until a year or more after the assumed introduction date of 1955 - which given the nature of industrial manufacturing would be no surprise at all.

ABC / serial 2-35541 / Thomas Furtig collection. This machine is finished in the attractive gray hammertone paint. The advertisement for the machines seen on our earlier installment in this series showed only four colors as having been available, and the Cole-Steel ad mentioned only three - but as we will see, many more became available and there were even two-color combinations.

At left, the original ABC emblem in detail from the previous machine. This mark and emblem were filed for trademark in the United States by Koch's on November 15, 1955; the registration was granted May 22, 1956. The US filing indicates that the same design was filed for copyright in West Germany on March 8, 1955. The rights to this mark were retained by Koch's until March 23, 1967 at which time they were transferred to Messa of Portugal, which will be covered in great detail in later installments.

ABC / serial 2-37663 / Thomas Furtig collection. This is our first look at a two-tone machine, combining tomato red for the upper body and beige or 'creme' for the lower. One of a number of possible combinations offered later. The machines continue to have 43 keys typing 86 characters, with a ribbon cutout for making stencils (one color ribbon only) and no tabulator. Essentially the machines are still as originally manufactured.

Our next displayed example will reveal changes that have been made to the machine prior to its manufacture; at this point we will break from the lineal progression to note the points in serial numbering at which changes were made.

43 to 44 keys: Somewhere between 44600 and 53100
Two color ribbon: Somewhere between 53100 and 54300

The alteration to the keyboard as a result of adding an extra character key was the displacement of the margin release key from its former position at the left end of the top row to the left end of the second row down. The new character key was added to the upper row, and on most keyboard layouts this allowed the addition of a numeral "1" to the keyboard.

ABC / serial 3-54640 / Thomas Furtig collection. This machine displays the revised 44 key arrangement as described, and also barely visible on the right side of the machine is the three position ribbon selector switch. This is alongside the body, just in front of the carriage. This replaces the previous stencil ribbon lift cutout device, and gives true two-color plus stencil ribbon availability in line with most other portables of the day, large or small. The addition of one further key to the keyboard also brought the machine well in line with competition of the day.

Closeup from an ABC sales brochure of the lever selector, directly from the side. The round object upper right is the platen knob, not seen fully, while the corresponding color dots are actually on the removable top cover.

NEXT INSTALLMENT: Continuing with the original Wagenfeld design production in Germany...

The ABC in Detail - 1

2011-01-19T17:38:00.000-08:00

By Will Davis and Thomas Fürtig.

The ABC portable, a medium-sized machine, was introduced by Koch's Eagle Sewing Machine Company of Bielefeld, West Germany in 1955. The machine immediately stood apart from close competitors in size - for one, the Keller & Knappich Princess - due to the styling given the body casing pieces by Prof. W. Wagenfeld. The machine was not only styled, but styled from all sides and views; further, the machine was styled in a way wherein it would be fitting in any sort of decor anywhere in the world.

At left, art from a 1964 sales brochure featuring a slightly later model of the ABC which retains the original body styling. Note how the machine appears at home even in the most ultra-modern environment; such a sleek, streamlined design would fit very well in a home from thirty years earlier.

The typewriter manufacturing situation in Europe at the time of introduction of the ABC in 1955 was still essentially one of total over-demand and under-availability. Very many typewriter designs appeared in Europe in the decade following the end of the conflict (both standard and portable) and even mediocre machines were able to sell. The ABC quickly seemed to gain ground, though, even though it was not the product of an already-established typewriter manufacturer; Koch had prior to this never manufactured any typewriters at all. The machine's status would be bolstered late in 1957 or perhaps early in 1958 with the securing of a sizable export arrangement - to the United States.

In this new arrangement, the ABC portable was relabeled as "Cole-Steel" for sale in the USA through Cole Steel Equipment Company, a well known manufacturer of office furniture and cabinetry. This move allowed Cole Steel to edge toward a position occupied by much larger companies (Remington-Rand, most notably) that offered a wide variety of office products for essentially "one supplier" service. Sales of the machine were transferred to a new division, Cole Steel Office Machines, by early 1959 with the machine retaining the same name. Item: Although some ads for the machine refer to it as the "Cole Portable," the machines themselves always bear the "Cole-Steel" brand name, and it is by that name that they're known generally to collectors today. This venture with Cole and Koch's appears not to have lasted for more than six or seven years.

In the meanwhile, the ABC had established itself well on the Continent and was being distributed both directly by the maker and through other channels such as wholesalers and retailers.

At left, further early advertising artwork courtesy Thomas Furtig (as is all ad art for the ABC in this series) from 1957. The original machine's external design is very striking, as has been mentioned and in fact many collectors finding or seeing their first ABC are surprised that the machine is as large as it is; for some reason, the styling implies a compactness which tricks the mind into assuming petiteness which does not exist. Further enhancement to the appearance sometime after introduction was made through the introduction of "hammertone" paints which gave the exterior an appearance of great depth and which in fact is superior in appearance to any automotive paint. Very few typewriters have ever been marketed with this expensive finish style. Several styles of case were also available, up to a deluxe leather case.

Retrospectively we can identify an 'early phase' of production, which might better be described as the 'main phase' since it appears to have lasted the longest, which lasted from the introduction of the machine in 1955 through 1963. During this entire time period, only one model of the machine was available at any given date. However, modifications, improvements and changes were made to the machines over time so that alterations are easily noted - but again, during this phase, there are no model names or numbers to help differentiate these. These machines almost always have a single digit preceding their serial numbers, and in the main these prefix numbers do correlate to a set of characteristics... but some of the changes are seen on scattered machines of the preceding prefix number which confuses matters.

It is for these reasons that the previously employed method of describing machines by their serial number prefixes is now discarded by us, and replaced with a much more complicated set of characteristics which identify a specific machine. However, trends and commonalities are visible after compilation of a large database of serial numbers and characteristics and the viewing of very many machines, so that a complete discourse is possible without attempting to enforce model designations retroactively that are essentially inaccurate.

THEN, it follows that first we will describe the 'early phase' of production, whose main characteristics are as follows:

-Production of the machines entirely in W. Germany
-Wagenfeld body design used on all machines
-No model name or number appears on any machine

This early phase of production saw a number of modifications to the mechanical design of the machine, which include the following major changes:

-Alteration to change from 86 characters typed to 88 characters
-Concurrent keyboard rearrangement
-Move from original with no multi-color ribbon and only a stencil cutout switch to a ribbon selector lever on the right side, and later a ribbon selector dial on the front right

We will describe these changes concurrent with the photo montages to follow, and will give serial number breakpoints for changes in that material.

All of this first phase of production in Germany used the same key lever and type bar mechanism, shown in motion in this illustration from an ABC sales brochure. The intermediate link that actuates the type bar is actually pulled by a short link that has, by virtue of the lever design and proportion, a much higher angular rotative speed than the primary key lever does which helps lead to the snappy motion these machines are often described as having. Distinctive when observed on these machines is the prominent drive bail on TOP of the entire mechanism, unusual in that day since most were concealed below in all other designs made elsewhere.

NEXT TIME: Photo montage of the early phase of production including rare name variants and very many color combinations.

The ABC typewriter in detail: Introduction

2011-01-19T14:54:00.000-08:00

Quite some years ago, I was fortunate to acquire my very first Cole-Steel portable. The machine was wonderfully styled, compact, well thought out, and seemed to have more than the usual amount of design focus applied to it than you normally find with typewriters that didn't appear until well after the end of the Second World War. That began a fascination with this line for me - one that continues through until today.

One of the first things I discovered of course was that this wasn't the root brand for this machine. Norbert Schwarz, one of my very earliest collecting friends over in Germany, identified the machine as an ABC, made by Koch's Adlernahmaschinenwerke AG of Bielefeld, West Germany. This led to general inquiries that found the machine to be in some collections in various places already - people liked the design and certainly the variety of colors these seemed to be in. Further work with Norbert and later with our late friend Tilman Elster developed the story much more fully, and of course we had a number of US contributors too. This link takes you to the final incarnation of that original website effort.

Late last year, another good friend, Thomas Fuertig, also of Germany, began work with me on a far more intense study of this entire line of machines which has revealed previously unsuspected variations, details and information of all sorts that allows us to fairly clear the fog surrounding the production of the companies involved, if not their motives. Thomas and I (in the grand old fashion) exchanged many e-mails, data tables, spreadsheets, photographs and web links until we were fairly sure we had the story straight.

This whole story and description will be accompanied by more photographs of this line of typewriter than has ever appeared anywhere in print or on the internet, coupled with our complete dissertation on the mechanical variations and their correlation to serial numbering and model delineation. This will take many more than just two blog site updates and we hope that portable typewriter fans will find this in-depth examination of what has, over time, been proven to be a very popular typewriter with collectors to be of interest and worth reading and commenting on with further information, update, and discussion.

I intend to make the first installment of this series later this evening. For those familiar with my web content on the main site to date, it might be worthwhile to note that the information you will see here will not simply supplant the original content but will in many particulars improve upon it and in several should be considered to supersede it. ABC (and on this side of the Atlantic, "Cole-Steel") fans should get ready to be excited!

A Wrecktacular Discovery - 2

2011-01-15T16:12:00.001-08:00

When I left off yesterday, I'd shown you what the 'undiscovered machine' from our vault looked like as we just got to the point of opening the box to see some details for the first time. Let's first pick up the story there and finish examining the machine and then we'll place it in context.

Here's the machine as it appeared yesterday, finally free of packing material. Luckily there weren't any packing peanuts involved - these are open on the back and those peanuts get in as badly as if the sides were open too. (Remember that on our blogs, the pictures can be clicked to be enlarged.) Quickly visible is that we've only got one of two original ribbon spools; the one on the left side is some kind of goofy gear-tooth edged silver tall spool that has LEFT printed on one end and RIGHT on the other. I don't know what it's for, but we'll figure that out. The type bars are very clean as in fact is most of the machine. Of course instantly we see the broken front frame, and the piece is separately bubble wrapped and included in the packing material very nicely. It's nice to see a shipper take care even with a pre-damaged article. Looks like the paper table is at some new modified arc, although we'll have to do some looking at other machines and photos too to get the right curve back on it. What's important now is that the machine appears complete enough to actually be operable instead of just displayable - except of course for that missing spool. But we have at least three or maybe four other machines that'll have exactly the same spools so that if needed we could switch out ribbons to type on this machine if and when we wanted to.

This is not a problem; we've dealt with far worse. For those who don't remember, the very first pair of machines ever seen on our workshop site sub-section included the only known dual-branded RC Allen Woodstock machine whose frame was so badly broken it would have been depressing to most who received it ... but we're mad scientists. We'd rather have this machine, even with a broken frame repair, than not have it. The fact that the official dealer handbooks and the NOMDA handbooks indicate that machines with broken frames have a $0.00 trade in value doesn't bother us much either.

NOW THAT WE'VE LOOKED THIS MACHINE OVER, let's put it in the proper historical perspective.

This machine at first appears to have no model number on it - but examination of my site page on the general line indicates that there should be model numbers on the frame. Sure enough, very close examination of the broken frame piece under varied light sources (fluorescent turned out to be the best) reveals the number "30" on the right side, as one might expect since this is a 42 key machine. So then we might call this machine the Remington Smith Premier 30. As we see on the back of the machine, the Smith Premier name appears boldly and it's clear that it was made at Syracuse, New York; this location is the old Smith Premier factory that was built immediately after the Smith brothers left to form their own new, unrelated company.

The serial number of this machine is MM10004. Surely this is a 1921 machine according to the serial number lists. At this date, the 30 and 40 models were introduced (the 30 had 42 keys, the 40 had 46 keys) and were essentially identical to the previous Remington Monarch machines. The example seen here still has individually mounted type bar bearings, and the shift motion on the type basket is upward as on the original models. Before 1926 the machines were redesigned to use a slotted solid type bar segment; in October 1926 the 30 was dropped. A new 60 model appeared in June, 1923. Right off the top of my head I can't tell you how that's different from the 40 though even though we do have a 60. I'll have to look at that one.

So then we now have another labeling variation of this Monarch-pattern machine, which appears at the very beginning of its third life. The 'first life' was that of the Monarch Visible, introduced in 1904 as a product of the Monarch Typewriter Company and produced at a new factory in Syracuse, New York, built for the new company's new typewriter. Of course, Monarch was actually a creation of Union Typewriter. In perhaps 1913 the Remington name appears on the machines, but not as the major brand. In 1914-1915 the actual manufacture of the Monarch was transferred entirely to Remington Typewriter's massive plant in Ilion, New York and from this time forward the Remington name took more prominence, essentially relegating the Monarch name to a model.

Production of this machine then had a third life, when the tooling was shipped back to the city of Syracuse, but not to the long-since sold Monarch plant but rather to the Smith Premier plant. The full keyboard Smith Premier 10 was dropped and the Monarch machine was placed in production at that plant; the machine you've seen unboxed yesterday and today is perhaps the earliest known example from that third round of production and is surely the first labeling variant.

Within a couple of years the name Remington completely disappears again from the machine, leaving only the Smith Premier name (and a spiffy new "SP" emblem too) to identify the maker. This in a way parallels the first incarnation of the machine as the Monarch. The design overall had a relatively long life in the world of typewriters, being produced at three different plants from design about 1900 to production launch in 1904 to cessation of production about 1939. That's 35 years; did any other Union design last that long in the visible typewriting era?

Click here to see our gallery of Smith Premier machines featuring many machines from the late Tilman Elster's collection. Look at the original DTW site link to find another Monarch labeling variant; link on the right.

We'll have more to come on the variants in this whole line over time, and of course the work on this machine will be shown here as it happens. Standard typewriter fans take heart - standards have returned to the DTW site! Stay tuned.

So THAT"S what's wrong with it! I knew it!!

2011-01-14T19:03:00.000-08:00

Once again our subscribers have zeroed in on just what it is that is "wrong" with our featured machine, an innocent enough looking typewriter that most would not even give it a second glance. BUT, this is "typewriter collecting 301: doctorate level" and therefore if we told you there was something odd about it, there is! You could do the same sort of thing with mucsle cars, like SS Chevrolets with 6-cylinder engines, or maybe with odd golf clubs. Hmmm... No, no... this is a TYPEWRITER blog.

Both "Machines of loving grace" and "Baki" were correct! This is a "speedline" body in "Super 5" paint, and with "Super 5" keys. And before we go any further, for the sake of accuracy Smith-Corona referred to the "speedline" bodied machines as "4 series" machines, and the next, so called "Super 5" machines as "5 series" machines. One will note that the serial numbers of these types do in fact start with either a 4 or 5 depending on the series. So, both of the machines in the picture above are technically 4 series machines. On the left, a totally standard "Silent", and on the right, our mutant in question. Looks totally different in that paint and with those keys doesn't it? But clearly that's what we have. What gives?

Often collectors, actually HUMANS, like to categorize, tabulate, and organize things into neat piles, lists, types, groups, whatever. What would your silverware drawer look like if you didn't? NOW, would the silverware be any less usable if it were just dumped in there? But that's not how we roll, is it? No. So we like nice, neat 4 series machines and neat tidy 5 series machines. But in the real world, production of types can overlap, or parts from a previous series have to get used up in some useful way, while production of the new series has already started. We think that's what we have here. We believe that these machines were made to use up existing parts, to be sold after the release of 5 series machines had already happened.

But there's one thing that everybody missed about this machine, and actually Will and I thought it would be the first thing noticed! IT HAS NO MODEL NAME!! Is it just a "Smith Corona"? (No dash). Above, we see another almost identical mutant, but this one has a model name, "Tabulator". Wow, not a normal Smith-Corona name at all! This name has been associated with Sears, so did they sell it? We don't know, but there it is. That's two of these things. How about a third?

Above, mutant 2 meet mutant 3! Same machine, same features, same body, but it says "Eaton's" on it, and again, no model name! This name is actually a Canadian department store, but again no model name! So there are 3 machines like this, and a fourth JUST SOLD on EBay with the name "Sterling" on it. The two machines here with no model name are also the ONLY Smith-Corona machines we have EVER seen with no model name at all on them.

One final note, and a big one. ALL the machines like this, these "mutant" 4 series machines with "5 series" features, HAVE SERIAL NUMBERS THAT START WITH "4AR..." 4A is commonly associated with sterling model machines, but that "R" is totally and completely unusual, and exists only on this kind of machine so far as we have seen. All 3 shown here have it. So, we are going to refer to these mutants from here on out as "4AR" machines, denoting this intermediate variant. Was it done to use up parts, or fill contracts? We don't know. They do NOT appear to us to be rebuilds, which that "R" might make you think. No, we think they were assembled and distributed as they are, to a variety of sources, intentionally. And, we know it was late, because the use a few parts common to 5 series machines, like the mainspring housing/reel. So, an interesting variant to look out for. Are any mutants lurking undetected in your collection? Look closely, THESE have escaped detection all the way up until now! We hope you all have enjoyed this feature, and stay tuned for the next installment. More mutants guaranteed or your money back!! Promise!!

A Wrecktacular Discovery - 1

2011-01-14T17:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes around here we forget how many typewriters we have. I can't tell you off the top of my head. And sometimes we discover something we forgot! How about this large heavy cardboard box we found at one of our secret typewriter storage locations (and there are four of those, folks...)

Now, I recall having bought a broken machine of some kind a loooong time ago... but not broken so badly that it scared us. I think this is it. Let's get to work!

Box inside a box... that's good. The inner one is open as if I'd looked at it once before, and I might have. Often times I can't remember where my cup of coffee is, so how am I supposed to remember which of my machines this might be considering it never got out of the box? Who knows. But at least either it's from another collector or else it got packaged and shipped the way I instructed, since I always give instructions for packing like this for standard machines. Even if I know they're already broken -- see the Woodstock Electrite on the original DTW site.

Lots and lots of sealed air packs inside! I wonder if the air in these things is filtered. I mean, who's to say what kind of air they're packaging in these things? Didn't they find out that lots of bottled water is really just tap water in pretty spring-water-labeled bottles? You wonder if the air in these things is asbestos and petroleum fume laden. I do, anyway. No matter; back to the typewriter.

"Do you see anything?" "Yes, wondrous things." Or one wondrous thing. Quickly I remember that this machine was a Monarch-pattern machine, but with the number of variants that we had discovered over time for a second I didn't really know what this one was except that it was special and I wanted it. I look and see the large REMINGTON name on the paper table, and then the letters "MIER" below that, smaller. Aha! We do have something special here indeed - a previously unremarked branding, or labeling, variant of this machine and perhaps a very interesting intermediate step.

Here is the detail of the paper table. Now I remember! This is a machine that carries both the Remington name and the red, round Remington brand decal but that also carries the Smith Premier name below that. Quickly, I wonder to myself what model this thing is and what goofy serial number I'll discover on it.

The rest of the unearthing tomorrow, and more interesting facts revealed!

What's wrong with THIS thing?

2011-01-03T04:24:00.000-08:00

Time for the second installment of our popular "what's wrong with this thing" segment where we show you a picture of a typewriter and invite you to comment on what you think is odd about it. True, there are a lot of "odd" machines out there, but the point of this feature is to show machines which at first glance may not seem off, but under closer examination vary in some way (or ways) from "normal" production machines.

So here it is! I have been suffering under this thing's somewhat "cyclopean" glare ever since I promised to put it on here, before Thanksgiving I think! Or is it more like that mythological monster that had 100 eyes instead of just one? I mean, are the keys eye-like or the clearance hole through the top cover? You know, Will and I had an electric hand mixer in our family when we were young that had a definite smiley-face on one end. It was a Dormeyer, and towards the end every time we used it it smelled like it was burning the motor windings. I imagined it grinning evilly as flames shot out the "smile", mixing...... flaming... MIXING!! FLAMING!!! AAA--HAAA-HAAA-HAAA-HAAAAAA!!

Ahem. So, intrepid type-spotters, what's up with this thing? To cover the bases, no we did not make it, yes it works, no it isn't photo shopped, no it was never on fire, and yes it did fit in my stocking, which promptly went south scaring both Santa and our dog, leading to some unpleasantness between the two.

Post your thoughts below as comments! We had a great response on the first one, so hopefully everybody will have fun with this one. Maybe you will spot something nobody else has, including us! Get out those bi/tri-focals and have a ball. (Really? It's just me? NOBODY ELSE has them? REALLY?) Our "answer" will be posted up next Monday, so check back then to see how everyone did!

What is the typewriter on the left? I'll tell you!

2010-11-15T15:39:00.000-08:00

The typewriter on the left in the blog header photo is a PREDOM!

Here is the PREDOM. We bought this machine from Your Typewriter & Computer a while back; the experienced staff there got it from a previously bought-out business and had never seen one before.

Now, those who guessed FACIT were kind of close; this machine is descended from the LUCNIK, which was a license produced machine. However, this machine is properly NOT a Luzcnik by the front label that omits, finally, that name and shows the final name variation of this line.

Here is the label on the front of the machine, which is a model 1012 and which we're pretty sure was built in 1986.

Here's the serial plate that's under the left side of the carriage. Our records here (NOMDA blue book) show the PREDOM standard as having been available for several years in the mid-1980's.

The front of the instruction page shows three PREDOM standard and one portable model.

So there's the answer to the mystery - and we're pretty sure that this is (and has been) the only PREDOM standard on any collector site anywhere. It's now no longer hiding in plain sight!

Underwood 450

2010-10-27T14:26:00.001-07:00

Many of us like to keep track - well, try to anyway - of the various Underwood labeled machines (and Olivetti-Underwood, and Underwood-Olivetti) that correspond to various other models produced by Olivetti, just for reference. That is, except for the Underwood 250 series machines which were made in Japan by Silver-Seiko, for reasons we don't know.

Here's a very attractive one. This is an UNDERWOOD 450, and it's probably no accident vis a vis the model number that it correlates to the Olivetti Studio 45. Look here for our European Typewriter Project page on Olivetti portables. The serial number makes us think that this machine was made in 1972, if it runs in with the Studio 45 machines.. and there's no reason at this moment to suspect otherwise. This machine has a nice crisp action, lever set tab stops, great keytops and a fantastic two-tone black and white color scheme that I myself just love. I do have a Studio 45, and I can tell you that visually this Underwood labeled machine is much, much more appealing. So if you're looking for an Olivetti machine out there, keep aware that there may be an alternate decor and/or brand out there and see if you can't find the machine you want, but done just a bit better!

Olympia ephemera

2010-10-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

Original OLYMPIA vinyl window cling, obtained at closure of Baker Typewriter Company, Elyria Ohio some years back. I got the best stuff - George Baker's Royal Line Book, an Olivetti-Underwood dealer book, a number of other things paper wise and this very cute window sticker. I've never shown it until now. Click to get a larger view!

American Can Company

2010-10-27T13:14:00.001-07:00

Many of our readers are aware that one of our favorite makes around here is the Harris Visible / Rex Visible. We've unearthed more information about them than any other make, it seems, and had more input from fellow collectors world-wide on this than probably any other product line. Those who followed the old Davis Typewriter Works site will recall that one of the first two machines we worked on "live" was a Rex Visible, which was a variant labeled "Sold and Guaranteed by American Can Co." on its front frame. Click here to see that original project. And, you can click here to see the whole Harris / Rex story.

When American Can took over the sales of the Rex Visible, it had already been marketing, for some time, a simple lever-operated adding machine known as the American. I have an odd derivation of this machine, seen at left; this is an American Combination Register. I've never seen another one. Clearly, it's an American adding machine with what's clearly labeled as the American Cash Drawer, and it is what is known as a combination register or "Adding Machine On Drawer" style (AMOD) simple register. Many companies made such things - R.C. Allen, NCR, Allen-Wales, and even Smith-Corona. But this one is not only seemingly very lonely in the world - it's also undocumented.

