Aggregated Resources and Playlist for a Crash Course on the Olympia SM3 Portable Typewriter

I got a 1958 Olympia SM3 De Luxe typewriter in a gray crinkle finish for my birthday. Naturally I’ve been doing some research and working on cleaning it up for regular use.

Along the way I’ve been aggregating some related Olympia SM3 (and other SM family) resources and videos which include several on use, a few comparing them to other machines (for those considering buying them), and a variety on taking them apart and adjusting them to peak performance including doing rack, ring & cylinder, on feet, motion, silent return spring, trip timing, and spacebar adjustments. 

A green crinkle painted Olympia SM3 with chrome highlights, green plastic keys, and a greenish-brown space bar sits on a sun dappled table next to a small potted plant. Off to the side are a small notebook, mechanical pencil and green coffee mug creating a very cozy morning atmosphere.

Olympia SM series typewriter Identification

First a note on the name. The SM designator is an abbreviation for the German Schreibmaschine Mittelgroß which translates as medium-sized typewriter (portable). This stands in comparison with Olympia’s SG series which stands for Schreibmaschine Groß meaning large typewriter (standard) and the SF series which stands for Schreibmaschine Flach or flat typewriter (ultraportable) .

Olympia typewriters are often identified with clear badging as to their make, but almost never have a model number listed on the typewriter itself. Originally identification was only done with the inclusion of a typewriter manual which listed the model name on the front of the brochure. Sadly, after decades of use, as with most typewriter manuals, it has frequently gone missing. This means that owners and collectors will typically need to be able to visually distinguish between the various models which can often be missing from online sales listings. How is one able to identify which model their Olympia typewriter is?

The best method is often to compare your typewriter against the examples of typewriters on the Typewriter Database, which, in addition to a primary page for all Olympia typewriters and their serial numbers, has individual pages for each machine with a wide variety of galleries of individual machines, viz.: SM1, SM2, SM3, SM4, SM5, SM7, SM8, SM9

Differentiating the Olympia SM2, Olympia SM3, and Olympia SM4

The primary means of distinguishing between the SM2, SM3, and SM4 is the tabulator functionality or lack thereof. The Olympia SM2 doesn’t have a tabulator at all, so you won’t see the ability to set or remove tabs or a tab key on the keyboard. The SM3 has its tab sets on the back of the machine and a simple tab key on the top right hand side of the keyboard. Finally, the SM4 has tab set and clear keys on either side of the spacebar and the tab key in the same spot as the SM3. While there are other subtle differences between the three, which also showed small changes throughout the years they were made, the visual presence or absence of the tabs and their keys is the primary distinguishing feature that most collectors use to properly identify and distinguish among the three.

Most typically the Olympia SM3 typewriter came with a futuristic looking, curvy shaped silver case with a plastic strap handle while the SM2 and SM4 came rectangular cases. There are definitely diversions from this rule of thumb, but it generally holds true which usually allows one to identify an SM3 simply from the shape of its case. Incidentally those restoring broken cases may find it interesting to know that the silver paint is often hiding some spectacularly beautiful grained wood

Be aware that the various models of the SM series were manufactured simultaneously and their serial numbers ran concurrently, so the serial numbers can’t be used to distinguish between them. Doing so requires looking at the variations of features and visual cues which are generally well documented on the Typewriter Database.

Differentiating the Olympia SM5, Olympia SM7, Olympia SM8, and Olympia SM9

The SM5 and SM7 were introduced at the same time in 1961 and are very similar to the internals of the SM4 mechanically. The SM5 was a less expensive model and the SM7 had a newer and more angular body.

The SM8 and SM9 were introduced in 1964. A primary change here is that they have a segment shift instead of the carriage shift of the earlier SM models. The SM8 is lacking both a keyset tabulator and touch selector which were standard on the higher end SM9. The SM8 also has body-colored carriage ends, rather than chromed ends used on the SM9.

