note the "honey of the ancients" description here with a tangential nod to the commonplace tradition

see: <br /> - https://hypothes.is/a/mCsl9voQEeuP3t8jNOyAvw<br /> - https://hypothes.is/users/chrisaldrich?q=tag%3A%22jonathan+swift%22+tag%3A%22commonplace+books%22

Open questions:

Is education and/or critical thought actually required for a strong democracy?

Lacy, Tim. The Dream of a Democratic Culture: Mortimer J. Adler and the Great Books Idea. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. https://amzn.to/3R2rCox.

Replace the carriage string in your 1950’s Smith-Corona Silent by [[Theodore Munk]]

Removing the Platen on Mid-Century Olivetti Typewriters. by [[Dr. Typewriter - Venneburg Typewriters]]

The MASSIVE Olivetti Linea 98 (1972) by [[Just My Typewriter]]

https://typewriterdatabase.com/1950-remington-allnew.18856.typewriter

via Glen Crookston at https://typewriterdatabase.com/1949-remington-allnew.17706.typewriter

Adding to the Typewriter collection with a bit of first aid<br /> by [[Midcentury Clive]]

Typewriter Backing Sheets by [[Joe Van Cleave]]

Backing sheets for typewriters on Meade standard typing paper.

• Construction paper - Joe's favorite
• 4 mil thick polyethylene film
• Thin typing paper
• 20lb resume paper
• 1/64" synthetic rubber sheet
• 168gsm Evolon (polyester and nylon) paper

How to Apply Waterslide Decals<br /> by [[Motion RC]]

To be more specific on solvents for beginners, potentially try mineral spirits (white spirit in UK), paint thinner, naphtha (lighter fluid), kerosene, varnish remover, PB B'laster, or carburetor or brake cleaner. Be careful as many of these are flammable and some can remove paint or decals; use all of them in a well ventilated area. You may see some recommend household variations of alcohol, but these do contain water and generally aren't very effective solvents for the types of oil/grease/dust you'll probably want to remove; professional typewriter repair shops would not use alcohol on a machine. And for those in the back, no one but a psychopath would use WD-40 on a machine's internals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjumGF9NFE8 is a pretty solid cleaning primer. Searching YouTube will uncover some potential additional advice in addition to what you can find at https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-restoration.html

Good luck. That's a lovely machine!

Smith Corona 5 Series Typewriter Keyboard Adjustment for Lighter Touch Silent Super by [[Phoenix Typewriter]]

Taming The Tinny Typing Sound of a Brother JP-1 Typewriter (Part 3 – the Finale?) by [[Theodore Munk]]

Adjusting Ring & Cylinder on a Brother JP-1 by [[Theodore Munk]]

https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/21zpri/what_you_should_know_before_cleaning_your/

Note the stated 33 year experience as typewriter repairman

Due to the nature of online communication, it may often be the case that typewriter collectors and their colloquial advice may drown out the more experienced and professional typewriter repair people.

Most typewriter shops did not use alcohol as it was ineffective and contained water. Industrial alcohols contained keytones and acetones that will melt plastic and remove paint.

Solvents for typewriters used in repair shops: - White mineral spirits with a squeeze bottle. (Sometimes also called Varsol, Stoddard's Formula, and possibly Inhibisol) - Naphtha (aka lighter fluid; used in Zippo lighters, and frequently seen in Europe). PB B'laster is essentially pressurized naphtha in a can. - Auto carb and brake cleaners, usually pressurized in a can. These usually have acetone in them and will melt plastic. Will remove WD-40 if accidentally used on a typewriter.

For cleaning typeslugs, one can use naphtha or mineral spirits with a brass bristle brush.

For platen cleaning try mineral spirits or fedron.

Only oil the carriage rails for the bearings or trucks.

(This is all colloquial advice, albeit with experience, so check specific facts about what certain products contain.)

should find a better reference

The anniversary gold plated Royal QDLs included gold plated type points, levers, and even set screws on the platens.

Example of a typewriter repairman calling a 1954 model a Royal Dreyfuss Quiet De Luxe.

While they did have some of the general design elements of Henry Dreyfuss' 1948 redesign, would one really still call them a Dreyfuss?

Ames Segment Pick, an Artisan Tool – For Sale $24.95 by Paul of Bremerton Office Machine Company

Is it telling that a typewriter shop around since 1947 only has one segment pick?

Everyone mentioned most of the usual tricks, but one.

