Robert E. De Barth – Bates Brass Wire Staplers Robert E. De Barth – The Hot Rod Bates Model C
The Internets Go Boom this morning…
I awoke from a dream at about 3am this morning, feeling uneasy. As one does, I wandered to the glowing screen to check mail and such, and found that the TWDB was unreachable. First thing I checked was the server itself – doing a remote reboot when I couldn’t get to the admin interface. After […]
The Aristocrat Returns Home and TWDB Hits 3500!
Where Have All The Typefaces Gone?
Adjusting the Space Bar on a 1960 Smith-Corona Galaxie
This Service Manual is now available for download!
Printin’ in the Press Room
Catch #4 of the 2015 Typewriter Hunting Season: 1960 Smith-Corona Galaxie
Catch #3 of the 2015 Typewriter Hunting Season: 1955 Remington Quiet-Riter
Just Visiting: 1946 Royal KMM
TWDB: 777 Manufacturers, 3350 Typewriter Galleries, 1792 Typefaces, 6273 Patents…
Hey, there’s a new feature at the Typewriter Database: Typewriter Patents! Thanks to Richard Polt, who finagled me a copy of Dirk Schumann’s “Patentbase” DvD, the two major chunks of research conducted by Schumann in the 1990’s are now reunited (and it feels so good!) The original Patentbase was put together by Schumann by digging […]
Catch #2 of the 2015 Typewriter Hunting Season: Royal Mercury
Coincidentally, Joe Van Cleave just posted about his old friend, his Royal Mercury, which also put me in the mood to have one. And now there are Six Royal Mercuries in the TWDB. And here’s this one.
5-Series Portables on the Brain…
What colors and typestyles did the 1966 Galaxie Deluxe and Classic 12 come in? So glad you asked…
Pinned “Label Holder” Platens for Corona as late as 1957.
When I saw these pinned platens in the 1957 Smith-Corona Parts Manuals, they tickled a memory of Mark Adams discussing such pinned label-holder platens found in 1930’s Remington Portables. I did find one mention of such a Corona platen in Scott K.’s blog. For those interested in such contraptions, here’s a data point for you: […]
Eight Distinct Models of Corona Three, as follows…
I took a trip to MTE today to drop off the books I had borrowed, and pick up a new batch. This time, among the piles I dug up 4 Parts Books from Smith Corona, of particular interest: All Carriage Shift Models (1953 & 1957) Includes: Corona Three, Corona Four, Junior, Zephyr and Skyriter All […]
Illustration of Corona Flattop and Inspection Routine
Here’s a little taste of the L.C. Smith Adjustment Manual for “Floating Shift Machines Before the 5-Series” which I have also scanned in. This one is way thicker than the 5-Series Adjustment Manual, and is mostly text. According to the 5-Series manual, these two manuals are meant to be referred to together, with the “Floating […]
Adjusting the 6-Point Touch Tension Adjustment of the 5-Series Smith Corona
As always, click to embiggen (or better, download for full-resolution – the illustrations are amazing!). These are very high-res scans from the 1947 L.C. Smith & Corona “5-Series” Adjustment Manual. Yes, I scanned the whole thing, and yes I’ll be making a PDF. (:
The Heavy Lifting: Smith-Corona Serial Number Page Update
Corona Portables updated at the Typewriter Database!
Whew! Yeah, I actually took a whack at the nightmare that is the Smith-Corona Serial Number Page at TWDB this past week, but unlike recent forays into the jungle I decided to focus on one specific model: the Corona 4. The serial number table for Corona 4 was basically a line-for-line copy of OMEF 73, […]
Tappy Holidays!
The Silver-Seiko built Royals from the Early 1970’s
The Early Typewriter Collectors’ Association election for new Board of Directors
In my mail today was the official ballot for the ETCA Board of Directors election, which will determine the makeup of the Board for the next 5 years and thus, the direction and focus of the Association and magazine. I will be sending in my ballot and a check for renewal of my membership tomorrow. […]
How to Re-Spool a Brother Typewriter Ribbon Cassette (JP-10/12)
It’s nice having a fellow Typospherian only a few blocks away – handy for having someone around who might just like the machines that you feel guilty about not buying, but just don’t quite want for yourself. Key Snap and I tend to text each other when we see a machine in the thrifts that […]
Typewriter Database News: 3000+ galleries attained – and plans for 2015
Type-Writer.org’s article on The First Brothers (updated with new info!) The Typewriter Database – 3000+ Typewriter Galleries to peruse! :D
Thrift Gods Hear My Plea: Brother Professional 90 and IF-50 Computer Interface
Now, guess what I’m going to be doing with this baby? If your guess involves certain Paleocomputers I keep in my corral, your guess would be correct. Stay tuned for 1980’s style printing fun! In the meantime, how about we let the Brother Professional 90 tell us a bit about itself: PS: 5 more to […]
Camera of the Week: Fujica AX-3
When Key Snap texted me asking if I wanted a couple grab bags of random camera stuff that someone had just gifted to him, I of course jumped at it. A free camera to play with? Yes, please! (: When the contents of the bags were sorted, I found I had a nice 80-200mm zoom […]
The Joy of Vintage Fountain Pen Daily Drivers…
In The Mail: Petersen’s Photographic (1970’s) and the Tiniest Selectric in The World…
The postman was busy this week, dropping off parcels accompanied by typewritten letters from Agents of the Insurgency around the world. From the great state of Maine, Typewriter Hunter Michael Höhne sent me the first of two large stacks of Petersen’s Photographic magazines that he’s kept around since the 1970’s. Full of useful tips and […]
The Typewriter Database Gadget for Blogger!
Well, after having some people try out the TWDB widget in their Blogger blogs, it turns out that Blogger strips certain tags (including both OBJECT and IFRAME) tags from any “HTML/Javascript” code you try to paste into their gadget. This, despite my research suggesting that it should work fine. So, I did a little more […]
Typewriter Database Update: Collection Widget for your Blog!
Oh hey, look at that over in the right side of the blog! It’s a Widget for displaying my currently owned typewriters, as entered into the Typewriter Database. “How do I get this nifty Widget for my blog?” I hear you say. Well, it’s easy as pie. Just log into your “Typewriter Hunter”-level account at […]
Brother Hunt: JP-5 Found in the Wild, Again!
Brother JP-8 Discovered, 3 Remaining Missing Brothers
Yep, these are 21st Century Brothers 1987 JC Penny Christmas Catalog, the very latest mention I can find of the JP-1 being sold new. The Brother JP-8 Parts and Service Manuals Detailed view of Potential Brother JP-6 Detailed View of Potential Brother JP-13
Toy Typewriters from Sears, JC Penny, Montgomery Wards, Aldens and Eatons Christmas Catalogs: 1957-1983
As I’ve been researching Brother machines in various store catalogs, I’ve run across a large number of Toy Typewriters. In fact, in some years (notably the mid-70’s) many catalogs had a page for Toy Typers but no page for real ones, which seemed odd to me. Anyway, I know there’s at least a little interest […]
Desk Cats
Ahh, desk cats, those curious felines who sit on your desk next to your typewriter and stare at you while you type, subtly shedding fur that gets into your segment and occasionally refusing to budge from your carriage return path. Most are only a minor bother, and make up for it by being cute and […]
Typewriter Database Update – “Operation Typewriter Hunt: Brother”
I’m hip-deep in the rewrite of the Brother Serial Number Page at the Typewriter Database this week, so if you have a Brother machine uploaded to the Database, please log in and check the comments on your Brother galleries. I’ve probably been badgering you about your machine. (: A Work In Progress, that page is. […]