I feel like I can call myself a real typewriter afficionado now. My new pen typewrwiter-pal Tom Hanks has written me a letter on some fascinating letterhead.
It’s a very common complaint/worry/issue when people new to the typewriter world get their first machine and realize that as they’re typing, their typewriter slowly moves or “walks” across the work surface upon which they’re typing. It’s often easy enough to just move it back to center and continue on, but when you’re composing something and you’re in the zone, it’s an added niggling distraction that many who use typewriters were hoping to get away from in the first place. Often this issue is worse with some of the later model electrics (I’m looking at you Smith-Corona Electras) which have a motorized auto return function which in combination with carriage inertia can cause one’s typewriter almost to jump across a desk. It might also be an issue if you’re using a 40 pound standard machine on a writing drawer on your mid-century tanker desk and the machine tips off onto the floor, though I’ve yet to hear someone complain of this problem.
So we’re presented with the question of how to remedy this typewriter “walking” issue? Fortunately there are a handful of common and inexpensive remedies.
New Rubber Feet
The primary reason we see this walking issue now and it wasn’t seen in the past is that the rubber feet of vintage and antique typewriters have hardened over time. As a result, the feet on the typewriter don’t have the grippy-ness they originally did. Their almost plastic-like current form allows the machine to slide across the table with the force applied to the typewriter as one types as well as the use of the return lever to reset the carriage at the end of a line. This makes for an easy fix by replacing the rubber feet on one’s typewriter.
Old feet and spacers versus new feet and spacers.
Because the original manufacturers aren’t making new stock any more, replacement can take many forms which are outlined below.
Rubber replacements
There are a handful of repair companies and hobbyists who have created molds and pour new rubber feet for a variety of makes and models. These are generally excellent and will give your machine another half century or more additional life. Prices for replacements can often be found in the $15-50 range.
3-D printed replacements
With the advent of small and inexpensive 3-D printers, many hobbyists will replace their old, hardened, and cracked or disintegrating rubber feet with newly printed ones. While these often provide a lot more grip than the ones they’re replacing, they may not be quite as solid as rubber replacements. Prices for replacements can often be found in the $20-60 range.
Hardware store
Depending on the shape and size of your typewriter feet, you may find that the local hardware store might have rubber pieces designed for other uses which will work with your particular machine. This option often relies on some research, hunting around, and sometimes some craftiness to get the pieces made for a different application to work with your typewriter. While it may only be an option in 5-10% of cases, its usually fairly inexpensive in comparison to other options.
In addition to the above, I’ve seen people use self-adhesive rubberized sheets cut to size and attached to the old feet.
Mats & Pads
Often less expensive than new rubber feet are any number of mats and pads, usually meant for other purposes, but which can be repurposed for use with your typewriter.
Machine Pads
In the mid-century several companies made machine pads specifically for typewriters and other machines. While some vintage or new old stock (NOS) versions may still be available for sale online or in antique stores, they’re often in mediocre shape at best as age and exposure will have either worn them down or stiffened them up. The completist collector may look for and attempt to use these, but newer alternate versions are likely of much higher quality.
An original Unda-Wunda machine pad aged past its useful life.
Commercial Typewriter Pads
A few small typewriter repair companies and hobbyists make small typewriter pads out of carpeting with rubberized backing which will dramatically cut down on the dance your typewriter tries to clack out on your desktop. These options often run in the $20-40 range.
There are a variety of additional pads that can be used to help keep your typewriter in place. These include pads and mats made out of wool, felt, or even carpet. Ideally you’ll want something in the 1/4 – 1/2 inch thickness range and large enough to cover the footprint of your specific typewriter.
Because they were designed for ironing, some wool mats can be found in sizes larger than the typical typewriter. While some might eschew these larger sizes, they can come in handy for larger footprint standard typewriters. Additionally, these wider mats can be used to create a larger footprint around your typewriter which can help serve as a reminder not to place your favorite beverage next to your machine and accidentally have the carriage tip it over onto your desk either as you type or when your execute a return after ill-advisedly placing your glass right next to your carriage.
On smooth surfaces, these mats can not only reduce walking, but for heavier standard machines, they can also be useful for more easily moving typewriters around if you’re switching between the typewriter and your laptop computer.
I’ve personally got 4 or 5 of the Zomoneti Wool pads around the house and love them. They were recommended to me by Gerren Balch of The HotRod Typewriter Co., an experienced typewriter mechanic who may be better known for his hot rod paint jobs on typewriter bodies. He told me he’s also got several including one he uses to prevent machines in his shop from being scratched up as he’s flipping them around and wrenching on them. He loves the fact that they’ll also soak up liquids as he’s degreasing them to help prevent mess. You’ll see them regularly in his YouTube videos.
A local carpet store might give or sell you a square sample of carpet that would suffice as a pad and in combination with some shelf liner (see below), you’ll have roughly the same functionality in a DIY product that will work as well as a more expensive commercial option. Most might opt for a low pile carpet for this application, but, given the wide variety of types and colors, who would fault you for using an orange shag carpet to match up with your avocado green 1960 Aztec 500?
Another potential inexpensive method is to use oversized mouse pads if you can find them. I’ve also heard people upcycle items like computer notebook cases.
Another off-label mat that works well for typewriters are the thin, non-slip yoga mats. These come in a variety of colors and materials and work very well for keeping your typewriter in one place. Because of their size and material, they’re usually very easy to cut down from one long roll into several individual mats.
They’re often recommended by typewriter collector and restorer James Grooms who features them in many of his typewriter galleries on the typewriter database. He also suggests picking them up at thrift stores for pennies on the dollar.
