1 of 1- robmck
- Speed Champion
Offline - From: Seattle, WA
- Registered: 31-1-2022
- Posts: 373
Remington Portable 2 apothecary platen
My Remington Portable 2 is an apothecary typewriter. Apart from the interesting alternate symbols, I notice that the platen has three hooks it which come out when you press a button on the platen shaft. Anyone know what these were for, specifically? Did pharmacy receipts have 3 holes in them to align quickly with the platen?
Guess this also puts the breaks on my thoughts on resurfacing the platen…
One thing that I find interesting is that, to me, the hooks look like they go the wrong way to pull something through the rollers. (or maybe when using these you roll it in backwards from the front of the platen?
Thanks!
- skywatcher
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- From: The Prairies of Alberta
- Registered: 14-3-2013
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Re: Remington Portable 2 apothecary platen
Hi Rob
During a Type-Pals zoom meeting a few weeks ago, Theodor Munk was telling us that these hooks were incorporated into the platen of an apothecary typewriter so a pill bottle label could be attached to the platen, and as you correctly smized wound backwards into the typewriter. The Rx information could be typed onto the label and the label attached to the pill bottle. If you've ever seen vintage pill bottle lables, the bottom of the label usually appears to have been torn along a perforated line. This line would have been where the attaching strip for the special platen had been removed after the label was typed but before the label was attached to the bottle. Hope this makes sense,
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)
- robmck
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- From: Seattle, WA
- Registered: 31-1-2022
- Posts: 373
Re: Remington Portable 2 apothecary platen
Thanks, Sky! That's exactly what I was looking for. Nice coincidence that this came up only a few weeks ago.
Hmm... I wonder if I can find any old pill bottles (or photos of them), or better still - unused blanks...
Rob
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