Frontal view of a 1964 Olympia SM9 typewriter sitting on an oak library card catalog.
Example of a 1964 Olympia SM9 typewriter

Olympia SM3 Video Playlist

I’ve aggregated a variety of YouTube videos covering the Olympia SM3 typewriter as a playlist which cover general use as well as tear down, common repairs, adjustments, and reassembly.  They appear in rough order of introductory to more advanced as well as in order of adjustments. Because of similarities across the SM line, these should serve as a good guide for other machines, though quick searches for specific models may reveal more relevant advice, particularly when it comes to small differences across the line (the shift from carriage shift to segment shift in the SM8/SM9 comes quickly to mind here.)

The only significant piece missing in the series is for cleaning them, but that’s remedied with an endless variety of videos (including one of my favorites) and advice from Richard Polt on restoration. I’ve also aggregated a large amount of advice on cleaning and oiling typewriters.

Special thanks should go to Duane Jensen of Phoenix Typewriter and Gerren Balch of The HotRod Typewriter Co. for the bulk of the work in creating and generating most of these videos. 

Surely there are other excellent videos out there, but this list makes a pretty solid crash course which can be used as a jumping off point.

Olympia SM3 Rubber Bushings Replacement

If you’ve just purchased your first SM3 or SM4, you’ll want to be aware of the number one most common issue these machines have: the rubber bushings on the bottom have been compressed after years of pressure and will need to be replaced.

Visually looking at them is usually enough to diagnose the issue, but the problem usually presents as the carriage sitting noticeably lower than it should so that it rubs against the body of the typewriter and/or doesn’t move freely. Some people will notice that typing in lower case is troublesome, but that typing in uppercase doesn’t present any issues. Often these rubber spacers have been compressed and have hardened. In less lucky cases, (usually only) the rear bushings have turned into black tar, so you’ll want to take care to keep this tar off of anything nearby as it’s incredibly sticky and difficult to clean. It can definitely stain the case and/or the machine itself.

Fortunately the repair only requires some readily available generic rubber washers and a screwdriver to replace them. This is one of the quickest and easiest typewriter repairs to start off with and can be a good confidence booster. Incidentally appropriate washers should be approximately 1/4″ thick, large enough in diameter to provide some cushion and with a hole big enough to fit the screw that holds the frame on. Your plumbers’ section at the local hardware store likely sells something appropriate. I’ve used Everbilt 1/4″ thick flat bibb washers with 1/2″ or 9/16″ OD. Others have reported good luck with Danco 1/2 rubber washer Universal (item #198804, model #88569) — 00 trade size with 1/2″ OD and 3/16″ ID.

Olympia SM Series Usage and Repair Manuals

Along with other typewriter manuals collected by Richard Polt, he’s got manuals for the Olympia SM3 in both English and German. Manuals for most of the rest of the series are available on his site as well.

And for the completist, you’ll naturally want copies of the repair manuals via Theodore Munk: [paperback] [digital]. There are also downloadable versions of a 1955 repair manual and a 1959 Spare Parts and Price List Catalog available.

Hopefully this aggregated list of resources will help the next Olympia typewriter enthusiast who finds one in grandma’s basement or who wants to kick off a writing career following in the footsteps of fellow SM3 typists including John Updike, Woody Allen, Frank Herbert, Patricia Highsmith, Robert Penn Warren, Harlan Ellison, Carson McCullers, John Hughes, Louis L’ Amour, William Gaddis, Stan Laurel, Ryan Adams, Ruskin Bond, Evan S. Connell, Kevin McGowin, or Anaïs Nin.

If I’ve missed any truly important resources, please do let me know. 

Cheers!

A light gray Olympia SM3 De Luxe typewriter on a wooden table next to a highball glass of Penderyn whisky. In the background we can see a library card catalog.