Be aware that thicker and spongier yoga mats exist and will work with typewriters, but colloquially I’ve heard that most prefer the thinner ones.
Drawer and Shelf Liner
Thin rubber mats that are sold as drawer or shelf liner or non-slip rug or carpet padding can be cut down from larger sizes and repurposed as typewriter mats to prevent them from slipping around during use.
The drawback here is that some of them can be easily discolored in short spans of time. In my experience, some can also fuse with varnished wood surfaces, particularly when used with heavier standard typewriters, so keep this in mind, particularly if you’re using them on vintage furniture as display pieces when you’re not typing on them.
Cutting down an 8×10 foot non-slip pad will make lots of typewriter mats. This sort of shelf liner is great for stopping movement, but won’t do much for sound.
Some people will use these in combination with other carpet or wool mats mentioned above for a prettier but still practical and economical result.
Custom Typewriter Mats
Naturally one could use the examples above to custom make their own typewriter mats. I was always impressed at Tom Hanks’ ingenious custom typewriter covers/mats which served not only to prevent his machines from walking, but also doubled as covers to keep the dust out while simultaneously looking very sharp on a machine being displayed on a shelf, in a book case, or even sitting on your office’s credenza or library card catalog.
The “Singing” Typewriter
There’s another frequently mentioned down side of typewriters that users and their families aren’t big fans of: the noise.
While a typewriter is always going to make some sound, there are a variety of things one can do to minimize it. Before we delve into some of the potential solutions, let’s discuss a few of the reasons why your vintage or antique typewriter can be louder than it was right out of the factory.
The Noise Sources
The Ring and Cylinder and the Platen
First, the majority of the classic clacking sound you hear from typewriters is a result of the metal typebars hammering against the ring (or anvil) on the front of the segment just below the typing point. On older typewriters, you can often see the wear of the metal from years of this action occurring millions of times. This wear can also be an indicator of how heavily a typewriter was used in its lifetime.
Based on the metal wear pattern you can almost guess which keys were hit the most frequently on this nearly 100 year old typewriter.
While the majority of the typebar’s momentum is absorbed by the ring, some of the energy is reserved for the typebar to flex slightly and the slug to continue travelling forward where it’s meant to just “kiss” the ribbon and press the ribbon against the paper and then the rubbery-ness of platen absorbs the remainder of the blow. On a well-adjusted typewriter, with the typebar pressed fully forward, it should still be far enough from the platen to allow a sheet of paper to be easily slid between the slug and a backing sheet.
Depending on the rubber and manufacturing processes used, the average life of the rubber on a platen is somewhere around 30-40 years. Of course on most vintage or older typewriters, the platen which was originally specified somewhere between a durometer rating of a soft, but supple 85 and 92 is now as hard as a rock. As a result, when the slug strikes it, it’s going to be far louder than it would be for a new platen. This also means that for new typewriters manufactured in the 1980s or even typewriters from the 40s and 50s that had their platens replaced as late as the 1980s are pretty much guaranteed to have hardened platens. The end result is more noise.
As platens age, they also shrink which generally means the finely tuned ring and cylinder adjustment done at the factory (or by your local typewriter repair person) is going to be off. This generally means that the slug doesn’t hit the platen as it was meant to which also means that you’ll often see some of the smaller characters like underlines, commas, and periods piercing through your paper as you type. Age and poor alignment means that instead of the type slug kissing the ribbon it smashes the ribbon, blasts through the paper, and clangs against the hardened platen.
Felt and foam padding
To assist in dampening sound both within the typewriter as well as transference to the surroundings, many typewriters from the 1930s onward had sections of industrial padding, felt, or foam glued into the main body panels. Some of the older padding as seen in the 5 Series Smith-Corona portables holds up relatively well while the foam in machines like the Royal FP and the Futura 800 or even the IBM Selectrics has disintegrated into dust and can make a terrible mess as well as be difficult to clean out. On some machines it has picked up a dreadful smell and needs to be replaced.
Gromets and Rubber Washers
Another, albeit smaller, source of noise in typewriters is the movement and potential rattling of metal body pieces. As a result, you’ll often see small rubber grommets on body panels (common in some of the later Remington Standards) or thin rubber gaskets between the screws and body panels (this is very common on late 1950s Smith-Coronas). Many 60s and 70s typewriters with plastic or thin metal hoods will be held in place by a post which inserts into rubber grommets on either side of the ribbon cups. This makes them easier to take off and replace, but also prevents vibrations from transferring.
The gray rubber grommet that holds the hood onto a Brother Charger 11
Desk Surfaces and Reflected Noise
Of course all these sources of noise are frequently not only heard directly from their source, but the energy of the sound waves is bounced off of the hard desk and writing surfaces upon which one’s typewriter is placed for use. In contemporaneous typewriter usage at mid-century, most were situated on wooden or rubber-like linoleum-covered tanker desks which don’t exist in modern office spaces anymore. This means that your bare metal, glass, or other hard surfaced-desk is reflecting all of the noise from the typewriter right back up at you and amplifying the noise the machine is making.
The Noise Solutions
Now that we’ve looked at most of the noise sources associated with a typewriter, let’s look at some various means of minimizing them.
The quickest, easiest, and one of the least expensive noise dampening solutions is to use a typewriter mat of one of the sorts described in the section on “walking typewriters”. Felted wool and yoga mats are considered the best. In addition to helping keep typewriters in one place, they can help to absorb quite a lot of the sound as well as prevent reflection of the sound off of the desktop. Their diverse functionality and the ability to accessorize a desk and a typewriter make them incredibly useful accessories.
