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31-1-2015 04:29:51  #1


Olympia Filia - original carriage lock and uppercase adjustment

Hi guys,
I guess you might like this:
I got a 1935 Olympia Filia A the other day, SN 15757, overall in pretty good condition, with nothing but a layer of very fine yet loose dust everywehere. Dusting it, and to make sure, sending some spirit down the entire mechanics and lubing the carriage rails was all it needed.
However, there was no advancement, neither by the space bar nor the keys, while the carriage itself moved allright. I figured out that the mechanism was working properly, only that there was not enough action to trigger it. The solution to this was ever so easy: I simply had to losen the screws that fix the rear carriage rail to the body, move the rail a fraction of a millimetre towards the body of the machine and rescrew. Works ecxellently now. A wonderful machine, despite, or rather because of, it's basicness.

Now, what I want to show you is that orange painted hook you see in the image:

There are two of them, one on either side of the carriage, and they can be turned upwards, screwed tight and then stop the carriage from moving.
Am I right in assuming that these are not a basic alternative to a regular carriage lock mechanism, but rather the pre-sale securing thingies, which on later machines mostly were done in plastic, and thrown away once removed? It seems to me that if they were intended to stay on the machine, they would not have been painted orange. Anyway, I am glad that they have lasted :D
Oh, while I am at it: The uppercase letters hit the paper a little bit too high, half a mm or so. Any of you an idea how to adjust this on that machine?
A nice weekend to everybody,
best, Claudia


 

 

31-1-2015 15:16:40  #2


Re: Olympia Filia - original carriage lock and uppercase adjustment

I've never seen those carriage hooks before, they're very interesting; I'll have to check my Progress to see if the screws that hold the hooks on your Filia are still on my machine. It's possible too that the screw has another function and needs to be replaced when the hook is removed. Another reason to check my machine.


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

01-2-2015 05:05:26  #3


Re: Olympia Filia - original carriage lock and uppercase adjustment

God, that's beautiful.

 

01-2-2015 06:24:19  #4


Re: Olympia Filia - original carriage lock and uppercase adjustment

I knew you'd like that! I'll take better photos one of these days. And I will have a closer look at my two Progresses, too. I think that apart from the look there are not many similarities with the Filia, which is reduced and simple to the max. I checked some images on the internet, there do not seem to be any holes in that area on a Progress. I don't think that these screws serve any other purpose than holding the hooks. They are very short, and badly painted in orange as they are, they do not fit in the look of the machine at all. The holes where they are screwed in are in flat circles a little bit elevated from the body. The hooks fit onto the bottom part of the carriage release mechanism (big flat lever on the right hand side of the carriage on image 2 / steel part next to the screw above the hook on image 1). With the carriage in a working position, they do not fit. I figured out that they will only be able to do their job when the carriage release lever is activated, and the whole carriage pushed towards the front of the machine, it is held by four screws on the back carriage rail (tube, rather). So they only fit when the machine is put in a non-operational state, which I guess the buyer of the machine would not do. That's why I think this is a pre-sale securing device only used on transport between factory and dealer. So amazing that they have survied on that machine )

     Thread Starter
 

01-2-2015 12:45:12  #5


Re: Olympia Filia - original carriage lock and uppercase adjustment

I agree with your assesment that the 'hooks' are a part of the original shipping materials, and you're right that it's very unusual to see them still attached to the machine. Perhaps the original owner travelled a lot and saw them a being useful beyond the machine's initial transportation to the store he purchased it from.

Olympia produced four different portables during its early years: The Filia was the most basic model, followed in terms of their features by the Simplex, Progress, and Elite. They are quite decent typewriters, which is why so many still exist in Germany, but they're far less common in Canada, which is why I only have a Simplex at the moment. 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

01-2-2015 16:39:02  #6


Re: Olympia Filia - original carriage lock and uppercase adjustment

Yes, in terms of Olympias, Germany is paradise. At present, besides the Filia, I have a Splendid 33, an SF de Luxe, a salmon SM7, an SM8 with QWERTY keyboard and script typeface (from Smyrna Beach, Florida), two SM2s, one of them battered and broken, an SG3 with Imperial typeface, two 1940s Progresses with different bodies, the older one of them with the embossed line "Importé d'Allemagne" on the paper rest, an SM4 Monica, a well-working SM9 that looks like a mess, crusted with dirt and substantial areas of the paint worn off due to heavy usage. And a Unis tbm deluxe, while I am still waiting to get the Olympia traveller. Finally, I am desperate for a Plana (I had an Optima Plana in the range, but it's sold). Well. Not that many blanks left ...
 

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01-2-2015 18:06:46  #7


Re: Olympia Filia - original carriage lock and uppercase adjustment

I would happily trade you my Olympia Plana for any machine with a Fraktur typeface. It's the one thing that I truly miss having in my collection, and aside from having a few practical uses for one, I have been trying to teach myself to write in both Fraktur and Sütterlinschrift, and I think such a machine would make it easier.
My 1950 Plana:


Could you post a photo of your SM4 Monica? I've never heard of one and would like to see what it looks like. I have a SM5 Monica and would like to compare the differences between the two.
My 1962 Monica:


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

02-2-2015 08:47:48  #8


Re: Olympia Filia - original carriage lock and uppercase adjustment

I'll keep my eyes open for a fraktur typewriter. Even here, there do not seem to be many around anymore. There are typesleeves with fraktur letters for the mignon, though. And they're always dead expensive.

As for the Monica, I got it mixed up. It is certainly a SM5, too, it looks very much the same like yours. Beige with a light greenish touch.

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02-2-2015 10:46:19  #9


Re: Olympia Filia - original carriage lock and uppercase adjustment

I'd really appreciate that, many thanks! 

I actually just saw a Mignon 'trommel' with Fraktureschrift listed yesterday, but for me that would just be a novelty; I would never sit down and type anything of length on a Mignon. 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

04-2-2015 07:39:47  #10


Re: Olympia Filia - original carriage lock and uppercase adjustment

Sure. I already thought that might probably not suit your needs. I guess most of the fraktur typewriters from the 1930s do not exist anymore or might even be handled within the field of 3rd Reich devotionalia. Something "normal" people do not get involved in over here. It seems German administration got fully equipped in the mid-1930s but later abandoned fraktur totally for any official writing. Before the thirties there weren't that many around, because broken type on monospace didn't work out well. There's an interesting article on German Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiqua-Fraktur-Streit, and I couldn't really find something on the matter in English. I also found that, after WW2, some individuals had custom made fraktur typewriters and that an association of German fraktur afficionados had a contingent of fraktur machines produced for nostalgic reasons. Most of the machines might have been standards, not portables, although I have seen mentions of SG5s. There is a forum on Fraktur type, and they are discussing Schreibmaschinen every now and then. Hope this helps.

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