To get your sticky typewriter keys working again, while you're flushing out the segment with your solvent of choice (lacquer thinner, paint thinner, mineral spirits, alcohol, etc.), actually move the typebars using the keys or by other means. This will help to get them moving and allow the solvent and subsequently compressed air to help flush the oil, dust, hair, etc. out of your machine. You've already got a mechanical cleaning device of sorts (the typebar itself) inside the segment, so move it while you're flushing it out!

It may take a few repeated treatments/attempts to get it all clear for all the keys, but it's far easier than taking everything apart.

reply to u/nogaesallowed at https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1cp75ln/how_do_you_clean_a_1mm_gap/

People were recommending all sorts of ideas and solvents here, including folded card stock, tooth brushes, floss, toothpicks, interdental brushes, wood cuticle sticks, Swiss Army knife tweezers, microbrushes, and even an ultrasonic cleaner.

https://amzn.to/3ywkwm1

Speedy Inks with typewriter ribbon with DIN spools for European typewriter spools (eg: Adler, Olympia, Adler, Facit, etc.).

12 pack for about $10.

Recommended by Joe Van Cleave

Typewriter Video Series Episode 244: Ribbon Winder by [[Joe Van Cleave]]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266277055176

Typewritermuse's "Speedy Spooler"

How to Change the Platen and Feed Rollers on a Typewriter - The Smith-Corona Skyriter, Part One by [[CreateX3]]

Holacracy Meaning, Origins, How It Works by [[ Marshall Hargrave]] for Investopedia

https://www.bedlamcreations.com/custom-waterslide-decals/custom-restoration-waterslide-decals/

https://growyourown.services/

Found via Clint Lalonde

https://github.com/terrychenzw/obsidian-zettelkasten-navigation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalist_Realism

https://www.typewriter.wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Think twice before exercising your stock options by [[Ben Werdmuller]]

https://www.swintec.com/

Typewriter Video Series - Episode 175: Skipping Skyriter<br /> by [[Joe Van Cleave]]

Watch Phoenix Typewriter in Remington Quiet-Riter Typewriter, Skipping Letters, Adjust Escapement, Type Bar Trip

https://www.vintagetypewritershoppe.com/vintage_typewriters_21.html

https://typewriterreview.com/typewriter-marketplace/

Thank the Ribbons! by [[Daniel Marleau]]

via https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-faq.html

Baco Ribbons by [[Joe Van Cleave]]

Smith Corona Skyriter Shift Repair, Ring & Cylinder Adjustment for Even Quality Print by [[Phoenix Typewriter]]

My first "ultra-portable" (Skyriter 1955) by [[Just My Typewriter]]

55 had an integral cover versus later versions which had bags.

Typewriter Video Series - Episode 143: Rocket Versus Skyriter by [[Joe Van Cleave]]

Typewriter Video Series - Episode 121: SCM Skyriter by [[Joe Van Cleave]]

Joe likes this better than the Hermes Rocket. Solid ultra portable.

Typewriter Video Series Episode 407: Remington Ten Forty by [[Joe Van Cleave]]

Joe Van Cleave has used an index card with his typewriter to hold up the back of his typewriter paper on machines (the Ten Forty, for example) which lack a metal support on the back of the paper table.

The Remington Ten Forty typewriter is a half-space machine. This means that when one presses a key, for example the spacebar, the carriage advances a half space and then advances the other half space when released.

https://clippings.io/

I've used this before, but never added it to the collection.

https://readwise.io/bookcision

Links to: https://hypothes.is/a/9bHHZhhsEe-3LgOZEkaQcg

https://aramzs.xyz/essays/the-internet-is-a-series-of-webs/

an old (6 years) project that readwise maintained, to export kindle highlights: https://github.com/tristanh/bookcision<br /> via PK

see also: https://clippings.io/

Typewriter Video Series - Episode 100: Loosen Up, Brother! by [[Joe Van Cleave]]

Aligning a Montgomery Ward (Brother) Signature 511 by Bill M.

David Lynch In Conversation<br /> by [[QAGOMA]]

When you catch and idea, you see it in your mind's eye, and you feel it, and you can hear it. And then you write that idea down on a piece of paper, and you write it down in such a way that when you read it, the idea comes back in full.<br /> —David Lynch 3:05

Alternate angle at http://images.google.com/hosted/life/81b7b3f24bbe1b3a.html

Nabokov used index cards for his research and writing. In one index card for research on Lolita, he creates a "weight-heigh-age table for girls of school age" to be able to specify Lolita's measurements. He also researched the Colt catalog of 1940 to get gun specifications to make those small points realistic in his writing.

syndication link

Lambert, Jonathan. “Why Writing by Hand Beats Typing for Thinking and Learning.” NPR, May 11, 2024, sec. Your Health. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain.

