thetypewriterman wrote:

Re: Hermes Regent.  That's very interesting.  ....

AH - I was wondering what the difference was between this Regent, which I had never seen before) and my Ambassadors - basically none.  Though the cover is clearly more rounded (better looking, IMO) and some controls have moved.

So this is the 'flagship' line from Hermes still, and of identical (very high) quality?

ztyper wrote:

I I really can't afford anything anymore. I refuse to get an SG-1 online because  I fear its massive weight and largeness will cause damage to itself in transport. I don't trust sellers to remove the carriage from it (even if it is easy) because the last time I asked a seller to ship a typewriter carefully, it came here without a box...

I've had good luck this way. Second SG-1 made it here perfectly even with carriage attached because the seller had so carefully made an exact fitting inner packing that it could not shift around at all. He even detached the paper rest and sent it separately! But seller has to be both willing and competent, which is a high standard. This machine is now indisputably the finest own, and if I had to dispose of all but one I know which one I would keep.

As for Remington Noiseless 10 - I am humbled. I found not a user's manual but a repair manual, and I feel about the way I did when I took the cover off a Selectric - purely mechanical does not necessarily mean substantially simpler than assembler language programming! It is a fool's dream to think I could get this thing working and in adjustment. Blank keys might be useful though: my touch-typing stops before the top row of keys and I always have to look. If this thing worked it would be motivation to finally fix this, as it again fulfilled its original function as teaching machine.

Spazmelda wrote:

The main difference seems to be in the shape of the ribbon cover.  The weird shape of the Ambassador seems to be because the two knobs that poke through the cover in the Regent, are hidden under the cover in the Ambassador.

 ​The first two generations of the Ambassador had the two controls protruding through the ribbon cover, and I don't think it was until the third or forth generation that it disappeared inside the machine. So I would guess the manufacture date of this 'Regent' to be around 1960. Hermes produced a few different standard models during this time period including the Ambassador, Ambassador Electric, and the Model 8. Incidentally, the Ambassador was called an Ambassador here in Canada too. 

Repartee wrote:

[Second SG-1 made it here perfectly...  This machine is now indisputably the finest own, and if I had to dispose of all but one I know which one I would keep.

 ​Hear, hear! My sentiments exactly.

Is it truly noiseless?