1 of 1- fingertapper
- Novice Typer
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- From: Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Registered: 01-4-2016
- Posts: 35
Keys "rusty" under the glass (celluloid)?
A recent acquisition has some of its keys having a light brown rust color tinge under the glass. I've searched this forum and the 'net and have found that with some (considerable) effort, one can remove the metal rings around the keys and replace the letters that are under the glass (celluloid in this case); the letters being just paper images.
Just curious how the rust formed?
Only some of the keys are affected. Did someone leave this out in the rain??? Hard to believe someone would do that. Maybe a coffee or water spill? It happens with computer keyboards so I guess it could happen with typewriters.
Or is it just the result of aging?
Should one go to the trouble of fixing it? It's not a rare typer; a Royal QDL. Someone commented that it should be left as is--one of the signs of a vintage typewriter. I felt better after reading that; might leave it alone.
- Uwe
- Moderator
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- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,408
Re: Keys "rusty" under the glass (celluloid)?
I'd leave it alone too, unless of course it was really bad, and even then I'd reproduce the original key legends with a scanner so that they look 100 percent original. As for how the rust got there, in my area most typewriters end up being stored in damp basements, which attacks metal over time and starts the rusting process. However, any number of other causes are possible. I recently picked up a standard that someone had clearly tried to clean with soapy water before hand, and that water got under the key legend protector - you could see it squishing around under the celluloid - and took a very long time to dry out on its own.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
