This Royal KMM was repainted wrinkle finish grey. Personally, I like the big shiny gloss black models (sooo shiny!) yet this grey finish was very popular after WW2 in the forties. This fine example of post war industrial art had a line space lever that was bent so bad it was hitting the ribbon cover. It is pretty hard to get any work done with that little disaster. The funny thing about being a typewriter repairperson is we look at the … [Read more...]

We don’t see too many Woodstock typewriters in the shop. Mostly they are not that great of writing machine so few survived. On the other hand, they are totally cool typewriters! I see many similarities between other brands in the Woodstock, and it is too bad their competitors won over the public. This grand beast came in for a cleaning, oiling, ribbon feed problems and general tune up. After the mundane task of cleaning, of which I found a cute … [Read more...]

This is a well preserved Remington 17 from 1939, and used often. I know exactly why we see so few in the shop and if you own one you too know as well. These Remington 17’s are well made and don't really break unless something catastrophic happens. I sometimes muse that these are an engineer’s typewriter. Every feature is well thought out, and when I open the machine for service each mechanism is a delight to ponder. Seriously, our shop … [Read more...]

This well preserved Underwood Champion from 1935 was hanging up mid-carriage and the owner, being mechanically inclined made adjustments. That worked just fine for awhile then…..that annoying hang up just wouldn’t go away and that ALWAYS means drastic measures must be taken! For me, drastic measures would be to call my local typewriter repair person (hint, hint). For this incredibly nice customer it meant taking the machine apart until there was … [Read more...]

This combination of an adding machine and a cash drawer was quite popular up until electronic cash registers took over the industry. This Clary is a well-preserved example of a nice hand cranked cash register. The machine came from a sewing machine shop in Seattle, and with a fresh ribbon and oiling and adjustment is fun to use! … [Read more...]

This lovely example of a Quiet-Riter came to us with an exceedingly annoying habit of type, type, type… STUCK… and I mean really stuck as the carriage would not budge. The owner is on a budget so we were all hopeful it would be an easy and fast fix. This one was a little complicated. We dismantled the machine to diagnose the problem and it was pretty apparent there were several things coming into play. The tab set mechanism was stuck, and … [Read more...]

We get only a few cash registers and adding machines in the shop these days, and it is too bad as I love working on these mechanical wonders. This adding machine is a 7 row and capable of $10,000 increments. The keys were sticking and the basic add, subtract and multiply functions were intermittent. It had not been used for a number of years. Mr. Montgomery had the first go at it as he has decades of troubleshooting experience. Once opened up … [Read more...]

The Wheelwriter from IBM is a great machine and took off from the Selectric. Then.... word processors took over. We were asked to take two dead Wheelwriter 2's and make one a working typewriter. I love these jobs, as a customer has given me complete control over what to use from each machine. The one machine was clearly dead for a long time as it was clean, platen and feed rollers in great shape. The other typewriter was dirty as a Clint Eastwood … [Read more...]

This Underwood Universal Portable typewriter is a dream to use. I love the Underwood truncated 9’s and 6’s. This typewriter came in for general service and since it has been kept in a case it really just needed light cleaning, oiling and a few adjustments. One of the front rubber feet had broken off so was replaced. We are fortunate that we have Tony Casillo in New York who makes reproduction rubber feet for Remingtons and Underwoods. I … [Read more...]