Hello and welcome!

So, what's your favourite from all the machines you've used?

I've made a few posts already, but here goes.

I'm T1peM0nkey. My family got our first typewriter in 2002, when my great-grandfather-in-law died and we cleaned out his house. Of the items retrieved from his residence, the one that would make the biggest impact in our lives almost a decade later was a grey Underwood Finger-Flite Champion. As a little kid the machine fascinated me, but in our collective naiveté nobody was allowed to use it because it was 'too fragile; you might break it.' And so it sat for years. 

In that time, I got interested in older things for reasons I don't understand. I think it started with the typewriter and the tin toys we brought back - over those years more antiques arrived either in our house or places I frequented. It didn't help that my dad was part of a group restoring a Lockheed warbird and helping sell a cherry red 60s Ford Mustang. Air and car shows passed, and my interest grew but went nowhere. It was more of a passive interest - "Oh. That's cool," and nothing more.

Then one day a record player came in the mail. Dad broke it out and went to work converting his old LPs to a digital format, a process called 'ripping'. I sat and watched the records spin, listened to the crackles, pops, and the repeating scratches from decades previously, and it clicked in my head that it was really neat. I expressed my desire to get a typewriter for my birthday after we passed an 80s wedge in a Goodwill.

On my birthday 10 months shy of a decade since the Underwood became a display piece, I got the wedge I had seen in Goodwill for my birthday. In the immortal words of my dad that day on Facebook: "One of the things Ian really wanted for his birthday, a typewriter. Whatever ;-)". It was a dark grey Smith-Corona SL-500 H-series wedge - and I loved it. Within the week I went back to the Goodwill and bought the one that had been sitting next to it. Then my brother got one, because monkey see monkey do. And my other brother got one.

I got my first manual machine in 2013; a 1949 Smith-Corona Sterling. I was at a loss to explain it, but with the sole exception of the Underwood we had gotten in 2002 every machine we had found was a Smith-Corona. And from that yard sale in the summer of 2013 a fountain of machines has arisen. When my dad helped me figure out a mechanical problem inside it, it awoke the part of him that had decided to disassemble and reassemble the VCR when he was a kid (when they were reeeeaaaaally expensive).

We soon discovered that typewriters had an amazing variety of colors, shapes, feels, and typefaces. For a long time I had dabbled in writing, and with a typewriter I began to take it more seriously. Now everyone in my house has at least two - including my 7-year old sister. We jumped into the typosphere when we found it, and now have a total of over 120 machines in the house and a hobby-style repair business. I also went into records, which my family enthusiastically followed along with. Aaaand then retro game consoles. I haven't completely sold them on Polaroids, VHSC camcorders, vintage computers, 8-tracks, cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, and laserdiscs; but I guess I'm a trendsetter.

We helped put together the 2014 Cincinnati Spring Type-In and attended the Herman Price gathering at the Chustnut Ridge Typewriter Museum, where I met absolutely wonderful collectors and got the opportunity to type on some wonderful machines. 

I now have a total of 21 machines currently in my possession and climbing; #21 will be sold shortly sporting a special paint job. Remington Glo-Riter, anyone? The collection breaks down thusly:
L.C. Smith: 1
Olivetti-Underwood: 1
Remington: 3
Royal: 6
Smith-Corona: 8
Underwood: 1
Xerox: 1

I'm on the Typewriter Database, the Yahoo Portable and Yahoo Typewriter mailing lists, and the Antique Typewriter Collectors' group on Facebook. I also have a limited presence on Twitter and a blog that's gathering dust.... I should probably brush it off and put a post up soon. In addition to the repaint on the Remington Quiet-Riter, I am performing a full restoration on my once completely inoperable 1933 Royal 10, SX-1569247.

Your fellow typewriter hunter,

-T1peM0nkey

A big welcome to TT, MCC! I was fascinated reading about your introduction to typewriters. Many here are too young to appreciate their role in offices the world over, which makes me feel pretty old some days.

mcc wrote:

I had to hide it in the back of my car so my husband wouldn't discover it.

I know that feeling all too well! I once hid a Royal standard in the trunk of my car during a road trip with my wife. I had bought the machine from the original owner - a woman in her 80s - when I had a moment on my own, and then was terrified the rest of the trip that I'd get caught.

mcc wrote:

I found this site while looking for names of typewriter parts.  I'm not sure which section of the forum my question belongs in -- the question is about what a couple of parts are called.  Which section would that be?

Fortunately there are a number of members here with extensive Selectric knowledge. I have a few myself, and will of course help when I can. I would post your questions - providing their not repair related - in the Electric Typewriters sub-forum.
 

Hello from Wisconsin,
Have been a member for a while but this is my first post. I enjoy the classic machens and keep my eye out for them mostly at thrift and junque shops. Currently, my collection consist of a Royal KMG, Smith Corona Silent, Remington Quiet Riter and Olympia SG3. All are great typers and I have a hard time deciding which one I like best. Got the SW3 complete with manual and cleaning kit for $2.99 at a local Goodwill.It even had documentation from the original owner. I love the old machens and always wonder what story they have to tell. Have enjoyed the forum and thanks for all the great info.
Tom

Hi Uwe, it strikes me now that I posted a couple of posts in extremis, and never wrote anything on this amazingly ongoing thread. (Editing in to say oops, it's long. But I hope it moves along...)

