Today’s Typewriter

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Sig230’s post on fountain pens (which I also like and also use) made me want to share some of the stuff I like to collect, too.

Among other things, I collect typewriters. I have ten of them. They all work and, yes, I actually do type stuff on them. Typewriter collecting is kind of a thing now (Tom Hanks has hundreds of them), so prices have gone up a little, but you can still find them for cheap if you look.

Olivetti Lettera 32, Olympia SM3, Hermes 3000, Remington-Rand Model 17, Royal Futura 800, Royal KHM, Royal KMM, Royal Model O, Royal Quiet De Luxe, Underwood Finger-Flite Champion

The standards (full size desktop) models..
L to R: Royal KMM, Royal KHM, Remington Rand Model 17
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The portables..
L to R: Royal Futura 800, Hermès 3000, Olivetti Lettera 32
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L to R: Olympia SM3, Royal Quiet De Luxe, Royal Model O
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Re: Today’s Typewriter

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Nice. My mum had a nice one with Finnish keys, I use to type with it. Not sure what happened to it or the used IBM typewriter I bought when I was in high school.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: Today’s Typewriter

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sikacz wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2020 3:16 pm Nice. My mum had a nice one with Finnish keys, I use to type with it. Not sure what happened to it or the used IBM typewriter I bought when I was in high school.
I learned to type in typing class on an IBM Selectric as a high school freshman. My mother and my aunt also both had Selectrics. Even though it’s electric I’m still nostalgic about Selectrics because of that. I think mine was the last generation to be taught typing rather than “keyboarding.”

I’m not sure what make of machine your mother used. As far as I know (but I’m no expert), Finland didn’t have any home grown typewriter manufacturers. They were made in Germany or Sweden, given Finnish keys, and imported. I missed out on a really nice Swedish made FACIT with rare cursive typeface recently because someone swooped in and got it just before I did.

Here’s a link to the history of typewriters in Finland that you might like.
https://typewriter.slk.fi/typewriters-in-finland/
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Re: Today’s Typewriter

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HuckleberryFun wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2020 3:32 pm
sikacz wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2020 3:16 pm Nice. My mum had a nice one with Finnish keys, I use to type with it. Not sure what happened to it or the used IBM typewriter I bought when I was in high school.
I learned to type in typing class on an IBM Selectric as a high school freshman. My mother and my aunt also both had Selectrics. Even though it’s electric I’m still nostalgic about Selectrics because of that. I think mine was the last generation to be taught typing rather than “keyboarding.”

I’m not sure what make of machine your mother used. As far as I know (but I’m no expert), Finland didn’t have any home grown typewriter manufacturers. They were made in Germany or Sweden, given Finnish keys, and imported. I missed out on a really nice Swedish made FACIT with rare cursive typeface recently because someone swooped in and got it just before I did.

Here’s a link to the history of typewriters in Finland that you might like.
https://typewriter.slk.fi/typewriters-in-finland/
I think it was an Olympia. That’s what I seem to remember. Came in a nice carry case. It was grey.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: Today’s Typewriter

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sikacz wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2020 3:34 pm I think it was an Olympia. That’s what I seem to remember. Came in a nice carry case. It was grey.
Olympia’s are great machines. Very well made (German!). If it was a portable it was probably one of the “SM” models.
They made them from the 40’s through the 70’s. SM1 through SM9. Here’s a guide to the different models if you want to see if you can pick out which one was your mom’s:

https://xoverit.blogspot.com/2015/02/o ... -1964.html
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Re: Today’s Typewriter

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HuckleberryFun wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2020 3:43 pm
sikacz wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2020 3:34 pm I think it was an Olympia. That’s what I seem to remember. Came in a nice carry case. It was grey.
Olympia’s are great machines. Very well made (German!). If it was a portable it was probably one of the “SM” models.
They made them from the 40’s through the 70’s. SM1 through SM9. Here’s a guide to the different models if you want to see if you can pick out which one was your mom’s:

https://xoverit.blogspot.com/2015/02/o ... -1964.html
It was probably the 1959 one in the case. Everything about it looks familiar including the name place. She went to secretarial school in the late 1950’s. I first recall playing with as a 4 or 5 year old in around 1964-1965. Surprised she let me touch it.

I wish I had that it now.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: Today’s Typewriter

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I've a Smith Corona electric. It still works.

But I really miss my IBM Selectric. I got rid of it when word processing became all the rage. What a stupid mistake. One that I repeated too many times in my youth.
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Re: Today’s Typewriter

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rolandson wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:00 pm I've a Smith Corona electric. It still works.

But I really miss my IBM Selectric. I got rid of it when word processing became all the rage. What a stupid mistake. One that I repeated too many times in my youth.
You probably already know this, but the “Smith“ in Smith Corona is the same Smith as in Smith and Wesson. Some typewriter manufacturers became gun makers and vice versa, I think because the fine attention to complex finely fitted machinery carried over well from one industry to the other (my theory).

