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27-11-2021 09:21:53  #1


In-Coming Imperial Good Companion 5

This lovely machine is on its way to my home from the UK.

This will be my first Imperial.

Should have it in a couple of weeks.  Will post up more photos then.
.

 

27-11-2021 15:55:36  #2


Re: In-Coming Imperial Good Companion 5

I've got a Model 4. It's a decent enough portable, but like other models with that feature a low-slung platen, I have to adjust my seating position to see the type point. When it comes to Imperial I prefer the standard models, particularly because of their quick tear-down design. 

 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

27-11-2021 17:30:58  #3


Re: In-Coming Imperial Good Companion 5

Hi Uwe,

Your Model 4 looks like a beauty.

I have that view-ability issue with a couple of portables.  I rig up a wooden cutting board from the kitchen on some rubber wedge door stops and that seems to work. 

When weather is nice next year, I was thinking of fabricating something more permanent and that can adjust from flat to any angle I would want for typing.

I have been keeping an eye out for a nice Imperial 70 Standard...but the ones I seem to find on-line are pretty beat up and sold with no-returns.  And some hefty shipping charges, to boot.

     Thread Starter
 

28-11-2021 18:51:13  #4


Re: In-Coming Imperial Good Companion 5

Hi Pete

This unit evidently came over from England, the dealer sticker says Phillput, Everything for the Office. Weston S.M. stands for Weston Super Mare which is a tourist town on the banks of the Severn Estuary (aka The Bristol Channel). I have a couple of Good Companions (see picture). The black one came over from England in 2011 when I went there to visit family and the Nº4 came from Nanaimo on Vancouver Island and was originally sold through the Woodward's Department Store. By nature these tend to be clunky typers, but if you pace yourself and meter your key strokes, they're fun to use. All the best,

Sky


We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
 

29-11-2021 12:35:02  #5


Re: In-Coming Imperial Good Companion 5

I see several postings by owners of the Imperial Good Companion 5 in the photo galleries on TWDB...mentioning these machines have their roots in the Torpedo typewriter.

Any truth to this ?

On Wiki, I see this info. bout the Imperial Typewriter Company :
 
"  The company was founded by Hidalgo Moya, an American-Spanish engineer who lived in England. After first building the Moya typewriter, he set up the Imperial Typewriter Company in Leicester in 1911 with local businessmen John Gordon Chattaway, William Arthur Evans[1][/url] and Joseph Wallis Goddard.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Typewriter_Company#cite_note-2][2] It stopped manufacturing typewriters when electric models and then word processors and personal computers became popular, causing typewriter sales to fall. "
 

     Thread Starter
 

29-11-2021 13:36:41  #6


Re: In-Coming Imperial Good Companion 5

Hi Sky,

My Good Companion 5 is indeed travelling from England to our home here in the States.  Should have it in my hands around the middle of December.

Thanks for the info. on the local typewriter shop label on the machine and your time in posting up your photos.

Long term, I am planning to "gift" this one to an elderly gent near me who comes from the UK and has tried out several of my machines and showed interest in picking up a typewriter.

Thought I could do my cleaning and service and learn a little bit about this make & model before I pass it on.

As a back-up, my 1957 Royal QDL might be the machine for him...as he really liked typing on it and one which I have not strongly bonded.

     Thread Starter
 

20-12-2021 12:54:33  #7


Re: In-Coming Imperial Good Companion 5

Bummer...this one joining my collection appears not to be destined.

Seller did a great job getting it over-seas and through Customs in the first week of travel and it even made it to the west Coast. 

But since 12-07-2021 tracking shows it has not moved.  Pitney Bowes had it in Sparks NV on that date for a hand-off to US Postal.

US Postal did not receive it and Pitney Boyes has no idea where it went.

eBay has been great.  They asked for me to give it until 12-27-2021 and if it does not start travelling by then, eBay will immediately give me a full refund.

Seller in the UK has not replied to my emails or that of eBay.

     Thread Starter
 

20-12-2021 16:50:04  #8


Re: In-Coming Imperial Good Companion 5

It's not a typewriter, but I've had a package sitting in customs since early November. It's a very frustrating experience because there doesn't seem to be any accountability for customs officials, and in Canada at least, there isn't even a provision to check on the status of anything in their hands.

I gave up on eBay years ago. Too many machines arrived in pieces because of poor packaging and/or overzealous handling on route. And I was completely ripped off once by a seller who kept stringing me along with excuses until it was past the time limit to open a dispute with eBay. It was a hard learned lesson. You need to keep eBay sellers on a very short leash and don't let emotion (the desire to get that machine you really wanted) cloud your judgement.

Hopefully your Imperial will still turn up. This is after all a super-busy time of the year for mail deliveries.  


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

20-12-2021 19:27:01  #9


Re: In-Coming Imperial Good Companion 5

Hi Uwe,

My eBay seller shipped the next day after I paid and within 8 days, it was not only across The Pond and through US Customs on the East Coast, but then on the west coast in Los Angeles, CA.  Next day it was at Pitney Bowes (i.e. a Postal Annex, Inc. location) in Sparks Nevada.

I only do BIN's on eBay or Make-An-Offer.  I stay out of any real auction bidding there.  Too much shill bidding I saw in the past.

I think the seller did all he could do on his part from the UK.  He did insure the package...so eventually he will be made whole again.

I do have a very slight glimmer of hope still burning for the package to surprise us all and be on my front porch.

Pitney Bowes can only prove they received it at their place in Nevada.  They cannot document any hand-off to US Postal, though. 

So if the box is lost or stolen...it happened while in their custody.

     Thread Starter
 

24-12-2021 18:40:59  #10


Re: In-Coming Imperial Good Companion 5

Saint Nick came early and left a typewriter-sized box on our front porch on Christmas Eve.

Sure enough, this Imperial Good Companion 5 arrived safe and sound.  Works perfectly right out of the box.

Serial number is SN – 5AB 772 making it a 1957 machine (first year for this model) and an early one off the production floor, at that.

More photos when I have it on my bench in the next day or so.

It does have a "very old" smell to the machine and the case interior...which I will go after.
 

     Thread Starter
 

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