I've only been getting into typewriters in a big way since September, but when I say a big way I mean it! It just hit me all of a sudden - "I need a typewriter" - then I looked on eBay and was quickly thinking, "I need ALL the typewriters!" I bought a 1959 Remington Quiet-Riter directly off a guy, for instant gratification, and then followed that up with a 1949 Herms Baby that needed fixing. I took the Baby apart, cleaned it, fixed its problems, and got it working beautifully - for three pages. Then suddenly the carriage started speeding and jumping ahead. I'm told there are broken teeth; that must have been the very moment it happened. But it was a thrill nonetheless.

So I was hooked. A friend gave me her 1972 Adler Tippa, and I love it but have been realising that it's far form my favourite thing to type on. The keys feel a bit spongy to me... I bought an Olivetti LEttera 32 in a local vintage shop and it works like a dream, and I like it very much. From the same shop I've bought my gorgeous little 1959 Japy, which alas has no case, but I cleaned and spruced it up and now it types like a little trouper! I love it. And finally from them I've bought the Queen of my typewriters. My 1955 Olympia SM3, Queen Olympia. If anyone knows how to get a Tippex stain off, do let me know - I've looked all over and have tried several things to no avail.  
I've been buying things either very cheaply off eBay locally. I was given a trashed Empire Aristocrat, which I've fixed up, but which has had a very hard life, essentially - bless it - the workings of the M key keep falling apart. I bought an Olympia Splendid 33 that I love, but on which nothing to do with the right-hand margin works: the margin tab, the bell, or the release key. So I need to figure out how to fix all that. And for a fiver I bought a Swissa Piccola from a local woman, and it is TRASHED. I have no idea if it can be fixed; I've spent HOURS on it, cumulatively. When I got the Japy I opened it up and did a thorough comparison and have kind of fixed everything I can on the Swissa, but the problem seems to be deep inside behind or under the carriage. Ribbon spools not turning, vibrator jammed or something, just something int here where I cant see it that refuses to budge. But the keys feel so gorgeous and it is soooo pretty. So it sits and waits for its miracle.

I'm not worried about the Swissa. My big downfall has been greed, and eBay. So I'm stopping it now. I originally bought a cute little metal Silver Reed Silverette, and it arrived with thw carriage lock off and virtually no packaging. The ball bearings have been knocked out and it doesn't work. I got a refund, but it's just another broken typewriter now. Then I bought an adorable Empire Corona Skyriter, not too expensive - £20 plus shipping - v curious to see what it was like in person. It was nice, with a soft but v pleasant feel, but every single type bar bent and sticking, and seemingly misaligned - generally a litttle rough. Uwe, you know form my other thread, I took it in for a service and it came back exactly the same - and the next day, all of a sudden the carriage completely jammed. So right now it's been a repair that seems to have made the typewriter worse. I'm trying to figute out what tp do next with it, as I don't think it's probably worth sinking a lot of money into for repairs.

Just before XMas I saw the most gorgeous Olympia SM5, all gleaming cream, sitton on eBay attracting NO attention. Poorly listed. I bid, and got it for only £15. Yay! Wrote to the seller, sent them a great link about how to pack typewriters, and offered to pay a few extra pounds to cover the bubble wrap and effort of packing iit up well. He agreed, and shipped it. When it arrived I found that the case is bashed and no longer fastens properly, the right-hand carriage knob is broken, and the carriage seems not to be engaging with the letters at all. It moves beautifully by hand or if you hit the space bar, but doesn't respond to the letters at all. I wrote to the guy. He was defensive and said the packaging was reallly adequate. It was totally nothing like. Anyway, I honestly can't be arsed to chase it up further, it was all my own fault. So that one is sitting under the bed like a rebuke.

So that;s three big repair jobs I have sitting here, and I just wish there were a good way to LEARN this stuff. I've never been particulatly mechanical myself, though I'm not afraid of it - I've spent my life making things. I am loving the fixing and working and concentrating and getting inky and greasy and metholated fingers, and the physicalness and menchanicalness of it. And I love the Olympias with a love that is pure and true! I've learned SO much over the past months.

My boyfriend's 12-year-old boy latched on to the Quiet-Riter the second he saw it, and has totally taken it over - he writes stories every time it's his weekend with his dad and I now pretty much consider it his machine. I never use it. We got him an Imperial Good Companion 4 for Chcristmas, for his mum's house - and he adores it and has been writing stories there too! I did up my daughter's room - she's just left home - to be usable, with a table and day bed, and he now called it the Typing Room. Yesterday he happily - "I've had so many ideas in this room..."

And as of today, I've just arranged to buy a Splendid 66 from the same man who sold me the Remington and the Good Companion - and I'm really excited! I wanted one to go with the 33, and with luck the bell will work - and it has a Danish keyboard. Fun! It's QWERTY but with Scandi bits. 

In amongst all this, the huge thing - which I realised I would have to do the second I had the original idea - has been basically teaching myself to type properly. That's another big post in itself, but the way I type has been revolutionised. Since I am a freelance writer this is a really big thing - it's changed how I relate to my own professional technical skills. It's pretty much changed everything. I love it. (Having said which I am of course typing this in a Macbook, but the typewriters have changed how I type on this, too. I have a book of essays due out in the autumn, still in progress, and it is going to include essays both about, and written on, typewriters. Olympia typewriters.

So that's me.

Last edited by KatLondon (19-1-2015 07:59:06)