Acquired 1957 Royal FP Standard Typewriter (Royal-McBee Corporation)
Serial number: FPP-6164099
Standard platen, pica typeface, in Royaltone or Pearl Light Gray smooth
Received in generally workable shape, though without ribbon; definitely dirty; internal foam disintegrating; brights are going to need a load of polish; temporary photos to provide some idea of condition until I get the chance to clean it up.

My wide carriage 1958 FPE was so nice I thought I’d try out the larger face in a more traditional carriage.

Close up of the US style cream colored keys on a 1957 Royal FP standard typewriter

The hood and carriage of a 1957 Royal FP standard typewriter

Dirty typebasket and filthy slugs of a 1957 Royal FP standard typewriter.

Left ribbon cup and serial number of a 1957 Royal FP standard typewriter

Side view of a pearl gray 1957 Royal FP standard typewriter with a cream colored carriage knob.

The dirty undercarriage of a 1957 Royal FP standard typewriter

Acquired 1964 Olympia SM9 Portable Typewriter by Olympia Werke AG, Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Serial number: 2613754
Congress Elite No. 84 typeface, 11 CPI (2.3 m/m)
In what I may call the Academy 97 typewriter because I received it on the day of the 97th Annual Academy Awards on March 2nd, I’ve acquired my first SM9.

It’s a solid looking machine aside from some small damage to the rivets at the back of the case, some paint wear on the hood from a too-low carriage return arm, and some dried out and cracked rubber feet. Even the ribbon seems usable. It’s hiding a Congress Elite No. 84 font at 11 CPI (2.3 m/m). Someone both used and loved this machine and even put it away last with clean slugs. This should be imminently restorable to it’s former glory.

Given how sought after these are as one of the best portables ever made and the generally excellent condition, I can’t bring myself to tell the pittance I found it for, particularly when I see ones in mediocre or unknown shape going for over $100 on many of the auction sites lately. Given how 2025 has been going so far, I’ll gratefully take the win. Naturally it’ll be a minute before I can clean it up properly, but I can already tell this will be a fun little machine. I can’t wait to do a direct comparison with it’s carriage shifted SM3 “little brother”.

I’ve uploaded some preliminary photos of it in its received condition including one of the bottom to show the “furriness” of the pre-serviced condition.

Oblique angle on the left side of a 1964 Olympia SM9 typewriter which has some carriage return handle wear on the cream colored hood.

Close up of the steel slugs of a 1964 Olympia SM9 typewriter which are marked in a 2x2 grid with 84 in the bottom left corner and 6,6 in the bottom right

Dusty bottom of a 1964 Olympia SM9 typewriter which has a worn and cracked light green foot and the serial number 2613754

Type sample of a 1964 Olympia SM9 typewriter with Congress Elite No. 84 typeface in 11 pitch. The usual Quick Brown Fox sentence and lower case and upper case layouts of the US standard keyboard

Sitting on a wooden card catalog is a 1964 Olympia SM9 typewriter with cream hood and keys and gray body. The shift keys and carriage knobs have the same green highlight color as the Olympia badge on the hood of the typewriter.

Read Peter Elbow, Professor Who Transformed Freshman Comp, Dies at 89 by Michael S. RosenwaldMichael S. Rosenwald (New York Times)
His struggles with writer’s block led him to create a process that favored an expressive, personal approach over rigid academic conventions that often stifled students.
For those interested in writing methods, Peter Elbow’s work can be seen as an interesting shift in pedagogy from the 1970s. Interestingly it relies on pieces of practices pre-dating him which inform commonplace book and related zettelkasten methods. 

For my own files, from the obituary, it looks like he was using an IBM Selectric I in some of his early work.

Learning Typewriter Maintenance and Repair

So you want to be a typewriter mechanic? 

As some typewriter collectors have realized there is a typewriter revolution going on out there. This means that there’s a growing need for people who can clean, maintain, repair, and restore typewriters. If this sounds like something you’re interested in doing, there are a huge number of resources out there that you can tap into to figure out how to do all of this work on your own. 

I’ve been wrenching on my own typewriters for several years and gotten deeper into the hobby over the past six months, so I thought I’d do a brain dump and outline some of the basic resources for those who are interested either in fixing up their own machines or potentially considering starting a repair shop.

