Well, I’ll call the “lead test” a success – and with that concept proven, it seems all you’d really need to build new *pencil* tips is a bit of rigid plastic tube of exactly the right diameter (I’ll need to borrow a micrometer and mic out the dimensions of the original pen cartridge) with a […]
The Handwriting, Drawing Typewriter: Brother Type-O-Graph BP-30, with User Manual!
You know, there’s just something that really jazzes me about these little Brother mini-typewriters from the early 1980’s – maybe it’s the inventiveness that Brother showed in trying out so many really unique ways of re-engineering the mechanics of the way a typewriter works – that kind of inventiveness in the typewriter industry really only […]
In Search Of: Clarence Leroy “Rocky” Jones
If you study typewriter history, especially the history of typewriter repair, you are certain to encounter the name “Rocky Jones” at some point. “Rocky” is something of a vague legendary figure in collector circles, mostly in reference to books that collectors cannot find because they are so rare. This past week, I endeavored to find […]
let’s take a little trip to 1963: Olympia/ITC letterhead & SM Cases and Tools
I dunno about you, but I could use a palate cleanser after last night’s bitter swallow. I’ll console myself with scanning some Olympia parts manuals, here’s some pretty stuff from what’s scanned so far… well, that tool list shows why it’s so tough to get at some of the important adjustment points in an SM. […]
TWDB blasts past 6000 Galleries, and adds a new Repair Manual section!
Yesterday the Typewriter Database hit typewriter gallery #6000 in the relentless march to , well, eventually most of them. If you were there and paying attention to the gallery count in the main menu, you might have noticed something else new: Yep- new Typewriter Repair School section. I figured out a way to extract high-resolution […]
A Republic, If You Can Keep it…
In 2012, former Supreme Court Justice David Souter answered a question about civics education in America. His answer is kind of a spookily accurate prediction for what has happened just four years later. Yeah. So, I’m taking bets on whether we’ll be seeing Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho on the Republican ticket in 2020. […]
I have no excuse for buying this typewriter…
199x IBM Correcting Selectric III @ TWDB 197x Smith Corona Galaxie Twelve @ TWDB 1964 Smith Corona Coronet @ TWDB
The Royal “RA” prefix Quiet De Luxes and the “Speed Selector”
The Royal Portables in 5 parts: Unraveling the Royal Quiet De Luxe – Part 1: Ancestry (Model P, O and B) Unraveling the Royal Quiet De Luxe – Part 2: Birth of the QDL (and siblings) Unraveling the Royal Quiet De Luxe – Part 3: The Post-War Royal Portables (A, B and C Models) Unraveling […]
New Typewriter Service Manuals at TWDB!
New service manuals at TWDB, you’ll want to check ’em out! Parts and Service Manual – Olivetti Lettera 22 Parts and Service Manual – Olivetti Studio 44 Parts and Service Manual – Olivetti Lexicon 80 Adjustment Manual – Olympia SM – 1955 AMES Basic Training Manual for Standard Typewriters – 1968 Adjustment Manual, Smith-Corona “6-Series” […]
Scanning Project: Olivetti Service Manuals, Lettera 22, Studio 44, Praxis 48
My scanner’s bein’ a bitch, not letting me scan because it has an empty ink tank. Confounded contraption! Well, I’ll get it figured out – I have to, because I borrowed Bill’s Olivetti Service Manuals for the Lettera 22, Studio 44 and Praxis 48: So that’s on my scanning docket…
UJTU: Will 2016 never end?
It’s been a rough year, hasn’t it? It’s got the feels in spades, and chaos reigns. The future looms full of change that is shaped by rough uncertainty – the road ahead enveloped in a dark thundercloud, forks of lightning striking potholes into the many forks in the road itself. Like Jonah heading for the […]
The Well-Appointed Typewriter Repair Shop from AMES Supply General Catalog 1960
At the height of the typewriter industries importance in world commerce, arguably right about 1960, setting yourself up as a typewriter repair shop was something you could do out of a catalog. In the United States, you could do it out of the AMES General catalog, and the little typewriter shop from whom I borrowed […]
Typewriter Platen Reference, and all Things Made of Rubber: Ames 1960 General Catalog
Some more reference from the wonderful year 1960, when you could shop for new platens and feed rolls like you were customizing a hot rod… For your amusement and edification, the “Rubber Section” from the 1960 AMES Supply General Catalog:
Typewriter Repair Tools Reference: 1960 Ames Catalog
For your entertainment and edification, a reference list of typewriter repairman’s tools offered by AMES Supply Company in 1960:
7th Phoenix Type-In: 3D!
Ephemera Dump: 7th Phoenix Type-In, 2016
Operative Joe has recounted his mission and initial report already from the run he made to PHX from the ABQ. It was excellent meeting our fellow insurgent and sharing the Gospel of St. Christopher Sholes with the peoples of the Republic of First Draft. Many greets and funs were had and the Central Committee agrees […]
TWDB Update: Noiseless, Rochester and American Pocket Typewriter!
Following a lose thread from the last set of updates, specifically the designs of W. P. Kidder, there’s a few new links forged in that chain, starting with the Noiseless: The Portable numbers are an educated guess, since there were only about 6500 made over about 2 1/2 years between its introduction in Nov 1921 […]
1958 Remington-Rand Quiet-Riter Eleven – The 2016 Typewriter Hunting Season continues
There’s still a bit of pitting left behind by the mold that shows up in flash photographs. Maybe a bit of buffing compound might fix that. Flash photography also reveals that the keys are slightly different shades of green .. randomly. thankfully, neither of these things is apparent in normal light. Actually, now that I […]
W. H. Bennington: Gambler, Scoundrelly Politician, Horse Lover, Boodler, Spy, Shotgun Slayer of Felines, Mental Scientist and Typewriter Designer.
