To Type, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth… | A Typecast Blog by The Right Reverend Theodore Munk

May 2012
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May 2012
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Type-Off: 1957 Underwood Golden Touch vs. 1949 Royal Quiet De Luxe

Posted on May 16, 2012 by munk

"Tex" 1957 Underwood Golden Touch vs. "Perkk" 1949 Royal Quiet De Luxe

Ask Not For Whom The Typewriter Bone Tingles: It Tingles For Me!

Posted on May 15, 2012 by munk

Intriguing case, compact and in very nice not-rusty shape!

SAM 4101 Ask Not For Whom The Typewriter Bone Tingles: It Tingles For Me!

1929 Corona 4. Corona called this finish "Light Maroon" but it's quite dark.

BTW, I’m a total space case – the proper term for the DuPont finishes for these Coronas is “DUCO” not “Decco“, Hlur.

SAM 4102 Ask Not For Whom The Typewriter Bone Tingles: It Tingles For Me!

This is with the flash.

clad l22 Ask Not For Whom The Typewriter Bone Tingles: It Tingles For Me!

Craigslist ad for "Old Underwood"

SAM 4111 Ask Not For Whom The Typewriter Bone Tingles: It Tingles For Me!

1958 Lettera 22 with broken carriage return.

Where will we get our Typewriter Platens re-covered now?

Posted on May 13, 2012 by munk

Several people who have recently sent their typewriter platens for re-covering by Ames Supply have received this letter, along with the platens and feed rollers they’ve sent in (sometimes, luckily, already re-done!)

Ames Supply Company
Since 1902

May 1st, 2012

To our Valued Customer:

We regret to inform you that after 110 years in business, Ames Supply Company is closing its door.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you, we are returning your platens undone.

Once again we thank you for you being a valuable customer for all these years.

Ames Supply Company

The buzz is that this is for real, and the place where everyone (including most typewriter repair guys) sent platens to be redone is now gone. The question is, where will we get it done now?

One resource has been mentioned in the Portable Typewriter Yahoo group: Robert E. De Barth, in Pennsylvania, offers platen recovering for $95 + $13 shipping, quite a bit steeper than Ames did it for, but at least he still does it. He may be the last guy in the US to offer this service.

Some questions to ponder:

1) If Ames shut its doors, what did they do with the platen and feed roller recovering equipment and supplies? Are they for sale anywhere?

2) What skillset does it take to re-cover a typewriter platen? Also, what knowledge does it require, IE: is there still documentation that specifies what sizes and compositions of rubber stock are required for given typewriter platens?

3) is there anyone who has the skillset and the investment capital to set up shop recovering platens and feed rollers, just so there isn’t just a single source for this badly needed service?

Heck, I’d learn to do it myself, if I had the capital, the access to raw stock and some decent instructions. It could be a pretty decent daily wage for a one-man operation in a garage. :D

Posted in From the Desk of Reverend Munk | 5 Comments

Wine of the Devil and The Typewriter Repair Manual

Posted on May 12, 2012 by munk

Posted in From the Desk of Reverend Munk | 8 Comments

Underwood Portable Typewriter Serial Number List

Posted on May 11, 2012 by munk

Cameron down at Living in the Woods asked today for some date of manufacture info about his Underwood Universal, and mentioned that he couldn’t find any info in the usual sources. I looked it up in my homemade line book, composed of printouts from scans I’ve made of various paper sources, and found a good line chart for Underwood Portables.

I don’t think I’ve posted this info before, so here it is!

Posted in From the Desk of Reverend Munk | 5 Comments

Noir Detective stories and a Royal Swinger

Posted on May 9, 2012 by munk

Perkk, 1949 Royal QDL, and a couple mystery anthologies

Royal Swinger

Radio built into the lid.

capt america royal Noir Detective stories and a Royal Swinger

...and since we're on the subject of Royals, here's a big Royal from the film "Captain America, The First Avenger"

Posted in From the Desk of Reverend Munk, Typewriters In The Corral | 6 Comments

Typewriter Evangelism hits paydirt!