Colloquially, I’ve heard people say that this sound dampening method is even better than replacing the internal felt or foam on the internal body panels, which is another relatively inexpensive method of sound dampening.
Using 3-5mm felt from your local hobby store is a simple replacement for old felt and foam which can frequently hold unpleasant smells. Others frequently suggest Ethylene-vinyl acetate foam sometimes more commonly called EVA foam which is used in a variety of common applications from shoes, athletic equipment, yoga mats, toys, packaging, furniture, seating, and even cosplay costumes. Others may also suggest materials like neoprene which is commonly used to make wet suits. Most all of these are relatively easy to find in a variety of fabric, foam, and hobby stores as well as online stores. One can use paper patterns cut out to follow the form of the typewriter panels and then trace the pattern onto the material and then cut it out. A variety of glues like rubber cement can be easily used to secure this new noise dampening material.
For rubber grommets and washers, these can often be replaced by a quick trip to the hardware store and browsing through the hardware or plumbing sections. Online purveyors like Grainger and McMaster-Carr often have huge selections which will allow one a lot more flexibility to more closely specify sizes and thicknesses. Many hardware stores will also have grab-bag choices that include a variety of sizes of rubber parts so that you can easily pick and choose the appropriate size parts for your particular typewriter.
Finally, another very good means of minimizing the noise of your typewriter is to re-cover the platen. Going from a rock hard platen back into a lower durometer rating will help to quiet your machine and give it a more lux typing feel at the same time. Few people do it because it can run about $100 plus shipping, but it really improves your typing experience and is well worth the effort. Because the companies that do this work also do rollers, be sure to spend the few extra dollars to resurface your carriage rollers to have better grip when threading your paper.
Several companies offer platen re-covering and related services including:
J.J. Short Associates, Inc. for Typewriter Platens, Feed Rollers, Bail Rollers, Finger Rollers, and Power Rollers. A platen and feed rollers can run about $100-120 plus shipping, but call or email them for a quote for your specific machine(s)
Remember that if you have your platen re-covered you will want to properly re-adjust your typewriter to get the proper ring and cylinder adjustment done after platen installation. Your local repair shop can handle this for your, or you can attempt it at home. This adjustment will improve not only the noise but the imprint of the letters on your page as well as the longevity of your platen.
Other ideas?
Do you have other options that have worked for you? Have you custom made your own anti-walking and noise cancelling accessories for your typewriter? Be sure to share examples or companies with usable solutions in the the comments below.
Berberian, Sterling Khazag. Introduction To Hilbert Space. Oxford University Press, 1961. Reprint Literary Licensing, 2012.
He’s not happy that it ignores measure theory as a means to introduce the Lebesque integral, so he’ll be supplementing that with additional notes. I’ve ordered a used copy of the 1st edition, but there are also versions from AMS as well as a more recent reprint from 2012.
He also suggested that Debnath & Mikusinski was pretty good, albeit more expensive than he would like in addition to not being a fan some of their approaches to topics.
I’m hoping this 8’x10′ non-slip rug pad can be cut down into enough typewriter pads to accommodate the segment of typewriters in my collection. They’ll both help protect my wooden tables from scratches as well as to keep my typewriters from “travelling” during use.
MOHOM 17" x 13.5" Wool Pressing Mat 100% New Zealand Felted Wool Ironing Mat Pad Blanket for Quilter, Sewing, Quilting Supplies and Notions
I’ve been looking for a reasonable and inexpensive typewriter mat for a while. There are lots of wool options out there and even some with thin rubber layers to prevent your typewriter from walking across your desk.
I had appreciated the ones I’ve seen in Gerren Balch’s YouTube repair videos for The HotRod Typewriter Co. which he also uses on his workbench, so I asked him his preference. His reply was these 100% wool ironing pads in 17 x 13.5 x 1/2″ form factor for about $15 on Amazon. He said “it’s soaked up 5 years of everything I do and it still looks like the day I bought it.”
The company has some square 13.5 x 13.5 options, which might be better for smaller portables, but I figured that the slightly larger version for both my workbench as well as for my larger standards would be more flexible. Since the price was half of what I’d seen from other vendors, I jumped on it and bought two: one for my workbench and another for my typing desk.
They’re definitely thick and high-quality. On my noisiest table, they definitely make a difference. They prevent some of the typewriter walking my worst rubber-footed typewriters have, but I’ve also got thin sheets of rug pad gripper that I’ve used before if things get out of hand.
It’s been a dog’s age, but I spent a few minutes this afternoon updating my Now Page. One of these days I might actually automate it…
One of the biggest of the very few companies still manufacturing typewriters in the new millennium is the Shanghai Weilv Mechanism Company. Sadly, for the hobbyist space looking to get into typewriters, while these are easy to find online, they are notorious for dreadful quality control, lots of plastic, and poor type alignment. As a result, they make a terrible investment compared to the far more robust vintage and antique typewriters which were manufactured from the late 1800s into the 1980s.
If you know nothing about typewriters, but are looking to purchase one (either for occasional/regular typing or even as a display piece), I couldn’t recommend them given the fact that there are so many far better machines in the secondary market which are more robust and will last for centuries compared to these poor, plastic machines.
Prior to purchase, you should be aware that many reputable typewriter repair shops will often refuse to work on or repair them, and most probably wouldn’t even accept them as donations to be parts machines. Most collectors and typewriter enthusiasts I’ve encountered will almost universally recommend against purchasing these.
