Tag: Royal KHM

Royal Standard Typewriter Collection

I’m slowly closing in on a completist collection of Royal standard typewriters. 

Here’s most of my collection so far. Only a few major must haves left, but also still a few to finish refurbishing. Seven are fully refurbished, though two still need some small tweaks; all type but two need some reasonable work, and the rest need a full clean/oil/adjust.

A wire metal shelving unite on concrete in front of a grassy yard with some bushes and flowers in the background. On the 5 shelves are a collection of Royal Standard typewriters with three on each shelf except the top which only has two.

From bottom to top, left to right: 1935 H (with 5 key decimal tabulator), 1935 KH, 1936 KHM; 1945 KMM, 1946 KMM-18 (with a 10-key decimal tabulator), 1950 KMG-P; 1950 KMG-E, 1955 HHE, 1954 HHS (pica double gothic); 1957 FPP (cameo pink smooth), 1961 FPE (sandstone), 1959 FPP (sea blue smooth); 1960 FPE (light green smooth), 1961 FPS-18 (clarion double gothic, pearl light gray smooth).

Anyone with a nice Royal 10, please inquire within.

Two new additions to the Royal FP collection this year give me most of the major colors. Anyone want to join me for a type in? 

A dining room table with two rows of Royal FP standard typewriters set up for use. In the background are two different bookcases and a library card catalog with a flower arrangement next to a black typewriter

Overhead view of five Royal FP standard typewriters in pink, yellow, green, blue, and a pearl-gray.

After my note earlier about progress on restoring my 1936 Royal KHM typewriter, a colleague reminded me that a KHM makes an appearance in the Taylor Swift song Fortnight. Then they asked if I was just collecting machines from her videos? While I fully expect to pick up a Royal Ten one day, it’s a total coincidence. She’s obviously got great taste in vintage typing machines.

Wiped off the worst of dust and grime on the exterior of my 1936 Royal KHM standard typewriter. Cleaned up the carriage a bit and did a light oiling. Cleaned out the paper tray and platen area. Spooled up some new ribbon. After a few quick tweaks, this typewriter is now at least minimally usable. This has one of the cleanest and crisp typing actions of any of my machines despite being one of the dirtiest and worst conditioned machines in my fleet. It has a reasonable carriage return speed, but may be one of the fastest typers I’ve got. I can’t wait to see how well it does once it’s had a full COA. The tabulator is going to require some heavy work.

Yellow index card with red ruled lines featuring a type sample of a 1936 Royal KHM typewriter in Royal Pica typeface

Acquired 1936 Royal KHM Standard Typewriter (The Royal Typewriter Company)
Serial Number: KHM-1961430
Royal Pica typeface, 10CPI, 6 lines/inch, bichrome
U.S. keyboard, 4 bank, 42 keys, 84 characters
tabulator, margin release on front panel rather than on keyboard
A dirty barn machine to be sure. Decals almost entirely gone, but I can tell this one should clean up well. Picked up from GoodWill out of Bakersfield for $14.99.