Posted on April 29, 2012 by munk

Al tries out some Rockets

SAM 3830 Typewriter Evangelism hits paydirt!

Abby's Underwood 319. It does have a ribbon cover.

SAM 3842 Typewriter Evangelism hits paydirt!

Al's Triumph Tippa

SAM 3837 Typewriter Evangelism hits paydirt!

Al tries out Tori's 1964 Hermes Rocket. His is the 1962 model.

Posted in From the Desk of Reverend Munk | 4 Comments

Suicide is not painless.

Posted on April 15, 2012 by munk

We already miss you...

Posted in From the Desk of Reverend Munk | 7 Comments

Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round-Up / Type-In 3

Posted on April 3, 2012 by munk

Your Humble Correspondent, From the LUX Coffeehouse in Phoenix

Magic Margin is correct – this was the best Phoenix Type-In yet! Loads of new faces and old friends graced the event, and the press came too. Megan Finnerty from AZ Central came and did stories for the AZ Central website, The Arizona Republic paper and the NBC affiliate Channel 12 News (link to video when I find one). Here’s the Republic Article:

azrepublic type in 3 1024x773 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Click for larger version

Tori, Al and I arrived early, and were the first to the LUX, and as soon as we started unloading typewriters from the car, a moped gang and their flagship Thunderbird mounted up and left, as if they knew we would be chasing them out of the Big Table. They were right to run. We had Big Iron, and we knew how to use it.

SAM 3802 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

The Vespa gang with their flagship T-Bird that we scared off.

Having arrived early, I got the chance to inspect the typewriters that were a part of the decor of the Lux, I’m told the owner of the Lux is a bit of a collector himself. If so, I hope he’s only taken the expendible examples from his collection to live at the coffeehouse, because apparently coffeehouse life is not healthy for a typewriter. In most machines the ribbons were gone, the typebars hopelessly jammed and bent, and at least with the Olivetti Dora, keys had been broken off. All were inoperable for the purpose of a patron actually writing anything on one. It was a sad sight.

SAM 3804 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Olympia SM-9 and Olivetti Dora, after an attempt at unjamming the typebars

SAM 3805 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

A nice late-50's Smith-Corona Silent Super, needs a little TLC is all...

SAM 3807 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

An SCM Coronet electric. There were also a pair of 70's Olivetti Studio 45's, but they were even worse off.

IMAG0273 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Jim's Roxy/Rooy. Sweet machine!

IMAG0280 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Jim's Skyriter and Ryan's Navy Mill Royal

IMAG0283 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Bill Wahl's Continental

IMAG0282 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Jim's Royal Arrow

SAM 3817 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Brian Beach's Royal Mercury

IMAG0284 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Tex, 1957 Underwood Golden Touch and Little Jake, 1933 Remington-Rand Remmie Scout

IMAG0279 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Bill Wahl's Bennett and Claire's Folding Corona 3

IMAG0281 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Jia's Olympia SM-3

IMAG0278 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Ryan's Monster Olympia SG-1

SAM 3818 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Ryan's Facit TP-1

IMAG0275 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Marshall's Cyrillic language Groma Kolibri and Ryan's Facit TP-1

IMAG0276 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Ryan't ever-popular Facit and Tori's Olympia SM-9

IMAG0277 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

A lonely Royal Sabre(?) on the floor. This machine was identical to a broken one I saw at a Goodwill not long ago.

IMAG0285 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Brian Beach typing on his excellent Hermes 2000. What he wrote is below:

IMAG0286 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Jim shows Bill Wahl a product sheet for a supplier he found for NOS Smith-Corona Change-A-Type sets.

IMAG0289 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Typewriter T-Shirt! :D

IMAG0291 Report: Phoenix Typewriter Round Up / Type In 3

Marshall brought not only his Kolibri, but also some interesting Leica cameras and clones. He shoots 35mm B&W, so who knows when his pics will show up on the web (: