Category: Acquisition

Typewriter Tools Upgrade

I’ve been wrenching on enough typewriters, that it was time to up my game again and add some new typewriter tools to the proverbial tool bag. In fact it was also time for an actual tool bag! So back on August 16th, I added a portable repair person’s leather bag and some new typewriter repair tools to my collection. For those interested in improving their skills and typewriter tools, I am documenting some of these new typewriter repair and maintenance tools. If you’re getting into the space, I highly recommend you slowly build your toolbox with items only as you need them.

With some of the harder-to-find tools, do take care as they can often be dramatically overpriced in online auctions. The more cost-conscious should be on the look out for bundles of tools which are usually much less expensive than purchasing them one at a time. Additionally if you search around a bit you might find local collectives of typewriter enthusiasts who share or loan out tools.

View down from above a table full of typewriter repair and maintenance tools.
Save the containers of solvents and the bottles of cleaning agents, all of the items which appear on this table fit comfortably into the black leather tool carrying case.

Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag

The leather repair bag I picked up is similar to one that late century traveling repair people would have carried with them for on-site repairs and typewriter maintenance. It has a compartment in the bottom with space for three metal trays of replacement parts. It has a side pocket for manuals and any necessary service paperwork. The main compartment has a large open space for a variety of wrenches, screwdrivers, and various other tools for use on the job. 

Until I create a dedicated space in the garage for typewriter repair, this bag makes an exceptionally convenient storage space for keeping all my typewriter related tools in one place. I particularly love the heavy leather and patina of it as a piece and it works reasonably well as a decorative item with the rest of the collection.  Modern variations of this bag can be found at purveyors like Crawford Tool which cater to copier, fax, and electronics repair spaces. Sadly leather covered wood isn’t an option, but there are a variety of soft cover, hard cover, and even metal or military cases available, some with extensible handles and wheels. 

The bag itself is in great condition given its age and general use.  It certainly helps that it was incredibly well designed and made with some seriously sturdy materials. The thickness of the leather is truly astounding compared to any bag I’ve ever come across. There are one or two pieces of leather that need to be repaired or re-attached to the wooden internal frame and a button/snap that needs to be repaired. These should be easy fixes for a rainy day.

A black leather repair case sits on a table next to a copy of the Typewriter Repair Bible. Various card catalogs, a book case and several typewriters can be seen in the background.

The scuffed, but still very solid and functional leather repair person's bag with brass fittings and latches. The initials E L are embossed onto the front flap.

Three thin metal containers for replacement parts can be slid into a small pocket on the side of the repair bag.

View into the bottom section of a leather repair bag showing a wooden sided compartment.

The side pocket of the leather repair bag is just perfect for the Manual Typewriter Repair Bible along with any paperwork a repair person needs.

Repair bag in front of which sits three thin metal trays. One of the trays is open showing a variety of small compartments for typewriter repair parts.

Because new stock isn’t much of a reality and I prefer to keep parts in situ on parts machines for use when needed, I haven’t been using the three metal parts containers as much as I might. Instead, I tend to use them as temporary receptacles of screws, nuts, and springs while I’m taking apart machines for restoration. This helps in keeping sections separate for easier re-assembly and having three means that I could be working on three disassembled machines at a time if I wish without getting parts from different machines confused.

New Tools

Since I wrote about a variety of some of the pictured spring hooks, oilers, and pouches from Crawford back in early August, I won’t cover those again, but I’m leaving a link to that post for those who may benefit from them. 

Along with the bag I acquired wide variety of wrenches, screwdrivers, tweezers, and some new specialty typewriter repair tools. The specialty tools tend to the higher end of typewriter repair and adjustment that most hobbyists can manage without, but which can be useful from time to time. 

Below are some of the new (and other recent) acquisitions:

Typewriter Manuals

  • The Manual Typewriter Repair Bible (wirebound; digital) – While there are a lot of great repair manuals out there, many specializing in one or more very specific models or series, this is probably the general repair manual you’d want in a pinch. The fact that it’s wirebound means that you can easily have it out on the bench for reference without worrying about the binding closing and losing the page you’re working on at a given moment.

Typewriter Cleaning Tools

  • Nylon, Brass and Steel brushes – these are good for a variety of purposes. The nylon brush is great for general cleaning an maintenance. The brass brush in combination with mineral spirits is perfect for cleaning type slugs which have heavy dirt, ribbon, and grime build-up and won’t damage the slugs. The steel brushes can be good for more aggressive cleaning of various rusted parts as necessary. Some care should be exercised though to ensure that the typebars aren’t so vigorously scrubbed that they are accidentally bent.
  • Chip brush – this type of soft bristled paint brush is excellent for handling dust, cobwebs, and other large debris when doing the first round of cleaning a typewriter. They’re also nice for regular weekly dusting of machines around the house.
  • Soft bristle fingernail brush – these have been excellent soft bristle brushes for use in cleaning typewriter external panels in conjunction with scrubbing bubbles or Simple Green cleaners. Their small size is particularly nice for getting into some of the smaller spaces that my bigger brush might miss. They’re also useful for getting the grease and grime underneath your fingernails after a day of wrenching on typewriters.
  • Libman curved hand brush – this has been excellent for scrubbing the exterior body panels of typewriters, particularly those with crinkle paint. The bristles are firm enough to scrub and get into small spaces without damaging the paint and stand up to some repeated use.
  • Cotton cleaning rags – these are excellent for a variety of cleaning uses, they’re fairly ubiquitous at hardware stores (especially the paint section), and definitely beat Q-tips for ease of use as well as cost.

General Typewriter Tools

  • 4 pair of precision AA tweezers – these needle tipped tweezers are excellent for holding onto small pieces including small nuts or washers which sometimes need delicate handling while screwing screws into them. They can also be used for type slug soldering if necessary.
  • Needle nose pliers, duckbill pliers, and general purpose pliers – the bag came with duplicates of some of the sort I’d already had.
  • Screwdrivers – the bag came with a plethora of variously sized screwdrivers (mostly flathead), but I find they’re not as useful as some of my smaller precision screwdrivers which I use more frequently. 
  • Jensen 8 piece open end ignition wrench set (with 7/32, 15/64, 1/4, 9/32, 5/16, 11/32, 3/8, and 7/16 wrenches) for handling a variety of small nuts. 

Specialty Typewriter Tools

Below are some of the more specialty and harder-to-find typewriter tools I’ve acquired, most of which came with the repair bag.

  • Two T-bar benders/link benders/type bar twisters – These thin bars with slots in the bottom and a T-bar at the top are used for bending or twisting a variety of typewriter parts which may need to be gently formed (typewriter repair-speak for bent).
  • Royal S-39 Ribbon Vibrator Arm Bender – This thin metal tool has two small slots cut into it for forming the Ribbon Vibrator Arms on Royals, but can be useful for forming a variety of thin metal parts. (see p. 360 of The Manual Typewriter Repair Bible)
  • Keylever benders/typebar rollers – these are useful for adjusting typebars with respect to type alignment. 
  • Eyelet tool for putting small metal eyelets into typewriter ribbon. Generally I use this for Smith-Corona and other typewriters whose auto-reverse ribbon mechanisms are actuated by the metal gromets placed into the ends of typewriter ribbon spools. I picked this up when I switched from using pre-spooled ribbon to buying bulk ribbon and spooling it by hand.

Focus on a pouch of typewriter tools featuring pockets for a variety of screwdrivers, some hemostat, a pair of wire cutters and some plastic brushes. A portion of the table of typewriter repair tools featuring four pair of pliers, some spring hooks, a plastic packet of small c-wrenches, some cotton wiping cloths, a pair of typebar pliers and two T-benders Focus on three black pouches of tools with screwdrivers, hemostats, plastic brushes, a variety of metal tweezers, an adjustable wrench, a bar bender, several tooth brushes and a large red plastic pouch full of a variety of increasingly larger screwdrivers. In the back corner is a copy of the 400+ page The Manual Typewriter Repair Bible

Solvents, Cleaners, and Oil

I’ve written a bit in the past about some of the products and methods for cleaning and oiling typewriters. Below is a list of the solvents, cleaners and oils I use in my typewriter repair and maintenance practice.

A table top arrayed with

Solvents

I primarily use these to clean out the internals of most of my machines. Obviously care should be used to protect paint, plastic, and non-metal portions from these caustic solvents.

In cases where spattering or soaking issues may occur, I’ll use vaseline or other grease to cover up painted surfaces or decals so they’re not damaged, or I’ll cover things up (like keyboards with plastic or glass keys with paper legends) with thicker towels for brief exposures where soaking through isn’t a big concern. In some quick cases, like the painted logos on segments, I’ll just cover them with small pieces of packing tape which are easily removable without causing damage.

To help cut down on excessive use of these caustic chemicals, I make use of small plastic oilers with a long thin spouts to better limit and control the amounts of solvent I’m using. These are also useful for more accurately dispensing solvents onto small and specific parts. 

Remember that these solvents should only be used in very well ventilated spaces and away from open flames or sparks which can easily ignite them and cause fires. Repeated exposure to the fumes of these materials can damage your lungs.

  • Mineral spirits
  • Lacquer Thinner
  • Acetone
  • PB B’laster – this is great, but has a more pungent, lingering smell than some of the other solvents

Cleaners

  • Scrubbing Bubbles – this is great for typewriter exteriors including crinkle paint and plastic of most sorts
  • Simple Green – a great cleaner and degreaser for removing decades of dirt, grime, and nicotine from the metal exterior of a wide variety of machines

Oil

  • Premium Sewing Machine Oil – this is great in sparing quantities for typewriter carriages and linkages which require lubrication. The pull-out extended spout is excellent for accessing the hard-to-reach interior parts of typewriters, particularly if they’re fully assembled.
  • Rem Oil – This aerosol-based oil is excellent for cleaning, lubricating, and providing corrosion protection for difficult to reach typewriter internals, particularly when you don’t have need to strip an entire machine down.