Shanghai Weilv Mechanism Company has licensed the names of some older manufacturers and are making typewriters variously rebadged and sold under the following names:
Generally, the internals of all these machines are identical with the biggest differences being the external shell styling and the colors in which they’re offered. Typically they sell in the range of $200-300 and given the ubiquity of the number $259, I would guess this is the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.
Reviews
In case you don’t want to trust my individual opinion recommending against these, you might appreciate some specific reviews from others:
Dr. Richard Polt, long time typewriter collector, former editor of ETCetera, the Journal of the Typewriter Collector’s Association, maintainer of The Classic Typewriter Page, and author of The Typewriter Revolution (Countryman Press, 2015): Typewriter review: Royal Epoch
Lucas Dul, a typewriter repairman from Typewriter Chicago, reviewed a 2023 Rover:
Sarah Everett, typewriter collector and creator of Just My Type on YouTube, reviewed a We R Memory Keepers Typecast typewriter:
I’ve also collected some links which talk about some of the models:
Hopefully some of the data here has helped your decision for a well-informed purchase. You might notice that in online reviews, most of the people who purchase these machines and give them high marks seem to value them as decor and for their aesthetic. While this may be great, you could still get older vintage machines in a broader variety of looks for a fraction of the price.
Naturally, some will still want to buy one or more of these machines anyway. If you must do it, I would recommend that you can find gently used versions of these machines, often in their original boxes, at auction sites like ShopGoodwill.com for $5-15 several times a week.
Looking for some serious entertainment with an intellectual bent on Tuesday nights this fall? Professor Michael Miller has got you covered in multiple dimensions.
Dr. Miller has now listed his mathematics offering for Fall 2025 at UCLA Extension. It’s Introduction to Hilbert Spaces: An Adventure In Infinite Dimensions (MATH 900). As always, it will be presented in lectures on Tuesday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM with a short break in the middle. The class runs from September 23 – December 9 and is a screaming deal at just $450.00.
As many know, Dr. Miller does a superb job presenting advanced and abstract mathematics to the point that most students who take one or two classes return for decades. If you’re a fan of math and physics and have wanted to delve beneath the surface, this is an excellent opportunity to not only begin, but to meet lots of others who share your interests. For newcomers interested in taking a peek, I’ve written up a short introduction to his teaching style with some hints and tips based on my 18 years of taking coursework with him in his 52 year teaching career. There’s definitely a reason dozens of us keep showing up.
Here’s the description in the course catalog:
This course is designed for scientists, engineers, mathematics teachers, and devotees of mathematical reasoning who wish to gain a better understanding of a critical mathematical discipline with applications to fields as diverse as quantum physics and psychology.
A Hilbert space is a vector space that is endowed with an inner product for which the corresponding metric is complete (i.e., every Cauchy sequence converges). Examples include finite-dimensional Euclidean spaces; the space l2 of all infinite sequences (a1, a2, a3, …) of complex numbers, the sum of whose squared moduli converges; and the space L2 of all square-summable functions on an interval. This introductory, yet rigorous, treatment focuses initially on the structure (orthogonality, orthonormal bases, linear operators, Bessel’s inequality, etc.) of general Hilbert spaces, with the latter part of the course devoted to interpreting these constructs in the context of Legendre polynomials, Fourier series, Sobolev spaces, and other prominent mathematical structures.
The listed prerequisites for the course are calculus and linear algebra, though Dr. Miller generally does an excellent job of bringing up students without a huge machinery of mathematics background or sophistication up to speed to appreciate the material. Whatever you do, don’t let the technical nature of the description deter you from jumping into abstract mathematics with both feet.
Bibliography
The UCLA Bookstore currently doesn’t have a suggested textbook for the course listed. Dr. Miller doesn’t require a textbook, but will often suggest one in addition to the incredibly comprehensive notes he provides in his lectures for understanding the subject. For the curious and the less-experienced or budding mathematicians out there, his lecture notes are clearer and imminently more understandable than any book you’re likely to find on the subject.
For those curious in exploring the space, I’ve put together a short bibliography of some of the more common textbooks covering the undergraduate and graduate studies within the area. Dr. Miller is sure to choose one at the level of an advanced undergraduate (junior or senior level).
The metal bar often with either grooves or embossed with white lines or in later century models the clear plastic Perspex card guides often with pre-printed white or red lines and/or hash marks on either side of the a typing point are called the line indicator. The “line” it suggests is the potential or actual line of type across the page and is often called the typing line. If it’s properly adjusted it should be set to the base line of the characters you’re typing and also fit the characters either between them or point at the center of the characters. This way if you remove a page and then need to type on it again, you can very precisely level and align the typing line and the characters themselves so that no one will know the page was typed in one or multiple passes. It’s also useful if you accidentally use the permanent variable in the platen and shift the regularity of your lines, then you can properly re-align them and continue typing.
Careful use of the line indicator and the character spacing hash marks also allows one to very precisely align pre-printed forms for filling in data either on blank lines or within pre-printed boxes. As an example, you can find a well-aligned version of a baseball scorecard I typed back in March. It relies on using the correct pitch typewriter and aligning the home plate in the top center of the scorecard carefully designed by Lou Spirito. If you compare them, my alignment is more careful than Tom Hanks’ “this is maybe close enough” alignment, which can show how useful the line indicator can be for professional looking typed documents.
With a well-aligned line indicator, one can place text exactly on a line over the width of a paper. One of these sets of HHHs were added after the page had been removed. Can you tell which one?The miniscule line indicator is combined with index card fingers on the 1930s Corona Standard.
