1 - KatLondon
- Key Master
Offline 
- From: London
- Registered: 11-10-2014
- Posts: 995
Japy Personnelle
A few months ago I saw this little Japy sitting, with no case, in a favourite vintage shop of mine... I toyed with it a little bit, but - no case - but after seeing it there again the following week, I just couldn't get it out my mind. One day I'd had bad news and was home alone and needed distracting, & before I knew it I was on a bus to that shop to go retrieve my Japy... Thought I'd put this album of pictures as I've heard it said that it's hard to find a Japy in the US. This one is a Japy Personnelle, and dates from 1959. (I got lucky - a year earlier it had just been called a P68!) It didn't need much doing to it, just a really thorough clean since it had no case. 
And here is its noble profile: 
And the aerial view: 
The keys are *really* inviting - just the right sort of round and tactile - and when you type they are pleasingly clattery but bright. It's a bit of effort but this is one machine where I've found that proper typing skills - i.e., position of the hands and fingers, and typing in a steady rhythm so the type bars aren't fighting with each other - really makes a big difference. I've used it as a sort of Typing Practice typrewriter for that reason.
The letter on the N key is peeling up a bit at the edges - it's interesting and I quite like it. Some sort of decal or inlay under lacquer?
And here's what those keys can do: 
The Japy Personnelle is one of the so-called Patria, or Euro, typewriters that are all made to the same design, and I love the shape of it. I have a Swissa Piccola that has a very broken ribbon vibrator or something under the carriage - the ribbon just will not move. I am determined to get it going though. I'll do an album of that, in due course; in the meantime, here's the day I got the Japy and it was in bits - I used it as an opportunity use it for comparison with the Swissa - and did fix a few issues with the Swissa, too. Though not the big one. Fortunately the Japy is fine! A VERY pretty machine. (& you get a bonus inch or so of Remington Quiet-Riter!)
Last edited by KatLondon (26-1-2015 15:28:18)
- Uwe
- Moderator
Offline
- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,410
Re: Japy Personnelle
Very nice!
Patria was the original manufacturer of this model, which was designed by Max Bill of Bauhaus fame. Several other manufacturers were licened to manufacturer the Patria under their own brand names, Japy being one of them. In Germany, Voss produced one as well, and much closer to you Kat, Oliver produced them in Croydon. 
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- KatLondon
- Key Master
Offline
- From: London
- Registered: 11-10-2014
- Posts: 995
Re: Japy Personnelle
Hi Uwe, that's right - I didn't know the Bauhaus connection, that's really interesting. I know that if I can fix the problem with the vibrator, the Swissa will be beautiful. It types like a dream, just doesn't make any marks. The other one that was made in the UK was the Byron, which I'd love to have one of, just because of its name - but the only one Ive seen for sale was on eBay and was just not good.
And it also wasn't an amazing colour of absinthe green, like yours! Yours is gorgeous.
Last edited by KatLondon (28-1-2015 06:08:47)
- •
Thread Starter- snoname
- New Member
Offline
- From: Colorado, USA
- Registered: 29-1-2016
- Posts: 16
Re: Japy Personnelle
KatLondon wrote:
I have a Swissa Piccola that has a very broken ribbon vibrator or something under the carriage - the ribbon just will not move. I am determined to get it going though. I'll do an album of that, in due course
I'll try to remember to pull out my Piccola out for you when I get stuff out of storage to hopefully help you get yours working again!
JP Huard
- KatLondon
- Key Master
Offline
- From: London
- Registered: 11-10-2014
- Posts: 995
Re: Japy Personnelle
Hi snoname - that's very kind of you! Actually in the end I had to take it to the repairman - I had done all I could do and had fixed many minor issues - but the vibrator was trashed. He has fixed it but apparently it was the very devil of a job.It works fine now, & once I get it really cleaned up and looking lovely I'll get a picture or two...