Crash course on typewriter maintenance and repair

A list of resources and references for the budding typewriter repair person. There is a lot here that I’ve compiled and consumed, so don’t be overwhelmed. Half the battle is figuring out where to find all these things, so if nothing else, this should shave off a month or two of reading and researching.

Basic Introductory Material

Get a notebook and be ready to take some notes so you’ll remember where you found the random information you’re bound to pick up over time and are able to occasionally review it.

First watch this video on how a mechanical typewriter works. While it’s specific to the early Underwoods, the general mechanisms on almost all other typewriters are broadly similar.

Work your way through Sarah Everett’s excellent Typewriter 101 videos (at least the first five).

Read Richard Polt’s book which is a great overview to the general space:  

Polt, Richard. The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist’s Companion for the 21st Century. 1st ed. Woodstock, VT: Countryman Press, 2015.

Next watch the documentary California Typewriter (Gravitas Pictures, 2016). It has some interesting subtle material hiding within it, but it will give you a good idea of where you’re headed off to. [YouTube copy; Archive.org copy]

Get a machine (or four) you can practice on. Get a flat head screwdriver and maybe a small adjustable wrench. Buy some mineral spirits and a small headed toothbrush and clean out your first machine. Buy some light sewing machine oil and try oiling it. Search YouTube for videos about how to repair anything that may be wrong with it. Usually 98% of the issues with most typewriters these days is that they need to be cleaned out.

Repair Manuals

Create an account on The Typewriter Database which will give you some additional access to catalogs, manuals, and dealer catalogs beyond what is available without an account.

If you intend to buy a bunch of these, you can get a discount by being a member of Ted Munk’s Patreon site. His personal website also has a plethora of ephemera that is often useful.

Richard Polt’s list of free service manuals and books also includes some correspondence course typewriter repair classes which are meant for the self-taught. Most typewriters are very similar so picking a good generic text that covers the basics is the best place to start before branching out to specific repair manuals for particular models.

Tools

In rough order of increasing complexity:

Tools can be expensive, so start out small with just a few things and expand as you need them. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish with a single thin bladed flathead screwdriver, an adjustable wrench, a rag, a bottle of Simple Green cleaning solution, and a bottle of isopropyl alcohol. Most people probably already have these tools at home.

Videos

Subscribe to and become acquainted with YouTube channels like the following:

While watching a variety of videos is great, as you’re doing specific repairs search YouTube and you’re likely to find full demos of the repairs you’re doing yourself. This is where having a solid knowledge of typewriter parts and terminology can be useful. Almost every typewriter manual ever written has a diagram with the parts labeled. Hints for a Happy Typewriter has a pretty good set of typewriter terms to get you started.

I’ve compiled a playlist of videos for repair of an Olympia SM3 which, while specific to the SM3, is a an excellent outline/overview of how to disassemble a portable typewriter, where many of the adjustment points are as well as an outline of the order to do them in.

United States Navy Training Films

If you’re not a good typist or don’t have experience in the area, try out some of the following short films which will also provide some useful historical perspective:

The good news is that historically very few typewriter mechanics were also touch typists, but you should still be able to hunt and peck and understand the needs of your customers.

Internships & Apprenticeships

If you have the time and flexibility try arranging an internship or apprenticeship with a local typewriter repair shop. Meet your local repair people even if you can’t spend the time on an internship. You’ll learn a lot and create relationships with businesses who will more easily swap/supply you with machines they’re parting out or access to tools which may otherwise be difficult to source.

If you’re all-in, maybe you might try the Philly Typewriter Trade School?

Visiting type-ins can be a great way to meet people and discuss typewriter repair as well as see tools and other machines on your journey.

Podcasts

Some useful Bibliography

Good luck on your journey!

Acquired 1945 Remington 17 Standard Typewriter (Remington Rand, Inc.)
Serial Number: J732492 from October 1945
Pica typeface
When I was interested in getting my first standard typewriter last year, Ruben Flores immediately recommended I get a Remington 17. While I’ve picked up a handful of other standards in the meanwhile, I’ve kept my eyes peeled. I just couldn’t let this $21 beauty slip by. If my 1956 Remington Standard is any indication, this should be a fun machine to play with.

