I've seen many green two tone Remington 3 portable typewriters. This little baby is a beautiful teal and blue. It is in remarkably excellent shape and is owned by one of my customers. Even the case is different. Enjoy the photos. … [Read more...]

I like the old machines. This is a customer machine that needed a bit of love. Quite dirty with a broken draw band, bad feet, nasty paper rollers and sticking keys. You know; normal stuff. In the past it also received the typical shellac that was a favorite way to brighten an aging typewriters paint. Of course fifty years later it is just a crinkly yellowed mess. The nice thing about Underwood 5 typewriters that it is simple to … [Read more...]

This little Erika portable typewriter came into the shop needing just a few things. The paper wasn't feeding as the three front rollers were all flat on one side. The cute little carriage return lever was not working, just kinda flopping there like it was all sad. I spun a few rollers out on the lathe and paper is feeding like a champ! The carriage return lever was a little odd. Every time I reattached the return spring, put the platen back … [Read more...]

I get to experience all types of mechanical writing machines. A good example is this Perkins Brailler ( www.perkins.org ). This typewriter is used to create Braille documents. Those handy raised dots that are felt with the finger tips for the visually impaired. I like these typewriters, as they are quite like stenographer typers. You load paper into the Brailler from the back and the paper is loaded onto a "drum". As you type Braille the … [Read more...]

I had to buy this Olivetti Lettera 36 portable as I'd read some of the opinions of the type-o-sphere. The oh so wise folks out there were right. It is a nice portable electric machine with touch control, a nice carriage return, impression control (no, not public relations) and a good crisp typing feel. Heck, the words flew from my fingers to the page - stuck type bars- what just happened? I hit the keybd rel  button. Then emote an … [Read more...]

We get quite a number of typewriters in the shop that are family heirlooms. Many have spent decades on a shelf, in the garage, basement, closet, attic, you name it, you've stored it there. This fine specimen was no different; used voraciously by their grandfather, then less and less. It was rediscovered in the basement and by then the damage had mostly been done. Moisture split the platen, water dripping rusted some key locations. As … [Read more...]

A customer came in a couple weeks ago for help installing a ribbon cartridge as it had been so long since the last change. That was easy, and no charge for nice conversation and a simple task. Well, that nice guy showed up on my door step with his son in tow with a new problem, same machine. It just will not hold the paper! Well how about that, the paper bail release was just kinda flopping around with no tension and the paper wouldn't … [Read more...]