They say this is a cliche, but why is that? My friend Joe Van Cleave challenges you to prove otherwise in his series of typing videos, This is Joe’s Typing Assignment #5.
Category Archives: Typewriters
Hail Ultraports!
Now this thing has to be the lightest typewriter I’ve ever come across! It was made in England and sold at Eaton’s as a Playfair Feather Touch. The only metal I saw on it were a few screws, and every other part was plastic, including the type slugs, which have 3 characters each. This you could carry on a backpacking trip, if only it was likely to work. It did seem to work from my testing, but the tiny ribbon, about 1/4″ wide, was not inked enough and was all twisted, so that was an assumption. They were asking a ridiculous price for it too, so I let someone else have it.
This great generosity was well rewarded soon after when I picked up two real typewriters in succession, both very similar to each other and for a good price.
First was this one:
Filed under Technology, Thrift shop finds, Typewriters
Understanding Literature Through Typing
I know, this has been done, but so what? I thought I would try it out. What I would really like is to get a grant to go to Venice and do it beside the Grande Canal, watching the occasional dead dog carcass float by. If anyone is interested I will frame my work for a reasonable sum.
Particulars:
typewriter: Royal Caravan (same name and brand as Bob used, but not strictly the same model, since I don’t own one of those)
subject: Like a Rolling Stone, by Bob Dylan NL (Nobel Laureate).
choice of subject matter: LARS has been voted to be the greatest song ever written, in the pop genre (modern era). Its author has been recognized for this too (see above).
the machine:
Filed under ecstatic typing, Music, Typewriters
Canada 150
What a great day, and more to come later! Canoe rides, hot dogs, ice cream, music, old cars, frogs, typewriters… It all began last night at the thrift store with a rare typewriter.
This is not one that gets much publicity in my experience, but wow, what a great machine! This is seriously up there with the modern hall of famers like the SM3, SC SS5, H3K, and what have you. I don’t know what to call it, any suggestions? TGE perhaps?
I even weighed it because it felt so light: 5kg, or exactly 11 lbs. The case is made of super thin cast aluminum or something, and the machine feels featherweight for one of its size. It has carriage shift, but it’s relatively light and speedy. The tab function is amazing, as it moves rather slowly, not with the usual sudden zip-thunk of most machines, even ultra good ones.
The platen is still soft! At first I thought it looked like one of the SM3 cases, but it’s made of lightweight plastic, and has a removable base plate. There were several minor issues; the whole innards were full of tiny white correction specks, which I brushed and vacuumed up for the most part. A soft round pointy paint brush did the trick. Then there was the poor paper feeding. I couldn’t see what was the matter, so I thought I’d fiddle with the platen to see how simple it was to remove and I could look at the pinch rolls. To my delight the platen comes off in 30 seconds flat, simply by unscrewing each end knob. Stuck to the surface of the pinch roll tray was the answer – an old sticky label that fell in there and adhered itself to some rolls. I cleaned it off and reassembled things to find that all works perfectly well again. Maybe some unfortunate PO had so much trouble with this they decided to give this away, but this is pure speculation. There are no repairmen left in this town though, so it’s strictly DIY here.
More pictures below, after this poem and a frog.
Here are a few more pics of the TW. I should mention the keyboard – I think it’s Dutch. But it is QWERTY! How lucky is that?
dead keys too
easy to write fiji
clamshell lid
dutch manual
Once We Were Safe
I’ve been lucky this week, I found this at a thrift store for $5.
Gillette mod. 195 adjustable safety razor c. 1958
I had to celebrate this and the fact that 90 years earlier, today in 1868 Sholes received his typewriter patent! From my Scottish made Lettera 22, typed on Baron Erasable Bond 25% cotton content:
Here’s a close look at the adjuster ring, which has 9 settings. The blade pack was empty, but I appreciate that whoever donated this thought to include it with the razor. My Dad shaved with a similar Gillette razor and Wilkinson stainless razor blades, a major advancement in technology in 1962. Gillette knew how to make them but didn’t, because the blades lasted too long!
adjustment ring no. 1 setting
Filed under Poetry, Technology, Thrift shop finds, Typewriters
Fastenephemera
Bostich B5
Yesterday I printed a 10 page manual for my guitar amp, downloaded of course since I didn’t have the original. I went to staple it together with my trusty VICTOR stapler, but that failed miserably. Later on I was passing the office junk aisle in a thrift shop (where else) and spotted this old stapler for $4. It looked rugged, my foremost criterion for a stapler, so I purchased it in the hope it would blasted through 10 pages like “butta”. It didn’t disappoint! I began to wonder how old it was. I was shocked to discover, through circuitous web searching, that the basic design dates from 1936!
One other reason to like this stapler is how well it matches old Smith Coronas, dull greyish crinkle paint and all.
Smith Corona Silent Super 1955 – script type
Here’s a US Patent drawing for the same stapler from 1939, filed 1937. This fellow Maynard filed a whole lot of patents, many for staplers, but lots of other stuff. It wouldn’t surprise me if he even designed a typewriter…
Here’s a side view of mine. Dig the background – a vintage George Shearing LP cover. The record itself was awful, but we generally like most of Shearing’s stuff.
The other old item I acquired yesterday was a pink depression glass plate, $2. Someone out there who knows more than I do says this is Federal Windsor button & cane design. Beats me, I like the colour!
pink depression glass plate
Last night I served myself a Peek Frean tea biscuit on this plate, with a beer. Both were delicious!
