We get a lot of older Royals in the shop, and this one took us a bit by surprise. This pristine Royal KH came to us after a rough landing coming back home on an airline (typewriter volley ball anyone?). The actual complaint from our costumer was it would type fine, then the carriage would race and make a racket, totally un-type-able. The obvious damage was easy, scratches and an amazing bent tab rack that looked like someone strung a bow. Mr. … [Read more...]

This Royal KM desktop came to us after decades in a garage. Once opened, it looked like someone had dumped an entire bag of dryer lint in the thing! This is the first machine I've taken the shop vac and sucked out all the debris. It then got a good degreasing and general cleaning. There is quite a bit of surface rust, and unfortunately there is not a lot we can do for that. We got lucky and the rust did not effect the carriage operation. The tab … [Read more...]

Made in Wuppertal, West Germany the Voss typewriter was very popular. It had limited distribution in the USA and is a great machine for daily use. This Business-Riter has a tabulator that is set by a small knob on the right side of the carriage and activated by the bar above the keys. This machine has a distinctive type, very bold…very readable. It came into the shop for general maintenance and adjustment. It mostly had very sticky type bars, … [Read more...]

This amazing machine, despite having corrosion, paint overspray on the mechanisms, bent type bars and a myriad of other maladies came through our care a working typewriter. This Underwood number 4 is serial number 0895-4, a 1900 vintage. Here is the list of items we corrected; new back feet (they were missing), new paper feed rollers (six), removed paint clogging the gears, realigned over half the type bars, removed each type bar from the … [Read more...]

The Corona 3 folding portable was one of the most successful machines in typewriter history, with more than 600,000 machines built and sold over a period of almost 30 years. This wonderful specimen has aged well and even has a serviceable case. The only major problems we are working to solve is it occasionally skips and the ribbon reverse is not working. I wanted to try replacement rubber feed from Steve Dade in California, so this customer … [Read more...]

This HEAVY National Cash Register is a mechanical wonder. It came in for general service, oiling and adjustment. It is too large for either of our workbenches so we put it on a four-wheel dolly so we can get at everything. It will be like a kid again, playing on the floor with my toys!   And a first look inside: … [Read more...]

There are few things that destroy typewriters ability to function; rust and a split platen. This beautiful black beauty, amongst other technical difficulties, came with a platen split all the way down its length. We are fortunate that there is still one (yes, only one) company in the US that recovers platens and feed rollers, J.J. Short. We sent the platen to J.J. Short located in Macedon NY and it came back in factory perfect condition. Now we … [Read more...]

This Royal KMM 12, serial number 3658086, is a dusty little wonder and has many keys sticking or totally frozen in place. It looks like there was some water infiltration on the left side. We’ll start with a good cleaning, remove the platen to check rollers and go from there. I had a wonderful Valentines day with Mr. Montgomery and this KMM. After a good inspection the 4, 5, E, D, and X keys are completely frozen. It looks like something was … [Read more...]

This nice Underwood example, serial number S11-688989, came into the shop in October, and with the work backlog we finally got some quality time with it. This beauty had been sitting in a garage for decades and it showed. Mold on the platen, saw dust everywhere; as I was cleaning it popcorn kernels fell out! I’m becoming quite enamored with the patina tobacco stains engrain into the typewriter. The golden brown just flows off. The machine had … [Read more...]