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Remington Portable ribbon mechanism assembly
Getting round again to tinkering with the 'lost cause' Remington Portable 2 typewriter, the next step after mounting all the typebar linkages was the ribbon mechanism.The change of ribbon travel...
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The princess and the lamp
A while back I picked up an old magazine at a thrift shop for a few cents. Tucked in a stack of old paper was this special edition of the illustrated weekly paper 'Het Leven' (Life). This is a special...
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Remington Portable lifting tray fitting (and a stop)
Now that the ribbon mechanism is back in place on the 'lost cause' machine, the lifting tray is the only thing still missing from the typing mechanism. The Remington Portable typewriter has a lifting...
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Cardboard box for keeping the nickel bits
A while back I got a small collection of early nickel Meccano pieces. Despite their dating to probably around 1920 they were in great condition. In the meantime some extra period-parts were found to...
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Typewriter Desk-Case
Browsing an old Popular Science magazine, spotted this typewriter desk-case.The typewriter case that folds open to form a proper table was patented, published as US patent 1,661,015 filed in 1926 and...
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No interest so niche... (a screwdriver)
It's been said before; these are amazing times. With the global flea-market and antique-shop that is the internet, it was possible to find and purchase for a very reasonable sum the correct pattern...
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Night Alarm machine spotting
Old movies are a place to see vintage mechanical writing machines in use - in their time. This is especially so when the story revolves around a newspaper - and many films do.The 1934 crime drama'Night...
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Junk Shop machine spotting
Found another new thrift store in town, well perhaps more a junk shop. This one has a very wide variety of items from fairly credible old furniture to broken electronics and assorted 'junk'.Also...
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Well preserved motor - kept in its box
It must have been always kept in its box, a fine Meccano number 2 clockwork motor. This was for the Dutch market, a 'Veermotor No.2'.Where the label has worn away on the box lid, it could be seen that...
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About succulents and Royal
Recently picked up an album - a so-called 'Verkade album'. Between '03 and '40 the cake-manufacturer Verkade published these illustrated albums, with the illustrations enclosed with the company's...
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It is our earnest desire
...it is our earnest desire that [it] shall give the greatest satisfaction.Those sentiments came with an online purchase that arrived last week. This is clearly a phrase that is not from a recent...
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Stories of famous inventions - part one: The Typewriter
The January 1928 issue of the Meccano Magazine with an image on the cover for the article on the building of the Panama Canal. Many more articles inside on various feats of engineering, science and of...
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Marked down
As the price for typewriters on online classifieds and auctions seems to escalate, the amount of machines in local thrift shops seems down. This may be related, or pure chance of course.In a round of a...
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Polyphase duplex
Recently arrived a small, elongated package.The leather is a bit worn and the embossing faded, but the marking 4088-3S can be read on the flap, with 'K&E polyphase duplex slide rule' on the end.And...
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11C
Odd one out.This one is very much electronic, not mechanical.Also it is a departure, not an arrival.Similar to many slide rules, it has some useful information on the back. Not conversion tables, but...
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Colored streamlined five
Typewriters are shown in many films, being the 'every-day' objects that they were. Most are fairly standard and recognisable machines. In the '37 film 'Rhytm in the Clouds', it looks that a less common...
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From Quill to Typewriter
The piece from the editor so titled is actually not about the typewriter.Naturally writing technology progressed also prior to the writing machine, hadn't considered the milestones of progress of the...
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Damaged label!
Hadn't had it happen to me yet - but last week the needle jumped the groove and pirouetted onto the label.This type of damage to the label is sometimes seen on shellac records. It's mostly on older...
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Colored in black and white
By chance spotted another colored machine in a black and white movie. Any typewriter that isn't black does of course stand out, even in a monochrome film.This fairly clearly is a two-tone Remington...
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Using a crisp Portable (and not smiling)
Another scene from an older black & white movie. This is from a bigger-budget feature film of 1939, she is using an early 'twenties Remington Portable.As she inspects the machine and then goes on...
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