This got delivered on the 21st, but I hadn’t had a chance to take a look at it until today. It’s not in terrible cosmetic shape, but has definitely been collecting dust and cob webs for a few decades. It seems to be in reasonable mechanical shape. There is a sticky key or two that will need either some cleaning and/or forming. The carriage is going to need some serious cleaning and possible adjustment to slide cleanly. The mainspring probably needs some tightening, but I won’t be able to tell properly until the machine is cleaned up. Some of the internal felt portions will also need some re-gluing. Beyond this, this 80 year old typewriter should come roaring back to life sometime soon. (The recent Eaton Fire means it may take a bit longer to address the underlying issues as my tools and “shop” are quarantined / uninhabitable.)

I’ve uploaded a few “before” photos for general identification, but will update in the near future with some better ones post-cleaning and adjustment.

Angles view of the right side of a 1945 Remington 17 typewriter which has a kidney shaped hole in the hood

The dirty typebasket and slugs of a Remington 17 typewriter

View of the rear of a Remington 17 typewriter with the back panel opened up and hanging from two hinges at the bottom. We can see the dirty internals of the machine along with lots of dust and cobwebs.

View of the undercarriage of a Remington 17 typewriter covered in cobwebs and dirt.

The Serial number J732492 is stamped into grooved steel on the frame of a Remington 17 typewriter

Typewriter Market: It may be better if you didn’t get an Olympia SM3 typewriter today

I’m not out to shame people for their purchases, just to caution uninitiated typewriter purchasers and budding collectors who aren’t carefully watching the market.

Olympia SM3s are well-touted and excellent typewriters. They’ve recently been selling on ShopGoodwill in unknown condition for $120-150 based only on photos.

Earlier today, an Olympia SM3 sold for $334! So what gives? Why did this go for over twice as much as the average? To the uninitiated, the seasoned collector can look at this machine carefully and realize that even without seeing a type sample or a close up photo of the slugs that this machine is quietly hiding a script typeface of some kind. This means that two bidders would have paid an almost $200 premium for a script typeface, and one of them managed to snipe it for $1 with minutes left. Generally I see script machines going for $100-150 over similar machines without script.

Sadly, the high price on this machine earlier in the day may have suckered others into thinking these machines are significantly more valuable as it seems two other Olympia SM3s right after it both went for:

  • $202.03 https://shopgoodwill.com/item/222707079
  • $202.03 https://shopgoodwill.com/item/222546519

And they were bid over 200 by the same two people while the “smarter” money stopped with bids at $137 on both.

Of course, neither of these later two machines have a script face, but at least two bidders were potentially reeled in by the much higher sales price of the script machine earlier in the day. This means that they’ve overpaid at least $50 above market for each, possibly thinking that they may have gotten a great deal. Sadly they didn’t, they just overpaid the market average. The person who was sniped on both managed to save themselves $100+ today because I imagine they’ll be able to get equivalent machines in the coming month for closer to under $150.

Incidentally another later Olympia portable (usually in the $75-120 range) earlier in the day went for a more reasonable $232 with a stated/photographed cursive typeface. This one was a stronger deal in the current market as they only paid about $110 above average for that machine to get the script typeface. The tough part is that because the description stated “cursive”, they didn’t have the benefit of possibly picking up a script machine with less competition.

While this is an interesting microcosm example of the current (overheated?) typewriter market (at least in the US), I hope all the buyers of these machines enjoy their purchases. If they’re your first Olympias, and they need some work to get back to fighting shape, I’ve put together a guide.

Acquired 1958 Royal FP typewriter
Serial Number: FPE-16-66444461
16" platen, elite typeface, in Royaltone or Pearl Light Gray smooth
I’ve been wanting to score an FP for a long time. Well shipped and in generally functional shape. My first typewriter of 2025 and the first since the Eaton Fire. 

 

Quoted The Parable of the Sower by Octavia ButlerOctavia Butler
Saturday, February 1, 2025

WE HAD A FIRE TODAY.
As a 50 year old with a 13 year old daughter living in Octavia Butler’s neighborhood of Altadena, CA, it was eerie when I re-read The Parable of the Sower last summer. Today following the devastating Eaton Fire, the opening of chapter four just doubles down on the dystopia in which we’re living.