Typewriter Talk / Recently Acquired Oliver No. 3, Help Requested!

**Posted by Ampelmann** 12-3-2017 13:10:15

Hello!

So, I recently got myself an Oliver 3, and it's in OK shape, albeit very dirty. But, it seems to have been made by the short-lived Canadian Oliver subsidiary that I didn't know existed until I got the machine home and started looking into what I had just bought.

There's a few differences on the exterior, such as the vertical ribbon spools, that seem to be unique to my machine. The plaque beneath the spacebar reads "Patented in Canada, August 21, 1895 No. 49711, Linotype Co. Montreal". There's no serial number data for Canadian models on the typewriter database; does anyone have a similar machine to which I can compare? I would like to pin down an exact year if possible, out of curiosity. Or if anyone knows anything in general about the machine - there's not much online that I was able to find out.

Any help/input would be appreciated!
Matt

Some photos (sorry for the lousy quality!):

**Posted by Ampelmann** 12-3-2017 13:37:26

UPDATE: After more cleaning, I found another plaque on the right rear of the machine, under the type mechanism bars behind the carriage. It says 1827 - is this where Oliver machines have their serial numbers located?

**Posted by Uwe** 12-3-2017 21:15:37

The keys are interesting. Maybe it's just the photo, but some look round and others look like they might be octagonal like the white keys that are a more familiar sight on Oliver models. I wonder if these keys are replacements? Have you examined all of them closely, and from underneath? Are they different or identical?

**Posted by Ampelmann** 13-3-2017 10:20:02

All of the keys are octagonal, with circular indentations on top. The N key top is upside down (why would someone reapply it this way?), but all of the keys look like they've aged uniformly. Not sure how to clean the tops though, as I'm unsure how the printed characters on top would hold up to anything more than a damp cloth.

**Posted by OliverNo.9** 13-3-2017 20:01:28

This is an interesting machine! I've never seen an Oliver with that kind of ribbon transport before! I wonder if it was built that way as a prototype, or modified later on?

**Posted by mre12ax7** 14-3-2017 17:18:55

I would contact Jett Morton.
He is a Oliver expert.

**Posted by Ampelmann** 14-3-2017 20:29:36

OliverNo.9 wrote:
This is an interesting machine! I've never seen an Oliver with that kind of ribbon transport before! I wonder if it was built that way as a prototype, or modified later on?

Neither had I, until I looked closer at the machine when I went down to pick it up. I'm pretty sure it came from a regular production run, though. If you're interested, in the Recent Acquisitions thread I posted a quick overview of what I discovered during my initial evaluation of the machine, including a link that I found indicating a limited run of Oliver 3 typewriters that mine appears to belong to, produced in Montreal rather than in the US.

mre12ax7 wrote:
I would contact Jett Morton.
He is a Oliver expert.

I will certainly look into that! Thank you.