I just got this Royal 10 with 18 inch platen yesterd. It needs new feet, new rollers,and new knobs. Apart from that just a lot of cleaning. The date of manufacture is 1930 and it is segment shift. So far I have done nothing with it. That will have to wait a few more months.





(Edit: Fixed photo links - Uwe) 

Last edited by Uwe (27-10-2016 12:06:21)

NDW76 wrote:

I just got this Royal 10

Nice machine!  I think it will clean up really nicely when you get around to it.  It looks to be in good shape from the photos.

When I replaced the feet on mine, these were what I used and the hole fit perfectly.  

https://www.amazon.ca/Reliable-Hardware-RH-1606-8-1-50-Inch-Diameter/dp/B00JJ191Z6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1477590694&sr=8-2&keywords=rubber+feet

They're a little larger than the OEM ones, but I personally like the look and my typewriter refuses to budge when placed on my desk.  With a carriage that long the extra contact area probably won't be a bad idea.
 

It's been a while since I've posted some of my recent finds. I'll start with this 1952 Underwood that I got for free (with metal typewriter cart) in Allentown, PA. It only took maybe an hour of cleaning, oiling and a spit-shine to get it working well, and now my son has his own typewriter that he uses constantly instead of bugging his old man for one of mine! He loves it, and I love that he loves it!

Then I got this teeny Corona 3 at a thrift store in Amish country. I talked them down to $25. Apparently it had been working when they'd gotten it in a day or two earlier, but by the time I'd gotten there, "every kid who'd come into the store" had been mashing it, the drawstring had been snapped, and the central hinge had been bent pretty severely. Once I'd convinced them that I'd give it a loving home, and could save it from little fingers, they were happy to negotiate the price. There's no case, it is bent and dirty, and the platen seems as hard as chalk, but I think I can whip it back into shape. (Fun fact: Just today my wife and I watched the movie "Iron Jawed Angels" (2004) about the suffragist movement around WWI, and suffragist leader Alice Paul--played by Hilary Swank--has a Corona 3 on her office desk.)


Finally, last week, I went out to the mountains of central Pennsylvania north of Harrisburg to rescue this Smith Premier No. 4 (1900), with bent-up metal case, which the owner was going to dump at the scrap yard. Here's a pic "fresh off the farm," as they say. It's missing the "6" key and the bell, but otherwise seems complete. It is rusty as heck and its 84 keys and mechanisms will take forever to clean, but I'm utterly fascinated by it. The metal drawband is bent up, but still works along with the mainspring, which I'll take as a minor victory. It still has the original (ridiculously wide) ribbon, but it disintegrates on touch. Fun stuff! 


 

Fleetwing wrote:

I really want one from that vintage, with basket shift and the larger line spacing lever.

 
If you want an earlier Underwood with segment shift and a large line space lever, the 150 makes a great alternative.

Went to my local antiques mall on the weekend with a couple of friends, and I got lucky when I spied this little Olympia SF sitting in one of the stalls, covered in dust and grime.  $30 later and it was mine!  I've been on the lookout for an ultraportable Olympia, so this made my day.  No case/lid/shell unfortunately, but after some cleaning of the internals it types like a champ!  The best way to describe it would be to say that it feels like a small typewriter that is made of big typewriter parts.

The outside is a beige type colour, except it has a bunch of yellow staining on various spots (not easily photographed) so I still need to clean the outside a bit.  Other than that, the plastic on most of the keys have tiny, hairline fractures in them as well as some staining.  But I'm still quite pleased.

Based on the rear tag, this machine's original home was South Africa, so the keyboard has a slightly different set of symbols than I'm accustomed to - anyone know what the key marked "'n" or "0/0" would be be used for?