I am weak.

Last week, my grandpa called me to tell me that his friend had uncovered a "pile of Royal typewriters" in a house he was cleaning out. This friend is in the buisness of buying houses from hoarders, with all the stuff inside. These typewriters were covered in 4-5 feet of clothes, so it took a few months for my grandpa's friend to find them.

He took me to the house so that I could talk to his friend and take a look at the machines. There were nine in all, not all Royals, but they were for the most part KMMs and KMGs. 

I picked out the five I wanted.
A LC Smith Secretarial in nice shape, with trouble advancing: $40
The cleanest Royal, a KMG: $20
The second cleanest Royal, a KMM, that later revealed a Telegraph/Radio Mill typeface: $20
A very battered Smith-Corona standard (I have never seen one in person, they aren't common): $15
A Underwood Noiseless Standard with some major carriage issues: $15

I said the other four were too battered to be worth fixing, and I meant it. The remaining KMMs all had their own complicated issues. But then all four were offered to me for $10, that's $2.50 apeice, and I couldn't say no. He also hinted that they were probably going to be scrapped if I didn't take them.

Here they are, in a group shot:


None were working at the time of aqusition, unless you count the Royal missing keys in the front of the picture. It operated better than any of the other machines, which is unfortunate given the fact it is missing some vial pieces. Eh, I'll work it out later. After some extensive cleaning of the rails and segment, the single Royal KMG is working now. I'm working on one of the KMMs now, it's getting close to working.

All in all, there are six Royals and five are KMMs.One is a KMG. As KMMs and KMGs are virtually identical on the inside, I'm getting very familiar with this design.

My typewriter philosophy, for lack of a better term, is that every machine that can be saved should be saved. That's why none of these machines will be parted out, not even the two that are missing keys. I will update as others become working.

Also, anyone want a Royal? I'm not planning on keeping any of them! I only bought them for the fun of saving and fixing them