8 5/8 x 5 3/4 x 4 1/8" exterior dimensions
putty color
A pittance of $5.00 at the local thrift shop also included a full set of Universal Paper Goods Stock No. 58-25 card dividers with both alphabetic and numeral printing.
Anthony Hereld (noctisadversaria.com)I ordered a segment pick from Bremerton Typewriter Company several weeks ago. The segment is the arched piece near the center of a typewriter where every typebar passes through on its way to the platen. Decades of ink and paper dust can pack into the grooves there. That’s why an old machine can fe...
I’m glad you finally managed to get your own segment pick from Paul at Bremerton Typewriter. They’re really quite lovely and clever. I will say that oddly, since I bought it, none of the typewriters I’ve gotten since are terribly gummed up as badly as a stretch of them I had gotten before and which were the reason I bought the pick in the first place! The luck of the repairman I suppose…
I must also admit that you seem to be another new member of the typosphere I’ve noticed who has Webmentions on your site! Kudos on that.
Best regards,
Chris
1971h3k77/CJA
cc: Tom Fasano, Ted Munk
As if he knew I was coming, Helmut had this lovely Royal/Triumph-Adler R 700 sitting right up front on the counter. It’s essentially a Royal-badged version of the Adler Universal 200 which was manufactured under the Litton regime. It’s a solid standard with some nice speed hiding under the hood. Helmut has added some nice touches of what he calls “lipstick” to zhuzh it up.
I often see typewriter enthusiasts “debating” over which is the prettiest or best typeface, and often, they’re making their judgement on one machine they happen to have or really wish they had. Rarely are these judgements made with multiple typefaces on the same page for easier direct apples-to-apples comparison, so I threw together a small sample from a few in my own collection.
Gut reaction time: Which of these is your favorite?
h/t Elisa Cristina Makoon-Singh
Which one would you have chosen?
Serial number: 1477358
Professional Elite No. 41 typeface, 11 pitch, 2.3m/m, 6 lines/inch, bichrome, carriage shift, tabulator
American keyboard, 44 keys, 88 characters
green crinkle paint, black plastic keys
Manufactured in Wilhelmshaven, Germany
It’ll need several new parts including rubber, but this portends to be a fantastic typewriter.
Stock No. 721
Overall dimensions: 3.5 x 4.5 x 8"
There are a few places that still make card dividers for this size format, but I opted to make my own from 11 x 17″ card stock.
25/Set (PN 925)
I’ve been wanting some for use with 8.5 x 11″ index cards, but thought that most major stationers had quit manufacturing them decades ago. It turns out you can still get them from Tops via a variety of different office supply outlets, though closer to the range of $15-40 per pack. I’m sure these will work wonders in my Shaw-Walker filing cabinet.
Interestingly, one outlet I saw was pitching them for dividing files within a single a folder, but I’m guessing they weren’t aware of how these were used historically. (The entire group of 25 would fill up a standard manilla folder all by itself!) It’s sort of a shame that they only count up to 25 instead of 31 so that one could also easily use them as a days-of-the-month tickler file.
I tried some half-sheet stationery at the International Printing Museum not long ago and that seemed like a lovely way to write and keep copies of typewritten correspondence.
Of course recommendations for designers and printers for personal stationery is welcome here too.
Serial number: 5124993
Sears Model No. 405-5295 (Pica)
carriage shift; bichrome; 3 touch select settings; tabulator; 13" wide carriage; key de-jammer; carriage lock; 44 keys & 88 characters
Manufactured in Portugal
This is a re-branded Messa typewriter manufactured in Portugal with other known re-badgings as the ABC 3001 and the Brother XL-1016. These were made/advertised from 1971 to 1974, but based on the serial numbers in the Typewriter Database, I would suspect mine is from the early side of 1971. (It’s entirely possible they made the entire run in a year and sold them through 1974.) Including this one there are currently only seven exemplars in the database, but many of them are owned by some of the most prolific collectors.
With my 52nd birthday coming up this may be one of the youngest machines I own, though it’s still a few years older than me.
And how could you possibly not love the green typebar jam release key? The only thing that could be cooler would be to have versions in harvest yellow, burnt orange, and coppertone brown. I’ll have to get my old Tupperware set out to properly show this off.
Manual available on Richard Polt’s site.
I’ve already fixed/adjusted most of the primary issues and done a little bit of the work to clean this out. I should be able to finish up the rest of it over the long weekend with the exception of one or two screws that I can tell are missing and need replacements. Portions of the case are going to require some attention as well.
