A couple of days ago I acquired this wide-carriage 3rd generation Hermes 3000, probably manufactured in November or December of 1970 according to the Typewriter Database. Not sure if this is made in France or not, as the sticker at the back only has the Hermes logo and the text "A Paillard product" on it. I've understood that these have a bad rep, but I quite like the way it both types and looks.



The only real problems it seemed to have was that the right side carriage button is broken and sticking out (can be pushed back in, but it doesn't move the carriage), and the fact that the carrying case is missing. It did come with an official Hermes branded dust cover though, seemingly made for this wide-carriage version.



While it was typing very nicely the moment I first tested it, I noticed it was a bit dirty both outside and inside, so I took off the bottom in order to blow out the dust and did some minor cleaning with mineral spirits and cotton swabs.

Everything seemed to be fine when I put it back together, but something I did seems to have introduced a new problem, which I also have at times with my recently acquired Erika Daro 41:
When I type, the ribbon doesn't go back down to it's slot properly, but gets stuck instead, and I have to straighten it out and put in back in manually. This is especially bad using the lower red part of the ribbon, as it lifts the whole ribbon out of the thin "slot" (excuse my lack of proper nomenclature). I'm not sure what is causing this problem with the ribbon (or perhaps the type bar guide?) or what did I do to make it a problem all of a sudden. Othen than removing the metallic Pelikan branded ribbon spools and doing some light cleaning around the area, I did remove and clean the clear plastic card guide, as well but I'm not sure how that could affect it.



I have a feeling this is a total newbie problem, but any help would be appreciated, so I can actually get to do some work with this wonderful machine.