1 of 1- skywatcher
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Offline - From: The Prairies of Alberta
- Registered: 14-3-2013
- Posts: 712
Chinese & Japanese Platens
Greetings All
A while ago, I picked up one of those Chinese made American Crafts Typecast We-R-Memory Keepers typewriters purely out of interest, just to see what they are like. This one needed some cleaning and a little adjusting, but I got it to the point where it will actually type. With having plastic type slugs, the letters aren't very well aligned and tend to jam up now and then, but what can you expect from something made in China.
On the weekend, I took delivery of an Olympia B12 that was locked up solid with a completely gummed up escapement pinion and a rock hard platen. What surprised me was the two typewriters are virtually identical under the covers except for the main spring location and some other very minor variations. The carriages and platens look as if one could switch them over. Does anyone know if the platen from a Typecast will fit onto the B12? if it does, I could probably find a Typecast being sold real cheap for parts or repair and use the platen for my B12.
Any thoughts or ideas welcome,
Sky
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
- thetypewriterman
- Key Master
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- From: Leiston, England
- Registered: 29-5-2013
- Posts: 892
Re: Chinese & Japanese Platens
Yes, The Olympia B12 is an early Nakajima - a toe in the water for Olympia in the 1970's when production costs were rising in Germany and they wanted to try outsourcing. Later, when Olympia manual typewriter production had ended, they went back to Nakajima for the Olympia Carina - the tooling for which was eventually sold to China and became the 'WeRMemoryKeepers' and other variants. You could probably interchange the platen, but the Chinese one, being intended for use with plastic typeface, would possibly be too soft and give a blurry impression. Earlier Chinese Nakajimas had metal typeface and a normal platen so it might be worth looking for one of those. The Chinese machine is a typewriter-shaped object rather than a real typewriter. Shame. With a bit of attention to detail they could be making a real one instead !
- skywatcher
- Moderator
Offline
- From: The Prairies of Alberta
- Registered: 14-3-2013
- Posts: 712
Re: Chinese & Japanese Platens
Hi Tom The Typewriterman
You are always a wealth of information when it comes to anything typewriter related. As for platen hardness or softness, I can't give any firm figures yet, but have suggested to my wife that a Shore-A Durometer would be a really neat Christmas present for me. Who knows, I may be able to get some concrete figures on platen hardness after Christmas. As for the age of the B12, S/N 6005608, I can't seem to find any specific information on this machine.
All the very best,
Sky
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
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Thread Starter