As ever, following up oil applications with compressed air can assist in thinning down oil on parts so that over-oiling and dramatic oil build-up doesn’t occur. 

WD-40

Most will know of the regular caveats and admonitions about not using WD-40 to lubricate a typewriter, especially the segment. (Hint, it’s for Water Displacement—thus the abbreviation WD—and isn’t a lubricant.) However, WD-40 does work pretty well on crinkle paint finishes to provide both some protection as well as shine. 

The clean front panel of a 1950 Royal KMG in gray frieze paint contrasted with the dust covers one of which is covered in 70 years of dust, dirt, tar, and hair and the other cleaned and sparkling after a treatment with WD-40.

Future

I’m still on the lookout for some keyring pliers for both round and tombstone keys as well as a variety of peening wrenches, but my general need for these has been relatively low for most of the work I’ve done thus far. It’s also a somewhat larger investment, but I really want a nice air compressor for more easily cleaning out machines. I’m also curious to do some research on durometer gauges for testing platen hardness and creating some guidelines about when to replace hardened platens. I’d love guidance on anyone who has researched this area before.

I’m also hovering on the border of doing professional typewriter repair part time on the side. I only have so much space to store repaired and restored machines of my own, and I feel guilty about restored machines sitting around unused. But I also enjoy tearing them down, repairing them, and restoring them back to their former glory. Why not turn my hobby into a part time gig for helping out others and carrying along the craft of typewriter maintenance, repair and restoration? It would also allow me the ability to work on a broader variety of machines.

What typewriter tools are in your collection, and, most importantly, how are you using them?

I always love hearing ideas, tips, and suggestions for making the work of typewriter maintenance and repair easier and more accessible for the home mechanic.

Editor’s note: This is another article in a recuring series of typewriter articles about typewriter use, collecting, repair, restoration, and maintenance. If the subject is of interest, feel free to delve into more of that collection.

Acquired 100% New Zealand Felted Wool Typewriter Mat by ZOMONETI (Amazon)
MOHOM 17" x 13.5" Wool Pressing Mat 100% New Zealand Felted Wool Ironing Mat Pad Blanket for Quilter, Sewing, Quilting Supplies and Notions
I’ve been looking for a reasonable and inexpensive typewriter mat for a while. There are lots of wool options out there and even some with thin rubber layers to prevent your typewriter from walking across your desk. 

I had appreciated the ones I’ve seen in Gerren Balch’s YouTube repair videos for The HotRod Typewriter Co. which he also uses on his workbench, so I asked him his preference. His reply was these 100% wool ironing pads in 17 x 13.5 x 1/2″ form factor for about $15 on Amazon. He said “it’s soaked up 5 years of everything I do and it still looks like the day I bought it.”

The company has some square 13.5 x 13.5 options, which might be better for smaller portables, but I figured that the slightly larger version for both my workbench as well as for my larger standards would be more flexible. Since the price was half of what I’d seen from other vendors, I jumped on it and bought two: one for my workbench and another for my typing desk.

They’re definitely thick and high-quality. On my noisiest table, they definitely make a difference. They prevent some of the typewriter walking my worst rubber-footed typewriters have, but I’ve also got thin sheets of rug pad gripper that I’ve used before if things get out of hand. 

Brown frieze Royal HH standard typewriter on a gray wool typewriter mat sitting on a wooden table.

Acquisition: Early 1900s 3 x 5 Inch No. 15 Card Index Filing Cabinet with No. 1535 C. I. Inserts from The Macey Company

The Macey Company Card Index Filing Cabinet

On July 15, 2024 I acquired an oak filing cabinet with 16 drawers for 3 x 5 inch index card storage. It’s a warm and lovely piece of antique furniture as well as an excellent example of an early 20th century card index cabinet designed for business use and a paper-based pre-cursor of our more modern computer databases.

A light brown Macey Co. oak card index with 16 drawers sits between a black and gray Steelcase card index and an oak barrister bookcase.

From the exterior, there were none of the typical metal badging or decals printed on the filing cabinet to give an idea of the manufacturer of which there were several dozens in the early 1900s.

It wasn’t until I began dismantling the cabinet for cleaning and some restoration that I found one of the four sectional inserts stamped with the words “Macey Inter-Inter / [unintelligible] / No. 1535 C.I.”. The three others had partial versions of a similar stamp, but only the “No. 1535 C.I.” portion is easily discerned without better imaging. Without needing to look it up, I immediately recognized the Macey name as the early 1900s mail order furniture company of Fred Macey which was renamed The Macey Co. and which also helped to get the still extant Steelcase company off the ground. This was a nice thrill for me as I didn’t have any Macey Company furniture in my collection yet.

Several wooden slats glued together with a faint black ink stamp on them that reads: "MACEY / INTER-INTER / [unintelligible] / NO. 1535 C.I."

My new-to-me filing cabinet is a Macey Company No. 15 Cabinet with four inserts of the No. 1535 C.I. card index frames which each hold 4 drawers for 3 x 5 inch index cards. This gives me an additional 16 drawers of storage each of which has a linear capacity of 16.25 inches for the drawers with card stops. (5 of the drawers are sadly missing either the metal slide hardware and/or card stops altogether.) 

The cabinet frame is 61.1 pounds and each 1535 C.I. section (including its 4 drawers) is 17.9 pounds. This gives the entire cabinet in my configuration a curb weight of 132.7 pounds when empty. 

A Macey Company catalog No. 4206 “Macey Filing Appliances” from 1906 lists the shipping weight of the filing cabinet frame at 75 pounds and sold it for $7.00. Each of the No. 1535-C.I. sections had shipping weights of 30 pounds and listed for $4.00. The complete case with 16 drawers was listed for $22.00. Adjusted for inflation from 1906 to 2024, this would be roughly $770.00. 

Catalog page 16 of the 1906 Catalog with an image of a 2 x 2 card index insert at the top and a picture of a full cabinet of four of these on the left hand side. Listed are descriptions of the 2 x 2 inserts along with weights, specifications and sales price.
Page 16 of the Macey Filing Appliances catalog from 1906

The catalog listed the capacity of their 16 inch drawers at 1,950 light (or thin) cards, 1,550 medium cards, or 1,200 heavy cards plus 40 thicker divider cards. 

For most of the (modern) index cards I tend to use, I’m guestimating that I can get 2,250 cards in each drawer giving me an approximate capacity of 36,000 for the entire cabinet. With a quick back-of-the-index card calculation, this would add about 110 pounds to the weight of the cabinet when full.

16 3 x 5 inch index card drawers lined up for cleaning.

The catalog describes the cabinet as made of “quarter sawed oak” with “velvet gold finish” and solid cast brass trimmings. This roughly squares with the materials on my version. The catalog indicated that versions with card rods were available for an additional 25 cents per drawer, but mine doesn’t have any present. The metal clamps on the card stops do have an appropriately spaced hole in them which should make it easy to drill holes in both the front of the drawer and the card stop itself to install rods pretty quickly and easily at the factory.

The Macey Company had been around just before the turn of the century under the name Fred Macey Furniture, Ltd., so without better catalogs with parts numbers, the best range I can currently give to date my card index is roughly about 1900-1940. It couldn’t have been manufactured after 1940 as this was when The Macey Company went out of business.

The “Inter-Inter” brand marking on my drawers is a shortening of “Interchangeable Interiors” a method of sectional filing cabinetry as described in the company’s catalog. One would first select an outer cabinet or shell from one of four widths. After this, they would select the sorts of storage they needed within that shell from a variety of options including: vertical letter file drawer, deep storage drawer (for stationery and supplies), 3 x 5 card index drawers, 8 x 5 card index drawers, medium storage drawers (11″ x 2 3/4″ x 17 1/4″), legal blank drawers (for legal blanks, electrotypes, drawings, etc.), small or large cupboards with doors, flat letter file drawers, document file drawers, check file drawers, vertical cap file drawers (“suitable for filing legal blanks, legal documents (without folding) large photographs, blue prints, etc.”), deep storage drawers, 4 x 6 card index drawers, and etc.

A page from the Macey catalog with a filing cabinet exterior in the center. Floating around the cabinet are nine accessory filing inserts that can be installed into the cabinet.
Inter-Inter Filing Cabinets

The modularity of the system allows for a wide variety of storage needs. It also likely accounts for some difference in the drawers within my particular unit which may have been ordered a few years apart and mixed-and-matched over time as the original owner’s needs changed.

Now that I know about this modular system, I’ll be on the look out for other versions and alternate inserts in the secondary market. (I’m still looking for that 4 x 6 inch version…) Based on the systematic numbering in the catalog, the insert pieces seem to be the labeled with the width in inches of the exterior case followed by the numbers for the dimensions of the index cards. Thus the 3 x 5 inch index card sectional for a 15 inch cabinet is 1535 C.I. where the initials indicate “Card Index”. Thus we could correctly presume the 4 x 6 inch card index insert would be 1846 C.I. since the 4 x 6 modular insert fits into their 18 inch wide cabinet.

A catalog page from 1906 with the heading "Outside Cabinets" which features photos of the four different width sizes of the Macey Company's filing cabinets. At the bottom is a chart of the part numbers, widths (15, 18, 21, 28, 15 1/4, 18 1/4, 21 1/6 and 28 1/4), weights and list prices for the cabinets for ordering by mail.

The Purchase

In the late spring of 2024, I saw what I thought was a 4 x 6 inch oak card index cabinet pop up in the listings on Facebook Marketplace for over $1,000 in Studio City, CA. Knowing that it was likely to sit unloved at that price, I bookmarked and waited. It quickly came down several times over a few weeks to the point I worried someone might actually snipe it. Watching the price reduction over a few weeks, I knew the seller was motivated, so I sent her a message with some data about actual sales of these and made an offer which was promptly accepted. A half hour later I was on my way to pick it up. 

