The Return of Little Jake

My old page on Little Jake says he’s a 1934, but I’ve since learned that TW-DB is a bit off sometimes. The 1933 date comes from the NOMDA line book from 1964. Also, those pics don’t really show how nice the paint is. The third picture makes it look like the sides are all filthy and scratched, but all of that is just a *reflection* of some dried wax on the baseboard underneath. The paint is so perfect and shiny that it’s like gazing into a black mirror. It’s actually a little creepy, considering how old this machine is.

Little Jake

Updated: August 3, 2011 — 1:43 pm

10 Comments

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  1. very nice! What’s the pitch? It looks small but that could be the image sizing.

  2. That’s one of the nicest sans serif typewriter fonts I have seen. You are a lucky chap. If you can get easy access to the feed rollers, how about trying some rubber ‘O’ rings, they might give you enough grip?? Just an idle thought though – not tried it.

    1. well, too late now, but that’d be a good idea I might try if I end up with another machine with flat feed rollers. :D

  3. Welcome back, Little Jake! That is a really sweet typeface, and quite unusual.

    Your ’34 estimate may be right. He’s one of the Remie Scout family, which is hard to sort out.

    1. yep, looks like Machines of Loving Grace pegs that serial number to somewhere in 1934. About 390 units before the white keys became standard.

  4. I am suddenly inspired to get out my own [unnamed] Scout and sort out its problems. Somewhere, in the process of mixing parts from a busted Remette, the mechanism has gotten stiff. One of the things I especially love, when showing off the Scout, is how it has to be “turned on” by throwing the lever on the side.

    On the more irritating side, mine is Pica10, just like my other Remingtons; so wishing I had the sans-serif font common to the Scout.

    1. You should inform Alan Seaver at MOLG of your specimen. according to his site: “Typeface: at least one specimen is known that has Roman 12A serif typeface rather than the Art Gothic san-serif typeface unique to the Remie line”, so apparently non-Art Gothic Scouts are exceedingly rare.

      And yeah, the “Lock X-Foils in Attack Position” feature is one of the niftiest features ever on a typin’ machine :D

  5. I tracked Little Jake down in my copy of the official Remington serial number records. He was made in February, 1933.

    1. aaargh, so confusing! :D
      1933 it is!

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