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Home from college, and started cleaning the Royal. At one point it must have housed a mouse nest, since parts of it were stuck in the motion. Additionally, the keys are stuck because of what I think was mouse urine. Ugh. So my younger brrother and I are plugging away at it. WD40 to penetrate the sectors and then flushing with denatured alcohol, then oiling. We're using plumber's acid brushes from Home Depot. They're cheap and can be trimmed down so they're stiff.
So, how thick can the nicotine layer on these old machines get? We're using Murphy's Oil Soap in solution, and we're still getting seriously brown paper towels after four applications! Does the old black paint rub off? Would it be brown? We have noticed that the Royal has been partially repainted. The outline of he old front panel decal can be seen under the layer of paint, now that the machine's been cleaned up a little.
More as we go. TTFN
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Why didn't I notice this!?!?! Holy mackanolly, the machine has an ALL CAPS type face installed!!! The capital letters are higher and larger than the lower case ones, but everything is caps!
Types like this...AABBCCDDEEFFGG
This is uber eggzellent!
Anyone know the formal name of this Royal font? I'll look it up as well when I get a second.
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WD-40 plus alcohol and then oil? In where, the sectors? What part of the machine is that? That's not a good combination - and oil, if it's in a required spot, should only be used once the metal is spotless and the machine is running well without it. And what's with the Murphy's Oil Soap? Isn't that stuff for wood? I wouldn't go near a painted case with it.
Is this the typeface you're talking about?
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Yep, the font is nearly the same. Murphy's Oil Soap is a good general and gentle cleaner, and we're getting great results with it, and haven't noticed any problems with the paint. I don't know all the names for the ten thousand bezillion parts in a typewriter. The part on the Royal that was rusted solid was part of the frame and ran all the way across the machine. There must be a rod that runs inside it and all the keys for the machine hinge there. Looks like a comb with really fat teeth. Anyway, it's all free now and the machine types well. Just a slight mis-alignment of the upper and lower case. Similiar to your sample.
More news after the weekend. It's Mother's Day here and tons of family stuff going on.
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Uwe, do all the typewriters in your picture have the same typeface and size or is that important in whatever you type?
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I've got a story: I bought an antique typewriter from a shop in Lorena, Texas. It is a 1949 Royal Arrow manual portable. We got to talking about it, and she remembered her late father had a little portable typewriter he used at his auto dealership in Archer City, Texas. We rummaged through some old papers of his, and among them was a receipt for a portable typewriter. I looked at the serial number listed and compared it with the one on the machine I had bought. It was the EXACT same serial!!! Number for number. I thought my eyeballs would pop out of my head. That portable, which by the way shined up like a new penny after I cleaned and repaired it, once belonged to my girlfriend's father. You can bet your boots I'm NOT selling that one!!
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Ha, thats cool! Ive never seen a receipt before!