The character spacing on the line indicator rule can allow one to also guestimate where they need to either end a word or hyphenate it when they hear the bell at the end of the line. Later machines often had 5-10 spaces on their line indicators to allow just this sort of guestimate as this was often the number of spaces available before hitting the right margin after the bell.
Line Indicator and paper bail rule on a 1950 Royal KMG
On some models, the line indicator may have a V-shaped groove or small hole cut into it just below the top of the typing line. This is meant to allow the operator to insert a pencil or pen into that space and then using the carriage release to draw a straight horizontal line across the page. Doing the same thing, but with the platen knobs will allow one to create vertical lines on their pages quickly.
You can easily see the two v-grooves in the line indicator for making horizontal or vertical lines in this New Orga (Privat 5) typewriter.Note the oval holes in the Perspex to allow inserting the tip of a writing instrument to create either vertical or horizontal lines on a page in this Olympia SM3.
On old typewriters with poor or hardened rubber on the platen and rollers, which can allow the paper to slip a bit, or be inserted at a slight angle or on typewriters which don’t have paper guides, one can also use the line indicator to ensure the paper is level when inserted.
As a subtle paper and type alignment hint, most pica and elite machines will lay down type at six lines per inch, so one can use this fact along with the line setting of the carriage return to align the start of their page on either the fourth or the seventh single spaced line to give the page either a 1/2 inch or 1 inch top margin respectively.
Typewriter Rule Registration and Alignment
If you’re repairing or restoring a typewriter you generally want to properly register all the various typing rules on the machine so that they line up with each other. This can include rules on the back of the machine, the paper table, the front of the carriage, the line indicator, and the paper bail. Often one may be a permanent placement and not have adjustment capability in which case the others are aligned to it. Most of the rest of the rules will have oval screw holes which allow them to be shifted left/right to line them up and then screws to tighten them down. Alignment can be effectuated by putting a sheet of paper into the machine squarely and then using both edges of the paper to line up the same markings across all the rules.
The line indicator is one of the few rules that can also be adjusted up/down so that you can type out a line of HHHs or NNNs and adjust both sides so that you can level the line indicator to the baseline of the characters typed across the page to have everything level. It’s this careful alignment in the shop which will allow the professional typist to turn out the best quality material, particularly when it comes to typing out pre-printed forms.
Notice that the carriage rule shows 60 (out of a total of 140) while the paper bail rule reads 12. These rules are properly aligned, but the 0 on the paper bail rule corresponds to the center with 70 marks on either side for more easily centering text when necessary.The Royal HH has so many rules… but is still easy and joyful to use.
Older machines, particularly ones with manually set tab stops in the back of the machine to allow for accurately setting tabs, will have one or more rules hiding on the back of the machine. Be sure to account for these and adjust them properly as well.
Notice the oval slotted holes for attaching the screws on the tab rule on the back of this 1958 Olympia SM3. It takes some care to think about properly aligning this rule with the various versions on the front of the machine. Possibly because of the extra alignment work and materials involved in providing this rule and the fact that users probably didn’t actively use it, Olympia quit including it on models in late 1958.
Be aware that on some machines the design might sometimes allow two rules to coincide. As an example, the line indicator rule and the carriage ruler on the Underwood Touch Master 5 are the same rule.
The Underwood Touch Master 5 line indicator serves double duty as a carriage rule.
Hopefully now that you know about the subtle art of the line indicator and how it’s used, you’ll be able to better adjust your own typewriter and turn out more sophisticated looking pages.
Six slots for organizing your typing papers and envelopes as well as space for your stapler, tape dispenser, and various other desk drawer implements.
In an effort to slowly improve my analog office proficiency and productivity, I have heeded Lenore Fenton’s advice to have all my supplies organized at my fingertips. Toward that end I’ve picked up this excellent paper organizer for the top desk drawer of my executive tanker desk. This mid-century marvel is perfect for storing a variety of paper types and envelopes to have them easily to hand. (For ease of viewing and use, you’ll see photos of it sitting on my desktop right next to my typewriter.)
In the 1943 film Basic Typing Methods, in the very opening seconds of the film, you’ll see the woman in the foreground pulling paper quickly from her desk drawer for typing. While it’s not immediately visible, she’s surely got a similar paper organizer in her drawer. (Pardon the heavily gendered references in the film.)
Photo Gallery
Ultimately, the paper organizer came to live in the top drawer of my executive tanker desk.
Acquired at the local Acts Thrift shop for about $2.00, this organizer was a no-brainer purchase.
I regularly see writers (or their friends or significant others considering buying them presents) interested in purchasing their first typewriter as a (distraction-free) writing tool. Naturally, unless they grew up with them or have other direct experience, the primary questions are: how much are they?, which ones are the better professional tools?, and where can they get them?
Having written up some suggestions in the past as well as a bit about the state of the current typewriter market, I thought I’d put the two together for future queries as the broad advice doesn’t change very much. This article might also be generally useful for anyone considering their first typewriter, or even getting into typewriter collecting in general.
This won’t cover any of the electric typebar typewriters or the later wedge typewriters, thermal typewriters, or electronic word processors which are similar, but potentially different beasts and markets.
In the Typewriter Market Condition is King
When it comes to manual typewriters, condition is king and a big determinant of the overall price. Sadly this fact is wholly unknown by the vast majority of people selling the typewriter they found in grandma’s attic. Knowing this fact will arm you for a much better purchasing experience as well as when it comes down to actually using them.
