I love my typewriter collectors as they bring in some very interesting machines. These three Brosette portables are from one of my favorite collector guys. You do not get the opportunity to have a Brosette typewriter from West Germany in many collections. I’d only seen photos. It was a real hoot to have three in the shop all in one swoop. According to the notes in typewriterdatabase.com these lovelies were manufactured between 1953 and 1959.
Brosette #1 from the year 1956 had maladjusted upper and lower case alignment, easily adjusted as Metallwerk Max Brose & Co., Coburg, Germany made it a simple design. A really clean machine, so not much else but to do some clean up.
Brosette #2 from the year 1954 also had the same thing; upper and lower case out of spec. See a pattern here? It too was a nice and well maintained machine. The platen had been replaced in its past as it was a different rubber than the other machines. The ribbon vibrator was sticking and needed a smidgen of adjustment.
Brosette #3 from the year 1956 . . . the same upper and lower case again! Also, this little typewriter needed the spring drum tension adjusted. Usually the spring drum has been wound way too tight. In this case the set screw had loosened and caused the drum to wind down. This caused crowding about half way along the carriage path as the typewriter action slowed. Also, the card holder is a wire style and would rub on the paper bale causing the carriage to hang up as it hit one of the rollers. This machine needed to be degreased so off to the solvent station it went. Of the three machines this one looks like it had been stored in a very warm location causing impressions from the paper rollers onto the platen. The platen could use replacing if it ever gets much use.
Of the three, which did I like using the most? Brosette number one had such a nice typing feel and the type face was a joy to behold. If you ever have the opportunity add a Brosette to your collection, do it.
OK, get this. After I wrote about these machines another Brosette from 1953 showed up in the shop. We’ll call it Brosette #4. Very similar to Brosette #2 (from 1954), yet does not have a bell or bell clapper nor paper roller release. Other wise they look just the same. I’ll share more in another post. Here is a link to Mike Brown’s article on the Brosette typewriters http://typexnews.com/links/Brosette.pdf