1 - Mech
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Mystery metal piece in Skyriter
I brought home a 1952 S-C Skyriter yesterday and in the bottom, right back of the machine was this mysterious pirce of curved metal:
It wasn't attached to anything. Is this a piece of the Skyriter or a random piece of metal that made its way into the typewriter?
- malole
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Re: Mystery metal piece in Skyriter
I just took mine out of its shell, and I can't see anything that the piece might be - but I didn't take the carriage off. Does the skyriter type ok?
- Mech
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Re: Mystery metal piece in Skyriter
It types beautifully - no problems at all except a single bent type slug. I've really fallen in love with this machine.
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Thread Starter- malole
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Re: Mystery metal piece in Skyriter
Did you put it on the database? Would love to see photos and type-sample!
- Mech
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Re: Mystery metal piece in Skyriter
Not yet - it's a little grimey and I wanted to clean it up first. It needs a new ribbon. Do you wind 1/2" ribbon onto your tiny Skyriter spools or do you re-ink them?
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Thread Starter- Mech
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Re: Mystery metal piece in Skyriter
Related to the mysterious piece of metal: strangely enough, this is the second loose mystery piece I have come across in my typewriters. My Oliver No. 9 arrived and at the bottom of the badly packed box was a mysterious piece of metal very similar to the one I found inside the Skyriter:
It's very similar - a curved piece of metal - just a bit larger.
I was thinking that it might be used in securing the ribbon to the wooden cores of the ribbon spools. Here is a picture of the Oliver's wooden ribbon spool core:
Last edited by Mech (30-4-2015 15:49:26)
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Thread Starter- malole
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Re: Mystery metal piece in Skyriter
I usually wind ribbons anyway, as I have so many different kinds of spools, and the remingtons definitely need winding on. I will wind a new one onto my skyriter eventually, but the one it came with is still ok. Though it was a red/black for some reason and my skyriter is a one-colour machine. I haven't tried re-inking yet, though my experiments with WD40 on dry ribbons has worked pretty well. The VAT and postage on a bottle of metal stamp ink doubles the price to about £8 for one.
You could be right about the metal clip - it's weird!
- thetypewriterman
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Re: Mystery metal piece in Skyriter
You are exactly correct ! Yes, those are both spool clips. In the case of the Oliver, for attaching the ribbon to the wooden spool centre, And in the case of the Smith Corona, it does exactly the same job in attaching the ribbon to the core of the spool.
- Mech
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Re: Mystery metal piece in Skyriter
Thank you, the typewriterman! Mystery solved. I am glad that it didn't cause any problems rattling around inside the machine.
And thank you, malole - I might try the WD-40 method of ribbon rejuvenation.
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Thread Starter- malole
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Re: Mystery metal piece in Skyriter
If you do try the WD40 I find that pulling the ribbon through a cloth helps to spread out the WD40, and remove splodginess, and the need to wait for it to settle. I'm so impatient, can't be hanging about for a ribbon!
