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Sprucing up an induction coil for the crystal set
Crystal wireless set restoration: a whole range of coils could be purchased to be used with the Edison Bell wireless set. These tuning-coils change the overall system inductance and thus make the radio...
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Obtaining obsolete accessories (B&L part nr. 31-59-59)
One of the entertaining challenges with obsolete technology can be finding the correct accessory or spare part. The item itself is long obsolete, the manufacturer no longer services the item (or more...
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Missing fittings and an assembly puzzle
Continuing the restoration of the Edison-Bell Type B crystal wireless set, a next step was to find replacements for the missing fittings. A British product of nearly a century ago, it naturally does...
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Recreating 1920s crystal-set wiring
Continuing the restoration of the 1923 Edison Bell crystal wireless set, the wiring needed to be re-created. The remnants of wiring in the set as it arrived was clearly not original - at some stage the...
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Hard rubber feet (small fix)
It's a common issue with a variety of old technology-items - the rubber feet have no grip.The textile glue is actually latex and remains very 'rubbery'. The felt enables it to remain on the feet,...
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Igranic Honeycomb Coil
Browsing a Meccano Magazine back issue (the November 1924 edition), an advertisement for radio components caught the eye.Specifically the coil pictured in the left-top corner. Hadn't paid much...
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How to use Corona Floating Shift Models
 Have the typewriter, now also got the instructions to go with it.Must admit to being a 'completist', and the Corona Speedline being a 1938 model with a gloss finish it should have a user manual that...
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A damaged E6 motor
Vintage items bought online nearly always arrive well packed in boxes with lots of padding, some are very well packed indeed. Unfortunately this particular vintage item was merely put in a plastic...
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A disassembled E6 motor
The Meccano E6 motor dates from an age when things were made repairable. It is mostly screwed together (of course - it's Meccano) and comes apart easily.(The notion that you could make an expensive...
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A fixed part for the E6 motor
Continuing the 'repair shop' treatment of the old Meccano electric motor; now the fixing-up of damaged parts. The base plate of the switch was damaged, with all four mounting pins broken off and a...
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New brushes for the E6 motor
Putting the E6 motor together again with the fixed parts, it unfortunately still did not work. It seized up and the current draw was too high as well - tripping the circuit breaker used to protect the...
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Faber 375
The number is on the box.A fine and very solid instrument, made by A.W. Faber.This sliderule was seized-up, but otherwise undamaged. No chips or worn spots and nearly completely straight still, but the...
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Faber 1/54 (and how to take care of your slide rule)
 The number is on the box.Again a fine and solid instrument made by A.W. Faber Castell. Around 1935 they moved from the 3-digit type-numbers to a 'slash'-code system and that year also introduced a...
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Typical Remington Portable (1) typewriter
With serial number NK30243, this was the 243rd machine manufactured in the month of April in 1923. By then, the design of the Remington Portable typewriter had stabilised somewhat, and this machine is...
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1939 (Champion)
According to the serial number, it was I think manufactured in 1939; by coincidence the same year as the machine featured last month on The Typewriter Revolution blog. A different colour (black) and...
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The new Underwood built-in typing stand
 That is what Underwood called it, and new is what it is. (Well, it was.)This case came with an Underwood Champion typewriter that was made in 1939, probably early '39. That makes this tripod...
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The Champion 'in the buff'
The excellent instructions of the Ames section on the Underwood portables at the Classic Typewriter pages helped locate all the screws that needed to be taken out. Even so, a bit of a hassle to get all...
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Underwood Champion carriage exploration (and repairs)
Before dismantling more of the carriage, wanted to test the feel of the carriage rails. (It felt 'heavy'.) So block the drawband on the spring-drum, press carriage-release and move the carriage back...
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Refreshing the scales on the ruler
On the Underwood Champion typewriter, the carriage ruler is plain metal with a black scale. The lettering is very crisply recessed (etched?) and the ruler is also thicker than on most typewriters. Even...
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Underwood Champion re-assembled with new felt-lining - and Singing Typebars!
After the tinkering with the carriage, wanted to temporarily re-assemble the whole typewriter to experience the result. The re-fixing of the ruler had a very noticeable effect on the carriage and how...
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