Hi Kalani,

I have a 1968 Hermes Baby made in Germany...but I think mine might be very similar to your machine.

1.  Firstly, Hermes machines take ribbons with small metal eyelets at both end of the ribbon.  Check your ribbon/spools and verify you have a metal eyelet on each end of your ribbon.  The automatic reversing mechanism will not work without those eyelets.

2.  If you ribbon has the eyelets and still does not reverse, you might need to deep clean all the mechanisms that move and reverse the ribbon.

3.  On my 1968 machine, there is a manual lever to reverse the ribbon.  I have circled its location in red in the photo and you gently move it towards the back of the machine one time and release it and it should spring-return back by itself and the direction of your ribbon movement should have then reversed.  It not...the mechanisms are probably gunked-up and need a cleaning.

Hope these tips are of some use to you.  Let us know what you find.

p.s.  You can operate a Hermes without the ribbon metal eyelets...but then you will just have to keep an eye on when you get close to an empty spool on one side and use the little manual lever to force a reversal.
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Thanks so much for your help. There's no lever on the Hermes that I have. Shucks.
The spools are engaged okay. But, they don't "auto reverse". So, I guess that's next on the list of things to fix.

Huge thanks again.
 

Okay. I found it. It's really deep inside and "dark" so not easily visible.
I pushed it with a small screwdriver and the ribbon direction doesn't reverse.
More "fiddling" with the rubber bumper metal tab thing, still no direction reversal.
Although, when pushing it back and forth, I see linkages moving under each "spindle".
New to this so don't know what things are called.
So, at this point, the auto reverse doesn't work and the rubber baby bumper tab doesn't work as well.
Maybe the only way to reverse the ribbon is to switch the spools as a last resort?

Huge thanks for the help.
jim

Huge thanks for the help.
Machine is clean everywhere.
Mechanisms seem to be in order. Nothing disconnected or bent or missing.
The "hook" shaped thing beneath each spindle moves when the rubber baby bumper tab is pushed all the way, but the  spindle direction isn't activated until the hook is further depressed by hand.




There is a cross link stiff wire that connects both spindles via this end mechanism, shown here with the top of a pin fastened with a ""C" link. If that is pushed either all left or right, then the direction of the spindles do indeed change.
But, I don't see how that motion is effected by the; rubber baby bumper tab, or the "C" hooks below the spindles, or the movements (none) of the ribbon guides.

so, at this point, I'm lost at what to do. The ribbon direction at least can be changed by pushing those end pivot blocks that are connected with a long cross link/wire to each other, from either full left or full right. Beyond that, including the rubber baby bumper tab, there's no other way to reverse direction. Short of just flipping the ribbon spools.

Do you have any ideas on where to look or what next?

Huge thanks again. I'm new to all this so sorry for the lack of terminology on what things are called on a typewriter.
Aloha
jim