Of course I had been searching for an oak 4 x 6 inch card index filing cabinet for a while, but I was disappointed after seeing the details in her listing that the drawers were each 6-1/8″ wide x 4-6/8″ high to see that it was actually a 3 x 5 inch card index. (Her measurements were for the outside and not the inside.) Knowing that the piece was lovely and special, I succumbed anyway and took it. 

I had double-checked the larger cabinet measurements before leaving to pick it up, but I was surprised to see that it barely fit into the back seat of my Lexus ES350!

History

While owned—though probably not heavily used—for about 42 years by a production manager in Studio City, this cabinet was previously used as a set decoration on the 1982 NBC television series Cassie & Co. starring Angie Dickinson. With the tag line “Ex-cop. New private eye. All woman!”, the show could be viewed as a follow up of Dickinson’s popular NBC show Police Woman (1974-1978). It appeared as a mid-season pick up following on the heels of the female two-hander Cagney and Lacey (1981-1988) and appeared in the Winter before NBC’s Remington Steele (1982-1987)—also featuring a female private detective—that premiered in the fall of 1982. Sadly Cassie & Co. only ran for 13 episodes before shuttering. 

Here was part of the sales description for the cabinet when I purchased it:

This lovely old file cabinet is 52″ high x 14-3/4″ wide x 27-1/2″ deep. Each drawer is 6-1/8″ wide x 4-6/8″ high x 18-1/4″ deep. It has a few scratches on the side, but nothing that can’t be touched up. Otherwise, it’s in good condition. In the early 80’s, I worked on a TV series called “Cassie & Co.” starring Angie Dickinson. This (and another antique file cabinet) was purchased and used as set dressing in Angie/Cassie’s office. When the show was canceled, I bought the cabinets and have had them ever since. I don’t have specific background info on them.
Appearing before the release of the popular Apple IIe computer, the broad public would have expected to see not only filing cabinets but card index cabinets in a business office, so it would have blended right into the decor of the time.

Restoration

Naturally as a filing cabinet that is likely over 100 years old, it has seen some things. (And like Burt Bacharach and Frank Sinatra, it had a relationship with Angie Dickinson.) There are a number of scratches and dings in the top where pulling out drawers and setting them on top has obviously occurred. There were several white scuffs where the cabinet has rubbed up against painted walls or other furniture. 

Focus on the top front edge of the Macey Company card index which has decades of scrapes and scars where the drawers have been plunked down on top of it. Some of the worst have been filled and coated with dark polish to give a warm, used look.

Prior to discovering the manufacturer and knowing about the modularity, I instinctively knew to remove the four screws in the front of the cabinet to see what they were attaching to and how. This led to the ability to pull out the four modular sections to see the interior of the cabinet which, in turn, led to identifying the manufacturer.

The top of one of the four modular sections of four drawers pulled out about an inch from the main cabinet. At the top of the section is an antique brass screw in the center of a top crossbar which would be used to secure the sectional unit into the filing cabinet.

Based on the magnificently dirty and dusty internal condition of the cabinet, I think I’ve been the only person to open them up in over half a century. This took a few hours of vacuuming and careful cleaning to properly mitigate. 

The skeletons of the modular 2 x 2 card index frames lined up on the floor for cleaning.

I then spent some time tapping several dozen nails back into place with an awl and re-gluing some of the loose dovetail joins. I’ve also filled in a few of the scratches and scuffs, given the full cabinet a complete cleaning, and followed up with a thorough polish. 

One missing piece that I’ll have to recreate is a 26 inch strip of hardwood which serves a sled-like function for moving/sliding the cabinet. It’s missing from the bottom left hand side of the filing cabinet frame, but fortunately has a complete version on the right hand side that I can use to recreate the missing portion. It’s not necessary for regular use, but it does help to protect the bottom edge of the filing cabinet from wear and chipping.

There are surely a few more small issues here or there that will require some additional attention as I begin using it, but in general, this cabinet is ready for another century of use.

Typewriter Storage?

Naturally, while removing the drawers and internal sectional pieces, I noticed that the openings in the cabinet were just the right size and depth that each of the four sectional openings is capable of storing two portable typewriters each. 

While I’ll be using this as a traditional card index, I could easily see someone removing one or more of the four sections to store their office typewriter. As a decorative test, I moved the cabinet next to my library card cabinet and loaded it up with some Olympia, Smith-Corona, Remington, and Royal typewriters. One could certainly do worse. After all, Fred Macy did custom manufacture desks for typewriter specific use.

New Grand Total

Recalculating from my collection of card indexes, I think this new cabinet brings our total up to 9 “boxes” with a total of 77 drawers featuring almost 125 linear feet of index card storage space. This comes out to the possibility of storing 208,183 index cards, with a cost per drawer hovering around $12.70 and still dropping.

In solid quarter sawn oak with solid cast brass fittings, it certainly classes up the collection significantly.

Now I just need to negotiate with my partner where this lovely piece of furniture will live in the house… or what will become relegated to the garage? At the moment, maybe this spot works?

Oak 16 drawer Macey Co. card index sandwiched in between a grey and black Steelcase card index and a barrister bookshelf

What should I put into it first? Maybe since I’m not using X (fka Twitter) anymore, I’ll print all my tweets out and archive them in one of the drawers? Feel free to send me your favorite recipes on index cards as I’ve now got some extra space for them.

Photo Gallery

Below are some additional photos from the acquisition and cleaning process.

An oak card index filing cabinet sits in front of an office set up with a desk, a bookcase and several filing cabinets in the background. There are 16 dark holes in the cabinet where the drawers have been removed for cleaning and repair. Close up frontal view of four oak card index drawers sitting on the floor. Each has an interesting stained oak pattern on the front as well as darkly tarnished brass label frames with finger pulls. One of the boxes has several beige manilla and dark green dividers in it. Right side angle on the Macey Co. card index with all the drawers removed. A close up interior view of the empty inside of one of the top section of the modular filing cabinet. there is a small platform on the bottom with a hole cut into it allowing one to see farther down into the cabinet. Close up of an oak card catalog drawer opened up. We have a better view of the brass drawer pull and label frame as well as the card stop and a small dark brass fitting which holds the card stop into the drawer. View down into a single card index drawer sitting on a wooden floor. We have a clear view of the 16 1/2 inch metal track in the middle of the drawer which has spaced metal holes that allow the card stop to be moved and locked into various positions along the length of the drawer.

A piece of cardboard with a 1 inch spring, a variety of tiny 1mm screws, a piece of white crayon, a dark brown furniture crayon and several slips of paper to label drawers on a card index.
Items found hiding inside the Macey Co. card index when I purchased it.

A 3 x 3 matrix of 8 paper slips with the bottom corner slip missing. Most are written in a clean calligraphical hand in brown ink with names like "Orders", "Business cards", and "Ron's Book catalog". One outlier in a simpler hand reads "July".

Acquisition: 1958 Olympia SM3 Portable Typewriter

The Purchase

On Saturday, August 3rd, after a patience-trying wait, I picked up this lovely green 1958 Olympia SM3. It’s the first typewriter in my collection with both an exotic character set as well as a typeface that veers outside of the standard pica and elite typefaces.

It was a Facebook Marketplace purchase for a better-than-reasonable price. I had made a middling offer to someone out in Rancho Cucamonga not knowing what sort of condition the machine was in. I should have headed out the next day to pick it up from the seller, but with our respective schedules and the 45+ minute drive out, I opted to suggest a Saturday pickup. In the erstwhile, someone sniped it away from me with a significantly larger offer. And of course a day later, they’re on r/typewriters asking about what the typewriter was not realizing that it included some math and Greek characters. I watched and waited and stayed in contact with the seller for more than two weeks. As it turned out the bigger offer never materialized, so the seller told me to come out and pick it up for my original offer. 

The seller was in her early 30’s with a relatively young family. She’d inherited the machine from her parents or in-laws who used it, but had kept it in an attic in Newport Beach for the past few decades. Apparently the original owner was a pharmacist, which may account in part for the custom Greek letters on the keyboard. Despite the intermediate inheritor, this has broadly been a one owner machine.

I tried to not show any shock at the non-standard typeface when I picked it up for what is assuredly below market value. I could easily have seen this going for $180-200 as a standard SM3 in unknown condition, but somewhere in the neighborhood of $300-400 with the non-standard typeset and the Congress typeface.

Overall condition

The machine had seen some reasonable use followed by neglect. The first thing I noticed was the damaged paint job on the case, which I’ll go into detail on below.

The usual bushings problem in Olympia SM3s was definitely present, but fortunately the seller hadn’t spent much time testing or tinkering with it to damage the paint job. I quickly swapped the compressed bushings out the day I brought it home.

The ribbon was mostly dried out and worn, but potentially serviceable, though I’ve opted to replace it entirely. One of the spools was an original metal and the other was a plastic replacement. 

In addition to a carriage lock that wasn’t engaging properly, there were some issues with five of the custom keycaps.

Beyond this, the machine was generally in good condition. Despite some reasonable use, the paint finish is in great shape and only shows light wear on the front corners and the front edge of the hood. It definitely needed a good cleaning, oiling, and adjusting.

Richard Polt has posted a manual for the Olympia SM3 for those who’d like to see what originally came with the machine as well as its features.

Clean, Oil, and Adjust

I started the process of disassembling and cleaning the machine on Saturday, August 31st. I spent a portion of the day on Sunday finishing the cleaning and reassembling and adjusting the machine. Oiling the necessary parts as I reassembled made it far easier to limit the amount of oil I used for future maintenance.

I took some photos as work proceeded for those interested in that portion of the process.

My notes from mid-July were tremendously helpful in speeding this process along.

