18 Matching Annotations
  1. Last 7 days
  2. Mar 2025
    1. The long, thin spring-loaded metal flap labeled the "paper conductor" on the SM3 and SM4 and labeled the "erasing table" on the SM2 are all the same part. They serve a few functions.

      They can be used for erasing mistakes certainly and help to keep dust and debris from going into the carriage and rollers.

      The "paper conductor" description sounds like a fun translation of something from German into English, but this part also prevents the paper which goes under the paper bail and forces it up and back to the paper table and the paper support. Presumably without it, a slightly curved piece of paper might be misrouted to go right back into the platen a second time as the paper advances.

      This sort of paper conductor/dust shield can also be found on some later 1960s+ Smith-Corona (SCM) machines. For example, see the Galaxie II which calls that part the erasure table.

  3. Dec 2024
  4. Sep 2024
    1. reply to u/NoDoctor4602 at https://old.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1fjrjns/ive_spent_a_few_days_searching_for_any_concrete/

      In the mid to late-1950's and after several typewriter manufacturers made limited runs of gold plated typewriters for special anniversaries or for bonuses to salespeople. They're uncommon, but not rare. I've seen at least 6 or seven pop up on auction sites in the last 6 months. If you really want one, watch the lower end of Facebook Marketplace, ShopGoodwill, Craigslist, et al. where one will assuredly pop up for a much more reasonable price. I'm not sure if it was this one or another I've seen since April, but one of these went up for sale on ShopGoodwill.com recently and sold for about $600. A week later it was listed on eBay for several thousand just like this one. Given the timeframe, I doubt they spent any time cleaning, oiling, or adjusting it in any fashion—it was a pure flip. I've also seen this recently with Royal typewriters with a less common, but highly collectible Vogue typeface: a Royal P sold for about $900 there and was listed on eBay shortly after for over $1,500 with no indication that it was cleaned or adjusted. (If you watch some of the sites carefully, you can pick up a Vogue machine for under $100 easily enough depending on the type and condition.)

      In my mind, as a collector, I'd try to find one in the wild and clean it up or I'd want it in stunning restored condition for over $2k. You might be just as well off picking up a working model for $100-$150 and gold plating the pieces yourself. It would probably be cheaper in the long run and you'd have a better machine in better condition. Some sucker with money to burn will eventually buy a Gold Olympia SM3 for over $2,000.

      Here's a vew posts/videos as examples of gold plated machines:<br /> - A video of another Gold Olympia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnUHgyABjw0<br /> - Royal QDL https://typespec.com/weve-got-gold-in-them-thar-hills/<br /> - https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kasbah-mod-typewriters_n_1453776

      If you're looking for something great that you'll use, I recommend visiting a repair shop that has some stock to try out some machines to see if you'd like their touch/fee/aesthetics first. Visiting a type-in or two might give you some experience with a wide variety of typewriter models as well. Then try to find a rare or exceptional version that's worth putting some money into. Why put so much into an Olympia if it turns out you're an Olivetti, Royal, or Smith-Corona person? https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-repair.html (I desperately love Royals, but Smith-Coronas and Remingtons are much more forgiving of my mediocre typing technique, a fact which pains me dearly and cost a few hundred dollars and some sweat equity in cleaning and tuning machines to discover). Incidentally, I'll mention that for about $2,000 you could easily purchase a wide variety of about two dozen machines (even with shipping) and be able to get something truly exceptional in terms of condition and function.

      Incidentally, the higher prices of $250-600 for repaired/refurbished/restored machines being sold by repair shops are usually what Harry Beercan is using as a pricing guide when he's selling his grandmother's musty, broken, old typewriter online not knowing that several hundred dollars in labor and parts has been calculated into the selling price.

  5. Aug 2024
    1. I came across this note and saved it for you and all other Olympia SMx users; I do not know who the author is: "Can I just say, having been in the typewriter trade since 1975, PLEASE take it from me that the Group 1 (or Group 1001) ribbon intended for Olympia, Adler, Facit and many other makes DOES NOT have eyelets !! The ribbon mechanism is designed to trip and reverse when the ribbon gets taut as one spool becomes full and the other totally empty. Someone may well have fitted an eyeletted ribbon to a Group 1 spool as a bodge to get over a sluggish or badly adjusted ribbon reverse mechanism - to give the reversing fork an extra 'nudge'. The factory did not intend the ribbon to be reversed this way." In my experience, eyelets will often slip through the reversing arms and then hang up on the vibrator. You don't have to buy eyeletless ribbons; you can just cut them off the ends of your current ribbon and reattach to the spools.
  6. Jul 2024
    1. The Minimal Complete Typewriter Collection by [[Joe Van Cleave]]

      Joe Van Cleave's personal six categories in a (his) typewriter collection: - Standard manual - medium-sized portable (largest segment in the collector's space) - lightweight portable or ultra-portable - typebar electric - IBM Selectric - Electronic typewriter (thermal typewriter), portable, quiet, battery operation.

      Joe's minimal collection based on what he's got in his collection currently and the condition that they're in: - Royal KMM (his only standard) - Hermes 3000 (boxy middle era) - Olympia Splendid 33 (he's also got a Royal Mercury & Groma Kalibri) - Olympia Reporter - Selectric I (the only one he's got) cloth, ribbon cartridge system, no lift-off correction - Canon Typestar 220

      Some of Joe's most important criteria in a typewriter: he prefers an elite face, 1 1/2 spacing, and bichrome setting.

      At the time of this recording Joe had 30 typewriters.

  7. Jun 2024
  8. May 2024
  9. Apr 2024
    1. Pearl S. Buck and the 1930s RoyalStandard (with white keys) she used towrite The Good Earth, Jack Kerouac’sroad-weary Underwood Standard S,George Orwell’s Remington No. 2,Patricia Highsmith’s Olympia, Marga-ret Mitchell’s Remington No. 3 (whichher husband bought secondhand andshe relied on to type Gone With theWind and countless pieces of corre-spondence with fans).
  10. Mar 2024
    1. As strange as it sounds today, German klein (“small” or portable) typewriters were among the most sought-after souvenirs for soldiers fighting in World War II. Think of it: Adjusted for inflation, top-of-the-line portable typewriters cost roughly the same as your MacBook Pro today, and their usable lives were measured not in months or years, but decades and generations. Consequently, thousands of Uranias, Gromas, Erikas, Rheinmetalls, Continentals, Olympias, and other high-quality, precision-made German machines were looted from Nazi military and government offices, businesses, and even from civilian homes, whether their owners were dead or alive. “War trophy” is of course a pleasant euphemism: It denotes a reward for heroism, bravery, and sacrifice, while simultaneously acknowledging that even the good guys steal, pillage, and destroy amid the haze of total war.