Pasadena Claims To Be The Home Of The Cheeseburger — But There’s Beef by [[Hadley Meares]]

the Aristocratic Hamburger!

How To Guide- Swapping Type Bars on a Manual Typewriter -Full tips and tricks by [[The HotRod Typewriter Co.]]

Congratulations on that beautiful machine!

Don't listen to the nay-sayers who likely have very different priorities and esthetics. If this is your machine, and you love it, then "own it".

It does look like a standard (as opposed to portable) typewriter. (Standards are often better and more robust typers due to their size and design.) Likely a Model 1 or Model 2, but I don't have specific knowledge beyond a cursory glance at the typewriter database. You can start by looking at examples of machine types and bodies at https://typewriterdatabase.com/smithcorona.86.typewriter-serial-number-database.

From there, the Model 1 says "Electric Serial Numbers Concurrent with Standard", so scroll down the page and see if you can identify a year based on a serial number you should be able to find underneath the hood. You can try https://typewriterdatabase.com/Smith+Corona.Standard.86.bmys, but I don't see any later models there, so perhaps no one has documented one before and you could be the first.

Then start with Richard Polt's site https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/ where you may likely find a manual and if you're lucky a repair manual. Surely there will be a few manuals for similar 50s standard S-C manual typewriters which should at least get you started. His site has a wealth of other information to give you pointers. His book The Typewriter Revolution (2015) has good intro chapters on cleaning, basic repair, and restoration. YouTube may have some useful videos as well. The typewriter database will have some later model S-C electric machines which you might try searching for on YouTube as well and it's highly likely that the design changes weren't so drastic that those may help you significantly.

For basic cleaning, try https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjumGF9NFE8 which has some solid advice. Obviously take care with respect to getting the electrical portion of your machine wet.

I've not done any electric machines before, but if I recall, I seem to have read/heard (maybe from Tom Hanks who I know has a 50s electric Smith-Corona) that the early electrics only went as far as doing power for the keys, so it should be reasonably repairable if it doesn't work out of the box.

I'm sure you'll love it. With any luck, you'll also get some serious enjoyment and sense of accomplishment out of cleaning it up. If nothing else, it'll give you a wealth of experience in making the attempt and you can apply that to other machines if you continue collecting and typing. Some of my first machines weren't immediate "successes" until after I'd been able to tinker with others and was able to come back to them with a more experienced hand.

Have fun with it!

reply to https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1cuzy04/please_can_someone_identify_this/

https://scottscheper.com/vanbillemont/

archive copy: https://web.archive.org/web/20230212131135/https://scottscheper.com/vanbillemont/

http://www.totallyyourtype.com/2014/01/new-handles-on-cheap.html

Blog Gardening Reflection by [[Jamie Thingelstad]]

I've looked and looked for such a template and printer method to no avail myself. Your best bet here is probably either Avery Multi-use labels (maybe 5418 or 5428 depending on your card tabs) which have templates you can print a sheet at a time, or buying a labeler like the Brother P-touch which has a variety of different colored labels available. A third method is to line up multiple tabbed cards in your typewriter and do 3-4 at a time.

Tabbed cards are significantly more expensive than standard index cards, so if you're all in on this, I'd recommend contacting one of the manufacturers directly and buying in bulk to drive the price down. Alibaba can also be your friend here for a bulk order too. Last year I got a bulk order of 15,000 4x6" index cards for well under $0.005 per card, while the current going rate on Amazon or most office supply stores is $0.02 - $0.03/card.

Let me know if you find someone manufacturing inexpensive tabbed dividers in 1/5, 1/6, 1/7, or even 1/8 cut tabs. I'd love to buy a couple thousand of these in bulk as well.

Knowing the extra work involved in this method, I HIGHLY recommend you try it out by hand for a bit to see if it's something you'll do for more than a few months before going all-in. I've read some of Joseph Voros' work, which I understood to be theoretical only. Did he ever fully implement it himself? Before you try, you might want to read up on others' earlier work like that of Paul Otlet, Mortimer J. Adler, et al. Many here will lionize Luhmann's method, but recall that S. D. Goitein managed to take a 1/3 of the notes that Luhmann did while creating a published output a 1/3 larger than Luhmann all while using a method similar to that of Adler and company which is also very close to the method recommended by almost all academics from Jacques Barzun to Umberto Eco.

Definitely think about what you're hoping to accomplish before going straight down the rabbit hole too far.

If you do go all-in, then buying a big storage box upfront can save you a lot of time and expense, try https://boffosocko.com/2022/12/26/the-ultimate-guide-to-zettelkasten-index-card-storage/ for some ideas. My daily driver now is a 60,000+ card index from Steelcase that I picked up on the used market for $125.

