Typewriters

[jerryleetypes]

I see...three, maybe four Olivers...one L.C. Smith & Bros., one Remington Portable, at least two Coronas, maybe two or three Smith-Premiers...Not sure about the rest.

Good eye! Some of the others are: Fox No.4, Caligraph No.2, Hammond No.2, Mignon No.4, Chicago No.3, Wellington, New Century Caligraph, Blickensderfer No.7 & Imperial D.

 

[martinsantos]

Several wonderful typewriters here!!

My everyday typewriter, a Royal KHM, 1937.

 

[Shangas]

That is one beast of a machine! How much does it weigh?

 

[Sloan1874]

In modern newsrooms, you can always tell which reporters learned to type on beasts like that - though maybe not as full-on - because they're the ones hammering their keyboards mercilessly and deafening those on either side of them. Old habits die hard...

 

[Shangas]

I'd love a vintage desktop typewriter like that. But I think my desk would collapse, first!

 

[martinsantos]

It isn't so heavy... Around 20kg!

(of course isn't the typewriter I would carry to a flight -a practical joke of mine).

That is one beast of a machine! How much does it weigh?

 

[Shangas]

I post this link here for the benefit of other members...

The Typewriter Talk Forum

To my knowledge, this is the ONLY dedicated typewriter message-board/forum/online community in the world.

 

[martinsantos]

Crossed with (and got it) today. Olivetti M20, from 1927.

The is the heaviest typewriter I ever saw! It's going tomorrow to visit a technician.

 

[Futwick]

When I was a little kid, I used an old black typewriter with 1910 on it. It had been in my family for years but I don't know how my parents came to own it. Can't remember the make but it looked a lot this. Those dual black ribbon metallic canisters really ring a bell. That really looks a lot like it from what I remember. I have no idea whatever happened to it.

 

[martinsantos]

I got a Royal portable from 1929. It went to the technician and now is back. But I think it is too heavy to write. The technician told me that this model is just this way. I really don't believe. Anyone here can tell me about how this model is to write?

 

[Shangas]

When you mean 'Heavy', do you mean that it's really stiff in the typing action?

The next model up from this (the Royal Model O) came with touch-control so that you could adjust that. But I don't know about this one. I know it certainly didn't have touch-control.

 

[rjb1]

This may or may not be the best place to put this, but the network news earlier today said that the Russians are buying typewriters for their most-secret correspondence and communication. The lack of ANY electronic connection makes them totally hacker-proof.

 

[LizzieMaine]

This may or may not be the best place to put this, but the network news earlier today said that the Russians are buying typewriters for their most-secret correspondence and communication. The lack of ANY electronic connection makes them totally hacker-proof.

Just make sure you burn the carbon paper.

 

[Shangas]

Just make sure you burn the carbon paper.

And the ribbons.

Russian Federal Guard Service reviving Typewriter Use

On that note, I have a question to ask.

A relatively common plot-device used in mystery/detective TV shows/movies, is where the detective or his assistant steals the ribbon off a typewriter. They unroll it and hold it up to the light. And now, they can magically read the incriminating blackmail letter that was typed up, and then burnt, purely because the impressions of the letters were left stamped into the ribbon.

Does this have ANY basis in fact, AT ALL?

I know that such a thing is possible with later, electronic typewriter ribbons (I've done it myself). But with older silk/nylon ribbons, I don't think it can happen. Or can it? I've never noticed it on any of my ribbons. And at any rate, a ribbon that's been through a machine at least twice would've had everything typed over itself, anyway, making any 'evidence' impossible to retrieve.

 

[GE-Man]

This may or may not be the best place to put this, but the network news earlier today said that the Russians are buying typewriters for their most-secret correspondence and communication. The lack of ANY electronic connection makes them totally hacker-proof.

But you have to watch out for bugs. I'm sure the sound of the letters being typed gives a good hint to the text.

 

[RegentSt1965]

My GLW (Good Lady Wife), an experienced old-school typist AND a latter-day electronic document security supremo, assures me that it is quite feasible to read a new ribbon (and they often were read!)

 

[Shangas]

When you mean a 'new ribbon', do you mean a nylon ribbon that's been used once? Or a "new" ribbon being those plastic one-use, throw-out ribbons that electric typewriters use?

But you have to watch out for bugs. I'm sure the sound of the letters being typed gives a good hint to the text.

If you hit two keys at once, a typewriter will freeze. And pressing the carriage-release button can cause it to crash.

 

[RegentSt1965]

new = old fashioned fabric manual ribbon, not used before

 

[Shangas]

I actually ordered some brand new ribbons yesterday from the stationer's shop in town. I must try this out.

 

[Asienizen]

I almost bought a Royal Portable, glass keys and black shiny finish - but I was a broke college student at the time. Now being out of the US, I wonder if I'll be able to get one. Ah, such a shame.