1 - Repartee
- Key Master
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- From: Brooklyn
- Registered: 12-10-2015
- Posts: 683
The oddest beast?
This machine is languishing on eBay right now...
Royal Oddball Specialty Typewriter
Somebody with more experience can comment on how truly odd it is, but in a year of faithfully browsing every eBay typewriter listing this is a first for me: a manual machine with carbon ribbon capability! The side spool design is so similar to IBM's that you feel there may have been some patent infringement.
The price seems a little high since despite its rarity it is not that physically appealing - dirty, mildewed and showing signs of heavy use - and if the seller were to offer to bring it free to my door I am not sure I would accept it because of space limitations. It's something for an office machinery museum... if there is one.
"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton".
- TypewriterKing
- Inactive Account
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- From: DeepInTheHeartO', Texas
- Registered: 17-2-2016
- Posts: 1,011
Re: The oddest beast?
Not knowing the typeface style, I couldn't tell you just how odd it is. I've seen pictures (of ones that looked in better shape), and they all looked mounted this way. I've even seen Royal electric typewriters set up this way, as well as Remingtons and upright electric Smith-Corona 400s and 410s. I've also seen Adlers and Olympias set up this way as well.
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- Uwe
- Moderator
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- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,410
Re: The oddest beast?
I wouldn't call it an oddity or a rarity, just a model that isn't as commonly found because not as many of them were produced to begin with. As was pointed out, there were other makes/models that featured carbon ribbon systems; however, they were more often fitted to electric models because their consistent type action was a better fit for carbon in producing higher quality type. Even the successor to the Royal HH, the Royal FP, had a carbon system available as an option, and given that I've seen more FPs with this feature it makes me question if it had became more popular over time.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Gabby Johnson
- Platen Punisher
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- Registered: 21-2-2015
- Posts: 77
Re: The oddest beast?
Somebody got their money's worth out of this one. Did you see the wear on the platen:
I've rarely seen that much wear, even on much older machines.
Also, I can't see how you would make the switch between ribbon types.
- TypewriterKing
- Inactive Account
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- From: DeepInTheHeartO', Texas
- Registered: 17-2-2016
- Posts: 1,011
Re: The oddest beast?
Yes, there's quite considerable wear. There is also a storage issue--as is evidenced by the rust. None of this means that it can't be brought back to life--cleaning, oiling, adjusting, sanding off the rust, sanding or recovering the platen, replacing the palm-control on the tab (there are plenty of junkers for that--I have a few myself), and that typewriter could be brought back to life.
Interesting curiosities: 1. The paper guide scale is reminiscent of the earlier KMM-series Royals; 2. The card guides are permanently affixed instead of movable. It's possible that the scale underneath the card guides was one put on there aftermarket by a technician renovating the machine for a customer or for resale. Typewriter repairmen have routinely done things like this--I've retrofitted parts into lots of typewriters over the years.
Hard to tell what the typeface is. It looks faintly like the regular stuff Royal normally uses. My obvious conclusion is that this machine was a custom-order. Why else would the card guides be permanently affixed instead of movable?
Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
- TypewriterKing
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- From: DeepInTheHeartO', Texas
- Registered: 17-2-2016
- Posts: 1,011
Re: The oddest beast?
Oh--I almost forgot--the ribbon changeover. You have to unload the fabric ribbon to use the carbon ribbon, and vice versa. Most dual-ribbon typewriters are designed this way. There were a few others--electric typewriters--that all you had to do was to use s switch between the carbon and fabric. I remember the Big 400s and the 410s Smith-Corona used to make had that feature--and it was push-button! Another, I am thinking that Adler-Royal typewriters had. These machines had dual vibrators--one for fabric ribbons and the other for carbon ribbons. Too bad the IBMs weren't so equipped. They could make a proportional spacing Executive, a single-element Selectric, combine the two into a Composer, but they couldn't make a dual-vibrator typewriter where all you had to do is flip a switch or push a button and all you were ready to type with whatever ribbon you wanted. Smith-Corona portables years later had a system where you could easily replace the ribbons, whether carbon or fabric, just one change of a cartridge. I've got several of these, but the cartridges are scarce as hen's teeth, and I've even tried to reload a carbon cartridge. Those critters require about nineteen fingers to do the job!! 
Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
- beak
- Key Master
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- From: Qld Australia
- Registered: 24-3-2013
- Posts: 912
Re: The oddest beast?
The feature film The Enemy Below shows a very similar machine with spools in the same space - though used for punched tape as, supposedly, a code machine. About 49 minutes in. Great film, and worth the watch even without this interest, IMO.
Sincerely,
beak.
- beak
- Key Master
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- From: Qld Australia
- Registered: 24-3-2013
- Posts: 912
Re: The oddest beast?
here is the still
Sincerely,
beak.
- Rushwarp
- Novice Typer
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- Registered: 06-10-2016
- Posts: 41
Re: The oddest beast?
Not quite on topic but related: In the old Remington Standard 6 and 7 from the beginning of the 20th century, you actually tack the ribbon to the (1 ¼ inch wooden spool). So, you can use a ¾ inch ribbon and add a ½ inch ribbon of any color, then shift back and forth at will with a lever for either color (there is no vibrator). Remington even make this a selling feature in the 1916's...
- M. Höhne
- Key Master
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- From: Maine
- Registered: 14-3-2013
- Posts: 637
Re: The oddest beast?
beak wrote:
here is the still
Interesting catch, beak, but I think it's just printing on a strip of paper, like a stock ticker. There're no holes punched in the output and I doubt even Robert Mitchum could decode a proper code in real time in his hands like that. OTOH, using a strip of paper would reduce the need to keep feeding papers or operating the carriage return constantly and it might have other advantages I'm not aware of.
I have several dual-ribbon machines and I think I could make them print on strips pretty easily, if I had the strips.
FUN!