Here is a fairly recent find - a manual for the exact style of machine! Interestingly, the manual whose cover is shown here doesn't use the exact same terminology; it's called the "American Adding Machine and Cash Drawer Combination." Each unit is labeled separately - "American Adding Machine" and "American Cash Drawer." My example clearly states "American Combination Register" on the front of the adding machine portion.

But look at the bottom of this manual - "American Can Company, Typewriter and Adding Machine Division, 104 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois." This is the first piece of any ephemera in our collection, and the only one we've actually seen, that states the name of this operation exactly.

Here is the center illustration in the manual. Those who saw the original article we did on this machine know that I had no idea really what the odd little, seemingly added-on device on top was; it's the Sales Classifying Attachment, used to mark on the tape which clerk performed the transaction and to identify department for product.

The manual does one thing for us - it tells us all the features of this machine, and we can work it now. It doesn't give a publishing date, though, although a sample statement in the back to show how the register prints out is dated March 31, 1920. If true, or roughly close to the actual date of printing for this manual, then it was printed very close to the failure of the Rex Typewriter concern as noted on my site.

In any event, the American Combination Register is now NOT the only indication of its own existence, which is quite gratifying to us.

I'll TELL YA' what's wrong with this thing!!

2010-10-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

Hi again everyone!! We were pleasantly surprised by all the responses to this feature! Really better than we had hoped. Thanks to everyone that posted an answer, AND to all those who viewed the blog and are awaiting the "solution"

But first, since I have your attention, I'd like to begin with this brief analysis of the preamble to the Constitution. HAHAHAHA no not really.

Essentially almost all of the guesses from first to last were correct! Here is our "response" to whats wrong with it, in the order that we noticed these things when we first saw this very machine, and then bought it.

First off, it is VERY VERY unusual to have a machine this late with only 42 keys. Really, by this time virtually ALL large portables, heck almost ALL portables PERIOD had 44 keys. This machine is way too recent to have only 42 keys. Notice that is identical to any other contemporary SCM machine, except for missing those two keys. Heck, even the shield behind the keys through which the key levers pass is clearly made for only 42 keys. So that's the FIRST thing we noticed.

Lets cover WHY that is first. Yep, this is indeed a LARGE TYPE FACE machine, and because the slugs are so big, there isnt room for the two other keys! Note that the segment is also only machined for 42 keys, if you can see that in the pic! If not, trust me. It is. Really. This is actually a large type face machine intended for primary education!

The other give-away was also guessed correctly, the scale numbers. These clearly indicate a larger type face, so that guess was correct too! In SCM machines, a large type face PRECLUDES use of a rapid space key too, by the way.

Also guessed correctly was the variation in shifted symbols on the number keys. A division symbol would certainly have been needed, and was provided in this "font" style.

The half space button is actually common on this particular generation of SCM machines, BUT it IS an uncommon feature, so that should get at least half credit for observational powers!!

Now for one wrong thing that is tiny, but cool. Remember that shield I mentioned behind the keys? Look again at the right side of it, adjacent to the correctly spotted only two position ribbon selector(yes, thats another wrong thing!! No black/red ribbon on one of these babies!!). If you look very closely you will see the characteristic 3 dimples that appear in this shield when used on earlier SCM SUPER-5 variants. The dimples would be colored in to identify ribbon selector position. Many machines of this era have this "left over" shield, and some Sears machines from this age still use only it, without the large plastic slider! BUT, this is one of the things that clearly indicates the SUPER-5 heritage of these late SCM GALAXIE machines. New body, yeah, but essentially a Super 5 inside!

So thats about it! We hope you enjoyed this, and we also hope you are looking forward to the next installment which will feature another machine with "something wrong" with it! (Its right over there across the room staring at me right now, and lemme tell ya this things MESSED UP!) AND HEY-- maybe you yourself have a machine that would be good for this feature, eh? Oh come on, strap on the miner's helmet, spray on the bug-b-gone, light the torch and go down to your basement and look around! See any machines in your vault that would do well in this feature? Let us know!! We would love to feature your machine here!! Gotta go now, UFO number 425 just parked and they want their large font machine back. Wouldn't you think that UFO-people would have something more sophisticated than ditto machines for primary education? Who cares, they brought more Chardonnay.

What's wrong with this?

2010-10-12T16:30:00.000-07:00

Time for something fun. We've all seen those pictures intended for children where something is wrong in them, and the goal is for the kids to find what it is. Then they circle it, and check the upside-down answer on page 78 or whatever. Well, this is kind of like that, only please do not attempt to actually circle anything with your over-sized HUSKY pencil, and don't turn your computer upside down to look for the answer.

Obviously, then, there is something wrong with this picture, more precisely with the TYPEWRITER shown in it. And NO, what's wrong with it is NOT that is doesn't work! (Come to think of it, that would have been good though...) Nope. It's something else.

We've all heard of, and likely taken, IQ tests. Meant to measure intelligence on a broader lever, these tests are still common in schools for estimating intelligence. BUT, there are OTHER kinds of intelligence. Anyone ever heard of EMOTIONAL IQ? Yes, there is such a thing. Apparently. Mines a 3. Is that good? Well, whatever.

This exercise is going to test your TYPEWRITER IQ. Yes, there is such a thing, if only because I just made it up. There!! So what is YOUR typewriter IQ? Well, try it out on this new, recurring feature. Post your ideas and/or comments and lets see who guesses correctly. Even if you aren't a machine "student" you certainly have a good chance of SEEING something, or SOME THINGS in this picture which ought to seem odd. No, I didn't photoshop it. No, we didn't manufacture it ourselves out of our huge rumored to exist warehouse of Smith-Corona machines and parts. (What a complete surprise that it's an S/C/M machine, eh?) No, it wasn't delivered last night on the regular UFO shipment, that one only brings typing paper and crystal meth. And Chardonnay. Don't ask.

So have at it! Look over this machine which most if not all collectors wouldn't even give a second glance, and POST what it is you note!! Or, just keep it in mind and look for the answer, which we will post up early next week. Have fun!!

Another unusual Bulgarian-made portable

2010-08-26T15:27:00.000-07:00

Readers of my site are aware of the range of Bulgarian-made portables loosely affiliated by the name MARITSA, which is the name of the river that runs through the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. That city was the location of the "Typewriters Works" (sic) .. later called "Plant for Typewriters" .. which made two general ranges of typewriter over a yet unknown time period.

The two ranges were, first, a series based on the West German PRINCESS line, apparently after having acquired the tooling from Keller & Knappich, and second a range based on the Japanese SILVER-SEIKO small machines. Although neither of these Bulgarian-made series is common, they were in fact distributed at times the world over and an attentive collector almost anywhere can snag one. To learn more about these machines of both ranges, click here to see my long-standing web page.

This machine adds some information to the story, and yet asks questions we cannot answer. This machine, clearly Bulgarian-made even if not labeled as such, is a Montgomery Ward Model 101. Most machines distributed by this well known department store and mail order company carried the SIGNATURE name, but not all. The machine has its instructions, and is serial number 11176474. Now for the details.

The instructions for the machine include photos labeled "OMEGA 11," which in itself isn't surprising considering that very often any Plovdiv-made machine will NOT have custom instructions made for this or that end seller. What's really interesting is that the machine also has a warranty card -- a card addressed not to Montgomery Ward but to Cheromi, Inc. This company was one of a string who owned rights to the brand name OMEGA for typewriters, and in point of fact only had these rights after May of 1977, when the descendant corporation of General Consolidated conveyed rights. Cheromi gave rights apparently off and on to Allyn Distributing through 1994 when rights were finally assigned to Corpex International.

