Category: From the Desk of Reverend Munk

Typecasts from the desk of the Right Reverend Theodore Munk

Smith-Corona Electric 5TE Typewriter Serial Numbers Updated!

Weapon of Choice: 1957 Tower Commander #5AT635929 The Previous 5TE Serial List: See: News timeline (mostly by: John Coleman, Peter Weil) https://www.facebook.com/groups/TypewriterCollectors/permalink/10158187046324678/ New York Times, Atlanta Constitution – October 10, 1956 (announcement) October 21-28, 1956 (stores begin offering limited inventory) January 27, 1957 Brazeal Typewriter Co in Springfield, MO (has one at least for display) […]

Thank you, most sincerely…

Weapon of Choice: “Thunderbird 3” 1966 Montgomery Ward Signature 440T #D6216161 Background Typer (with newly started letter in it): “Thunderbird 4” 1968 Montgomery Ward Signature 440T #C8899610 Yes, I’m still in love with my 440Ts :D New feet for Hermes HP2-58 and HP2-66, part of an order destined for a typewriter shop in Colorado. Doin’ […]

Electra Bearcat III Scanner user manual

Weapon of Choice: “Eugene”, 1970 Webster XL-747 #L0944386 I was typing a letter to Gregory during TCL this week, but he’s not getting it, at least not the physical manifestation thereof, ’till I see his next volley. Instead it does double-duty as an OTP submission… TCL – Sep 12, 2021: My 1979 Ace Scout (2b) […]

Monster Scouts Field Typewriter Mark 1 With Tripod

Weapon of Choice: “Nick Charles” 1956 Empire Aristocrat #S2/268670 Redubbed: “Monster Scouts Field Typewriter Mark 1 With Tripod” Previously known as the Empire Aristocrat Tripod Field Typewriter. Tripod Mount project Part 1 – Part 2 Be sure to tape off the buttons! (: Cleaning the machine with white gas (Coleman Fuel), then blow it out, […]

This Typecast Brought to You by the Letters: P-8-M

Weapon of Choice: “Mothra” 1972 IBM Selectric Composer #5016537 I’m currently writing a reply to Thom Cholowski over at Rebel Typewriter in Saskatoon, in reply to this *handmade* Airmail Telegram. Museum-quality fabrication and aging, which is no surprise, as I believe that this one of the things Thom does professionally, other than fixing typewriters. I […]

What’s Happenin’ Now?

Weapon of Choice: “Thunderbird 3” 1966 Montgomery Ward Signature 440T #D6216161 Weapon of Choice: 2008 Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Netbook Diamondville Intel Atom N270 (1.6 GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache) 2gb DDR2 RAM, 8gb PATA SSD, 1200×600 8.9″ screen Intel US15W Express Running: AntiX Linux 19 I know, a tiny machine with a single-core processor is hardly […]

UJTU: Three Typewriters Improved In One Evening!

Weapon of Choice: “Starbuck” 1964 Hermes Rocket #6027915 Mmmmmmm, the fresh-baked smell of new typewriter feets! Installation Instructions: Hermes HD2-64 Feets. The original feet? Hard as rocks, crumbly and downright crispy, and still had to be pried off with a screwdriver. Oh, glorious, fresh grippy feets! Weapon of Choice: “Thunderbird 2” 1968 Montgomery Ward Signature […]

Paper 101 – Part 3: Paper Types

And to Joe VC: note rule #8 above – this is why cutting 11″x17″ paper in half results in 8.5″x11″ paper that goes around a typewriter platen real easy. Factory-cut, wrapped reams are *always* long grain for the given size, so cutting them in half results in short-grain paper. Thus, the same applies to cutting […]

Paper 101 – Part 2: Paper Arithmetic

Boy, I’ll say that paging through this old binder has awoken a lot of memories for me, and this section on Paper Arithmetic reminded me of the first paper guillotine we had at the print shop – a quarter-ton cast iron 32″ full-manually operated Challenge from the 1920’s. Wrestling that beast to cut down parent […]

Brothers, Books, Administrators and Feets!

Weapon of Choice: 1978 Brother Charger 11 #K83712885 Some other books I picked up cheap this month. I really like the looks of the Administrator – all sorts of beveled edges like a diamond. Fascinating mechanical design as well. Almost all of the important bits are built into the bottom of the carriage *in between […]

The Mystery of the Hermes 3000 Reversed Backspace and Tab keys and New Stuff To Read!

Weapon of Choice: “Easy” 1964 Hermes 3000 #3246817 https://typewriterdatabase.com/Hermes.3000.82.bmys 1959–David_Scadden-Approved_Home_Study_Course_in_Typewriter_Repair_and_Service-V1 https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/homestudycourse.pdf 1971-Royal-Type_Character_Combination_Catalog https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ri4DXbE1U8lzdnXmiCraTen6-4iBfUX8/view?usp=sharing 1966-1975-NOMDA_Blue_Book https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BvD8_msG7TLvs8eBtua9Y0-KHLKrt3gg/view?usp=sharing 195x-Remington-Standard-User_Manual https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/RemingtonStandard19.pdf 1959-Remington-Standard-User_Manual https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/RemingtonStandardSuper-Riter.pdf 1952-Remington-Noiseless_Standard-User_Manual https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/RemingtonNoiseless10-1952.pdf 194x-Remington-Noiseless_Standard-User_Manual https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/RemingtonNoiseless10-1950.pdf 195x-Remington-Fleetwing-User_Manual https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/RemingtonFleetwing-manual.pdf 1953-Remington-Quiet_Riter-User_Manual https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/quietriter.pdf 1958-RC_Allen-Visomatic-UserManual https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/RCAllenVisOmatic.pdf 1976-Olivetti-Lexikon_83DL-User_Manual https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/OlivettiLexikon83DL.pdf 1970-Facit-1620-User_Manual https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/Facit1620.pdf 1920-Corona_3-User_Manual https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/Corona3-1920.pdf 196x-Olympia-Electric_50-Userman https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/OlympiaElectric50.pdf 196x-Olympia-SG3n-UserMan https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/OlympiaElectric50.pdf [Printed & Coil-Bound] [PDF] The Smith-Corona Series 6-7-88 Standard Typewriter Repair Bible is now available in […]

I got a box from Joe! :D

Always a fun thing to get, this box contained a brace of vintage writer’s slabtops, which Joe decided to downsize and send to me to add to my already varied collection of such machines. Constant readers of this blog will have noted my occasional article on my 1980’s Tandy laptops (TRS-80 Model 100 and 200s […]