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18-10-2020 07:08:16  #1


typeface alignment.

Hi all,
 I suspect that normally such a subject as alignment may be suited for maintenance. However, I would like your opinion rather than technical knowledge.
 The machines I refer to are dated between 1950 and 1974, and all are Olivetti. I'm not suggesting a fault with Olivetti, as I have older machines by different manufacturers causing me the same issue.
 I started to notice that some letters were not properly vertically aligned. Invariably, this also meant a certain degree of lateral misalignment. So I have been carefully altering the angle of the slugs with acceptable results.
 On occasions however, the Upper case letter is horizontally aligned, but the lower case (on the same slug of course), is not.
 It must be mentioned, that my Hermes Ambassador standard does not display this alignment issue.
 So the question is, should we accept a degree of inaccuracy with portables?


'Paraiso' Gerry Mulligan with Jane Duboc 1993
 

19-10-2020 10:19:38  #2


Re: typeface alignment.

Alignment issues can occur with standards just as easily as portables. I would argue that misaligned type might be more often found in portables than standards because they were more often used by amateur typists (poor technique/abuse) and didn't receive the same level of maintenance.

Unless there's a mechanical reason for adjusting a typebar, an inability to repose correctly for example, I never align the type in my machines. I actually embrace the uniqueness of slightly skewed letters and view them as a form of personalization. Typewriters are (were) mass-produced tools that produce near flawless type and the "inaccuracies" they developed over their individual histories are reflective of the inaccuracies of those who used them.


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

04-11-2020 10:07:01  #3


Re: typeface alignment.

Thank you Uwe,
 it has taken some time for me to absorb and adjust to your advice. In the mean time, and considering your advice, I realise that being new to typewriters, and coming from the exacting disciplines of photography and airbrush art, I had not realised that from early till late years, type misalignment was a notorious part of typewriting. My earliest machine is a 1930 Remington Portable 3. I had readily accepted that it may not be perfect due to its antiquity, without realising that this was an issue right up to the final production days of the typewriter.
 You know, once one begins to demand perfection, the scale is almost infinite. I have learned to accept imperfect type within a certain parameter, thanks to your thought provocation.
 I have not been keen on the Japanese machines, but from my experience, the type was very well aligned indeed. That is food for thought for me: As individuals, what is it that we search for within a vast array of typewriters?
 Only we as individuals can answer that, however this enthusiast has learned to be more tolerant of the machines as they developed throughout history.


'Paraiso' Gerry Mulligan with Jane Duboc 1993
     Thread Starter
 

04-11-2020 13:02:36  #4


Re: typeface alignment.

I've been a photographer for 30ish years and I have the same feeling with photography and motion picture gear as I do with finding the "right" typewriter. I feel like I have preferences for potential usage. I want a very small, lightweight, durable portable for carrying in a bicycle saddlebag and typing out on the road. It might be a Skyriter, it might be an Olympia SF Deluxe. I want a good, but heavy portable, and in that I have a SC Silent as well as an Olympia SM9 Deluxe wide. I have others, but they are perhaps not what I want in a larger portable. Maybe the Remington Rand Noiseless Model 7 because it types gorgeously. I want a full size desktop, and I have a Royal KMG which needs repair but when it works, it types like a gentle breeze. Incredible machine.
What I'm saying is that just like the many cameras I've used, I've gone through trials, bought and sold, until I found the right feel, right weight, right sound, right speed, for each use. It all comes down to the right tool for the job. If the job requires my type to be perfectly aligned, like when I have to fill out forms for the Veteran's Administration, then I go to my Olympia SM9, but when I want to write my stream of consciousness or a letter to a friend, I reach for the Noiseless, or the SC Silent. If I'm out and about, I like to have my SF Deluxe with me.
Phil Forrest

 

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