Nice, thanks for sharing.

Thanks Pete, good point, I had not thought of a mechanical reason. However, that can't be the case. The alignment scales below the triangular card holders are perfectly symmetrical. Only the card holders have different positions.

It is quite an odd design and I have never seen in other machines. I wonder if the design has something to do with holding the card or with what the typist sees (and what is obstructed by the card holders).

For platen recovery you could consider AKB Longs in the Netherlands. I asume the shipping
costs will be lower to the Netherlands than to the US.

There's one caveat, AKB Longs uses brown rubber. It seems a bit harder than the common black rubber. If my memory serves me well I have read that the brown rubber was used for making stencils back in the days. Still it is a huge improvement over a rock hard platen. It is just not as soft as you might expect. 

Hi Chris,

You could consider to disconnect or remove the typebar. Once you can move the typebar in the segment slot, or take it out, you should be able to connect it to the linkage.  

To disconnect or remove a typebar you need to move the crescent shaped rod that runs through the segment and acts as a pivot for all typebars. The best approach is to use another "crescent rod" from a parts machine as a tool to push it away. The video below shows how it works:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pFMu6dUROGA

In case you don't have the extra rod, you can use tape to keep the typebars—except the one you need to remove— in place. Make sure you secure the typebars thoroughly in place so they can't move at all once you have moved the rod. Of course you don't have to remove the rod completely, just far enough to disconnect the desired typebar. 

I hope this helps. I want to emphasize that I am not a trained typewriter repairman. I have executed the above methods a couple of times, but not on your machine. 

Kind regards,
Lau

Haha, a rocket launcher mounted on a typewriter.