Sure there are a small handful of very popular portable typewriters like the Hermes 3000 or the Olympia SM3 which can go for a few hundred dollars even in bad condition, but for the most part a reasonably solid typewriter can be had for $10-75.
Too many people will also use the useless word “rare” to describe their typewriter for sale. This really only applies to some of the earliest typewriters from before 1920 which broadly aren’t as available now. Almost everything made from the 1930s on was mass produced in the hundreds of thousands or even millions, so applying the word rare is silly. Some colors or typefaces may be uncommon, but they are not rare and it usually doesn’t take too long to find multiple versions of the same thing for sale. None of the recommendations suggested here would ever be considered rare or even uncommon by any standard.
Balance of Budget, Time, and Facility with Cleaning machines
Your first typewriter is sure to be the balance of several variables including your particular budget, the amount of time you want to invest finding and then potentially fixing up your machine, and the facility you may have (or not) for cleaning and potentially repairing your typewriter yourself. Self-repair is certainly doable and there are significant resources for helping out the novice, but it does take some time, patience, and a few tools. If, as a beginner, you think that cleaning and repairing your own machine is the best use of your time, go for it, but you may be opening up a can of worms that’s really not worth it.
Budget Range
I’ll split the typewriter space up into the budget ranges based on what the buyer may have for potentially spending on a typewriter. This is NOT a split of historical budget ranges indicating the quality of the typewriters themselves. For example, in its day, an Olympia SG3 would have been at the higher end of the typewriter market while the highly mass produced Brother JP-1 typewriters would have been considered budget models by comparison. Today, with careful shopping, you could foreseeably purchase both in equivalent condition for the same $25, though to the user, the Olympia SG3 will obviously be more performant particularly for longer typing sessions.
Low budget is $10-75. For this range, one can get a typewriter that is generally functional, but which assuredly needs to be cleaned, properly lubricated, and possibly adjusted. (Remember: lesser condition usually means lower price.) To stay within this range, you’re going to need to be both willing and able to do some basic cleaning and potentially minor repairs yourself.
This isn’t to say that you wouldn’t stumble across a near mint Olympia SM3 that you can pick up at a yard sale for $15 and it needs no work at all, but it won’t be an every day occurrence. You’ll likely need to invest some reasonable time in searching for such a thing.
Medium budget might be $76-349. In this range you should be able to acquire a reasonable machine which you might then take to a local repair shop to get a reasonable servicing and repair or adjust any issues your “new-to-you” typewriter may have. This range should cover the cost of the machine as well as the servicing in most cases. Most repair shops charge in the $40-75/hour range and can do some miracles in just a few hours.
High budget is generally in the $350-600 range and for this amount you should be receiving a vintage machine in good to excellent cosmetic condition which has been thoroughly cleaned, oiled, and adjusted. It should function as well as it possibly can for regular daily use.
It’s quite likely that you’ll currently find some solid value in this range as some repair shops will be selling machines like the Hermes 3000 in excellent shape while online auctions for them in dreadful shape are almost as expensive.
Beyond the high range, you’re going to be looking at more exotic machines which are much less common, which have had higher levels of restoration work (usually all the rubber replaced and the platens recovered), or which have less common typefaces (script, Vogue, Techno, Gothic, etc.). As this tends to be more rarified space of collectors or those with very specific tastes, I won’t delve deeper here.
Typewriter Recommendations
In another article, I’ve gone deeper into the difference between standard typewriters, portable typewriters, and ultraportable typewriters. In this section, I’ll focus primarily on recommendations for writers who are looking for one (or maybe two) high quality typewriters for regular (daily or weekly) and heavy (several hours a day) use. This means these machines will tend toward the higher end of quality and manufacturing in the middle of the 20th century at the peak of typewriter engineering and manufacturing from the 1930s into the 1970s.
While some of these recommendations may be useful to collectors, there is such a much wider space of collectible typewriters and reasons for collecting them, that such an analysis is a much bigger topic. For those just dipping their feet into the world of collecting, I’ll recommend Richard Polt’s excellent book The Typewriter Revolution (Countryman Press, 2015).
Standard Typewriters
If you’re a serious writer, you’re sure to find a smoother and better experience with a standard typewriter, but they’re slightly larger and heavier (~30 pounds vs. ~15-22 pounds) than the portables. The benefit is that they almost always have the broadest range of features that a writer will ever need. These are usually the ones I recommend if you’re typing for several hours on end and have a dedicated space for your writing. Standards aren’t as popular with most collectors, so they also tend to be less expensive as a general rule.
For longer writing sessions, one of the additional subtle reasons to use a standard machine is that its larger size will take up more of your field of view. This can tend to help hold your attention for longer periods of time and aid in reducing distractions, which is often one of the reasons writers prefer composing on typewriters over computers.
I personally really love my fully restored Royal KMG, Royal HH, and Royal FP, as well as my Olympia SG3, my Remington Standard, Remington Super-Riter, and Remington 17 which are all rock solid writing machines. I’m still on the hunt for an Olympia SG1, which many collectors consider to be one of the best typewriters ever manufactured.
Here are some of the other more common standards for serious writers to consider by a knowledgeable restorer:
Portable Typewriters
I’d generally endorse most of the advice on the lighter, portable models you’ll find in the following resources. They are geared specifically toward writers, and all three have lots experience and reasonable bona fides to make such recommendations.
In this space, you may want to take some care for the particular models you consider as not all of them will have features like a tabulator (tab stops) to make indenting text easier, especially if you’re a screenwriter or playwright who needs this sort of functionality every few lines. (A tab button on the keyboard is a solid enough indicator that a machine has this functionality.)
