Typewriter Talk / 1955 Halda P - In-Coming...

**Posted by Pete E.** 06-12-2020 20:50:18

Just lucky today to have seen a 10-minute old BIN offering on eBay for $ 96 USD.

1955 Halda P portable typewriter. It does not have a case (which is fine for me).

Should be home in 1 week.

Good news...it has BOTH of its unique Halda ribbon spools, but seller mentioned the auto-reverse does not work consistently. So I get to de-bug that.
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**Posted by zoom** 07-12-2020 04:25:06

Looks really nice Pete,
I had an Halda 6, I think it was my fourth typewriter, not in the nice condition as your portable, although mine was not beaten up, just well used. I will be interested to know how you find the action on your portable.

**Posted by Emre** 07-12-2020 08:00:39

Looks good! it seems like when you type it will fall forward as it doen't have feet under keyboard area

**Posted by Pete E.** 07-12-2020 08:35:08

All of my portables have their 4 feet set back and none are located under the keyboard area. The greater weight is rear-ward. The Haldo P has 1 large single band of rubber serving in the place of 4 individual feet. Just like the early Facit TP1 had. Here is a photo off of the Internet to show the underside of the Halda P.
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**Posted by zoom** 07-12-2020 08:54:29

wow interesting

**Posted by Pete E.** 07-12-2020 10:29:20

Hi Zoom,

Facit used it on their portable machines too. Peg-board material we used in the past to hang hand-tools along the wall of our garage.

Julia Childs even use it on the walls of her early kitchens to hold pots and utensils.

**Posted by skywatcher** 07-12-2020 16:02:01

Hi Pete

Looks like this unit still has its original ribbon spools. The Halda used a proprietary spool that doesn't fit any other typewriter and no other spool will work on a Halda portable, so don't lose them. We had one forum member out on Vancouver Island who bought a Halda on line only to find it had one spool missing. Several of us tried our best to see if we could come up with a workable replacement, I think she ended up having to manually rewind the ribbon back onto the non Halda spool every time she came to the eyelet.

I was able to score a Halda Portable a couple of years ago, very dusty and a rock hard platen. The platen is due to go to J.J. Short once the Canada/US border opens again, then I'll give the whole machine a thorough deep down cleaning, service and tune-up. The platen is so hard, it won't even feed the paper straight, so I'm not even going to try using it until the platen has been renewed. I had the platen for my 1936 Imperial Good Companion renewed about a year ago and the difference it made was just amazing. Please keep us updated on the Halda. All the best,

Sky

**Posted by Pete E.** 07-12-2020 18:01:39

Thanks Sky,

Yes when I saw those metal spools, I could not get to the check-out fast enough. For the price (and free shipping), I am excited to see this machine in person in my hands.

Thank you for the additional info. in your posting.

**Posted by Uwe** 08-12-2020 16:48:07

Pete E. wrote:
... Facit used it on their portable machines too ...

Facit and Halda were one in the same (I think the companies merged in 1938).

The platform base was common through the '50s and early to mid '60s, but a more traditional footing was adopted for late '60s and later models.

Platform footing on late-'50s Halda vs. mid-'60s Facit (and early-'60s T2):

**Posted by Pete E.** 08-12-2020 19:09:16

The design of the segment, the ribbon control system, and even the touch control mechanism seems very similar (and maybe the same) between this 1955 Halda P and my 1966 Facit TP2. But my Facit TP2 does not require those proprietary ribbon spools as the Halda P does.

I hope to add an early Facit TP1 in the near future from the late 1950's or early 1960's...so can see how these features carried through.