Typewriter Talk / Swissa Junior - Questions...

**Posted by Uwe** 19-1-2022 16:26:49

thetypewriterman wrote:
No, the Swissa is very rare in the UK...

Perhaps, but Tom the UK isn't in Europe.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. We get a fair amount of Brexit news over here and it's hard to keep track of where or what England considers itself to be. I say England rather than the UK because it seems that Scotland has a different mindset when it comes to such things.

**Posted by thetypewriterman** 20-1-2022 05:00:19

Yes, England isn't in Europe. Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Freedom at last !

**Posted by Pete E.** 26-9-2022 19:53:57

So I found the right machine to add to my collection.

Owner reports it works perfectly and it looks like a very clean machine and case in very decent shape.

It is coming from The Continent via slow-boat...so may not have it in hand until the end of October 2022.

It is a QWERTY machine with a couple of Dutch characters/letters. Service shop tag indicates it was in Holland in the past but it's coming from eastern Europe.

Owner/seller photos for now...
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**Posted by Pete E.** 21-10-2022 15:30:28

So today was a perfect Fall day to spend with my 1960-made Swiss Junior.

My package came from Croatia in 18-19 days, total. It was projected to not arrive well into November.

Typical "spa-day" for the machine...and the case got cleaned up with the upper & lower panels getting a repaint after some tear-repairs and stains that would not go away. Middle panel color is still original.

Besides a cleaning and light oiling and a new ribbon, the machine only needed :

1. Margin stop rail was loose on the right side and I found the errant little screw in the case.
2. Space bar needed some linkage adjustment so it would trigger with only 1/2 the travel of the bar downwards.
3. H key-top was hanging up and not returning to the rest. The little slot in the type-bar guide (aka the metal comb) under the keys needed a bit widening to allow the H type-bar to move freely without binding.

Still to do :

4. Upper & lower case letter/character adjustment. Presently the top half of all upper-case letters do not print out on paper.
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**Posted by Pete E.** 21-10-2022 15:49:30

This little portable is solidly built and quite heavy.

It weighs (w/out case weight) at 10.6 lbs. My Olympa Travellers weigh in at 10.2 lbs. and my Olympia SF at 9.8 lbs.

The Swissa Junior is very sure-footed on which to type. Very little side-to-side motion of the key-tops and its carriage movements seems very precise. Ribbon vibrator is solid and accurate and the ribbon travel system is all metal and seems very sound.

This platen is quite hard...but my use of an Avery laminating sheet as a typing backer-sheet takes care of that...for my needs.

Glad to add this neat machine to my collection.
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**Posted by robmck** 21-10-2022 22:59:02

Cool!

So as I understand it, this is an evolution of the Patria. True?

**Posted by Pete E.** 22-10-2022 07:23:26

Hi Rob,

Yes. Here is some good info. on Wiki about Patria and Swissa and changes before and after WWII.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissa

**Posted by Pete E.** 25-10-2022 18:22:03

So...the type-alignment adjustments are a sole pair of screws at the bottom side of the machine, center, and towards the back.

I have highlighted the pair of screw in red in the photo.

Also, a galvanized protector plate (highlighted in blue) is easy to remove with 2 small screws...so you have better access to adjust the type-alignment points.
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**Posted by Pete E.** 06-12-2023 13:36:37

If anyone is looking for a Swissa Junior with cursive-script...

There is one running on the eBay-UK web site.

They are shipping local but the sale ad does mention contact-seller for other shipping arrangements.

(Not affiliated with the sale...).
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