KatLondon wrote:

(Uwe, sorry, I know this is tumblr but my Wordpress is broken. Working on it.)

Nothing wrong with linking to Tumblr. My previous comment on using Tumblr was just meant as a caution. I use it sometimes as well and have found that the links sometimes change which results in the image no longer appearing here.

Hi igotztowrite - as Uwe says, that'll be the all-important margin release key! When I taught my stepson about that he never had a right margin again. ;)

What I'm liking about that particular key is the markings on it. Some of the Olympias - the 50s ones - use the four dots to signify margin release. Later they used just the double-ended arrow. This uses both, Cute!

(& later still, the Olympias used the double arrow with two lines going through it - as if they'd played join-the-dots...)

I'll be picking it up this afternoon, ie before everyone's up  on the West Coast - & will report back. I THINK I'm in love with it. In looks it reminds me of my Groma Modell T and I'm still besotted with that one.
 

1972 Adler Universal.


Not anybody's idea of a jaw dropping design triumph, but not bad considering the infamy of the decade. Quality however seems unimpaired, even for the Last Days - solid construction, heavy use of aluminum but not plastic. But no sign of country of origin, and is that the death glyph of Litton Industries on the back?

A pleasure to type on - very well balanced and low effort for a manual. The pica typeface is looking particularly over-sized, though, and I would have to call the effect combined with the jumbo rocker switches cartoonish. It looks like it wants to be typing on 11x14" paper as its normal letter stock - which indeed it would handle quite easily. One mechanical defect: pushing the tab bar locks the mainspring and slacks the carriage strap! To release it you have to remove the rear carriage cover and prod the top of the mainspring. So for now, no tabs. I am thinking the dual red levers inside allow removal of the carriage but have not yet made the experiment.

 

Last edited by Uwe (06-4-2016 10:21:38)

Here's one that came completely out of left field. Not, strictly speaking, a typewriter. But...



It's a pre-Perkins brailler. It embosses its letters in braille. And I don't even know how to read braille.

Why did I buy it? Who knows. But it looks awfully interesting, wouldn't you say? This is the curse of the typewriter addict!

Spazmelda wrote:

That's cool.  Have you tried it out?

I certainly have, and it works like a charm, even with 80gsm copy paper.

I believe these machines are now more-or-less obsolete as it's a rather laborious way of writing braille compared to modern day braillers. It writes from right to left - which means you have to do your text backwards so it can be inverted and read on the other side. And for each new line, you have to manually lift the mechanism off the slate, and place it one notch down, then shift the mechanism back to the right to start the new line.

Not much fun for someone trying to get serious work done. But great for a collecting enthusiast!