Circa 1927 Remington Standard

There is a working office typewriter attached to this key. Porcelain?

I believe there is a full set under the old key covers but most are flat tops. Imagine if it had fallen into the wrong hands...
 

mre12ax7 wrote:

I am unable to see your picture but based off the description it is a Remington 12.
The keys on those are celluloid.

Based on my coy description you are correct but it is actually a #30 - a #12 with a ten key decimal tabulator. You could argue that a decimal tabulator is not "standard" perhaps, but the related #20 is definitely not standard unless we take the word as synonymous with "office" for it has an usual palm tabulator and front mounted decimal tabs:

http://www.officemuseum.com/IMagesWWW/Remington_20_billing_typewriter_OM.JPG

There is a confusing error in the typewriter serial number database on the Remington page, which has the following:

Standard Manuals (Frontstroke)Model Standard No. 10,11,12,20,30,31,92        

No. 10: Visible writing model; predecessor of Models 11 and 12. Discontinued in 1923.
No. 11: Predecessor of Model 20; equipped with 10-key decimal tabulator. Discontinued in 1926.
No. 12: Standard correspondence model.
No. 20: 10-key decimal tabulator model.
No. 30: Same as Model 20, but with palm tabulator as well as 10-key decimal tabulator.

Apparently the description of the #20 and #30 are reversed - under 1922 it says instead that the 30 is the 12 with a decimal tabulator and the 20 is a special - my camera shy acquisition is marked 30 and consistent with the second description. As for the backspace key it is convex, shiny and hard looking, and looks just like the hot or cold plaques on faucet handles of that period. It was also completely unworn, though dirty, whereas the remaining flat keys look more like slightly worn celluloid. I don't want to scratch it up but I did gingerly press a metal point into it and it seemed to yield though. Maybe it too is celluloid but there is something different about it. As far as I can tell from photos of similar machines the backspace key is usually flat like the rest of them.

Odd you cannot see my photo: I double checked by logging out of Google and refreshing Typewriter Talk and the link still worked for me. Maybe you live in a part of the net which they don't share photos with.

Repartee wrote:

mre12ax7 wrote:

I am unable to see your picture but based off the description it is a Remington 12.
The keys on those are celluloid.
 

Well I'll be damned! I thought I had done what I said I had done but maybe I had not done that thing because I just tried logging out of Google again and this time the link broke.  I am under a photo linking curse. Let's try again...

1926 Remington #30 Standard Typewriter

There is a little more to the typewriter but that about sums it up.  Ironically the back spacer doesn't. It moves the carriage back a bit but it does not latch. I'm sure I will be able to fix that though - I've already fixed a few minor problems and with all the space and exposed mechanism it's pretty easy to figure out what's going on.

Ooh a 30!
Does yours have the palm tabulator?
I have a Remington 21 Vertical Adder that does.
The backspace key is bulged up because it is made of celluloid. It does things like that.

A Remington 21 Vertical Adder? ... it seems to be essentially the same as the 20.

Except for the fact that it is also an adding machine! Woooooo! That's cooler than a TI graphing calculator. 

By they way after mouthing off with my unsolicited comments on touch typing on a Smith Premier 2 I did come across the following, which has fingerings...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Smith-Premier-Models-No-2-3-4-5-6-Typewriter-Instruction-Manual-Reproduction-/111793563587?

I imagine you already have one of these.

 

The seller helpfully shows the serial number, too. 1937.