(At left, the manual that came with the Montgomery Ward 101.) We are assuming at this point that this machine is labeled as Ward's model 101 because prior to this, the Signature 100 was sold for years (and that machine was the small, flat, very simple original Brother manual portable relabeled for Ward's.) On the rear of this new machine is a label, with the following information:

Wards Manual Typewriter
Model # 101 DCG8001
Serial #97 3155

On the label, it's important to note that everything is printed in except the "3155" of the serial which is actually stamped. More research is underway on Ward's internal and - or catalog identification numbers to make sense of this label.

We might have a good date on the first use of Omega by Cheromi, since Richard Polt spotted an Omega 11 in identical color with a serial number about 1000 below this machine that went on e-Bay a short while back. It carried instructions labeled for the MARITSA. So we have a machine actually labeled OMEGA 11 with MARITSA 11 instructions, and within 1000 or so units a machine labeled for Montgomery Ward, carrying OMEGA 11 instructions.

While still puzzling in some ways, this machine does one thing; it pushes our conception of known Plovdiv production of the Princess-derived machine even later than we'd thought. We're almost sure it didn't appear in the 50's now, or probably even the 60's. More work must be done, but finally this unduplicated and somewhat rare machine has cracked the door a bit wider.

(Note: Serial numbers of machines on my site are as follows. Maritsa 11, tan color, serial number 11263536. Bundy, blue and white, serial number 11118151. Omega 30, blue color, 30242061. First two digits of serial are always Plovdiv model number.)

Imperial Good Companion 6

2010-08-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

Here is a machine that I've been after for some time- actually, it's from a family that I've been after any one of for a long time. This is a British-made Imperial Good Companion 6, which is hard to find here in the U.S. since none of these was ever sold directly here. This example is serial number 6AG 816 and was manufactured in 1962. A similar 6T model, with tabulator, was also offered.

This general design for Imperial portables dates back to the early 1930's and incorporates a geared type-bar mechanism not unlike that found in Remington / Remington-Rand portables from the early 20's until 1949. On the Good Companion, the gear rack portion of the mechanism is fairly hidden by the distinctive type bar segment which is large and raised, apparently to provide better type bar alignment.

Here we see the machine, with (forward tilting) ribbon cover raised and a type bar at the print point. The black geared arc is visible sticking up through its slot in the segment. The action is taken off of the primary key levers by links that then actuate a series of bell cranks mounted in an arcuate, intermediate segment; the cranks are visible below the resting bar for the type bars. Interestingly, while the primary key levers at the center of the keyboard are essentially straignt, as key levers further from center are examined they display more of an angular nature from keytop to hinge as the hinge section is perhaps only half the width of the typewriter; outer key levers angle quite severely in toward the center as viewed from directly above, or below.

The touch of the machine is light - much lighter than superficially similarly designed Remington machines. None of that "over the top" feel Remington portables are known for exists with the Imperial, making it a lighter and speedier feeling machine. That said, the type bar blow isn't nearly as hard and getting dark impression isn't as easy. The carriage shift moves more back than up, due to the design that essentially results in type slug impact on top of the platen, and this means that gunk or poor lubrication results in somewhat slow return of the carriage to lower-case position since gravity isn't as much of a help as it is in most carriage shifted machines. We're particularly fond of the design of the carriage return lever, which hinges down for storage in a unique way but flips angularly sideways (not unlike Halberg-derived machines) for line spacing. Its chromed slipper spoon appearance is very pleasing.

Overall we like this little machine, even though it is somewhat devoid of features for a machine this late. The keytops are comfortable, the look is very 60's and so can be made to fit in a wide range of (retro or modern) decors, the sound is very quiet, the touch is light and the machine operates well. It took us years to get one in good shape and we're glad we waited.

2010-08-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

OK, get this for a coincidence. We have had this kind of luck more than a few times in our antique careers, but never more, well, significant than this time.

While Will was far away buying the machine you saw in the previous post, my wife and I found and bought the machine you see here.

That is to say, while Will was buying the last standard machine associated with the Smith Bros. second company, we were buying the very first machine associated with their FIRST company. So, in ONE DAY, we have Alpha and Omega, so to speak.

Once again, as has happened to us so many times with significant machines, this was found in a large antique mall, which usually does not yield a lot of typewriters. This time, this "first variant" Smith Premier No. 1 (no platen knobs) serial no. 22577, was there, along with several other typewriters which we did not buy. One was a mint Royal Arrow with instructions, another a Consul 232 in sky blue, also very nice. An Underwood standard, Remington portable, and a couple others rounded out the selection. Even in this "EBay era", it can still pay off to get out and look on foot!

But how weird is this? On the same day, in the same state, Smith Premier No.1 and SCM Smith-Corona 76 Secretarial? One of those almost every serious collector has certainly heard of, the other probably almost no collector has heard of. They represent the bookends of a family history, spanning nearly the entire era of standard sized manual office machines. One of them, we have seen very few of, the other, only ever ONE of so far. Which is the "rarer" machine? The 76! More collectible? The Premier to be sure. But for Will and I, being interested in the stories and the people and companies behind the machines, the 76 is a significant find too. Maybe somewhere the Smith Brothers are smiling tonight, as for the first time ever a No. 1 and a 76 sit side by side together.

The last Smith-Corona Standard.

2010-08-11T17:07:00.001-07:00

The machine you see here just arrived at the Works today. This is an SCM Smith-Corona Secretarial 76. This model name and number might not mean much to most readers, but this will: This is the final Smith-Corona manual standard (office, upright, whatever you want to call it) typewriter model. We're sure of it.

We knew when it appeared on e-Bay that it was late, and a check of the NOMDA serial lists revealed a cutoff of serial numbers at 6200M in 1966 and only references vaguely to any model numbers; by the 1985 date of printing of the NOMDA Blue Book at hand, SCM was long out of the manual office machine business. We knew that the machine was close to the appearance of the last model shown in Beeching, but we also knew that nothing definitive about any models beyond 72 or 75 was printed in any serial reference anywhere.

Smith-Corona dealer Jay Respler helps fill in the details. According to Jay, who has the complete Smith-Corona serial number listing, the final year of Smith-Corona standard, manual typewriter production is 1969 with the serial range of 7023966 - 7035812. The machine we just bought is serial number 76E12-7037845, which made Jay ask if we got the last one ever made! Jay's records indicate then that this machine was in all probability made in 1970 and that it is surely almost the last of its kind. The decor matches none of the 75 models we've seen so far and may be a last gasp at minimal redesign (mostly re-coloring, actually) for the new decade but we're not sure of that yet.

Jay recalls, concerning the end of production of Smith-Corona standard machines, that SCM considered itself as having made standard ELECTRIC machines for much longer after it dropped the manual and large original electric designs (and in fact we can back Jay up on that with advertising) because the company essentially took the mechanism of the electric portable and placed it in a larger body, calling it a 'compact office machine.' This would be the Model 8000, introduced in 1976, if we interpret Jay's observation correctly. Jay adds that Brother was big trouble for Smith-Corona, and eventually the competition led years later to Smith-Corona having to move production of (by then) electronic daisy wheel machines to Mexico.

All of this adds to the yet-not-fully-told story of the wind DOWN of Smith-Corona. So often we focus on the wind-UP and forget that history has a whole life cycle that we historians and researchers need to cover. What you see here is very likely the newest, last Smith-Corona manual standard machine you will ever see and it provides a bit of historical closure to this whole product line. And don't worry - this one needs some work, so you'll learn what's inside of it right here and become somewhat familiar with it.

The next post by Dave will show something he was buying about 20 miles south of his home, while I was over 180 miles away picking up the Secretarial 76 you see here. Stay tuned!

--edit to correct actual serial number, reposted.--

Adler J5 / ribbon vibrator

2010-08-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

The Adler J5 you see here in pieces was displaying an odd problem; operation of the keys caused the ribbon selector switch to move wildly throughout its travel, and the ribbon selector switch had no 'notches' or detentes in its travel. Clearly something had gone wrong, and a look at the bottom of the machine revealed that a spring steel piece that provided resistance to an appropriately shaped tang on an extension of the ribbon selector and vibrator assembly had become bent to the point that it could not be re-bent without first having been removed from the machine.