Filed under LP's, Staplers, Technology, Thrift shop finds, Typewriters
Typewritephemera
This morning I came across an interesting ultra-portable typewriter: a Majestic 700. It is in fact a Smith Corona Corsair/Skywriter/etc, with plastic case and lid; probably the lightest of any machine I’ve seen. I had no camera but the picture above is the same model. This one was made in Canada. Curious about the Majestic brand I searched and discovered most were made by Brother. I also found an interesting old advert from Eaton’s of Canada. Eaton’s carried a good variety of everything made on earth at one time. The copy states that the Majestic case was made of “Cycolac”, a new material then. Among the small portables you could buy a Lettera 22, Hermes Rocket, Underwood 18, or Majestic 700, each for $80. The Majestic 400 however, presumably a Brother JP1, was a mere $55. All machines were available in English or French, Pica or Elite; no mention of script!
Filed under Thrift shop finds, Typewriters, Vintage advertising
Thrift Bonanza – c.195x
viewfinder 1955 Asahiflex
Asahiflex IIA – first SLR from Japan
viewfinder 1953 Rolleicord
Rolleicord IV
Smith Corona Silent Super 1955 – script type
the secret 1 key
P.S. here is an OCR attempted scan of the typed page 1 above:
Filed under Cameras, Technology, Thrift shop finds, Typefaces, Typewriters
Best of ’68
In 1968 I was with my Dad wandering around on our summer holiday in Lake Placid. I hated the place. There was nothing to do but swim, walk around town, or take a boat out, all of them by myself. There were no kids my age except twits at figure skating camp, and they were a closed group. Beside, I was a hockey player and thought boys that figure skated were weird. Perhaps my Dad took pity on me, because for no reason we went into the jewellery shop and he bought me a Bulova Accutron. At the time it was the most accurate watch, and the one used on Apollo missions! I still have that watch, and it works fine, 49 years later. However, it takes a mercury battery, and they are obsolete. If you want a battery for an Accutron now you have to pay $12 plus shipping. As wonderful as the watch is, I’m not so keen that I’d spend $15 or more to run a watch for a year, after which it would need another battery, etc, etc. I have too many other watches to wear. Recently I picked up another one for $4 at a thrift shop:
Caravelle 1968 “transistorized”
Yep, the same watch as in the advert up top. Made in 1968 or thereabouts, this was the cheaper baby sister to the Accutron, and it has a Japanese made movement made by Citizen. This is a hybrid between a regular windup watch and an all electric one, having a complete movement minus power spring. Instead of a spring it has a tiny motor. The battery is a standard 1.5 volt affair, still available today. I opened the watch and removed the dead battery which may well have been the original one, since it had the name Caravelle engraved right on it! For $2 I got a pack of 5 alkaline cells, and installed one in the watch. At first it didn’t run, but that was due to the bottom of the cell shorting out against the innards. I put tape on the base of the battery and cut a small slot for the contact, then replaced it in the watch. It started up and has been keeping perfect time ever since. It ticks like a windup watch, too. The question is, which watch proved to be the better one in the long run?
Here’s the Accutron. It said waterproof, and it was – I swam with it for years. I wish I could get a cheap battery for it.
Accutron 214, 1968
no stem, it’s on the back!
Which brings me to another recent piece of 1968 technology that lives on and on and on…
1968 Olympia SF
I took the shell off to clean and adjust this one. The automatic ribbon reversal mechanism on the right side was jamming so the ribbon would get taut at the end and not reverse. After some examination I saw the problem, and fixed it by filing off the point on the plate attached to the ribbon flipper, so it no longer hit the arm it was supposed to push over and thereby flip ribbon direction. Aside from that I blew out the dust and gave it a spray of silicone lube. It’s from Britain, and has many fractions but no exclamation mark. How British – no exclamations… only stiff upper lips, hmmm? I get great results with Olympia portables (the baby ones) by using old mylar ribbons. I drop the spool onto one side and thread the ribbon onto the opposite spool without going through the flipper gates. Half the mylar will fill up one regular empty spool, after which it can be turned over and reused on the bottom section. I’ve tried mylar on some other typewriters and it doesn’t work well on every machine, but works perfectly on these.
mylar ribbon
Filed under Technology, Thrift shop finds, Typewriters, Watches
The Caravan Royal
Hurry your highness, the peasants are revolting!
Early Royal Caravan
Royalty don’t travel in caravans, unless fleeing the country. However, that never stopped the use of the word Royal from being applied to caravans, or any other thing. Here’s yet another example:
Royal Caravan: the typewriter
I picked this up last week. It’s a variant of a fairly common typewriter known as the Adler or Triumph, Tippa or Contessa, and of course Royal Caravan. It types well and is full featured with basket shift and tabs. Royal typewriter had a previous version that was not portable, although they always call these things portables:
Royal Caravan as used by Bob Dylan in the 60’s
The term “Royal Caravan” does not return the typewriter very high on the search results unless you specify the word “typewriter” however. The most interesting Royal Caravans in my mind seem to be travel trailers – here’s the most well known example:
Buckingham Palace Collection
This one was presented to Prince Charles and Princess Ann in 1955 when they were short enough to get through the door. It’s a miniature version.
no peeking at the royal children please!
There are other Royal Caravans, too:
hotel in Indonesia
Here’s a famous user of the latest clone, presuming from the source that it is Kubrick typing on one of the yellow iterations of the Adler/Triumph/Royal/Tippa/Contessa/Caravan.
Kubrick I presume?
You will see many of these on Etsy for way too much, but it seems that yellow and orange are now popular retro-nostalgia colours!
Filed under Thrift shop finds, Typewriters, Uncategorized
nathanguitars 