Starting Restoration on a 1956 Remington Standard

Spent an hour or two on the 1956 Remington Standard today and got most of the big mechanical and adjustment issues out of the way. There’s still a hint of grinding on the carriage at the return, but I suspect it will be an easy repair as I begin to dismantle the machine for a thorough cleaning. I also got some of the bulk dust and dirt off of the exterior for the pending overhaul. It looks like this 32.4 pound beast is going to come roaring back to life.

The ribbon reverse now works again (the switch is hiding just under the hood in the middle; the Super-Riter models put in a hole and added a lever on the front for easier access). I rewound half the ribbon to discover only a portion on the left was dried out after decades of disuse. I’ll have to see about potential re-hydration or complete replacement. Discovered that this is my first typewriter model to have a top, bottom, and middle ribbon setting for even wear across the ribbon.

The machine is now in good enough condition to use regularly, but will be nicer and much faster once it’s been fully cleaned, oiled, and adjusted. I’m hoping this will happen sometime this coming week.

Found an adjacent manual for it by way of the Super-Riter model which is very close in terms of features. Including mine, which is the third oldest in the list, there are only 9 of these models in the typewriter database while there are 26 of the Super-Riter. I’ll have to do some studying to see what the differences between this model, the Super-Riter, the No. 17, and the KMC were.

The KR key above the backspace is a “key release” mechanism which unjams multiple slugs so one doesn’t need to dirty their fingers on the slugs themselves. Features like this began showing up into the 1960s SCM machines of which I’ve got a few. This is my first Remington to have the feature.

Captured a quick typeface sample and identified the typeface as what appears to be the Remington #4 Elite typeface with No. 2 uncial numbers which feature some nice waviness, especially in the 2, 4, 5, and 7. Looks very similar to the face on my 1957 Remington Quiet-Riter.

For others in the future, I found the serial number on the Remington Standard underneath the carriage on the right rear portion of the body. It’s stamped into the frame right next to the rear metal wall of the back of the machine.