Among the most commonly recommended portable typewriters are the Olympia SM2, SM3, and SM4 (all very similar, but slightly different in their tabulator functionality or lack thereof in the case of the SM2), Hermes 3000, Olympia SM7, Olympia SM9, the Smith-Corona Super and Smith-Corona Silent Super (5 Series machines), the Adler Tippa and Tippa S, the Royal Quiet De Luxe, and the Remington Quiet-Riter.
Ultraportable typewriters
While these can be interesting and pretty as well as easy to carry, most serious writers are not going to love typing on them for extended periods. They might be a nice secondary machine for traveling around and getting something done, but I wouldn’t recommend one as a first or second machine for most writers.
Typewriters you assuredly don’t want
Many newcomers will ask if a particular typewriter is a “bad” one or is generally known to have problems (aka a “lemon”). This is usually folly as most typewriters built into the 1980s were generally solid and not just meant to last, but were built to be repaired. Naturally the ones built of steel in the 50s-60s will be the most sturdy and the aesthetics will vary dramatically over the decades.
The one major caveat you’ll hear from almost any typewriter enthusiast and collector is to warn people against purchasing one of the brand new Shanghai Weilv Mechanism Company typewriters which variously go under the names: Rover, the Royal Epoch, We R Memory Keepers, Royal Classic, Maplefield, and The Oliver Typewriter Company. I’ve written about these manual typewriters elsewhere and included some reviews and things to know about and be wary of if you’re planning on buying something new instead of something either vintage or antique (over 100 years old). Professional writers will abhor these machines.
Where to buy a typewriter?
Repair shops
Your very best bet for a first typewriter (and even subsequent ones) is to go to a repair shop that also sells machines. Doing this will give you the chance to put your hands on them, try them out, ask lots of questions, then buy your favorite from a variety of machines. Your shopping time is worth money and productivity, so buy something you like out of the gate and you’ll save a lot in the long run. You’ll probably be happier and better off in the long run with something in the $200-600 range serviced from a repair shop. It will also give you something you can start using right away to get work done rather than faffing about with cleaning or potential small repairs, which can take up valuable time for the new and uninitiated.
There are a variety of online shops, many associated with repair shops, as well as individual sellers and antique stores that sell typewriters on independent websites. These can be particularly good as they’ll often have a level of expertise and experience in cleaning, repairing, restoring, and shipping typewriters.
I personally don’t have direct experience with any that I would specifically recommend, but they’re definitely out there and are usually marked by providing an abundance of photos and useful information about their wares.
Online Auctions and Sales Sites
An important caveat: The vast majority of sellers in the typewriter market with machines in the $40-300 range have exactly as much knowledge about them as you probably do (which for the non-collector/non-repair shop audience is to say little to none), so be incredibly wary of accepting claims that “it works” or “it just needs a new ribbon” without video and photographic proof. Most are pricing their less-than-stellar typewriters based on the higher prices repair shops are selling their best serviced machines for. Don’t fall victim to this ubiquitous ruse because the seller doesn’t know better.
In this segment of the market you’ll find a huge range of potential sellers from some incredibly professional typewriter repair and restoration specialists who deal primarily online to clearing house thrift stores all the way down to typewriter flippers (those who buy a dusty, half-functioning typewriter at a yard sale for $5 and then list it on Etsy for a 1000% markup without doing any additional work) who use AI to write flashy, nostalgic descriptions of typewriters that bear no resemblance of the particular machine they’re selling and then to your neighborhood gadfly trying to sell grandma’s vintage 1950’s Smith-Corona Silent as a $3,000 antique because he “knows what he’s got” yet somehow misstates the date of manufacture as well as the model. (And if you happen to be reading this Marvin, no typewriter on the planet has the serial number H123456L, that’s the setting indicator for the touch control functionality.)
This means you might spend some time checking out how specialized the particular seller is in typewriters by looking at their past sales. Do they only sell typewriters, do they sell lots of things, or are they new accounts with only one item? The best ones will have lots of good photos of machines and cases from a variety of angles including close ups of the typeslugs, typesamples of the machine’s output, and even video of the machine in use. Serious typewriter sales people will list the serial numbers and the dates of manufacture, though many less serious sellers and “typewriter flippers” will have posted their machines to an online forum to crowdsource this information which they wouldn’t otherwise have.
This segment most deserves the warning: caveat emptor (buyer beware). If someone is selling a $500 machine that “works” without any proof and who says it “just needs new ribbon” (a simple purchase of $10 or less) hopefully shouldn’t be fooling anyone but themselves, yet I know it happens.
Facebook Marketplace is almost always local individuals, but can also include some pro shops from time to time. Prices can often be 2-3x what they ought to be, but you can visit machines in person, try them out, and negotiate things down based on the actual condition.
Craigslist.com is a reasonable space and often very much like Facebook Marketplace with a poorer UI.
eBay is an online auction space where some very professional repair people auction off their work along with thrift stores, antique stores, and the general public. It requires a bit of due diligence to suss out what’s being offered and the condition, but usually doesn’t allow the ability to actually test out the machine and see the exact condition first hand. There is a bit of protection if the shipped product doesn’t live up to the hype. Be careful of inexpensive “buy now” listings with exorbitant shipping prices in the $100+ range.
Etsy can have some excellent listings from a range of sellers, but it also tends toward the more expensive pricing end of the spectrum for what you end up receiving. Again, you can’t try before you buy here.
