Typewriter Talk / In-Coming Olympia SKM Manual Typewriter...

**Posted by Pete E.** 06-6-2024 11:16:49

Aerial view of the old Olympia plant/complex locaton...
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**Posted by Pete E.** 06-6-2024 11:26:27

And some interesting discussions on the Belfast Forum...in regards to the Olympia plant on Boucher Rd.

https://www.belfastforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=7832.0

**Posted by thetypewriterman** 06-6-2024 17:25:27

Amazing bit of research Pete ! So it was located in Belfast ! I wonder if Olympia got a grant from the British government to locate the factory in Northern Ireland in the same way as DeLorean did ?

**Posted by Pete E.** 06-6-2024 21:04:33

Hi Tom,

All the credit really goes to Andrew P. and the info. in his posting. He got me going in the right direction.

I was hoping to find some photos of the old Olympia plant back from the 1969 to 1977 time frame. But have not found any, yet.

I will try to look for a Belfast historical society web page and see if they might have some photos.

It was heart warming to read the folks' postings on that Belfast Forum about their time working at Olympia. Even after 50 years, they still seem to have nice memories. Especially of their training trips and time in Germany as they joined the Belfast plant.
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**Posted by Pete E.** 10-6-2024 12:07:35

Today is Typewriter Delivery Day...

Me...at the curbside...
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**Posted by Pete E.** 10-6-2024 17:54:23

Typewriter spa-day on my work bench tomorrow.

Seller did a perfect packing job. Machine only needs a good cleaning and new ribbon.
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**Posted by robmck** 10-6-2024 19:52:21

Congratulations!

The Mr. Bean portrayal is spot-on. I've been there before...

**Posted by Pete E.** 11-6-2024 20:02:03

Spa-day completed. No adjustments or repairs needed.

Just my typical clean and service regimen.

Looking at a couple of other colours for the ribbon-cover. I am leaning towards the "Ivy Green" in satin finish.

I used this green on the front-panel of my more recent Royal Futura 800 and I find this green very calming.
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**Posted by Pete E.** 14-6-2024 08:48:22

Re-paint and adding felt to the ribbon-cover is all completed.

I like this SKM a lot. It has a light key-board touch and is fast. It does have a touch-control lever under the ribbon-cover and it works to change the feel from light to heavy. Adding felt to the ribbon-cover and to 2/3 of the interior of the bottom "pan" sure made a tone difference to the typing experience.

It also has that special key-top (that my SG1 has) to change from single-character spacing to double-character spacing. Font is a "techno" which I like.

Machine weighs 16.6 lbs. I think Olympia was calling the SKM a compact standard. It even has a pair of rollers on the bottom (along the back) so you can lift the front of the machine and roll it back and forward along your desk-top. There are also a pair of hand-holds on each side of bottom pan to make lifting the machine off the desk easier. They are moulded into the plastic of the bottom pan.
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**Posted by thetypewriterman** 15-6-2024 04:26:25

It says a lot about the strength and quality of the Olympia SM9 that a slightly modified variant could be sold as a full office typewriter !