The carriage is easy enough to take off on this late-1970's Adler portable. Removal of the drawband from the carriage is easy even without pliers, and there's a slot to insert the retainer on the end of the drawband into the carriage rail assembly. Once that's done, two screws are all you need undo to release the whole carriage and escapement assembly from the machine - it lifts right out vertically. Then, with ribbon cover off, you will note four screws total holding the plastic exterior body shell ('mask') to the frame, which lifts off with a bit of wiggling to clear the ribbon selector lever on the left and the tab set/clear lever on the right. These operations left the machine in the condition seen in the photo.

Here we see the machine, lifted up, and we're looking up under the left side. Right by my thumb you can see the offending bent piece. Once you find the screw holding it down, you'll need a very thin long standard screwdriver to get the piece off. It was easy enough for Dave and I to get it bent back to the proper profile and test operation of the lever without the screw inserted; once the screw was back in (perhaps the trickiest part, and made much easier due to lack of clearance by using a magnetic screwdriver) the reassembly and test went without a hitch. Yet another archive machine returned to fully operative status!

ABC project behind the scenes

2010-07-30T18:27:00.001-07:00

The blog has gone a little quiet all of a sudden the last few days, largely because fellow collector and long time collaborator Thomas Fuertig and I are engaged in yet another enormous research endeavor concerning the West German-made ABC portables. We're investigating all of the various changes the machines took over the years, as well as model variations that came later and the movement of production to Portugal in detail never before attempted. You will see the results here when we're through! Illustration from 1957 ABC brochure courtesy Thomas Fuertig.

Ode to the Generation 3000

2010-07-26T19:27:00.001-07:00

O Ignored and ignoble one!

O how maligned thou art!

How base, low, and reprehensible!

See how unreviewed and unappreciated thou have been?

See how those who type manually and/or portably have turned their backs on you?

Thy fate is certainly undeserved, is it not?

To think, thou art one of the last manual typewriters in manufacture, available new, un-blemished and un-used, and with instructions.

And are those who would look upon you and yet not purchase you un-moved by your singular position, being available through such fine and well establish-ed institutions as Dr. Leonard's and Carol Wright?

Yes, you have appeard in more than one guise, but even as "Rover 5000" thou art new and shiny, smelling of recent manufacture and machine oil.

Un-typed upon, un-previously owned, un-marked and un-stickered with "Larry's typewriter repair and Ice Cream shop-- 531 N. South Street."

And now, thou have become unavailable except as clothed in an Olivetti guise. The good Doctor and Ms. Wright choose to carry you not, it would seem.

Glad am I that I have come to know your notchy operational characteristics, and glad too am I that you now reside in my collection next to typewriters of much higher station than you would ever have.

Thou art a Chevette, a Pinto, a Sparkomatic, yet thou doest type well and/or true, as thy alignment test would attest to.

Thou art not flashy, but plastic-y, light in weight but heavy in history, as one of the last in manufacture.

O ignored Generation 3000, or Rover 5000, or Olivetti MS25 Premier, or whatever name you choose to go by, we are glad to have known you.

Collegiate update

2010-07-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

Our German friends at Historichesbuero have responded with some data. Thomas Fuertig informs us that the Collegiate I now have is also sometimes seen in Germany as the Neckermann Brilliant S. (Look here for more Neckermann Brilliant cross labeling instances.) The machine was never sold in Germany with the name Collegiate and so it's considered rare there - and it's rare here too considering that I've never seen one before! This machine is actually, in its original branding and in this decor, the early version of the ABC 1001. Look here for more ABC variants.

John Cameron Swayze's COLE-STEEL

2010-07-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

We have decided that some sort of restorative action or preservative action is needed on the exterior of the case of the Cole-Steel formerly owned by John Cameron Swayze, pioneering television news man, which is in my collection. This machine, serial number 2-24954, is in a leather case (top of the line) and is finished in Tomato Red. The machine shows signs of very hard use; however, the machine was very well maintained and operates quite nicely. Swayze was featured in magazine ads for the machine wherein it was called the "Cole Portable"; he stated that the machine had been around the world with him and was still in great shape. The machine was won in open auction on e-Bay quite a few years ago; I decided to put some information here since the original AOL site page which featured the machine is long lost. Note that it still bears both labels on the machine and case, typed and taped on with Swayze's address as well as a luggage tag. This is the only machine I own attributed to anyone of any notoriety and I intend to make certain it's well preserved.. as it has been for all the years I've owned it.

Newly discovered ABC variant

2010-07-24T18:22:00.001-07:00

Just arrived here today, after an unopposed win on e-Bay is the COLLEGIATE, serial number 501963. I recognized the machine as some sort of variant of the ABC when I saw it on e-Bay (and that's "Cole-Steel" to those familiar with the variant normally seen here in the USA) and put in a large bid. The machine is different from all other ABC machines, and thus Cole-Steel machines in its exterior styling. A quick search of the European Patent Server produced lucky results; this styling was patented for use on the Koch's Adler ABC machine in 1960.

Here is a cropped view from one of the three drawing pages supporting the 1960 patent for Koch's.

This machine has 44 keys typing 88 characters, in an English keyboard format. Interestingly, the machine has no touch regulator and no ribbon selector and can thus be considered somewhat of a stripped model as compared with the other ABC / Cole-Steel machines normally found. The margin release doubles as a jam clear key, through use of a key lever extension that acts on the ribbon bail. As is clear in the photo, the Collegiate is in a very attractive "Hammertone" light green which is also found on the ABC / Cole-Steel. What differs is the casing in which the machine is contained. We have no data with the machine and have not on preliminary examination discovered any affiliation with the "Collegiate" name but will continue looking. It's very fulfilling to know that even at this late date there are yet-unseen and unidentified machines out there to find.

Form / Function; Will's five picks

2010-07-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

Dave's recent post comparing form vs. function for typewriters generated a comment asking about five top picks -- that is to say, five great looking machines with details of the operation of each. Dave told me that I should give it a whirl, even though it was his topic, so here we go. In no particular order after the first one..

1. ABC / Cole-Steel This typewriter, introduced in the 50's in Germany and before the end of that decade here by license, was styled by Prof. Wagenfeld in a very modern and smooth style for that day. In fact, the styling of the machine isn't what we'd think of here as "50's" .. it's in advance of it in some ways, behind in others and frankly just timelessly classic. What's even more impressive is the total perspective approach that Wagenfeld took with the casing which means that the machine is attractive from all angles and elevations. Normally, the carriage side or rear of a typewriter is fairly uninspiring but on the ABC the machine is appealing stylistically from all 360 degrees of view. The optional hammertone paint colors available make the move from attractive to almost stunning. Operationally the ABC is a smooth, accurate machine with a fairly positive key action, fairly solid carriage operation and decent if not excellent auxiliary controls. It could be said that the machine looks better than it types, but it would be really difficult to match the styling with any typewriter that would fit the size envelope.

2. Alpina The Alpina in its most commonly seen form is attractive enough, but in the two-tone color schemes found on late versions is exceedingly attractive. There is something about the top cover styling combined with the other lines and curves on the machine that give it the exact, perfect 50/50 combination of stylistic elegance and mechanical impressivness / mass that you would hope for in the perfect portable. Once you take that exterior and combine it with the incredible quality and feel of the Alpina's internals, you have a combination that's very hard to beat. The only reason I put the ABC above this machine overall is that the ABC's styling is just that much more refined, thought out, and complete that it gets the nod.

3. Smith-Corona Super 5. I can't stand these machines with white keytops, but I love 'em with green or any other color. I prefer the earlier ones, like the original Silent as introduced at the end of 1949. I don't like the later pastel colors. Having said all that, you can mark me down as actually liking the styling of these machines. Compared to many other offerings, its elegance lies in the degree of understatement.

4. The late Underwood portables. See here. You can't get much more overstated than some of these, stylistically (especially some in the round-top variant) but all of them are somewhere from cool to fantastic, style wise. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of these machines and their intrinsically weak shift feel. Definitely obvious why Underwood had lost the lead in sales years back and no amount of fabulous style could get around that. That said, I think they're very highly collectible and I look for them.

