1 of 1- Ampelmann
- Platen Punisher
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- Registered: 20-3-2016
- Posts: 66
What Length Is the Carriage on Your SG?
Given how much good press the Olympia SG series gets around here, I thought I'd ask what lengths the carriages are on your SG(s)?
For me, I've got a 13" carriage on my SG1 and a 17" on my SG3. The 17" barely fits my desk without the carriage traverse knocking against something (centering the margins on the carriage alleviates the issue).
All of the ones I see are in that size range - anyone have experience using one of the massive 35" ones? I've never seen one with that sized carriage - I couldn't fathom the space required for one of those (not to mention the weight of even the carriage by itself...)
Has anyone ever seen a standalone carriage for sale?
- Uwe
- Moderator
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- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
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Re: What Length Is the Carriage on Your SG?
As a caveat, I shy from larger-sized carriages because I don't have a practical use for them, they take up too much room, and I don't like their aesthetics, so my collection doesn't really reflect all of the carriage widths that I've come across. I have only seen a few carriages for sale on their own, but I think they were probably from machines that were being parted. I would really like to find a machine with the 24 cm (9.5 in.) carriage, but they must not have sold in large numbers because I've yet to come across one locally.
I can't comment on the SG3 carriage widths I haven't measured them yet, but for the carriage widths that I have for the SG1s are:
5 x 30 cm (12 in.)
3 x 38 cm (15 in.)
1 x 33 cm (13 in.)
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Ampelmann
- Platen Punisher
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- Posts: 66
Re: What Length Is the Carriage on Your SG?
Yeah, a really large carriage would be prohibitively cumbersome, unless one had a need to do some serious ledger work or something.
I too have never seen a 9" SG in my travels, but I agree it would be nice to have!
I wonder what the business case would be offering so many lengths all within 2 or three inches of each other? I can only surmise that different professions may require certain sized documents? Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be much practical difference, say, between a 12" or 13" length.
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Thread Starter- Uwe
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- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
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Re: What Length Is the Carriage on Your SG?
I agree that an inch difference doesn't seem like anything significant, but we have to remember that standard paper sizes differ between Europe and North America. Also, the length of a platen is rarely a measure of usable length, so although your standard sheet of paper might fit in the carriage you won't necessarily be able to type right to the edge. This is where a slightly larger carriage could come in handy.
To have such a large variety of carriage widths was no doubt a selling feature of the machine, and Olympia would have figured out over the course of the SG1's production history which sizes were popular and which were not worth offering. To prove this you only have to look at the SG1's replacement, the SG3. When the SG3 was introduced there were fewer optional carriage widths available, only four compared to the seven that could be ordered for the SG1.
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The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Javi
- Touch Typist
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- From: Valladolid (Spain)
- Registered: 27-5-2016
- Posts: 182
Re: What Length Is the Carriage on Your SG?
My SG3 is just enormous. 171 columns is what I can recall now, but I haven´t checked the travelling distance (probably measured in kilometres) between both ends of the platen. It´s one of my earliest typewriters, and maybe it still holds the longest carriage length record at home. I should check my other giants (Imperial 58 and Groma S)... And the ridiculously big wedges too.
And I agree. Large carriages are a nightmare to store. Not practical (not even a little bit, at least for me) and one of them can easily predate the space of two portables. But I still love haveing some of these behemots around
TaktaktataktaktakcluccluctaktaktaktaktakDINGtaktaktaktakCREEEEEEEEECtaktaktak...
(Olivetti Linea 98)
- misteraitch
- New Member
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- From: UK
- Registered: 27-10-2016
- Posts: 9
Re: What Length Is the Carriage on Your SG?
My SG3 has the 13" carriage, which is as wide as I'll ever need.