One of the most bothersome issues I encountered while cleaning it was that it was put up “wet” and stored  for too long. The original owner had the all-too-common bad habit of erasing directly into the typewriter rather than moving the carriage to the side. This means that it had a fair amount of eraser crumbs stuck to the over-oiled carriage rails and other internals. Over decades of storage, this has heavily tarnished the carriage rails and required not only aggressive cleaning on some parts, but several rounds of metal polish to remove some of the tarnish. There are still some light stains on the internal “brights” which I’ve given up on after half a dozen attempts to minimize them. They’re now in much better condition, but not as perfect as I wish they might be.

Keys

The keyboard on this Olympia is a fairly standard U.S. based QWERTY keyboard meant for sale in America through The Inter-Continental Trading Corporation which originally imported Olympias into the Americas.

View down onto the typebasket and keyboard of an Olympia SM3.

Of particular note on this machine, some of the standard keys have been swapped out with some custom math and Greek letter keys.  These are the )/0, !/3/4, 1/4, 1/2, ,/, ./. which have been replaced respectively by )/ϒ, Ω/π, λ/∫, Δ/, , μ/. 

A close up view of the right side of a green 1958 Olympia SM3 typewriter that has some custom Greek and mathematical symbols

I’ve already accidentally typed an upsilon instead of a zero at least once. It may take some work at the muscle memory to remember to use the capital “O” to make it as reflexive as doing an apostrophe-backspace-period to effect an exclamation point which this machine lacks in lieu of other glyphs.

 While most of the keys have the appearance of being doubleshot plastic, the custom keys seem to have been manufactured differently. Perhaps they were etched out and then filled? In any case, the symbols on the custom keys were etched out and missing most of their original color making it difficult, but not impossible to know what they were. To quickly and easily restore them, I spent a couple of minutes with a Crayola crayon and the small gaps on the keys were filled in and looking nice and white again. This solution also has the benefit of being easily reversible from a restoration perspective.

Side by side photos of several keycaps on a typewriter. The left has some characters which are etched in but have no colors. The right has those filled in with white crayoe so that they are a good match with all the rest of the keys

Other functionality

Manufactured at the peak of typewriter functionality, this SM3 has just about all the niceties one could wish for. Compared to typewriters made since mid-century there isn’t anything really extraordinary about any of the features aside from their incredibly well designed and manufactured tolerances.

It does bear mentioning that while most other machines of this era were segment shift machines, this one is a carriage shift which can make using it for very long periods a bit more tiring. There are two manually adjustable spring mechanisms inside the machine to help alleviate some of this effect.

Of interest, in comparing this machine with my other 1958 SM3 which has a lower serial number, I noticed that the older SM3 has an additional scale on the back near the tab stops, but this one doesn’t. It’s likely a reasonable cost savings to have removed it which also frees the assembly line from needing to do another alignment procedure on them. From a functionality standpoint, it’s not a big loss as I tend to set my tabs from the front of the machine and can easily look down on the scale at the back of the paper table and align the tab stops with that scale anyway. The additional scale on the back would only have been useful for those who turned their machines around and set them from the back, but this would also need the scale to have been appropriately aligned to provide the precision in setting the correct stops.

Case

This SM3 came with one of the traditional curved, space-aged wooden cases painted in silver that most SM3s shipped with. The inside was in relatively nice condition and only needed a quick vacuuming and some brushing to clean it out. It also came with the original key on a small keychain.

A 1958 Olympia SM3 typewriter case with sinuous curves, pitted silver paint. and a few splotches of white out. It has a very space age feel, but isn't the sort of square or modular case that one would want to stack up like other typewriter cases of the period.

Apparently the environment it had been stored in was less than ideal, so the exterior paint has reacted and has a terribly rough texture now compared with its traditional smooth surface. I’m going to have to strip and repaint it I think. I’ve seen some hammered metal paint finishes which might come close to matching the original, but I might opt for something completely out of the ordinary as well. 

The metal on the case fittings has rusted significantly.  I should be able to clean up and polish most of the metal fittings fairly easily, though I probably won’t be able to get them back completely without replacing them altogether.

Silver Olympia SM3 typewriter case standing up on it's end. The metal fittings holding the green plastic handle are thoroughly rusted and the key latch is heavily tarnished. The feet on the top side are dried out and wrinkled and the bottom feet are only slightly better. There is a brown tag with the typewriter's name and serial number tied around the handle with a piece of brown twine.

Based on the condition of the case’s feet, I’m guessing the owner used the typewriter inside the case for most of their work. I’m debating whether or not to replace the feet, but I’m leaning towards doing it because they’re in functional, but marginal condition.

A view of the inside bottom portion of the Olympia SM3 typewriter case. Fairly clean there are four metal fittings for clamping the machine into the case. Sitting in the middle of the case is the key.

My Last Typewriter?

I suppose if you were going to quit collecting Olympia SM3s after getting a particular machine, this would be pretty close to the perfect one. This shirt I got on the same day as the typewriter is obviously about Olympia SM3s, as who could ever quit collecting? or perhaps as Richard Polt is fond of saying, “investing”?

Sitting on a desk are a green Olympia SM3 typewriter in its case next to a gray t-shirt with a black and white image of the same typewriter surrounded with the text: "My Last One. Maybe"

Full transparency, I’ve acquired five machines since I picked up this typewriter, but I’ve also washed that t-shirt 3 times since then. With the washings you almost can’t seen any of the original screen print, so I suppose the universe has spoken on that account in my favor.

Typeface Sample

The typeface on this SM3 is a somewhat uncommon (though not rare as some might contend) Congress Elite No. 84 at 11 pitch or 2.3m/m. (I’d suspect it’s probably rarer in the U.S. compared to Germany or the rest of Europe, but have no data beyond my limited colloquial experience to support this.)

A type sample from my machine with its custom typeset and a new ribbon appears below.

1958 Serial Number: 1279338 Olympia SM3 Congress Elite No. 84 typeface, 11 CPI, 2.3m/m, portable w/ case, bichrome, carriage shift, tabulator, U.S. keyboare 4 bank, 51 keys, green crinkle paint, dark green plastic keys =234567897-π qwertyuiop asdfghjkl;e zxcvbnm,./ +"#$%&'()*2 QWERTYUIOPA ASDFGHJKL: @ ZXCVBNMAU? the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog SPHINX OF BLACK QUARTZ JUDGE MY VOW

Close up of the typebasket and Congress Elite typeface on a 1958 Olympia SM3 typewriter. The typeface is gleamingly clean.
Though upside down, you can see the faint Upsilon and end parenthesis characters next to the “9” key which needed some restoration.

Sound

Here’s a sound sample of inserting a sheet of paper, aligning it writing a sentence, the bell, and a return with more typing on my 1958 Olympia SM3:

Future

While I do like the difference in typeface, I’m not sure how much use this machine will get with my finely tuned and very similar 1958 SM3 which has an elite typeface I really love. There are still a few paces I want to put this typewriter through and one or two fine tuning adjustments I’ll likely make, but perhaps I may consider selling this? 

It’s now in excellent condition and I may recover the original platen and rubber to enhance it even further. The issue may become how much to list it for as a potential sale? It has several uncommon features which may appeal to a serious collector who doesn’t clean and service their own machines, but who wants one of the most collectible machines out there with a few exotic features that is ready to type on from day one.

Photo Gallery

 

Acquisition: 1940 Corona Zephyr Ultra-Portable Typewriter

On Friday, August 16, 2024, I picked up a dreadful looking cur from GoodWill. On Sunday, I spent several hours the afternoon and then again in the evening pulling the machine apart, cleaning all the external and internal parts and flushing it out with lacquer thinner. A quick and very light oiling and a rubdown with WD-40 to make the exterior shine later, and I’m now the proud owner of a wonderful, and sparkling little Corona Zephyr.

1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter sits on a wooden library card catalog next to a white ceramic bowl of bright yellow lemons

Design

The Corona Zephyr manufactured by L. C. Smith & Corona Co. of Syracuse, NY was produced from 1938-1941 before being superseded by the Smith-Corona Skyriter. Both the Zephyr and the Skyriter were meant to compete directly with the Hermes Baby. Meant to be used on the go, these typewriters are compact and light.

View of the back of the typewriter featuring the gold L. C. Smith & Corona Company decal, a portion of which has faded to silver.

My Zephyr with full spools and the case cover on weights 8 pounds 14.7 ounces. Typical standard (desktop) typewriters of the day weighed a ponderous 30+ pounds and even the burgeoning market of portable machines usually clocked in in the low 20s. In it’s case, the Zephyr measures 11″ x 12″ 2 11/16″. These were the OG laptop machines.

Overall condition

This machine has the appearance of having once been at least moderately used. There were some bits of paint knocked off the corners (common with portables of this size) and the machine had more than it’s fair share of dirt and grime inside. Fortunately it was full of eraser shavings like my Smith-Corona Skyriter was.

Based on the way several screws were inserted, I suspect that the machine had been serviced at least once in its life. But it was definitely used well and put up wet. My guess is that in the late 70s or early 80s, as with many typewriters, this was put into storage and forgotten about until it was donated and made its way into my stewardship. Somewhere in that journey it was housed back-down in its case and exposed to some level of moisture causing some moderate rusting on the bottom of the case and to the back of the typewriter. I spent some time removing the worst of of the rust, but wasn’t overly aggressive on it. With the modest treatment, I’ve hopefully arrested most future damage.

In addition to the rust, I had to repair the ribbon vibrator which was bent out in front of the typing guide, and I’ll have to address the ribbon pick up moving to the left which isn’t working. The model came with broken 2 inch universal plastic spools and dried out ribbon which will need to be replaced with the correct smaller spools.

Richard Polt has posted a contemporaneous manual for the Zephyr typewriter for those who’d like to see what originally came with the machine. My favorite is that the manual appears to be typewritten. It has all the keystone markings of a pre-WWII manual with sparce diagrams and a wall of text.