5. Consul 221. See here. This may seem an odd pick, but frankly this machine looks like it works and like it feels. Although ZB clearly didn't understand anything about colors that would work in Western countries' households before the end of the 60's, it got everything right with the 221. In either the two-tone white/gray or the gray/blue (see both at the link) the machine is attractive and modern-looking. (Modern in a late 60's sense, that is.) The combination of lines, the spaced letters spelling "Consul" across the front, the block keytops, and the cleanliness of the carriage details and controls (very cleaned up from previous models) gives a wholly satisfying look and a look that says that the machine is ready to work. Work they do- they're not Super 5's, but they're solid, tight, more precise than any other Consul machine, and as ruggedly attractive as earlier models were awkward. This might well be an award for "best style recovery."

I could go on and on, and could easily go to standards (Is there a better looking standard typewriter than the Victor No. 3?) but we did say five form/function comparisons. What would be interesting would be to try this the other way - are ugly typewriters always below average machines? Maybe that's another blog another day.

Assorted form vs. function typewriter analogies

2010-07-21T15:27:00.000-07:00

My last blog post got me to thinking about the topic of form versus function in more detail, so i thought I'd share some of my thoughts on that with you. By all means, respond in the comment box with your thoughts on this matter!

Sometimes I think that people believe that Will, my Dad, and I have a huge warehouse somewhere in Nevada filled with "Super 5" variants, which we are leaking into the market at inflated values, and this is why we talk them up so much. Not so. (All I'm admitting to here is that the warehouse is not FILLED with them.)

The reason we are so fond of them is that we have all USED them extensively, LONG before word processors existed, and are familiar and comfortable with them. Now, do I think that from an aesthetics standpoint that they are the best too? Absolutely not. In fact, I think that as portables go, they are actually less than average looking. Really, I do. But, if I want to or need to type something out, my Tower President is the machine I would go for every single time.

To make an analogy: I own a lot of tools. My wife says too many. (We differ on that. She asks how many screwdrivers can I use at one time. I ask how many pairs of shoes she can wear at one time. Standoff.) One of my UGLIEST tools is a Snap-On 18 inch long half inch drive breaker bar. I got that tool from a Snap-On tool salesman after I told him that I hated Snap-On tools. He gave the thing to me to convince me, I guess, that it was superior to all my Craftsman tools. I hated that thing from the beginning. I tried everything I could to break it. All of the guys knew that when it was time to try to break something really big or really stuck loose, that I would get that thing out in hopes of breaking it.

It never broke. I still think its ugly, I don't like the rounded style handles, but now, when I need a breaker bar that I can trust, I get that one. It works. It is not pretty. But for getting a task done, it will absolutely do the job.

I do not hate the S/C Super5's at all, but I think many, many machines look better. My Royal Quiet DeLuxe looks MUCH cooler. But the S/C's are analagous to that Snap-On breaker bar. The job will get done, efficiently, reliably, year after year. Do I leave my Tower out on display? NOPE! Odd, that I don't display my most used, trusted machine? Maybe so!!

It should also be noted here that often times, Will and I look at machines from a mechanical standpoint, and maybe people think we are completely devoid of any kind of artistic or aesthetic appreciation. Not so, but for example, given Will's engineering background, well, what would you expect!! Same for me, I tend to be mechanical first.

We've both got some machines that are visually striking, even beautiful, that are absoultely positively TERRIBLE at the job of TYPING. But, we can truly appreciate both their external beauty as well as their questionable engineering. So don't think that we necessarily believe that function is all there is to collecting. Looks play a big part too for us, even if we don't tend to mention it.

Look at it this way. We cook a lot around here. If we need to do some serious chopping and cutting, out come the "good" knives from the drawer, while the other ones in the pretty block on the counter stay put. What kind of comparisons can you make like this? Let me know!!

The Ideal A in detail

2010-07-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

In 1900, the firm of Seidel & Naumann introduced a machine that it labeled as the IDEAL, and which was designed by American engineer E. E. Barney. Barney would later become something of the "front strike visible" guru at Union Typewriter, working for a number of that operation's subsidiary companies. For a review of the Ideal branded typewriters over the years, look at the website of the European Typewriter Project and navigate to the Ideal page under "Germany."

The photos here are of our family's Ideal A, serial number 13023 which was built sometime between the first two examples seen on the ETP site and which are owned by Tilman Elster. That means a 1904-1908 time frame, so this machine is both from the front edge of the mass-production "visible writing" generation and over 100 years old. If we consult Dirk Schumann's "tw-db.com" site we get a date for this A2 variant machine of ours at 1903 or maybe 1904.

The Ideal A is one of the most unusual typewriters ever manufactured due to its inclusion of what I refer to as composite shift. Typewriters normally use motion of the carriage to shift cases and figures, or else they use motion of the type basket / segment for this purpose. In the case of the Ideal A, both the segment and the carriage move simultaneously when the shift keys are depressed; the segment moves up, and the carriage down, against a very strong pressure. The silver tab on the front left top is the shift lock- you pull it up to lock the shift with shift key depressed. Another unusual feature is that the carriage return lever is mounted to the right of the keyboard, on the frame of the machine instead of on the carriage. This is accomplished by a shaft that runs parallel to the frame on the right side, along to the rear of the machine and to the front of which is connected the lever. As typing progresses, the lever moves from a position in which the long part of its shaft is roughly just outboard of vertical to a position above the keyboard with the long part of the lever pointing roughly at the ten o'clock position. Operation of the lever first causes, by a roller contact, the movement of a bail on the carriage forward (toward the typist, but invisible underneath) that causes the spacing action to take place through a linkage from the bail to the right side of the carriage to the ratchet. When all travel of the bail, and thus line spacing is complete, the roller will move to the end of travel on its small mounting and the linkage will contact a tang that allows it to move the carriage out to the full return position with full lever travel. The lever can be used to continue line spacing with the carriage fully returned, but with this arrangement can't just return without line spacing.

There is a touch regulator of sorts on the machine - a metal strip is held against one of the intermediate levers in the escapement trip mechanism which can be tensioned heavier or lighter by use of a thumbscrew.

Unusual too are the type bars, which are forked at the connection end; the split rides along a crescent-shaped guide as the type bar moves to the print point which does in fact have a print alignment fork that shows very heavy wear. No doubt this style of mounting and type bar may have been superior to individual mounts with no alignment guiding or fork as in the original Monarch Visible and the L.C. Smith & Bros. machines, but it's fairly primitive looking to us. Note that this machine doesn't have a segment like modern machines, but rather individual mounts for the type bars; often we use the term 'segment' now for convenience when originally the term was 'basket' shift for machines that moved the 'type basket' (colloq).

The machine types decently well if not solidly. The type bars have a lot of slop and lost motion in the direction of travel when not near the print point, due to the simple four dowel and intermediate link setup for the key lever and type bar mechanism - but impact to the print point is solid enough. The machine almost asks you to follow the keytops all the way down which is not correct technique for modern typewriters. (Note: Yes, we know - this isn't a modern typewriter!)

Overall, the Ideal A is one of the most impressive looking typewriters you're ever likely to encounter. The open sides with the IDEAL name cast in are especially noteworthy as is the style of the case, if you're lucky enough to have it (and we do which explains partly why this one's in such good shape.) Operationally the machine isn't up to modern standards as we know them but then again it was invented before those modern standards of operation were set in stone and adhered to by any company that wanted to compete. Viewed in proper context, the Ideal A was clearly a very high quality machine capable of heavy use. It's now apparent to us, having very early and very late Ideal standard machines, that quality at Seidel & Naumann was top priority and the fully operable examples we have of A from 1903/4 and D from 1946 prove that clearly.

The End of Remington

2010-07-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

At the recent collectors' convention I had the chance to mention, fairly in passing, my long-ago reporting on the very end of the Remington concern of long fame and found that a number of my colleagues weren't totally familiar with the admittedly obscure case. Since the end of companies is historically as important as the beginning, I'll give a brief discussion and then some links.