LIFE. “The 102 Great Ideas: Scholars Complete a Monumental Catalog.” January 26, 1948.

Eco, Umberto. How to Write a Thesis. Translated by Caterina Mongiat Farina and Geoff Farina. 1977. Reprint, Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, 2015.

Barzun, Jacques, and Henry F. Graff. The Modern Researcher. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004.

Reply to u/SpacePatrician at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/1ctsu78/blank_tabbed_4x6_cards/

10 Things Jerry Seinfeld Can't Live Without by [[GQ]]

It's a great thing to waste time. The secret of life is to waste time in ways that you like. —Jerry Seinfeld 6:18

Even if you're writing comedy, a legal pad, it says, "I'm taking this seriously." —Jerry Seinfeld 2:31

https://www.cygnoir.net/analog/

https://tiny.micro.blog/

Watched this live on YouTube. Not sure if they'll archive it there or not.

https://micro.camp/

Typewriter 101: THE CLEANING GUIDE! by [[Just My Typewriter]]

A solid primer for cleaning typewriters

https://typewriterfeet.com/

You can cross check the data in the typewriter database for most of the big US and European brands to see the slow merging and dying out of the typewriter through the late 60s and early 70s onward. See, for example, Royal: https://typewriterdatabase.com/royal.72.typewriter-serial-number-database which has buyouts and mergers listed at the top. The database also has a huge volume of references for how it was compiled which will give you additional history.

The early 70s saw a lot of plastic entering the space where more durable steel used to be. Most major US firms were shifting to electric after IBM in roughly 1961. Post war manufacture of machines picked up significantly in Italy, Spain, Holland, and even Wales which displaced some of the manufacturing in the US, where solid machines of the prior generation still worked and only needed servicing rather than outright replacement. (Planned obsolescence wasn't as much of a thing during the 30s and 40s, and in fact, [maintenance was heavily highlighted during the war](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocdxgkxKAKo) when most US manufacturers ceased production of most models.) Eventually Japan displaced the business followed by India (which ceased in 2009) and China. Wrexham, Wales ceased manufacture of electronic Brother typewriters in 2012.

Ever decreasing costs of materials and manufacturing, improved manufacturing technology, increased competition in the space, combined with containerized shipping, competition from computers, etc. all contributed to the cheapening of the typewriter and hastened the death of manufacturing (though not the use) of manual typewriters.

Richard Polt's The Typewriter Revolution (2015) has a "microhistory" of typewriters in chapter 2 with references to some addition histories if you're interested.

Your question about Olympia manufacture dates (and more) can be found via: https://typewriterdatabase.com/olympia.61.typewriter-serial-number-database

x over it has a good two part series about the evolution of Olympias at:

https://xoverit.blogspot.com/2015/02/olympia-sm-series-part-1-1948-1964.html

https://xoverit.blogspot.com/2015/04/olympia-sm-series-part-2-1964-1980s.html

Toaster-Typewriter – An investigation of humor in design by [[CreativeApplications.Net]]

A cross between a typewriter and a toaster that writes by toasting bread.

The toaster-typewriter is the work of [Ritika Kedia], and it forms part of her thesis in product design at the Parsons School of Design, New York. It’s written up very much from an artistic rather than a tech perspective, but it’s no less ingenious for that in the way it uses letters formed from hot wire on a clay substrate, mounted on the end of the typewriter arms in front of a toaster.<br /> —This Typewriter Types Toast by Jenny List

Bruder, Jessica. “Click, Clack, Ding! Sigh ...” The New York Times, March 30, 2011, sec. Fashion. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/fashion/31Typewriter.html.

What the @#$% is a Type-IN ?

J.J. Short Associates, Inc for Typewriter Platens, Feed Rollers, Bail Rollers, Finger Rollers, and Power Rollers https://www.jjshort.com/typewriter-platen-repair.php

https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1csni4d/neat_find_on_clients_kmg/

Keyring pliers are used to remove the metal rings off of both circular and tombstone glass typewriter keys so that the legends can be replaced or even covered over with black paper circles for teaching or learning typing. They take some practice and skill to use, but speed up the replacement of legends significantly.

David Lynch Interview supposedly... source? (asking mrtnj at https://discord.com/channels/992400632390615070/992400632776507447)

Interesting with respect to orality almost more than literacy.

