I’ve had some recent luck with typewriters. My new Hammond Multiplex is my prized possession. I had wanted one of those for quite some time. Sometimes, however, one stumbles on a typewriter that was never on the radar. I picked up this Urania Model 4 (or 5?) today. It was manufactured in 1924 or 1925….
Author: McFeats
Professor, writer, hiker.
“It’s Alive!”: A Salvaged 1931 Royal P
As I mentioned some days ago, I picked up this 1931 Royal P in Texas. The exterior is in good shape, but its internals have given me a heap of problems. The escapement wheel was jammed and the escapement assemblage in general needed some patient adjustments. I finally got it working tonight, albeit the…
Today’s Headlines: “My Cleaned Up Hammond Multiplex: English, German, Greek, and Bohemian typefaces”; “My New 1924 Dutch Urania Typewriter?”
The mechanics of the Hammond Multiplex are fascinating. It came with four exchangeable typefaces, which can be switched out with ease. One can see why they stuck around for a while as Underwood, Remington, LC Smith, and Royal took over the world in the 1920s. I’ve cleaned it up a bit, and I re-stained the…
Thoughts on the New Semester
Correction: “Energized,” not “enervated.”
Olympia Typewriters and Typefaces.
Olympia typewriters, which are more numerous in the United States than other German machines (due to their West German origin), offer a range of typefaces (i.e. fonts). I’ve had good fortune in finding machines in excellent shape. I lugged another SM5 back from Texas. The SM series is portable in terms of size, but carrying…
Hammond Multiplex Typewriter Adventure at Gary’s Saloon.
We drove down to Bandera, Texas to meet Gary Taylor about his Hammond Multiplex, his last typewriter from his father’s (George Taylor) typewriter business (repair and sales). Gary runs the Western Trail Antiques. I ran into him the other day at the antique mall. We started talking typewriters (no fish biting at the mall). He…
My First Hammond Typewriter.
I’m meeting a guy about a Hammond tomorrow. It would my biggest score yet, and my biggest purchase. It looks to be in great condition, although the cover is missing. It does have several papers with it. My fingers are crossed.
A 1931 Royal P Typewriter.
I picked up this 1931 portable Royal today. The platen is in fine shape. The paint is excellent. The rollers are in pretty good shape. Most of the mechanics are clean, but the escapement wheel won’t budge. I managed to move it with a screwdriver, so I think it’s simply a matter of cleaning it….
How to remove the body of an Olivetti Valentine.
During the course of our travels, a screw came loose in my girlfriend’s Valentine. The screw held the right side of the “fender” on. Opening up a Valentine takes some doing, in that the fender is in the way of the body clearing. Once the fender is removed, the front keys must be collectively lowered…
Taking stock of my typewriter spoils.
It’s been an eventful trip–mountains, rivers, wildlife, and typewriters. The Olivetti Studio 44 and the Royal Quiet Deluxe were waiting for me when I arrived in Texas (birthday presents from the best girlfriend one could have), and I picked up the Olympia SM5, Olivetti Lettera 32, and Triumph Tippa during my travels–the first two in…
The Green Man Blues (driving through Roswell)
(An aside: We also passed a store called Yolanda’s Typing Service. I wasn’t able to take a photo. File this under X.)
The Untimely Typewriter:Daily Writings Against the Tides of Distraction 