In 1979, Sperry-Rand Corporation spun off the business machines / typewriters / office portion of its business to a newly formed Remington-Rand, Inc. At about the time that happened the company had developed a single-element or "golfball" style machine along the lines of the well-established IBM Selectric; the Remington machine was known as the SR-101.

Now, the subsidiary of Remington in Holland was still around and was known as Remington Rand Holland BV. The initial arrangement was that the US firm would receive machines made by the Dutch subsidiary for sale here. In 1981, both firms declared bankruptcy; however, in June 1981 the subsidiary entered new ownership which then both began to develop a sales network of its own and cut off Remington Rand from receiving the machines that it had proprietary rights to. Further litigation and the horrible quality of the SR-101 doomed both companies.. but not before Remington in the US managed to get some SR-101 machines built in Italy under license. You'll also find, by the way, manual portables made by IMC but carrying the name REMINGTON distributed all over South America. Through the mid-80's Morse Distributing was bringing manual Remington standard machines into the US, according to NOMDA records and there are also records for Remington-Rand daisy wheel electric machines. It isn't clear at this juncture just which machines were licensed by which firm although it's a safe bet that any sold in the US were related to the US firm. One wonders if the IMC-derived manual portables in South America were creatures of the US, or of the Dutch, concern.

All of that stuff (those really late machines) however is minimal in impact and unimportant historically; Remington had really ceased to be any kind of a motivating factor many, many years before (perhaps even many decades before, really) and the Sperry Corporation spinoff that created the two firms carrying the Remington-Rand name in 1979 was really the end. To parallel Beeching's style in matters of this sort, at that time death had occurred and everything after was just the occasional twitch as far as the Remington name was concerned.

If you'd like some minute details you can look at this link and then you can look at this link and you'll see just what the situation for Remington Rand was at the time of the spinoff and SR-101 debacle.

Alpha and Omega, sort of

2010-07-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

At the recent gathering that Richard Polt held at and around his home, I was treated to the sight of a Barr typewriter. The Barr, I thought... One of the biggest research articles I ever wrangled together (with the help of innumerable friends in the hobby who can always be counted on) was on the Barr; the history, the variants, the options, the colors. The whole nine yards, as always on one of those big projects, but on this one it was really big and the original article that first appeared around November 2004 ran eight pages.

I'd just gotten an early Barr (serial 2521, in red) a month before or so and was really intrigued by the machine and its design. Moreover, the machine's apparent superiorities in terms of quality vs. cost of manufacture made it seem as if it should have gotten a better shake. So the whole huge article gets done, and later there's more information and before you know it there are more Barr machines pictured on the net on that article than pictured total before, everywhere. But I only still had one!

Yes, there are colors and options and model variations and so on but I'd never pursued another one. However, at the meeting I was reminded that I had always .. "always" .. thought that I'd like to get a machine as late in the overall production (from Weedsport, to be sure) as my red one was early.

So you know that when I saw a Macy's Portable No. 1 show up "Buy it Now" on e-Bay and I was the sixth person to view the page, I naturally hit the BUY button. The price was fair... probably even good. Especially if you consider I wanted one very late; this one is serial number 39840 which is about as late as my red one is early.

We'll be featuring more on this machine from a technical standpoint -- that is, design, manufacture, and operation -- in the very near future. You can consider this to be "Barr 201" if you consider 101 to be the original article. So keep checking back.

Royal Quiet De Luxe ramblings

2010-07-18T19:56:00.000-07:00

One of the topics in the Portable Typewriter Forum that has always interested me the most is the discussion/debate about what kinds of typewriters people can get who really want to use them. Usability, robustness, ergonomics, aesthetics, all these come into play when selecting a typewriter to use frequently.

One of my favorites has long been the Royal Quiet DeLuxe you see here. This is the two tone version with the glass key tops. Designed by Henry Dreyfuss, this machine has never failed to get noticed when out on my desk.

I think it is a known fact that Will and I are two of the loudest proponents of getting a Smith Corona "Super 5" variant for heavy usage, but this machine is almost completely different from those, in looks, feel, size, everything. The glass keys and the two tone paint make this variant seem much more elegant, even refined, as compared to the bigger, heavier "Super 5's". It's action is completely different, too. Not in a bad way, but different. Both of us can flat out BLAZE on this machine if we want to. There is no doubt in my mind that these machines, in whatever variant, are great to use frequently.

Perusing E-Bay, I have noticed the very high prices that some of these command. The later ones without glass key tops go for less, but even those can approach 100 dollars! What is driving this pricing, I wonder? Style? Royal's reputation, lasting even to today? I don't know. They're distinctive, to be sure, and very functional. And I'm sure that I have seen them recommended on the PTF as regular users, at least I THINK I remember that...

This machine was purchased years ago from a professional typewriter repairman who has since gone out of business. Therefore, this machine works perfectly. I've put a lot of miles on it, and it still works every bit as well as it did when I got it. Looks just as good too. There are always several on E-Bay, so if you're willing to throw the bucks it will likely need to get one, I'd recommend one from a usability standpoint. And it doesn't hurt at all that they look good too.

Talk about coincidence....

2010-07-18T18:02:00.000-07:00

After testing the link to the original DTW site content (on Alan Seaver's mirror right now) to see that it worked, I happened to notice that the very first ever entry on that site was made July 19, 2006. Of course, today is July 18, 2010 and it's a total coincidence that it's at the "four years since" mark that we launch this blog. This blog is really a creature of our re-enlivened passion for typewriters (AND the hobby, AND the people involved) and the timing of its creation was natural, not deliberate.

Still, it's kind of weird.

Everest K3; an introduction

2010-07-18T17:31:00.001-07:00

In June, Richard Polt held what has come to be known as an epic collectors' convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. Among many other things that happened there was the very kind offering by Alan Seaver, who I had long wanted and waited to meet, of his Everest K3 typewriter. I in fact settled the deal for a twenty, being very appreciative of his offer and hoping to at least partially compensate the fuel cost that a five liter Mustang might generate moving such a machine over about a fifth of the continent. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Some back story is needed; years ago, while commenting generally on the rather poor and rather large Everest K2 portables, I was met with a message that Alan had a K3. I hadn't heard of that model before, and when he told me that it was a rather flat machine and unlike the K2 or in fact any other Everest, I was intrigued. Years passed without any chance of seeing another one until Alan decided to generously allow me to have his.

The Everest K3 (launch into review here) is a compact if not flat machine which surprisingly incorporates segment shift. The example seen here is serial number 1101320, which according to the British OMEF Typewriter Age Guide means that the machine was made in 1962- the last of three years in which the K3 was made. Everest had at that time been bought out by Olivetti and production was running down; the standards and the larger desk-model K2 portable ended at this same time. The K3 is a fairly well made machine, with metal body and interesting plastic (lucite?) paper support. The segment shift action is positive in feel and in point of fact the machine is superior to a few contemporary flat machines, as for example the flat Royals from Holland, in touch. Clearly, if an Italian-made small portable were to compete with the Olivetti Lettera 22, it would have to be solid and segment shifted. The machine does occupy about the same footprint as the desk model K2, incidentally.

Having said all that, the machine is not in overall fit, finish and quality excellent but rather "acceptable." That may sound like a disappointment, but it's a lot better in its class than the K2 which is universally disliked for its dead feel. Seeing further that the K3 is the final new overall design from Everest, I'm inclined more to view the K3 as a collectible machine and not as a workhorse.

Back in action with new content!

2010-07-18T16:24:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have been awaiting (or, perhaps, dreading) our return to "new content" action on the internet, the time has arrived! Dave and I have decided that the blog format - easily constructed and easily read - is probably the most popular format right now for such direct-to-web content as I've provided in the past; this new blog is the result.

Expect all of our new repair work and historical investigations to appear here (unless they appear in ETCetera.) We'll be making a number of posts here soon with some unusual typewriters.. and we have a large backlog of machines that members of my Portable Typewriter Forum are sure to enjoy. Stay tuned!