Keys

The keyboard follows the general format of Smith-Corona’s American No. 20A set up. As was the case for most pre-World War II typewriters, the Zephyr came with round glass keys. The machine has 4 banks of keys which had become standard by mid-century. With 46 keys, the observant typist will notice that there are no shift lock or margin release keys. The shift lock can be effectuated by pushing down either of the shift keys and then moving them to the side where their metal levers can be “locked” into a metal slot under the key lever. If there’s a way to easily release the margin lock, I’ve not found it.

Close up of the keyboard of the Corona Zephyr featuring circular yellow lettered legends with black backgrounds and wrapped in silver metal with glass keytops.

Other functionality

Obviously, it’s light weight and portability means that corners were cut including features like margin release, tabulation and niceties like touch control or a paper guide. Presumably this was meant for writers, journalists, and students on the go rather than accountants. 

The machine features a carriage shift, which is quick and light, particularly because of the small size and weight of the platen and carriage.

Focus on the rear portion of the typewriter including the Corona Zephyr decal, the small plastic ribbon spools, the type basket, and the carriage and platen

The Zephyr doesn’t have the typical bichrome settings, but only features monochrome functionality. However, it’s still capable of doing stencils. While many typewriters have a specific mechanical setting for stencils, they can all generally do stencils by unhooking the ribbon from the ribbon vibrator. It bears mentioning that the ribbon vibrator here is effectuated by an unconventional method in the form of a metal bar which is attached at the left side which arcs up and down rather than a central mechanism as seen on the majority of modern machines which only moves vertically.

The Zephyr uses the typical 1/2 inch wide ribbon, but requires a smaller ribbon spool of 1 3/4 inches in  diameter rather than the universal 2 inch spool. This gives the writer closer to 12 feet of ribbon rather than 16, but is still very functional.

To my knowledge, these machines came with body-colored spool covers. Sadly, like many I’ve seen in the wild, mine are missing. 

One of the clever features is a miniscule carriage return lever. (As a point of comparison, I think the “ice cream scoop” return lever on the Royal Empress standard may weigh more than this entire machine.) It’s a tiny cupped nub the size of a thumb or finger tip which can be used to press it in to do the line space and then slide the carriage back home. To save on weight and engineering, the machine only has a single space ratchet, but it does have a switch for allowing variable platen spacing for filling in forms. The paper bail is also a simple metal arm, which means it’s not great with thicker card stocks like post cards or index cards, though it will work passably with a single card finger next to the typing point. One would not be happy doing lots of index card work on this machine.

One of the curious features of the machine is that it doesn’t have a traditional universal bar to engage the escapement. Instead there’s a thin, but sturdy simple wire right at the typing point that is hit by the typebars when typing. Pressing this bar in trips the escapement and moves the carriage to the next space.

Also particular to this machine is the “jacket” or exterior enclosure into which the typewriter chassis slides for protection. The machine is so small and tight that getting it into and out of the case can be a bit trying compared to its close cousin the Skyriter. To get the Zephyr out, one removes six screws and two small nuts to free the rear panel from the jacket. Then there are four screws which hold the jacket on to the chassis—two on the sides at the carriage and two in the keyboard near the shift keys. Then one needs to press down the top row of keys to carefully wiggle the unit out. However, the felt on the bottom of the jacket can impede the sliding of the metal. As a result one is best advised to insert a few thicker (index card weight or heavier) pieces of paper between the metal chassis and the felt and another between the top of the case and the keys to ensure they don’t get caught or scratched up. When re-inserting, similar care must be taken for the felt as well as for the (now brittle) plastic feet.

Kirk Jackson of Nashville Typewriter has a copy of the Corona Zephyr Servicing and Adjustment Methods manual which Theodore Munk has published on his blog. The manual lists among its six recommended tools, tool number “S. T. 1243 Keyboard Depresser (for Jacket removal and replacement)”. It’s a simple piece of cardboard for which they charged 25¢. Incidentally, Rev. Munk has also re-published a 1954 Smith-Corona Carriage Shift Portable Parts Manual – Corona 3, 4, Junior, Zephyr and Skyriter which contains lots of diagrams for those who might benefit from it.

Case

As also seen on early models of the Smith-Corona Skyriter, the Zephyr has a thin metal case that has two metal prongs which fit into the rear of the typewriter and then comes down over the typewriter and clicks into place with two metal spring bars with buttons that depress from the front of the case. It’s a simple and no frills case/cover, but far more effective and functional than some of the similar integral covers of typewriters in the late 60s and 70s. It’s not present on my Skyriter, but this case does have a very fine velvet-like interior which I suspect was somehow sprayed into the inside of the case as it doesn’t seem like it’s fabric glued into it. 

Corona Zephyr with it's thin metal case cover standing upright behind it. Compared to the majority of cases and covers, it's phenomenally thin and light. The inside rear of the Corona Zephyr's metal lid featuring two sharp small metal triangles which fit into the back of the machine. Also present is some obvious rust damage. Close up of the metal handle attachments and the thin metal handle strap of the Corona Zephyr typewriter case The Corona Zephyr typewriter with it's case top attached and ready to go sits on top of a wooden library card catalog.

Typeface Sample

The typeface on my Zephyr is Smith-Corona’s ubiquitous Pica No. 1 face with 10 characters per inch and types with 6 vertical lines per inch. A type sample from my machine with an overly wet, new ribbon appears below.

Typeface sample on a 3x5" index card which includes the serial number and basic information about the typewriter.

Close up of the left side of the type basket featuring a shiny Pica No. 1 typeface of the 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter

Sound

Here’s a sound sample of inserting a sheet of paper, aligning it writing a sentence, the bell, and a return with more typing on my 1940 Corona Zephyr:

Photo Gallery

Angle down on a front view of a brown crinkle painted 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter sitting on the top of an oak library card catalog
Oblique angle of a brown Corona Zephyr ultra-portable typewriter with black glass keys.
Table-level view of the 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter showing how thin the machine is. The top row of keys is nearly level with the top of the machine.
Close up of the main decal on the hood of a 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter
Close up of the finger cup nub which is the return lever of a 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter
Close up of the left corner of the 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter's carriage. Of particular note above the tiny platen knob is a chrome finger cup which is the entirety of the typewriter return lever.
Angle down on the left side of the 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter
Table-level view of the left rear of the 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter from the back. We can see some metal wear near the tab hole where the metal case fits onto the back of the machine.
View of the right rear corner of the 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter
View from the rear of the 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter featuring the internals of the carriage including the mainspring assembly and drawband. The inside is clean as a whistle.
Oblique view into the carriage and basket of the 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter from the rear of the machine with the carriage moved to the machines left.
Close up featuring the entire type basket of the 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter. The photo has the typing point at the front and the typewriter keyboard barely visible in the background
Close up of the left side of the type basket featuring a shiny Pica No. 1 typeface of the 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter
Close up of the right side of the type basket featuring a shiny Pica No. 1 typeface of the 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter
Angle down on a view of the right side of the 1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter
1940 Corona Zephyr typewriter sits on a wooden library card catalog next to a white ceramic bowl of bright yellow lemons

Adding to My Typewriter Toolset

Being more than a dozen typewriters into collecting and having had an impromptu set of tools and implements from around the house, I figured it was long since time to invest in some better quality maintenance, cleaning, and repair tools. 

I discovered a few weeks ago that Crawford Tool has a few convenient and relatively inexpensive typewriter-related tools in their offerings which otherwise primarily cater toward the printer and electronic service repair spaces. In particular, they offer a variety of spring hooks, e-ring & c-clip tools, a nylon bristle brush, Lube-All oilers in a variety of sizes, and even some black canvas tool pouches to hold your screwdrivers. Naturally they’ve got screwdrivers and wrenches galore, but I think my current set is more than adequate. I made an order that showed up on Friday, just in time for some work on the weekend.

The Lube-All oilers will be excellent for dispensing both lacquer thinner and mineral spirits as well as minute quantities of oil in a far more precise fashion and with less potential splatter than my impromptu plastic condiment bottle. They also have cap closures so that volatile liquids are less likely to evaporate.

The spring hooks will be a dramatic improvement on my bent paper clip. The set I got includes a captive-style spring hook, an IBM-style spring hook (push/pull), an 11 inch long puller, a 6 1/2 inch long spring hook puller, and a 6 1/2 inch spring puller with a handle loop.

The black canvas pouches (a steal at their $2 closeout pricing) are better than wrapping everything up in an extra cotton wiping cloth.

If you’re expanding beyond your everyday tool-set and want to go beyond what’s available at the local dollar store, the handful of harder-to-find offerings at Crawford seem pretty solid.

Now its time to start saving up for the bar benders, the keyring pliers, and maybe a nice leather vintage bag to carry it all in.

Now I’ve got some better tools to use with my home study materials: 

 

A Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Orga Typewriter in my backyard

I was casually browsing vintage typewriters yesterday (as one does) and came across something which immediately jumped out at me.

It was a Weimar era Orga typewriter which looked surprisingly like the 1/2 typewriter Orga Modell 10 (1947) which appears in the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Paramount Pictures, 1971). These typewriters were manufactured in Germany  from 1923-1950 and some were distributed in Britain, typically under the brand name A.M.C.  Given that the film was shot primarily in Germany, this shouldn’t be too surprising.

I’ve yet to see an Orga for sale in the United States much less a Modell 10. Buying and shipping any Orga from Europe is generally quite expensive, and I wouldn’t trust that it would arrive intact. This one was a short drive from me at a fantastic price, so naturally I couldn’t pass it up. It appears to be an older Orga-Privat Model 5 (circa 1928-1933) which is labeled in English as a “New Orga”. (It also reminds me a bit of Francis Bacon’s Novum Organum too.) Rather than the typical German QWERTZ keyboard, this one has an English QWERTY keyboard and appears to be in great condition. Sadly it won’t come with the original case. From what I can see in the typewriter database, it’s one of the few that has English badging with the name Orga on it. This  leads me to believe that it was originally sold in the British market, so it could easily have been the sort of machine that Grandpa Joe might have used.

