[rant] As a side note, I'm wondering if this is an example of how the internet, social media, and self-publishing has contorted our designation of authoritative sources....I don't know who the OP's authority is, nor do I need to; however, I did cringe at the "typewriter god" description and have to wonder if this god is someone who actually worked in the typewriter industry, or is just an enthusiast like most of us here who became an influencer by way of self-promotion.

Dear Uwe: I'm very sorry your professional life has been overrun by self-annointed, internet-driven experts.  Speaking of the negativity made possible by the internet, let us consider, however, your own rant, which makes a startling number of assumptions about me (and my criteria for ascribing expertise) and about the interolcutor that I cited.  May I offer, perhaps, a more positive direction the conversation might have taken?

You: Dragon Typer, could you share more about why the basis on which you attribute expertise to the person who told you about the SG 3?

Me: Sure!  While I don't want to specifically name the person, since we were engaged in a private, face to face conversation that was not meant for broadcast on the internet, I don't mind telling you a few things about them.  They own and operate a brick and mortar typewriter repair in a major US city, where they have been located for the last 40 years.  They are one of the last fully trained typewriter repair people left.  Their business took a real dive when the personal computer appeared, but they managed to hang on and survive until the (internet-driven!) typewriter "revival" in the early 2000s.  Today, they run a brisk sales and repair business, and they are often consulted by other professionally trained repair people for advice on difficult problems.

You: Oh, wow, they certainly do sound like the genuine article, and not one of these internet-driven "influencers" that make me want to throw up in my mouth.

Me: I know,

M. Höhne:

It is a figure who most would immediately recognize in the typewriter world by name. 

In this particular instance, this person and I were both examining an SG 3.  I remarked how odd it was that the keys continued to strike indefinitely after the bell sounded and after the right margin.  I kept setting the right margin further and further to the left, all the way to the middle of an 8.5 x 11 inch page.  Still, the keys kept printing all the way to the end of the paper.  Thus, well past the pattern described by you and your interlocutor in the previously linked thread.

I asked the figure about this, stating that surely there was a mechanical defect with the right margin / line lock.  The figure replied that this was normal for an SG 3.  We then took out an SG 1 for comparison.  With the SG 1, the line lock did engage after x spaces past the right margin.

I am now inclined to think that the figure remembered something about the SG 3 (namely, that tab stops and space bar continues after the right margin, and characters start printing again after x spaces with the space bar), but that they mistakenly generalized this knowledge to the defective specimen immediately before us.

My takeaway: even the typewriter gods err from time to time.  No harm, no foul.



 

Was told by a reputable authority that the Olympia SG-3 does not have a right margin line lock, and that it will simply keep typing past the right margin, even after the bell sounds.  Can any SG-3 owners confirm or disconfirm this?  Was very interested in getting an SG-3 but lack of a hard stop and line lock at the right margin would disqualify this machine for me, since I often get "lost" in my writing and the letters would simply pile up and/or I'd type right off the paper onto the platen, warning bell notwithstanding.

Parting out a 1930s SC Flattop.  Write me directly if interested.

Phil, these are all good thoughts, thank you for taking the time to think through this problem with me.   I will update this thread once I am able to spend more time with the TP1.