Offerup is a broad platform similar to Marketplace and Craigslist with some reasonable listings. Sadly some of the listings can be old and out of date or the seller is no longer paying attention to their account.
ShopGoodwill.com is a platform run by Goodwill that usually has a wide variety of dozens of machines every day from across the country. In addition to not being able to try before you buy, it can be very hit or miss to attempt to judge a machine’s condition solely on just a few photos. The level of expertise on typewriters is generally abysmally low here, so the level of detail about the machines for the non-expert is equally low and the packaging and shipment can be a problem in 10-20% of orders. This being said, one can get some excellent deals on standards on a regular basis in the $10-30 range and portables in the $30-60 range, particularly if you purchase from a local Goodwill that will allow the arrangement of an in-person pick up. This gets around $20-50 shipping fees and the potentiality of damage in shipping. Some of the higher end portables like the Olympia SM3 will go for $120 in unknown condition while the Hermes 3000 can go for $250 or more. At these rates, you’re far more likely to get better value by buying at a local repair shop.
Surely there are many other online options not listed here. I’m sure people will mention a few with caveats and reviews in the comments.
Yard Sales & Estate Sales
You can find some really great machines at yard sales and estate sales, but the trade off is the time and effort you need to invest in searching for them, particularly if you have an idea of something specific you’re looking for. Here you’re trading the cheapness of a working $10-20 machine for a lot of searching time. Naturally this option probably isn’t the best one to take if you’re getting a typewriter as a gift for someone’s birthday this weekend. You’ll want to plan ahead and give yourself several weeks or months to hunt around for the right thing.
Sometimes sellers will think their machines are more valuable, but usually the $50-100+ machines can be negotiated down to a more reasonable $5-25 range. Usually if it’s out, it’s something they want to sell or get rid of.
With this route you can also directly put your hands on machines and at least test things out pretty thoroughly before committing to buying. If something is dirty or broken, you’ll see that pretty quickly compared to attempting to buy something poorly listed online. Be sure to bring your own paper and maybe even ribbon for testing if this is what you’re shopping for.
Thrift Stores and Antique Stores
These can be a great source for inexpensive and functional machines. Depending on the outlet, Antique stores will have a somewhat larger markup and won’t negotiate down as much as they ought to.
Type-ins
While in person type-ins aren’t terribly frequent, they can be great places to meet other typewriter afficionados and get the chance to try out others’ machines to see what sort of typewriter feels best to you. It’s not uncommon for participants to buy, sell, and trade typewriters at these events.
Typewriter Service
Beyond the basic regular maintenance of keeping dust out of your machine and occasionally changing your ribbon, you may require the service of a professional shop for your initial purchase. This can be a relatively quick and inexpensive way to bring a machine up to fighting shape after decades of dusty disuse. It also does a lot more to support the broader art and craft of repair and the typewriter community.
If you’re handy and have even a bit of a mechanical bent, you can take advantage of a wide variety of online repair manuals [1][2] and cleaning advice, repair resources and advice including a huge number of YouTube tutorials for almost every typewriter out there. Doing this can be incredibly cost effective, but it always helps to have a relationship with your local shop for potential repair parts or maybe even a loaner if you need one.
If nothing else, it can also be inspiring as writer (or if you’re giving it as a gift) for the new typewriter’s owner to have an idea of other writers who have used that machine in the past.
As an example, I find it inspiring that the Royal KMG I use regularly was manufactured from 1949-1952, and was known to have also been used by writers including Saul Bellow, Edward Abbey, Joan Didion, Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, Mister Rogers, Rod Sterling, Carl Reiner, Grace Metalious, Wallace Stenger, John Ashbery, and George Sheehan.
For the first time buyer, particularly with time constraints, it may seem like shipping a great looking machine is an excellent idea for the pittance of $20-40. Poor packaging of typewriters by untrained or ill-educated online shops is one of the leading deaths of typewriters. Even reasonably well packed machines can be dramatically damaged in shipment, so unless you’re purchasing from a shop that has lots of experience in shipping typewriters, save the money and hassle and buy something locally that you can pick up.
If you want to go deeper into the world of typewriters, collecting, using, repairing or even talking about them, I keep a list of useful typewriter resources.
Questions?
Hopefully this has been a reasonably thorough precis of all the things I wish I had known before buying my first typewriter and encapsulates a lot of basic typewriter knowledge I’ve accumulated throughout the first fifty machines spanning my typewriter collection. If you have additional questions, feel free to ask below.
In the meanwhile, just jump in and start looking around. Good luck and happy hunting!
True Wednesdaycore: Even Wednesday Addams is checking out my Corona flat top! Hey Thing! Wanna come over and type with me?
On Wednesday the 6th, I finished up most of the rest of the clean/oil/adjust of my new (to me) 1971 Olympia SG-3 standard typewriter. The carriage was probably more involved than the main body, though the main body seems to have made the most difference to have been cleaned out.
Surely there will be a few subtle adjustments I’ll continue to make as I use it over the coming days and put it thought its paces, but it’s definitely ready for prime time use now.
While it functions much better now, its action isn’t nearly as fast as some of my other standards. Somehow it manages to be more ponderous, though some of it may be the tremendous size of the 6 CPI typeface. Maybe increasing the tension on the mainspring will help out here, particularly with the oversized platen.
While I love having a larger face typewriter, I can already tell that I’m likely not going to be using this one as frequently as I do my elite and pica machines with more traditional typeface sizes. It sure is fun using it though. I can tell it’ll be a hit at the next local type-in.
I’m including some revised photos of it to compare with the previous “before” photos.