I’ll be able to pick it up later this week and can’t wait to clean it up. The tougher portion: how to cut it precisely in half!?

Acquisition: 1955 Royal HHE Standard Typewriter

Usually I don’t make typewriter acquisition posts until I’ve done some reasonable work to get them cleaned up and working well. I’m going to make an exception with this one because it’s in much rougher shape than others I’ve picked up. It’s going to take more work to clean up and get functioning properly again. I’ll try to document the work I do on it to get it back into fighting shape.

I suspect it’s either going to be this or an Olympia SG1 I’ve had my eye on which will be my daily standard machine.

The Royal HH

First, it’s a Royal HH. It’s one of Royal’s standard desktop machines which they started manufacturing in 1952 and which ran until at least 1957.

This is my first standard typewriter as most of the others in my collection are portable typewriters which accompany one ultra-portable. “Standard” indicates its a big machine that was meant to be placed permanently on a desk. At about 30 pounds, it wasn’t meant to be carried around like the portables, but on the other hand, being built with more weight and internal space, it was designed to work smoothly forever with modest care. Thirty pounds is a lot of typewriter. For comparison, my Smith-Corona Silent is just 12.8 pounds.

According to Richard Polt’s well-researched compilation, writers who were known to own and use the Royal HH include: William Buckley, Charles Bukowski, George Burns, Herb Coen, Truman Capote, Bruce Catton, Patty Chayefsky, Don Dellilo, Alicen Denham, James T. Farrell, Paul Russell, Hugh Heffner, Elia Kazan, Sterling North, Robert B. Parker, Syliva Plath, Mario Puzo, Robert Penn Warren, Eudora Welty, and William Zinzer. 

Polt’s site also has a 1952 copy of the Royal HH manual.

The serial number stamped on the right side of my machine just underneath the carriage when moved to the left is HHE-5765903, which the typewriterdatabase.com places as a late 1955 machine. (The grid for the Royal serial numbers starts 1955 with 5,500,000 and the 1956 model year stars with serial number 5,787,000.) The HH portion of the serial number identifies it as an HH model and the E indicates that it’s an elite typeface with 12 characters per inch versus the P which was reserved for pica typeface (usually 10 CPI). Like most typewriters of this vintage it also types at 6 lines per inch.

View down onto the back right of the typewriter with the carriage moved to the far left to show the position of the serial number stamped into the machine under the carriage right next to the typewriter bell.

Based on the available original colors listed at the Typewriter Database, I’m going to say that mine is done in Royaltone Light Gray wrinkle. Other HH model paint colors included: Charcoal Grey smooth, Nile Green smooth, Horizon Blue smooth, Coral Rose, Gray Frieze, and Royaltone Dark Gray wrinkle.

Purchase and initial observations/testing

I got this typewriter in an uncontested online auction for $5.99, so in my book it’s already a steal. It had sat on the site for weeks, slowly coming down from a price of $30. Sadly as is almost always the case with online auctions, shipping is the true ordeal. Even moreso when you consider that this typewriter is 2-3 times the weight and significantly larger than portable machines. It also doesn’t help that these machines never had cases.

Naturally the seller chose a poorly sized box, put in some heavy padding, threw the typewriter in, and put some modest, but heavily inadequate padding around it.  That’s it… ugh. They made no effort to secure the carriage, so when I opened it up, it was all the way to the right. They didn’t even bother to do padding for the back of the machine. 

A Royal HH typewriter sitting in the left side of a box that's too short front to back and too wide left to right. The carriage on the machine is all the way to the right.
How not to package up a typewriter for shipping.

Worse, it definitely took some hits in shipping so the right side Magic Margin lever is bent and isn’t working. Not having the carriage in place, the left side also took a major hit and the frame in the back left corner is bent so that the carriage doesn’t move freely. It’s going to take some heavy work to get it back into alignment if it can be done at all.

Close up of the back left corner of a Royal HH. The back of the machine is obviously bent toward the carriage preventing the carriage from moving freely within it. Handwritten on the back of the machine is a black "50".

With a screwdriver as a lever and some significant manual help, I was able to eke out a short typing sample. The key action is gummy at best though none of the keys were too sticky. I expect a thorough cleaning will revive a more snappy typing action.

Typed index card in black ink. A brief, somewhat smudgy typing sample. At the bottom of the card in orange ink are the typewriters's serial number and the serial number range for 1955-1956.

It’s definitely going to need a serious cleaning both inside and out. Someone wrote a large “50” on the back of the machine in the left rear in thick black magic marker. (Perhaps it was from a large typing pool with at least 50+ machines?) This seemed like a a propitious “sign” when I bought it as a 50th Birthday present, so let’s hope for good luck as a result. The decals on it are mediocre at best, so maybe it’s a good candidate for redoing the exterior even though the rest of the paint is in really good condition.

The alignment of the type is generally okay, but it’s going to need at least a motion adjustment. There’s some occasional piling of letters in my short test. Hopefully some of it clears up in cleaning, but knowing my terrible typing technique and Royal’s famous finicky touch, it may also need some adjustment afterwards to the timing.

The platen is as hard as they come, and will need replacing.

The all black ribbon isn’t totally horrible, but is a tad old and on the drying side. It came with original metal standard spools. I’m sure I’ll swap out the ribbon for a new bichrome black/red which the machine supports. It’s possible that the ribbon reverse mechanism may need some help.

View down onto the keyboard and segment of a Royal HH typewriter with the hood open. The machine is dirty but has it's original metal ribbon spools.

The right platen knob is loose. It’s going to need a screw tightened and/or replaced. The variable spacing mechanisms seem to work, but could be cleaner in their functioning.

Hopefully I don’t run across any additional internal damage or issues as a result of the poor shipping.

Favorite Feature

Because I do a lot of typing on index cards, I can already tell that the most interesting feature on this machine are the spring loaded card fingers. They’ve got tiny little switches on them, which—when pressed—flip them over and out of the way. 

Close up of the hood and focusing on the typing point of a Royal HH typewriter. Of particular interest on either side of the typing point are two spring-loaded card fingers. The one on the left is in its up position while the one on the right side is down. On the outsides of the card fingers are two tiny finger levers.

Acquired The Manual Typewriter Repair Bible by Ted MunkTed Munk (Lulu)

462 Pages, Professionally printed and coil bound to lay flat on your work table.

Includes:

  • Basic Mechanical Theory and Indoctrination on how mid-20th Century manual typewriters work.
  • Step-By-Step Typewriter Symptom Troubleshooting Guide.
  • Complete 1946 OAMI Service and Adjustment Manual Covering:
    • Standard Manual Typewriters: Remington * Royal * Underwood * Woodstock * L.C. Smith,
    • Portable Manual Typewriters: Remington * Royal * Corona * Underwood.
  • Typewriter Tools, Ribbon Spools, Ribbons, Platens, Springs and Ball Bearings Reference.
  • Typewriter Typeface and Keyboard Reference.
An early birthday present has arrived! 

Acquisition: 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter

Two months ago at the end of April, I saw a Royal QDL for sale for $9.99. The temptation was just too much to own what appeared to be a mid-1950s model typewriter for such a pittance. The gray body with the green keys was appealing. I was already a fan of my 1949 Royal QDL designed by Henry Dreyfuss. I was totally unsure of the condition, but it didn’t look half bad from the photos I saw at the time. 

Naturally the seller totally botched the shipping, didn’t lock the typewriter into its case or provide any internal packing materials, so it was left it to rattle around inside its case as it wended its way across the country from Indiana to Los Angeles. There was some damage, but I’ve managed to carefully repair the worst of it this past weekend as a way of celebrating National Typewriter Day.  This beauty entered my collection on 2027-05-07.

Front view of the 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter sitting on a wooden table. Extended up in the back are the V shaped metal "ears" of the paper support.

Now that I’ve got it cleaned up and adjusted pretty well with a new ribbon spinning around inside, I have to admit it may be one of the most solid machines in my segment of typewriters. 

I’ll admit that the mid 1950s Royals don’t seem to be the most sexy or desirable machines out there from a collectors’ perspective. As a result they’re often available at bargain basement prices like the almost $10 I paid for this one. But on the other hand, they’re sturdy and reliable, and make really great machines for the money. If you’re new to the typewriter game and want to actually type on a regular basis, you really can’t go too far wrong with one like this. I’ve now picked up three for incredible pricing and all of them have been highly workable right out of the box. 

If it helps, this popular model of typewriter was the machine of choice for Alistair Cooke, Clifford Odets (ca ’57), Marlon Brando, General Claire Chennault (ca ’57), Stephen King, James Michener (’49/’50), Edward R. Murrow, David Niven, Anne Sexton, and Theodore Sturgeon (’48).

Design

Naturally as a 1955, this machine follows the striking redesign of the QDL by Henry Dreyfuss in 1948. While it doesn’t have the same stark angular shape as the ’48-’50 models it still follows his general template, but with green and white doubleshot plastic molded keys instead of the glass tombstone keys. As a 1955 model it’s got just about all the bells and whistles a manual typist could ask.

Overall condition

Despite the rattled shipment cross country, the machine was generally in good shape for its 69 years around the sun. The keys all worked reasonably well, and the interior wasn’t great, but also wasn’t as dusty and dirty as some machines I’ve acquired. One of the biggest areas of wear is the numerical scale on the paper bail. The exterior was quite dirty, but cleaned up nicely with mild detergent and water. I could probably go back and be more aggressive with it, but there is something nice about leaving a bit of the patina of use. There are a few scuffs and the decals are in generally good shape though a touch faded on the back. My general experience with these Royal decals is that they don’t do well with water or even the lightest cleaning, so generally I leave them alone.

