“You use a typewriter to write letters, but you do not put it on an altar and worship it.” — J. Krishnamurti
“J. Krishnamurti did not collect typewriters.” — Paul Lagasse
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1934 Royal Portable
This is my 1934 Royal Portable, which I picked up for a measly $25 from an antique shop in Savage, MD about a decade ago. It was still in its original case, which looked like it had heroically repelled repeated assaults by several generations’ worth of demented, incontinent rodents. But the machine inside was in perfect mechanical condition and required only the most basic of cleanings.
Fountain pen collectors call this a “Sumgai” — exactly the thing you’re looking for, in great shape, at a ridiculously cheap price, which usually gets snapped up just before you get there (as in, “Yeah, we had one of those, but Sumgai was in here yesterday and bought it.”)
After following the excellent restoration instructions provided at Richard Polt’s Classic Typewriter Page, and instaling a fresh ribbon, this little machine has served me faithfully ever since. (And I’m still on the same ribbon, BTW.) The lid has a rather vicious-looking gash on the right side (barely visible in the picture), and it’s missing one of its rubber feet, but in every other way this machine looks factory-fresh.
1923 Remington Portable #1
This is the latest addition to my collection, a 1923 Remington Portable #1, which I found in another Savage Mill stall not too far from where the Royal had been sitting ten years earlier. Unlike the Royal, Remmie did not come with a case and consequently shows many signs of a hard life. The machine has a fair amount of rust on the body and some of the stainless steel levers are heavily pitted as if the poor machine had been stored under a leaking roof.
I worked hard to remove all the grit and grime within reach, and it took a lot of scrubbing just to bring out the most basic of shines. Remmie would probably benefit from being stripped down to its springs and cleaned piece by piece. Even so, after a little oil and a fresh ribbon, it goes like a trooper.
Not as smooth or quiet as the Royal, and plagued by “creeping scroll,” Remmie is at the moment on assignment as a roving reporter while Royal handles the typecasting desk.
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Pingback by Sotto Voce. » Meet the Typecasters — September 12, 2008 @ 10:54 am
Dude, I think we have the EXACT SAME ROYAL. Rep! Although I have to ask, what brand of ribbon are you using to such good effect? I’m not very experienced in the field of typewriters, so I ended up picking up a generic white/black at Staples, and sometimes I feel like it’s a little loose, an issue that I cannot claim definitively as the purview of the ribbon, as I know nothing about the workings of the machine and all.
Comment by rere — September 24, 2008 @ 11:33 pm
Hi, rere — sorry for the delay in response, I’ve been up to my eyeballs in Baltimore Book Festival duties. My ribbons of choice (“choice” as in “what the office supply store had on the shelves”) are “Porelon” adding machine ribbons. They have dried out a bit over many years of service (go back and check out my typecasts from 2005 — same ribbons, somewhat “wetter”) but they are still going strong.
Hey, maybe our Royals were assembly-line brothers! We can swap serial numbers and see how close together they are. If you suspect something mechanically wrong with the spool, you should check out the cleaning and servicing instructions on the Classic Typewriter Page (link in the blogroll).
Comment by sottovoce — September 29, 2008 @ 9:42 am