—David Lynch

This is from his book: see: https://hypothes.is/a/Swp61GITEe6dmD-RxxFY4w

I was in a vintage shop about 30 minutes from downtown Los Angeles earlier in the week and the proprietor had a mostly functioning 1950 Smith-Corona Sterling for sale for a roughly equivalent US $150. (One key was disconnected, but fixable, and some keys were sticky, the ribbon was disintegrating, it was incredibly dirty, with a case in very poor condition.) The Sterling was similar to the Silent, but without some of the extra bells and whistles. She wouldn't accept an offer of $40 for it, which I thought was a reach for the dreadful condition it was in. Her reasoning was that she was sure that someone (read: a sucker) would pay the $150 for it. At a yard sale it might be worth $5. Cleaned up a bit maybe $30. In online platforms they're going for a bit more, but you're also saving yourself some level of "shoe leather" in the work of searching for the exact model you want.

I've been specifically watching this model and a few related ones for a few months, and machines of indeterminate condition (though in my experience they're usually reasonably functionable or easily fixable), like this go for about $50 on ShopGoodWill.com (as auction items). There are usually about 4-5 per week which come up as this was a popular model in the 50s. You can probably find similar prices on eBay, though sellers there usually have a little more information about the working condition. They're definitely common enough that you could easily wait for the exact color options and typeface (pica or elite) that you're looking for, and could also probably purchase two for the price he's asking (including shipping.) I've been watching for a similar mid-50s Smith-Corona Clipper with similar colors and elite type for a while and just bought one online last week for $35. Patience definitely pays off.

I would only go as high as $150 on that machine if I knew it was well functioning and had a brand new platen in the last several years. You can tell him that most of the expensive machines in the range he's asking for are all fully functioning, have been well maintained and/or recently serviced, and often have new platens, rubber rollers, and feet replaced. He'll know that this isn't the case with his and may come down in price. They're likely pricing it based on other listings they see and not pricing it based on actual sales. If it's their only machine, wait things out until they see that there aren't any takers. If it's a vintage shop, simply move on.

The Smith-Corona Silents from this time period are really spectacular and solid machines, so good luck in your search for the perfect one.

A Useful Productivity Measure? by [[James Shore]]

via 1949 April 06, Naugatuck Daily News, Walter Winchell In New York, Page 4, Column 5, Naugatuck, Connecticut. (NewspaperArchive)

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/09/14/writing-bleed/

https://cambridgetypewriter.blogspot.com/2019/03/some-stories-from-2018.htmlk

Includes some images of interchangeable platens for typewriters including some for index cards, library work, and labels.

Vale Paul Auster (1947-2024) by [[Robert Messenger]]

Some interesting typewriter hunters:<br /> - Joe Van Cleave<br /> - Richard Polt<br /> - Michael Hoehne<br /> - Robert Messenger - Ted Munk

https://3dtypewriterparts.com/

Update on the Urban Legend Institute by [[Richard Polt]]

https://typewriterdatabase.com/sears.615.typewriter-serial-number-database

Polt, Richard. The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist’s Companion for the 21st Century. 1st ed. Woodstock, VT: Countryman Press, 2015.

annotation URL: urn:x-pdf:65fe580cf845ed035c4e57ad02a987cf

alternate annotation URL

Most Smith-Coronas in the 40s and 50s have similar ribbon set ups. Hopefully this photo and description will help:

(Alt Text) Smith-Corona typewriter ribbon thread sample. A view into the type basket with the hood of the typewriter raised showing the ribbon coming out of a spool on the left, through a black ribbon guide (which actuates the autoswitch when the eyelet at the end of a spool gets stuck between it and the spool) next to the spool cup, and then into the two metal guides of the ribbon vibrator on either side of the the typing point. A silver pen's tip is pointing to the ribbon guide next to the spool cup at about the point where an eyelet clipped onto the middle of the end of a length of a ribbon would trip the ribbon auto switch.

If your ribbon auto-switch isn't working one can usually switch the direction manually with the ribbon reverse lever usually found on the front left side of most machines.

To speed up changing the ribbon on many machines, it can often help to switch the color selector to the red setting and then simultaneously press the G and H keys gently so that they're stuck together almost at the typing point which will raise the ribbon vibrator and make accessing the slots for threading the ribbon easier. Once the ribbon is installed, release the G and H typebars and select the correct color setting for the portion of the ribbon you want to use.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/11/europe/eurovision-song-contest-winner-switzerland-nemo-intl/index.html

https://type-in.org/

Want to run a typewriter shop? by [[Richard Polt]]

http://www.cambridgetypewriter.com/

CAMBRIDGE TYPEWRITER<br /> 102 Massachusetts Avenue<br /> Arlington, MA 02474<br /> 781-643-7010

Shop owner Tom Furrier hoping to retire sometime in 2024

The 710 freeway displaced a large number of people between 1965 and 1974 in West Pasadena.