The serial number RA-3010220 places its manufacture between January 1955 (2,977,900) and January 1956 (3,177,500). Based on my very basic, unscientific linear manufacturing birthday calculation using data from the Typewriter Database, I would celebrate this QDL’s birthday as February 28, 1955. For the die hard movie fans, this means it might have been the sort of contemporary machine that George McFly might have used in Hill Valley on November of that year to write some science fiction.

The typewriter came with modern plastic universal spools and a monochrome black ribbon which seemed spotty at best, so I quickly opted to replace it with new bichrome black and red ribbon which better suits its functionality. I do wish I had the original metal spools. 

Typebasket and ribbon spools of the 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter

The machine internally was in broadly good shape, but needed some very light cleaning which went fairly quickly with some mineral spirits. I’m generally happy now with the overall alignment of the machine. When typing at full speed I do occasionally get some piling up of letters, but it’s infrequent enough that I’ll let it go for the moment.

I want to play around with both the touch control and the speed control settings before I tinker with the alignment any more. I still want to experiment a bit with the Magic Margins on this machine some more, particularly as it has both left and right and my other Royals only have the automatic functionality for the left hand margins. This QDL has a medium weighted segment shift.

The return lever was a bit sticky but easily cleanable and repairable. The space bar was at a bit of an angle, and I had some issues with it when re-attaching the body panels which caused both the space bar and the keys to bind and not work. Forming the spacebar a bit got it not only back into the body, but functioning properly as well as square with the world again.

I also want to properly polish up the keys and give a final tweak to the level of the ribbon so the bichrome is perfectly aligned.

Keys

This Quiet De Luxe has 49 keys all in the same green plastic with white lettering. It has a standard QWERTY-based U.S. keyboard for 1950s typewriter. The left and right shifts, and left shift lock are blank. The “BACK SPACE” key is in the upper left and the “TAB” key is in the upper right. The margin release (labeled “MAR REL”) is sitting between banks 2 and 3 on the right hand side. The spacebar at the bottom spans the length of about 7 of the standard keys.

Close up of the green plastic keys and white lettering of the keyboard on the 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter

Other Functionality

It didn’t come with one, so the closest manual I could find online was a 1952  manual via Richard Polt’s website.

The “RA” serial prefix introduced “Speed Control” motor tension control, similar to “Carriage Control” on the Royal standard model HH. According to the Typewriter Database this feature vanished with the end of the RA prefix QDLs in 1956. I’ve only tinkered with this feature a little bit, but hope to circle back on it in the future.

View down into the left side of the typewriter carriage on a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe. On the outside of the machine on the far left is a black thumbscrew knob which attaches to an unseen metal rod which actuates a gear that attaches through the hub for the typewriter's drawband just above the gear. Just above this is a small indicator wheel which appears to be set at about 3.5.
Looking into the right side of the carriage is a worm drive and a numbered indicator numbered 1-5 and controlled by the black thumbscrew on the left side of the machine.

The back of the machine has a spring loaded paper table which is actuated and held by two metal hooks. The right side of the paper table had taken a hit (probably in shipping) and the hook on the right hand side had become disconnected. A bit of forming and patient work got it reconnected and it now seems to be functioning as expected. 

Right side of the paper table opened up and featuring a metal bracket which holds the table cover onto the 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter

This QDL has a tabulator hidden underneath the paper table. It’s set manually using several sliding blocks along a metal bar.

The opened paper table on the 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter. We see metal bar inside it with six sliding metal tabs.

The platen knob on the left hand side has a permanent variable spacing push button on the outside which allows the platen to turn freely. For temporary variable spacing of the platen (often done for subscript and superscript characters) there’s a black thumb switch on the left just to the right of the carriage return. Once those characters are typed, flip the switch back and the platen re-engages at the same spacing set up as before. Just to the left of this switch is a sliding switch to control the single, double, or triple spacing mechanism. 

Angle on the left corner of the carriage on the 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Typewriter. From the left are the return lever, the black plastic platen knob, the lever for the spacing controls, the black plastic Magic Margin button, and a lever with a black plastic thumb rest for the variable platen control

There is no sign of a carriage centering or locking mechanism.

The back of the paper table has an embedded spring loaded pair of metal rabbit ear-like paper supports. 

This model has a variation of Smith-Corona’s “Page Gage”, but will require some thinking about to use properly as it doesn’t seem as straightforward as S-C’s version.

This machine did have some felt on the main body panels, but none under the hood or in the paper table, and not nearly as much as some of the 1950s Smith-Corona machines.

Close up of the graded markings on the platen of the 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Typewriter

Case

The case for the typewriter is a sturdy, relatively thick fiberboard covered in yellow tweed-like fabric on the outside with a smooth green interior. There is a solid metal cleat in the back to which the rear of the typewriter can be inserted and there are two metal cleats with clamps that hold the front sides of the typewriter down. There is a thumb lever on the left rear hinge of the case which allows the top to be separated easily from the bottom. It has some scratches, marks and wear, but nothing out of the ordinary for a case of this age and use.

The top of the case has a traditional U-shaped bracket for holding papers, but there are also to metal brackets on either side to help hold the typewriter in place while the case is closed. One of them is a long flat fin which helps to push the return lever and hold it in while the case is closed. 

The hardware on the case seems to be in good condition including the chromed lock and the black Bakelite handle. Naturally, though the lock works as expected, this machine didn’t come with an included key.  Finally the case has some rubber feet on the “closed bottom” configuration, but seems to be missing the feet for use with the case open. I’ll see if I can’t pick up something period appropriate to remedy this.

1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter and it's opened case with a green interior sitting on a wooden table.

Green interior of the bottom portion of the typewriter case

The top of a typewriter case in closing position. A flat metal fin mounted to the case pushes against the return lever of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Typewriter as it closes.

Thumb latch is being pulled away by a finger to allow the hinges of a typewriter case to be pulled apart

Oblique view from above of a yellow and somewhat worn typewriter case with a black handle

Typeface Sample

This machine has an pica typeface with 10 characters per inch and a traditional bichrome switch as well as a stencil setting. 

3x5 inch index card with a typing sample that reads: 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Serial number: RA-3010220 Pica typeface, 10 CPI, portable bichrome, U.S. keyboard, segment shift; tweed hard case, key 234567890- qwertyuiop asdfghjkl; zxcvbnm,./ "#$% &'()* QWERTYUIOP ASDFGHJKL:@ ZXCVBNM,.? the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. A VERY BAD QUACK MIGHT JINX ZIPPY FOWLS.

 

Close up of the cleaned type face and typebars of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Typewriter. There is a happy bit of gleam with the faintest hint of ink usage.

Sound

Here’s a sound sample of inserting a sheet of paper, aligning it writing a sentence, the bell, and a return on the 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe:

Photo Gallery

Below are some additional photos of this lovely Quiet De Luxe. There are some additional photos of this typewriter taken apart into pieces from a prior post about cleaning and repairing portions.

Frontal table level view of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter

Focus on the hood and carriage of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Typewriter

Typebasket and ribbon spools of the 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter

Angle on the Touch Control settings on the left side of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe with it's hood open. Also visible are a chrome button on the front which allows the hood to be open. Just behind the touch control is a metal lever for switching the direction of the ribbon.

1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter

Close up of the left corner of the carriage on the 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Typewriter. From the left are the return lever, the black plastic platen knob, the lever for the spacing controls, the black plastic Magic Margin button, and a lever with a black plastic thumb rest for the variable platen control

Close up of the ribbon vibrator of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe and a small silver card finger in the down position.

Close up of the ribbon vibrator of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe and a small silver card finger in the up position.

Table level view of the left side (profile) of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter

Table level view of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter with it's paper support ears extended.

Table level view of the right side of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter

Angle down on the right side of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter

View into the typebasket of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Typewriter with the hood open.

Angle on the front chromed Royal badge and some of the green keys of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter

Close up of the bell and clapper looing into the bottom of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter

View of the complicated mechanical bottom of a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter

Sitting on a wooden card catalog is a 1955 Royal Quiet De Luxe Portable Typewriter in gray body panels with green keys.

Acquisition: 1953 Smith-Corona Silent Typewriter

I’ve been wanting either a 1950s Series 5 Smith-Corona Silent or Silent-Super for a while now to better support some of the regular use of index cards in my daily work. Both models came with standard three roller paper bails as well as two adjustable paper fingers on top of Smith-Corona’s traditional two metal paper card fingers found next to the ribbon vibrator assembly.  This means that I can type not only more easily on index cards, but the process is far quieter and also allows me to use more of the card’s surface area without as much work.

I’ve seen variations of these machines in untested/unknown/poor condition selling at auction for $50-150 dollars recently. (I saw a really filthy/poor condition and not fully functioning Sterling, the Silent’s little brother, with a disintegrating ribbon in a vintage shop last month for $150 as their rock bottom price.) In clean, working condition these can easily be north of $150, especially if they’ve been serviced and had their platens replaced ($300-450 is not unreasonable here.)

I was thus thrilled to see this one listed as a “Vintage Smith-Corona Typewriter” for auction this past month. The fact that GoodWill left off the Silent’s model name in the auction title gave me great hope that it would be overlooked by most hunters. My luck paid out handily when I ultimately won the auction for a paltry $23.00!  Things got even better when the machine showed up on my doorstep incredibly well packaged and in far better condition than I might have hoped. 

It has easily jumped to the top of my collection as my daily use typewriter.

Angled view from the right hand side of a 1953 Smith-Corona Silent typewriter in brown crinkle paint with green plastic keys.

Design

Without even cleaning this up, it was almost immediate to see why Tom Hanks gushes over the Smith-Corona Silent.

