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I would be interested to know if any of the early electric machines do in fact, operate manually when there is no power supply. I have seen machines using ordinary ribbons which are clearly powered by electricity - but do any also work without it; in the ordinary way?
Thanks.
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My 1960 S-C Electra does not.
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How early are we talking, Beak? I think the Blickensderfer Electric with the 'golf ball' type head debuted in 1902, and don't think that it would type sans power. The earliest electric that I own and have first-hand experience with is a 1940 Electromatic, and it also requires power to work. I'm not aware of any electro-mechanical model that would work without being plugged in, but I like where you're going with this idea; wouldn't it be interesting to have a power-assisted machine that otherwise would work without electricity?
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Yes exactly - the thought occurred, but never seen such a machine. Would be very useful.
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Hi Beak
The closest machine that I've seen to what you are describing would be something like the Canon Typestar-6. From what I can tell, this is a battery powered portable unit with 110 volt AC to 6 volt DC power adapter cord. If the power goes off, unplug the cord and carry on working with the batteries, assuming you remembered to install fresh ones. All the best,
Sky