“And Satan Appeared in Kansas City…” A collection of news clippings from 1891-1908 tracing the activities of one Wesley (AKA: William) H. Bennington in the years up to his first *five* typewriter companies. For the first 3 years of his active political life, Bennington appears to have been a well-liked and active member of his […]
Molle Updated some more, and the Bennington Plot Thickens…
This weekend at the TWDB was mostly about more research into the details of Molle and Bennington. I made a rough stab at laying out a serial number list for Molle, and immediately more info and analysis from our friends Mark Adams and Tyler Anderson flowed in, allowing some very nice fine-tuning to that list. […]
Typewriter Database Update: Molle!
Well, this one wasn’t bad, though I did all the grunt work of hunting down sources before I found Robert Messenger’s blog post from Jan, 2013 where he’d already done most of that grunt work. Turned out to be a good thing, as I turned up just a couple bits that prolly weren’t available when […]
The Bennington/Xcel Mystery Deepens – a third Bennington and hints of a long con…
Sometimes you whack the pinata and all kinds of tasty stuff comes out. Such is the case of the “was it ever even built?” Bennington and Xcel, where we left off a couple of days ago smugly munching our Scooby Snacks — when Agent Polt dashes by and tosses a letter on Bennington letterhead, from […]
Crank up the Mystery Machine for another TWDB Update – Bennington and Xcel!
Hey kids, want to solve a mystery with me? :D Cue soundtrack (scooby doo) Here’s the mystery: On yesterday’s Fox page update, we see a note on the failed attempt by William H. Bennington of Bennington Typewriter to take over the ailing Fox Typewriter concern in 1922. Well, there’s a thread that needs to be […]
Typewriter Database Update: Fox! Plus bonus typer score…
The last links of the chain: TWDB updates for World, Boston, Garbell, Venus and Venus Portable!
Yep that chain from yesterday still had a few links to forge. It’s noted that the Victor Index is sometimes grouped with the World index, as both were made in Boston at about the same time. Because it was mentioned and needed to be linked, I made a page: Then, because a name variant of […]
Weekend Update at TWDB: Victor Index, Franklin, Victor and Victor Portable!
So, this weekend I made a few more updates to the TWDB. This time, rather than be inspired into a research frenzy by an uploaded rarity, it was a basically a diceroll that decided what rabbit hole I was going to go down. I had just written my last blog post on Friday evening and […]
Updates at The Typewriter Database! Williams, Secor, Emerson, Visigraph and More!
Oh, look at the manufacturer pages by last modified date at TWDB: We’ve been busy this month, and specifically this past week or so, as Tyler Anderson and I took a poke at refining the Williams Typewriter Serial Number Page. Before, it looked like this: And now it looks like this: Nice, eh? I’m spending […]
SSW Universal Surveillance: Night of Explosions and Skypainting
Stephen Colbert’s Typewriter & Alton Brown tours MTE
I dropped by the Mesa Typewriter Exchange yesterday to catch up on what new machines had come in, and to ask Bill Wahl about his encounter with Alton Brown, who had stopped in the shop and poked around awhile before buying a nice early-60’s Olympia SM7. The funny part I found out was that Bill […]
How about a free PDF pattern and tutorial for making your own typewriter dust cover?
Yeah, I thought you guys might dig that. You’re DIY, you like typewriters, why haven’t you clicked this link (dead now that happens 8 years after the post is made) already? :D
Thrift Score Casio SK-1 and the Urge to Circuit-Bend again…
I managed to get out thriftin’ this weekend and scored an old Casio SK-1 Sampling Keyboard for $7, which is something of a Holy Grail among Circuit Bending enthusiasts for the sheer number of mods that can be done to wildly affect the sounds this little toy keyboard makes. Nice! No battery Acid Rot, clean […]
Life and The Universe Never Stands Still: SSW Cycle 19 Ends with Triad Win!
Throughout my school life, lo so many years ago, I was always shown maps of the Solar System as a series of ellipses orbiting the Sun, which doesn’t move. Of course, even in the 70’s it was understood that the Sun does move – I remember being taught that the Sun, and indeed the whole […]
Admiral Ackbar: First Contact – will the first aliens we meet be amphibians?
The actor who played the voice of Admiral Ackbar died today – he who voiced the famous “IT’S A TRAP!” line in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. That got me thinking a bit about the fact that the Mon Calamari Cruisers shown in Star Wars were not filled with water, despite the Mon Calamari […]
Feelin’ The Bird…
Yeah, with the whole fiasco of the Arizona Primaries and the past week’s incessant news of Trump and Cruz abandoning politics and policy speeches to instead trade insults and allegations about each others wives, the 2016 race can seem pretty relentlessly negative. However, today we got a little reminder about the basic difference in attitude […]
My First Thrifted Wristwatch: 1980 Seiko 5 (6309-5180A)
Teeritz Agenda: How To Buy a Wristwatch, Part 1 – The Dress Watch Teeritz Agenda: How to Buy a Wristwatch, Part 2 – The Dive Watch