An index card typed on a Smith-Corona Silent typewriter that contains a quote which reads: "If I had to keep only one typewriter, if I had to get rid of them all and only had one left... There is a version of this Smith-Corona which is the Silent Smith-Corona. (...) Somewhere around whenever they started making this, the Smith-Corona Silent and various other models that have the same silhouette. The rise on the keys is just almost perfect---going from an N to a Y requires almost nothing. The size of the type is not too big and not too small. But listen to the solidity of the action. (types) This is a solid, solid piece of machine. That's got beautiful highlights like the stripes here and there. The colors are good. I love the green keys. I would probably say that this with a good case would be the one typewriter I would take. And that's why it's kinda out (on my desk) right now. I rotate this one into use an awful lot (clack, clack) I confess. (clack, clack as he types)" ---Tom Hanks, in California Typewriter, 2016

Like Mr. Hanks, I’m a fan of the smooth curves, the low-slung body design, and who wouldn’t love the two sets of racing stripes on the hood. I’ve always been a fan of the dark brown body color matched with green plastic keys. The six light green-yellow keys on the sides of the keyboard and the similarly colored Smith-Corona injection molded plastic badging on the hood provide some nice contrast as do the matching numbers and hashmarks on both the margin scale and the carriage front scale. And almost better, this model has a brown plastic spacebar which matches the body color incredibly well compared to some others I’ve seen which seem terribly mis-matched. The slightly cupped key caps have a lovely gleam in contrast to the matte finish of the crinkle paint. The chrome margin stops have red arrows that almost look like exclamation points and were designed to be simple to move and set. 

Close up of the paper table on the back of the Smith-Corona featuring the model name "SILENT" in light green lettering next to a shiny chrome thumb-actuated margin set with a bright red exclamation mark-like pointer arrow.

Overall condition

My particular typewriter, received on 2024-06-01, was in about as great a shape as one could expect a second hand typewriter picked up at a thrift shop to be.

The serial number 5S-409288 places the manufacture between December 1952 and December 1953 based on data from the typewriter database. Assuredly it was made in 1953. Based on my very basic linear manufacturing birthday calculation using data from the Typewriter Database, I’ll celebrate the Silent’s birthday as May 4, 1953. This means that it’s just past 71 years old. The rock hard platen can certainly attest to its age.

The typewriter came with what appear to be its original metal spools and a monochrome black ribbon which seemed to have a bit of life left in it. While the original owner may have manually rewound ribbon onto it, given the generally good condition of the machine, the evidence might suggest that this had only one owner who gave it relatively light use. Since for all intentions this is going to be my primary daily machine, I opted to unspool its original ribbon for use on a monochrome machine later and broke out the brand new reel of bichrome black/red nylon ribbon I just got to have a fresh ribbon ready to go. 

The machine internally was in broadly good shape, but needed some very light cleaning. There was one slightly sticky key, but simply working it for a minute or two got it free and clear without needing to break out the mineral spirits.

The only significant issue the typewriter has out of the box besides some light dust and dirt that needed cleaning was that the shift lock has a tiny bit of play to it which requires adjustment so shifted capitals line up properly with their shift lock capitals.

Keys

This Silent has 49 keys in molded plastic with a small indentation mean to hug the fingertips. It’s a standard QWERTY-based U.S. keyboard for 1950s typewriter. The 42 primary keys are dark green with light green glyphs. On the outsides of the keyboard are lighter green keys including the shift, shift lock, and backspace (labeled with a right pointing arrow) keys on the left and the right shift, margin release (labeled “M-R”), and “TAB” keys on the right hand side. The spacebar at the bottom is in brown plastic to match the typewriter body 

Close up of the U.S. style typewriter keyboard on the 1953 Smith-Corona Silent

Close up of the H, J, and N green plastic keys on the keyboard with the focus on the dirt and dust stuck to the metal just behind them.
Is your keyboard a dirt and dust magnet?

Table level view of the 1953 Smith-Corona Silent with the light keys focused on in the front.

Other Functionality

It didn’t come with one, so the closest manual I could find online was a 1951 mid-sized portables manual which seems pretty close to the functionality of this Silent. 

While drilled out to accept screws to keep the space locked up and hidden on related models, this Silent is missing those screws and has a fold-down paper table which conveniently hides the tab sets on the back of the machine. The tab sets here aren’t the traditional sliders, but instead are detachable (and thus potentially lose-able) metal clips which slide in and out with some modest friction on a comb-like metal tab bar.

The platen knob on the left hand side has a permanent variable spacing pull knob on the outside which allows the platen to turn freely. For temporary variable spacing of the platen (often done for subscript and superscript characters) there’s a thumb switch on the left just to the right of the carriage return. Once those characters are typed, flip the switch back and the platen re-engages at the same spacing set up as before. Just behind this switch is the sliding switch to control the single, double, or triple spacing mechanism. 

Like Smith-Coronas of the 4 and 5 series, this machine has a platen centering lever on the front right side of the carriage. When pulled up it centers the carriage and disengages the escapement and prevents both spacing or typing. This is useful for quickly storing the typewriter in its case, however it doesn’t prevent the carriage from being manually pushed from the left hand side toward the right. This means one needs to take some extra care of the machine with packing up for shipping.

The back of the paper table has an embedded spring loaded pair of metal rabbit ear-like paper supports. 

The platen is reasonably swappable and has a platen release lever, but to use it, one does need to flip back the hinged paper table. After this, the platen lifts up at an angle and can be pulled out with just a small wiggle. No small/odd parts were packed into the left side of the platen assembly to worry about falling out when removing the platen. 

I had seen the infamous Smith-Corona “Page Gage” on 1960s models, but was surprised to see it pop up on a 1953 machine. The functionality is a cleverly marked ring on the left side of the platen with marks to help the typist know when the bottom of the page is coming so that they can provide consistent top and bottom margins for their pages. The type gives six lines to the inch, which also helps in counts for margins.

Case

In general the case is about as good as one could hope for a machine from 1953. The case is firm and solid and the material covering is still solid and tight. A light wipe down brought most of it back into almost new condition. The top of the case with the handle required the most work as it had apparently been stored upright; as a result, it had a fairly thick layer of dirt and grime.

Interior of a the bottom of a Smith-Corona typewriter case with a burgundy interior and wrapped in a yellow and brown cotton tweed-like material. We see a close up of the thumb lock and bar mechanism which holds the typewriter safely in the case. Of not, the interior is very dirty and dusty and has several dust bunnies in the corner. There's a prominent white mark where the foot of the typewriter has sat. Full view of the interior of a very dirty and dusty typewriter case with a burgundy interior. Close up of the handled top of a typewriter case layered with dirt, soot, and grime. Next to the handle is a small finger-sized patch which has been cleaned off showing the stark contrast of the grime to a yellow and brown fabric. The detached bottom base of a Smith-Corona typewriter case from 1953. The bottom interior is a deep burgundy red with metal cleats in four positions at the four sides of the case. The front cleat is attached to a metal bar which extends to the left front side where a thumb lever is used to allow the front cleat's locking mechanism to be actuated. A clean and lovely yellow and brown flecked fabric covered typewriter case for the 1953 Smith-Corona Silent typewriter sits on a wooden table.

Typeface Sample

This machine has an elite typeface with 12 characters per inch (my favorite, and likely what Tom Hanks was referring to when he said the type was not too big and not too small). The machine has a bichrome switch as well as a stencil setting.

Cream index card with red lines that contains a typing sample that reads: 1953 Smith-Corona Silent Serial number: 5S-409288 Elite typeface, 12 CPI, portable, bichrome, U.S. keyboard, segment shift 234567890- qwertyuiop asdfghjkl; zxcvbnm,./ *#$%&'()* QWERTYUIOP ASDFGHJKLO ZXCVBNM,.? the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. A VERY BAD QUACK MIGHT JINX ZIPPY FOWLS.

Close up of the type at the end of the typebars on a 1953 Smith-Corona Silent

Sound

Here’s a sound sample of inserting a sheet of paper, aligning it writing a sentence, the bell, and a return on the 1953 Smith-Corona Silent:

 

This is a sound file of the keys being lightly pressed without hitting the ring or platen and then the light plunk of them falling back onto the felt rest inside the basket. It’s almost like the soft patter of rain.

Photo Gallery

Below are some additional photos of my favorite new machine.

1953 Smith-Corona Silent typewriter with brown crinkle paint, two sets of brown racing stripes on the hood, and green plastic keys. It sits on a wooden mid-century library card catalog and next to an index card with a typeface sample

Angled view from the right hand side of a 1953 Smith-Corona Silent typewriter in brown crinkle paint with green plastic keys.

Close up of the paper table to the top row of keys of the 1953 Smith-Corona Silent typewriter. A black and red bichrome ribbon is threaded into the machine which has a black anodized segment.

Close up of the light green plastic Smith-Corona badge on the hood of the typewriter.

Close up view of a 1953 Smith-Corona Silent typewriter fills the frame. There's a glint of light on the green plastic typewriter keys.

Font oblique angle down onto the keyboard, hood and carriage of a 1953 Smith-Corona Silent typewriter

 

A deconstructed typewriter sitting on a towel on a wooden table surrounded by the brown steel body portions, screws, typewriter ribbon reels, screwdrivers, pliers, and brushes.

Angle down onto the left front side of a 1953 Smith-Corona Silent typewriter showing the thumb release lever of the case used to remove the typewriter from its yellow case.

A brown typewriter with green keys in it's bottom case half sitting on a wooden dining room table. Behind it is the other half of the case which has been removed at the hinges. In the background are the chairs around the table and a library card catalog with an indistinguishable typewriter on it.

Unboxing Photos

A large brown shipping box with several fragile stickers on it sitting on a concrete porch next to a white wooden stick railing

Another porch shot with the typewriter case removed from the shipping box full of crumpled brown paper. The yellow hard case is wrapped with plastic wrap to protect it.

A 1953 Smith-Corona Silent typewriter still in the bottom portion of its case sitting on a dark wooden coffee table with some potted plants on the front porch.

The hood of the 1953 Smith-Corona Silent typewriter is up and we can see the brown felt padding inside as well as a view into the typebasket.