[[wikilinks]] and #hashtags as a portal to cross site search

[[wikilinks]] and could act as snippets for custom searches on various platforms. I’d like to be able to either click on a link or possibly right click and be presented with the ability to search that term (or nearby terms) on a variety of different platforms or trusted websites. This could be a useful form of personal search that allows me to find things within a much smaller space of knowledge I’m aware of. Sometimes the serendipity from the wisdom of the crowd via major search engines like Google, DuckDuckGo, or Bing may suffice, but shouldn’t I be able to more easily search a trusted personal group of hand curated sources?

Platforms like Wikipedia and Twitter already have these patterns as links to resources within themselves, but why couldn’t/shouldn’t a browser or browser plugin allow me an option when clicking on them to go to other resources outside of the expected (narrow) search provided? Perhaps I’m in my own wiki and a redlink [[wikilink]] obviously doesn’t exist on my site. Why shouldn’t I be able to click on it to go to another source like Wikipedia to find it?

These search resources can still be larger platforms like Google, Wikipedia, and Twitter, but could be subspecialized to include Twitter users I follow, smaller wikis I use (including my own), websites of people I follow in my feed reader or social reader (by searching on categories/tags or even broad text search). I should be able to easily define a multitude of resources for each custom search using common standards. This affordability could give me a much more refined and trusted set of search results, particularly in a post-fact society.

One could go further still and highlight a word or words on one’s browser screen and use these as a custom search query.

If built properly, I ought to be able to create “playlists” of sites and resources to search for myself and be able to share these with other friends, family, and colleagues who may trust those sources as well.

I’m curious what others think of this idea. What should the UI look like to make it clear and easy to use? What other things might one want to search on beyond plain text, hashtags, and wikilinks? Am I missing anything? What downsides or social ills might this pattern potentially entail?

Read The Evolving Exhibition of Us: A Decade of Sharing Pictures Online : Adjacent Issue 6 by Summer Bedard (itp.nyu.edu)
A deep examination and self-reflection on photo sharing of the last decade, Summer Bedard’s article looks at how the previously intimate, cumbersome experience has morphed into the edited, contrived perfection found on Instagram.

The explosion of people, marked a shift from having a community to having an audience. This ultimately changed the mental model of what gets posted. People act differently in their living room than they do on stage. They may feel more vulnerable and guarded. You’re sharing with a community, but working for an audience.

–November 28, 2019 at 09:42PM

I would love to see a future where enjoying photos becomes more like enjoying music. Spotify gives you an easy way to consider options by assessing your mood and putting together an appropriate playlist that feels personal. We could do the same for images. Can you imagine opening Spotify and having it blast a random song immediately? Our current Instagram home screen is the visual equivalent of a playlist mashup of country, classical, techno, hip hop, and polka. 

I like the idea of this. Can someone build it please?
–November 28, 2019 at 09:46PM

What if you could use AI to control the content in your feed? Dialing up or down whatever is most useful to you. If I’m on a budget, maybe I don’t want to see photos of friends on extravagant vacations. Or, if I’m trying to pay more attention to my health, encourage me with lots of salads and exercise photos. If I recently broke up with somebody, happy couple photos probably aren’t going to help in the healing process. Why can’t I have control over it all, without having to unfollow anyone. Or, opening endless accounts to separate feeds by topic. And if I want to risk seeing everything, or spend a week replacing my usual feed with images from a different culture, country, or belief system, couldn’t I do that, too? 

Some great blue sky ideas here.
–November 28, 2019 at 09:48PM

Replied to a post by Amanda RushAmanda Rush (Amanda Unvarnished)
Initially I subscribed to someone else’s Harry Potter film scores playlist on Spotify, but today I decided to make my own. I did this because I wanted to include the bonus tracks from the original scores as well as the scores for Cursed child and the two Fantastic Beasts movies.
You left the most important part of your post out: the link to your newly compiled playlist! Please forward it along if you could. 🙂

🔖 Domains 2019: Back to the Future | YouTube

Bookmarked Youtube Playlist for Domains 2019: Back to the Future (YouTube)
The Domains 2019 conference was held in Durham, North Carolina on June 10-11, 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpK5svzslv8qi8YZjqJqKS2hLEGwnUPF0