1 - Seijun
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Offline - Registered: 30-7-2017
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Smith-Corona Sterling 4A bell not ringing
I picked up a Sterling 4A today. Everything seems to work except the bell. Could someone provide pictures of the mechanism on the right margin stop that rings the bell? Mine has a silver hook-shaped piece hanging off the margin stop. It lightly brushes up and over a black lever that rings the bell, but it brushes over it so lightly that nothing happens. If I flick the black lever manually, it rings just fine.
- SoucekFan
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Re: Smith-Corona Sterling 4A bell not ringing
This is from the 1945 Ames Manual. Maybe it will help:
- SoucekFan
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Re: Smith-Corona Sterling 4A bell not ringing
A lot of times bell trip issues can be resolved with cleaning and/or a drop of oil, providing it is not missing a spring, or some other issue.
- Seijun
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Re: Smith-Corona Sterling 4A bell not ringing
What exactly is the "trip arm"? Is it just the hook shaped part of the "bell ring lever"?
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Thread Starter- skywatcher
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Re: Smith-Corona Sterling 4A bell not ringing
Hi Seijun
The trip arm is the horizontal part of the bell hammer lever. This part is contacted by the bell ring lever as per the illustration. The bell ring lever is hinged and the angle of the ramp (hook part) is adjustable through bending. As you're typing, the ramp on the bell ring lever pushes the trip arm down and releases it once it's passed over the trip arm. During carriage return, the bell ring lever hinges up as it passes back over the trip arm. Hope this helps without confusing the matter,
Sky
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
- Seijun
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Re: Smith-Corona Sterling 4A bell not ringing
That all makes sense. But on mine, the ring lever isn't pushing the arm down. Here is a video I took of the mechanism in action. I will be cleaning everything today so hopefully it is just a matter of dirt and grime.
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Thread Starter- Seijun
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Re: Smith-Corona Sterling 4A bell not ringing
Ran into two more questions with this unit. The spring on the ribbon reverse key has come loose at one end. However, I don't know where to reattach the spring.
Also, I found these three little metal "hooks" in the typewriter case. No idea what they are!
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Thread Starter- skywatcher
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Re: Smith-Corona Sterling 4A bell not ringing
Hi Seijun
Take your pointing stick, or what ever you used in your video, press the trip arm down and pull the stick sideways off the trip arm. If the bell doesn't ring, the hammer pivot point is dirty, the hammer arm is bent or the bell is missing. Clean things up and get the bell to ring before you start making any adjustments.
Once you can get the bell to ring using your pointer stick, figure out how far down you have to push the trip arm, then adjust the bell ring lever to move the trip arm down to the same level. It looks like the bell ring lever is adjusted by placing a flat blade screw driver into the slot and carefully rotating the blade counter-clockwise until the desired height as attained. Hope this points you in the right direction,
Sky
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
- SoucekFan
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- Registered: 27-12-2015
- Posts: 478
Re: Smith-Corona Sterling 4A bell not ringing
Seijun wrote:
Also, I found these three little metal "hooks" in the typewriter case. No idea what they are!
Those are your tab stops. They fit on the tabulator rack--notched bar at the back of the machine. You use those to manually set the stop points for your tabulator.
- Seijun
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- Registered: 30-7-2017
- Posts: 26
Re: Smith-Corona Sterling 4A bell not ringing
Hi Seijun
Take your pointing stick, or what ever you used in your video, press the trip arm down and pull the stick sideways off the trip arm. If the bell doesn't ring, the hammer pivot point is dirty, the hammer arm is bent or the bell is missing. Clean things up and get the bell to ring before you start making any adjustments.
Once you can get the bell to ring using your pointer stick, figure out how far down you have to push the trip arm, then adjust the bell ring lever to move the trip arm down to the same level. It looks like the bell ring lever is adjusted by placing a flat blade screw driver into the slot and carefully rotating the blade counter-clockwise until the desired height as attained. Hope this points you in the right direction,
Sky
Thank you, I used a screwdriver to open up the ring lever. Had to open it up a LOT before it finally activated the trip arm. The bell ring is faint, but it does work now.
Any ideas on the loose spring?
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Thread Starter