Tag: Royal FP

1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter Restoration

During my evacuation from the Eaton Fires, I picked up this 1957 Royal FPP on March 5, 2025, for $31.00. Apparently it had been previously owned by Luke Legg. While it was in somewhat workable shape, it needed a massive clean out. It may be one of the dirtiest machines I’ve cleaned up so far. I definitely wished I had an ultrasonic cleaner in my arsenal to help speed this one along. Research on that front has already begun in earnest. 

To help this machine along to recovery, I did use a similar 1958 Royal FPP with the cameo pink smooth colorway which may end up being a parts machine due to a broken portion of frame and what I’m suspecting to be some serious escapement issues. I pulled off a few pieces including the colored body panels, some e-clips, a few springs, and the carriage return assembly which was in better condition on the donor machine.

After a day and a half of clean up work, a light oiling, and some fine tuning adjustments, this can now enter my regular rotation of restored machines. Since I’ve got a few Royal platens and this one’s is too hard, I’m planning on sending it out for recovery. The rubber gaskets and feet are in excellent condition, so I don’t need to swap them out. 

The internal felt was desiccated and crumbling to dust, so I’ve removed it completely. I’m considering whether or not I should replace it with some felt.

I’ve got two other Royal FPs including two in elite, one of which has a Clarion double gothic typeface. This one is obviously in pica and I’ve temporarily spooled it up with some pink ribbon. Given that I’ve got about fifteen standard machines now, I may be rehoming a few of the restored machines soon. While this one is solid, the fact that it’s pica and my favorites tend to be elite may mean this is one of them…

Medium hero shot of a cameo pink 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter on a library card catalog with a small vase of pink flowers

Typeface sample in pink in for a 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter

Frontal view of a cameo pink 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter next to a blue vase of pink and purple flowers.

Left front oblique angle on a pink 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter

Close up view of the left side of the carriage and mechanisms on a 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter

Left profile view of a 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter

Left rear oblique angle on the carriage of a 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter

View from the left rear of a 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter with the paper table opened up and showing the metal interior rails of the Magic Margin system.

Rear of a 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter featuring an embossed Royal logo on the pink top portion above a darker gray body.

Right rear oblique angle on a 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter

Oblique angle on the right side of a 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter featuring the carriage with an index card ready to type

Right side profile view of a pink 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter with a dark gray body frame

Close up of the slugs on a 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter

Straight view under the hood of a 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter

View from the left into the basket of a 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter with it's hood open and featuring bright pink typewriter ribbon

Close up of the keyboard on a pink 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter

View of the serial number next to the left ribbon cup on a 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter

The top left corner of a pink 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter showing the alignment of the zeros on the carriage rule, the bail rule, and the paper alignment rule on the paper table

Close up of the typing point of a pink 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter with pink ribbon

Close up view of a white index card typed in pink ink which reads "Pink is Perfect" in the carriage of a 1957 Royal FPP Standard Typewriter.

Acquired 1961 Royal FP standard typewriter with a special Clarion Gothic typeface (Royal McBee Corporation)
Serial number: FPS-16-7133632
Sandstone (yellow) panels on a gray frame with cream colored plastic keys and platen knobs
Clarion (Double) Gothic typeface in elite (12CPI), 6 lines/inch; US keyboard with 43 keys/86 characters
Manufactured in U.S.A.
Acquired in April 2025 from a bank in Idaho Falls. I spent way more on shipping than the pittance I spent on the machine itself. I had modest hopes that purchasing it as an ex-bank machine that it would have a non-standard typeface and my bet paid off. It was all bonus points that it came in the Sandstone colorway.

It doesn’t have a “1” key and the traditional use of the lower case “L” as a substitute fails. Here one has to use the uppercase “I” to make a 1 to match the rest of the numerals.

Hero shot of a yellow 1961 Royal FP typewriter sitting on a libarary card catalog

Close up of the type slugs of a 1961 Royal FP typewriter with Clarion Gothic typeface. The center of the san serif faced slugs reads "CG".

A library card catalog card with a san serif typesample of a 1961 Royal FP typewriter with a Clarion Gothic typeface.

Oblique view onto the right side of a yellow and gray bodied 1961 Royal FP typewriter on a wooden surface

View of a silver property tag found underneath the hood of a 1961 Royal FP typewriter indicating it's property of the Bank of Commerce in Idaho Falls.

The serial number of this typewriter is on the left side under the hood and next to the ribbon cup.

Oblique angle from the left side of a yellow 1961 Royal FP typewriter sitting on a library card catalog. The large silver carriage return arm juts out at the viewer.

Game: Name that naked typewriter

To be clear, I know what this is. (It’s a typewriter I’m most of the way through cleaning and restoring.)

Just for fun for the regulars and the collectors, let’s see who can come closest to a make, model and year for this lovely machine I recently acquired for restoration. Please, no more than two guesses per player.

Answer to be posted Saturday.

A typewriter with the hood and body panels removed making it appear "naked".

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 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.