In order to see the Anaglyphs properly, you’ll need a pair of red/cyan 3D glasses, which you may have if you’ve stolen them from a 3D movie theatre or happen to have a TV that does 3D videos and games: And now, for those of you who don’t have 3D glasses, the same pics in […]
Category: From the Desk of Reverend Munk
Typecasts from the desk of the Right Reverend Theodore Munk
Isaac Asimov’s Typewriter
As seen on The Beeb’s “Real History of Science Fiction” Season 1, Episode 1 (Robots): Isaac Asimov at his Baby Selectric model 7×1 I have two of these fantastic little typers (well, “little” compared to most other Selectrics), and I loves ’em as much as Isaac apparently did.
Grandad’s Little Pony (135)
1971 Royal Sprite, built by Silver Seiko in Japan. Joe in his later civilian years, selling Skampers to Yankees. Grandad’s Kodak Pony 135 and a Gossen Pilot light meter (The Pony has *no* light metering) The Pony 135 is a simple, all-mechanical “zone focus” camera (the viewfinder has no focusing/rangefinding aids), made mostly of Bakelite […]
Back to the Future: PRAM and The Promise of Unified Memory (again)
“The research trend now in memory technology is to find a single memory for both temporary storage and permanent storage in personal computers as well as embedded systems. Research trend now in memory is unification of memory, so that there should be no separate SRAM, DRAM and flash, it’s going to be just one memory.” […]
TRS-80 Bar Code Reader drivers for Model 100/200 and Kyotronic 85
I admit I’ve been obsessing over my old Model T computers this past week or so. I finally did dig up my Null Modem cable and got the little laptops talking to the PC again, and I also dug up my old cassette software for the T100/200. I’ve sampled them all to digital WAV files […]
RTFM: TRS-80 Model 200, Proper Disassembly and Re-assembly – fix that pesky video ribbon cable!
You who follow my correspondence here will know all about my TRS-80 Model 100, which sees use mostly as a timelapse camera controller. I also have a pair of Tandy Model 200’s, which are the rarer version and are basically the same machine with a few improvements like a much larger screen that folds clamshell-style […]
The Fifth Phoenix Type-In: Report and Ephemera
And now, in basically the order I picked them up, are the sheets that were left behind today. Many many more sheets went with people, despite the triplicate copies. A lot of typing happened today, and some of it even made sense. :D Amusingly, there was a fellow that showed up towards the end of […]
File Transfer for TRS-80 Model 100/102/200 using a Digital Audio Recorder: The Road Less Travelled…
It all started simply enough: I came up with the idea of using my retrotech timelapse camera kit to do a timelapse of the upcoming Phoenix Type-In. Well, when you come up with these ideas, the first thing you do is check your kit and get it ready. Thus began the adventure… I pulled the […]
My Balls Survive the Haboob, thanks to Careful Packaging By A Fellow Typospherian!
…Storms build up across six or seven thousand kilometers of flatlands, feed on anything that can give them a push—coriolis force, other storms, anything that has an ounce of energy in it. They can blow up to eight hundred kilometers an hour, loaded with everything loose in their way—sand, dust, everything. They can eat flesh […]
The Typewriter Database: 2000+ Galleries reached, Remington Portables and a Nikon FE for $15
Stapler of The Week: The Aceliner
The Ace Aceliner, a true classic. Probably the first stapler I actually sought out after seeing them on other Typosphere blogs. It’s a popular design, easy to get ahold of, and there’s probably one in every casual stapler collector’s corral. There are at least two different variations, probably indicating a change in design and tooling […]
Stapler of the Week: 1950’s School Green and Teal Swingline Model 27
Prepping for the 5th Phoenix Type-In: Part One in the Hot, Hot Heat…
Click to embiggen… In other news, I received some research from Peter Weil on Blickensderfers and Hammonds, which resulted in some nice updates for those pages on the Typewriter Database. I’ve also completed the “Non-Noiseless Standards” section of the Remington page (whew) and am now knee-deep in the Noiseless Standards. This did not keep me […]
Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict pull out the stops to sell you a Remington. The Year? 1884
Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict. Remington Standard typewriter. New York : Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict, [188-?], accessed from the Baker Library, Harvard Business School. See: http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/2574435 The Remington Serial Number Page at The Typewriter Database (Blind Writers)
Stapler of The Week: 1950’s Arrow 210
This week’s Stapler is one I picked up a couple of days ago at Goodwill’s half-price day. I’d let this one sit on the shelf for a week and a half because it was busted, missing important bits and ugly as sin. When the price dropped to $1.50, though – I wanted it just to […]
Thrilling Typewriter Database Tales of Terror: The Quest for A Complete Serial Number List for Remington Blind Writers…
I’ll admit freely that I’ve been putting off the task of rebuilding the Typewriter Databases’ Remington serial number page for well over a year. I’ve had the bulk of Source #18 from Richard Polt since then, and it’s been reasonably clear to me that the data it contains is very likely either a direct-from-the-factory master […]
Stapler of The Week: Metal Spec. Mfg. Co.’s “Presto Stapler Deluxe”
UPDATE: I was reading Curtis A. Scaglione’s “Guide to Antique and Vintage Fasteners” today and noticed the patent for this stapler, which matches the last patent stamped into the bottom of the Presto Deluxe: 2,399,761, invented 1940, patented 1946. I wasn’t too far off in my reckoning! Hey, even more info on the Presto Stapler […]
Happy Typewriter Day 2014!