LC Smith (and Corona Co) made typewriters and shotguns, etc.
Smith-Corona made 1903 rifles in great quantities. Remington also made both guns and typewriters.
So, you see how my love of both typewriters and guns is a natural fit ;-)

Smith-Corona history:
https://www.smithcorona.com/history.html
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Re: Today’s Typewriter

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I have two typewriters: A portable S-C electric my parents gave me when I started grad school, and an old beat-up Underwood I found at a yard sale about 25 years ago, the old 30's movie newsroom type. One of the few things in the world I never learned how to fix is a typewriter. Never invested the time.

I learned how to touch type in 8th grade in the late '60's and basically then forgot it. In college, I had my brother's super-compact Royal, not much bigger than a Merriam Webster dictionary. After my first term paper essentially hunting and pecking I figured I DAMN well better re-learn the muscle memory of where all the keys are. So I put a piece of masking tape to cover the F and J keys, and started covering the center row, key by key. Then, I covered the other two rows and haven't had a problem since. The masking tape stayed on the keys for a couple of years till I spent a semester studying in Belgium and 14 year son of the hostel keeper wanted to see how it was different than their keyboards and pulled the tape back to peek. Naturally, after 2 1/2 years the glue was gone so...I peeled them all off.

As soon as I graduated, my brother wanted his typewriter back, hence the portable electric. Had removable, replaceable keys for special characters.

Useless trivia. Ayn Rand could have been Ayn Remington because her typewriter was a...Remington Rand.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Today’s Typewriter

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Well, how delightful is this!? I'm going to have to go out into the garage and haul out my analog backup, then one I typed the first draft of my thesis on, before I got a Kaypro to do the revisions on. Neat machines there. I had one in junior high that clamped together like the black on on the right in that pic of three. Top came off and you set it aside. Even had a 1/2 key, shift to get 1/4. I'll have to see if the old guy is able to be picc'd. Old guy.

Young whipper snappers don't know what means a carriage return.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Today’s Typewriter

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CDFingers wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:30 pm
Young whipper snappers don't know what means a carriage return.

CDFingers
tap tap tap tappity tappity tap tap...DING!

I remember a short story about a stenographer who would just slightly lift her desk phone off the hook and the switchboard operator would connect her to an outside line...and when she typed, she'd also time it so it was Morse Code and she could steal and pass on company secrets to the boss's competitor!
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Today’s Typewriter

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Wow, neat collection Huck. I inherited my mother's portable that IIRC was a Remington. The cover and base were wood covered in something. For carrying there was a lever on the side that dropped the basket into the machine. The keyboard sat up high and wasn't really comfortable to type on. My dad had an office model in his home office, great touch but I don't remember the manufacturer. My sister got a Smith-Corona (Smith-Corona-Marchant IIRC) portable when she was in high school and when she left home I inherited it. It got me through high school and college. My sister later got a Selectric, she was amazing to watch - she typed with her fingernails that were long and strong, IIRC she typed at least 70 wpm. The Selectrics with memory were really nice.

Took a typing class in high school even though I knew how to type, but I learned the rules, correct terminology and formatting documents. Typewriter ribbons, white out, correction tape - computers are so much better especially laptops. We still have the QWERTY keyboard format, there are other keyboard designs that seem more natural I just never learned them.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Today’s Typewriter

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My Dad had a black Underwood portable circa late 20's early 30's. Last I saw it was during the emptying of homestead when Mom passed. Not sure who ended up with it. It was heavy with case of wood covered with thin veneer of black textured leather. Mom was a 5th grade teacher, so between the three boys and her it got a lot of use thru the 50's and early 60's when the newer electrics really took over. It was still functioning.
"Being Republican is more than a difference of opinion - it's a character flaw." "COVID can fix STUPID!"
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Re: Today’s Typewriter

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If anyone finds a vintage, black iron-frame typewriter with a strange keyboard in all caps, please let me know.

It was called a 'mill', and was used by the military to fast type Morse code into characters (by a human).

My current writer is a Smith-Corona Sterling in tan crackle w/green keys.

73 SubRosa
"Oozing charm from every pore, he oiled his way around the floor."

Re: Today’s Typewriter

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featureless wrote: Sun Nov 01, 2020 7:54 pm Those are awesome, Huck!

Do you know anything about this one? It was my grandpa's. He wrote college text books on it. Must have taken forever!

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That is a pre-war Royal De Luxe Portable. Glass keys are a giveaway that it’s pre-WWII because they pretty much stopped using glass keys at that time. It’s probably from the mid-1930s because in 1939 Royal introduced the Quiet De Luxe that had Magic Margins (which yours doesn’t have) and was (as advertised) quieter. Your De Luxe is similar to both my Model O and my Quiet De Luxe. The crinkle finish paint job was a feature of that model. The chrome band was added in 1936 (1935 models were plain).

https://www.antikeychop.com/royal-mode ... typewriter

Look for the serial number stamped somewhere under the carriage. Royal serial numbers are usually under the carriage in the right hand side (but sometimes they’re on the back of the machine). Move the carriage to either side and it should be there somewhere. Then go to an online serial number lookup database like the link below to pin down the year it was made. I’m guessing yours was made in 1936 or 1937 (best guess).

https://typewriterdatabase.com/Royal.De+Luxe.72.bmys
Last edited by HuckleberryFun on Sun Nov 01, 2020 9:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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