- •
Thread Starter- Valiant
- Touch Typist
Offline
- From: Toronto
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 153
Re: Japy Personnelle
Several other manufacturers were licened to manufacturer the Patria under their own brand names, Japy being one of them. In Germany, Voss produced one as well, and much closer to you Kat, Oliver produced them in Croydon.
So when other manufacturers were licensed to manufacture a machine, does that mean they were licensed to assemble and re-brand the machines (with supplied parts), or were they actually manufacturing all those parts themselves, using the dies or designs provided by the parent company?
"Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the typewriter."
- Spazmelda
- Key Master
Offline
- From: Ohio
- Registered: 25-2-2015
- Posts: 830
Re: Japy Personnelle
When I first started collecting, I came across a Japy Script (Beaucort) at our local antique mall. I couldn't get the carriage to move so I passed on it. I came home and did some searching and found out what it was and decided to go back and get it. But. wah wah, it was gone.
- Uwe
- Moderator
Offline
- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,410
Re: Japy Personnelle
So when other manufacturers were licensed to manufacture a machine, does that mean they were licensed to assemble and re-brand the machines (with supplied parts), or were they actually manufacturing all those parts themselves, using the dies or designs provided by the parent company?
Good question, and one that I don't have a definitive answer to. I suspect that it varied depending on the arrangement that was agreed upon, which may have differed from manufacturer to manufacturer. For example, we know that Commodore had an agreement to buy Consul parts and build Commodore-branded Consul machines in Toronto, and yet the company dabbled in designing and manufacturing unique bodywork (cases) for those machines locally. It makes one wonder what other tolerances might have also existed within those licences. Type slugs were a component of typewriters often outsourced by manufacturers, so even if a company was manufacturing machines from parts supplied by the original manufacturer, perhaps they might have customized their version of the machine somewhat by using a different type slug supplier, or using different typefaces from the same supplier.
I suspect thetypewriterman will have a particular insight into what companies such as Oliver did, but given the history of that company I wouldn't be surprised if it was manufacturing its own parts as part of the Patria deal.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- thetypewriterman
- Key Master
Offline
- From: Leiston, England
- Registered: 29-5-2013
- Posts: 919
Re: Japy Personnelle
As far as I know, Oliver made the whole machine. When Oliver went bust, Voss bought the tooling and set it up in their German factory. The story goes that Herr Voss wasn't satisfied with the design and spent too much money improving it to his standards - resulting in his firm going bust too ! The Byron version of this machine was actually made in France by Japy. Byron was originally called Bar-Lock, but changed their name (possibly because it sounded a bit like an english swear word). As with many organisations who re-brand when in trouble, Byron didn't last long. I think that most people here know that the Empire Aristocrat was a British licence-built Hermes Baby. Very early versions have a label which states ' Assembled in England from imported parts' (or similar). Obviously, the operation began by assembling Swiss parts, but within a year or two, the whole machine was being made in England. They kept faithfully to the Swiss specification. Parts are interchangeable between the British and Swiss machines, and they used metric threads and fasteners at a time when the rest of British industry used BA threads for small sizes. There was at least one local variant that didn't have a Swiss equivalent though. In the lead-up to the Second World War, Empire produced a 'Service Model' for the military. It was a throw-back to the original, most basic Baby of 1935. So basic in fact, that it didn't even have a linespace lever. You rolled the paper up manually !
- thetypewriterman
- Key Master
Offline
- From: Leiston, England
- Registered: 29-5-2013
- Posts: 919
Re: Japy Personnelle
Just a final edit - All the 'Patria' family used a DIN ribbon (like Adler and Olympia). However, the Japy version (also sold as Beaucort) used the same ribbon as Hermes. Japy had a close connection with Hermes and made licence-built copies of their standards. Therefore, they adapted the Patria design to take the Hermes-style ribbon. Interesting that they chose to licence the Patria and not the Hermes Baby though ! Hermes finally bought Japy out and it was the Japy factory wher the last (plastic-bodied) Hermes 3000s were made.
