1 of 1- Dieter
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Alpina Typewriter only writing in capital letters
I recently found my old Alpina Typewriter again. I tried it and it worked until I used the shift key for the first time. After hiting the shift key for the first time the typewriter would only print capital letters. I now bought a new ink-band and made a small video of what I experience. Any recommendation where I can start to fix this wonderful Alpina is welcome.
- Uwe
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Re: Alpina Typewriter only writing in capital letters
Dieter, something is blocking the machine's shift mechanism from returning to its normal position.
I don't know if your Alpina has a segment (basket) shift (all the type slugs move up when you press on the shift key), or a carriage shift (the carriage moves up when you press the shift key), so you'll have to take a closer look at both. If you have a carriage shift there will be linkages (hinges) mounted on the carriage assembly that will allow it to move up and down. If you have a segment shift, the type basket that holds all of the type slugs will be mounted on springs.
I would start by taking some time to carefully look over the machine, because you might find something obvious that could be blocking the shift mechanism. You can also follow the path of the shift key linkages and see where they end up. And if you still need help after that, let us know.
One other comment concerning your video: The ribbon colour selector on the right side of the machine will type on the upper half of the ribbon when in the black position, the lower half on the ribbon when in the red position, and won't use the ribbon at all when in the white position. The white position is used for typing on stencils or other ink transfer materials.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Dieter
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Re: Alpina Typewriter only writing in capital letters
In this video you can see the carriage moving up and down when I press the shift key. I followed the shift mechanic and couldnt find anything blocking it. the reason must be somewhere else since only the big letters are effectively touching the paper.
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Thread Starter- tatte
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- Registered: 04-7-2013
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Re: Alpina Typewriter only writing in capital letters
The carriage doesn't seem to be moving at all, a carriage is the whole system that moves from right to left when you type.
Neither the carriage (in practical words, paper) or slugs are moving in your video, so even though the mechanism lifts the ribbon, there's no difference in how slugs hit the page. It would seem to me that your machine most likely has a carriage shift and for some reason the carriage isn't rising (by logic, carriage shift rises the carriage and therefore the ribbon has to rise too, only the latter seems to be happening right now). I'd say your carriage is stuck in upper position right now.
Some typewriters have independent shifts on left and right, did you follow the shift mechanism on both sides / does the right shift key go down as well when you press the left one?
Last edited by tatte (26-7-2013 11:28:44)
- Uwe
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Re: Alpina Typewriter only writing in capital letters
Dieter wrote:
In this video you can see the carriage moving up and down when I press the shift key.
Dieter, that isn't the carriage moving up and down, it's only the ribbon vibrator. If it was the carriage you would see the platen knob on the end of the machine moving up at the same time.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- thetypewriterman
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Re: Alpina Typewriter only writing in capital letters
Looks to me like a carriage shifted machine with the carriage jammed. The cardholders (line finders) seem to be moving up and down with the shift key, not just the ribbon vibrator. I can't give any specific advice because I am not familiar with this make/model, but I wonder if something is jammed under the carriage - typewriter eraser maybe ?
- Dieter
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Re: Alpina Typewriter only writing in capital letters
The carriage doesn't seem to be moving at all, a carriage is the whole system that moves from right to left when you type.
Thank you very much. Obviously if I was familiar with typewriters we could have prevented this misunderstanding. - after having clarified that now I found out I can manually move the carriage system back into position. It's a little difficult to see into underlying mechanism that pulls the carriage back into position when the shift key is released. So a general question: Does the carriage move back into position usually by the pure weight of the carriage or are there usually springs involved (couldnt find one so if yes there might be one missing).
Thank you all for your support so far!
Last edited by Dieter (27-7-2013 07:24:29)
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Thread Starter- tatte
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- Registered: 04-7-2013
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Re: Alpina Typewriter only writing in capital letters
I believe it usually relies on carriage's weight, although I wouldn't count on it. Some typewriter designers didn't lack imagination.
The carriage should move fairly easily even if the system was designed to be spiced up with springs, so just a good clean up might do wonders. You need to locate the point that causes the carriage to get jammed, a hinge or misalignment.
- beak
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Re: Alpina Typewriter only writing in capital letters
From your original description of the problem, it seems that the guide posts where the carriage rises in upper case may be gummed up - I would try to identify these and clean them with liberal brushfus of methylated spirits to remove any old, sicky oil. This can't hurt even if it is not the real cause.
Do I understand that the carriage can be pushed back down, but that it sticks up once shifted - this definitely sounds like a cleaning job to me.
As far as I know, gravity alone is required to drop the carriage and return it from the raised positon.
The plastic pieces that you see moving when you press the shift should be moving WITH the entire carrriage, not just by themselves. But hang on - they are moving up, so the carriage must be stuck down, not up - confusing! I second the idea of tracing the shift key mechanism carefully - there may be some fault in the linkage.
AND - can you raise the whole carriage up and down with your hands? Grab the platten knobs on either side and see if it will raise and lower easily, and fall back down by itself.
We will beat this between us!
This is a very nice machine, by the way, and well worth the time and effort to fix!
PS
Where abouts are you?
Last edited by beak (27-7-2013 08:31:55)
Sincerely,
beak.