Public Typewriting: Your Right, Your Duty!
here’s another one for the Typosphere Propaganda office. Remember that meme? :D oh, and yet another…
How To Date Your Brother (typewriter), Part One: The Serial Number and how to interpret it.
Update: ProfessorC’s Non-Selectrics
By now you’ve gawked at the trailer full of Selectrics that my pal ProfessorC has obtained, now marvel at some of the other stuff. The non-Selectrics he wants to unload pretty quick, as-is. He’s only interested in Selectrics, and wants to refurbish all of those. Here is a partial list of the manual machines he […]
Selectrics by the Truckload!
So a bit ago I got an excited email from ProfessorC, he who is a young Jedi Master of Selectrics, and who has a restoration of a rare and incredibly complex IBM Composer under his belt. He told me of a trove of Selectrics and parts offered to him by a fellow in Arkansas who […]
Thriftin’ Report: Western Auto Typewriter, Toyota Yarn Baller and IBM Balls…
1980 Western Auto logo? I know I say 1970 here, but I’m beginning to think that Brother switched the JP-1 to black keys from white and lost the paper rest and metal carriage shell sometime in the late 70’s. If true, it means we would be able to figure out what decade (roughly) a JP-1 […]
New Olivetti Serial Numbers found!
I was contacted this morning by Enrico Morozzi, a typewriter collector in Italy who is a member of the Typewriter Database. Mr. Morozzi had recently obtained a very nice Studio 42 from an ex-Olivetti employee, and the typewriter was accompanied by a sheet of paper which he kindly re-typed out and sent to me, along […]
My Friends, and things I should remember about them: 1949
Wordless Wednesday: A trip to Bill’s
The Week In Thriftin’ – North Goodwill Learns Thier Lesson!
Stapler of the Week: 1938 Ace Pilot Model 404
Found at a Goodwill for $2 a few weeks ago, the Ace Pilot is a simple-looking, but feature-rich stapler. It has a unique anvil with a flip-up staple splayer rather than a two-position anvil that clicks into the two positions. It also features a ratcheted striker mechanism unique to these chrome Ace staplers, that makes […]
Avoiding Half-Price Day at Goodwill, and The Rewards Thereof…
Tape Deck of the Month: 1962 Webcor EP-2104 Microcorder
Stapler of the Week: Swingline Speed Stapler 3 (1940’s?)
Brother Serial Numbers Unified for all models?
So, I paged through the bulk of the Brother documentation, and it looks like I have pretty good coverage of Brother models between the late 70’s to the early 90’s, very heavy on the 80’s. Good news for Brother Electric appreciators. This documentation extends up to the WP series word processor line and at least […]
A Brotherly Bonanza
Interesting, eh? I was at MTE today poking around at stacks of old service manuals (a large leather-bound Victor Calculator Service Manual binder caught my attention, but it turned out to be filled with the service manual for a Smith-Corona Electric), and Bill mentioned that he had 2 boxes of old Brother service manuals that […]
Paper Calculators: The Lightning Calculator, 1932 and the Color Helm, 1940
I loves me some paper calculators, yessir. My first one I remember was a simple slider that did multiplication and came out of a box of cereal in 1970-something. The idea of a computer constructed out of paper fascinated me immediately, and I wore that cereal box calculator to shreds as a kid. Later in […]