I got a text yesterday from a friend of mine named Owen, who has caught the Typewriter Bug. I believe it started from a discussion about the USB Typewriter mod kits and his idea that it would be fun to set up a typewriter with a burner smartphone or an Arduino board to automatically Tweet messages typed on the machine every 127 characters at a time.
That discussion was sometime last week, and I was surprised when his text came in “oh, hey, I picked up an old Royal #10 typewriter, want to take a look at it?” Of course I did. For his $50 he got a 4-window #10 in pretty good shape – all I had to do to it was blow it out, apply some PB Blaster in the few mucky parts (the variable release mechanism was the worst part, but I even got that working) and work a few things loose until they functioned correctly. The one bit I haven’t got fixed is the missing drawband. I’m not sure how long the drawband needs to be and don’t have anything I can readily McGyver into a suitable replacement, so the machine will be heading over to MTE for Bill to take a gander at it.
Seems to be a good candidate for the project he has in mind – lots of room inside the casing for the USB sensors and maybe even enough room to mount the Arduino inside without interfering with the workings. I’m looking forward to seeing how this project pans out…
Could use new rubber, but it feeds paper fine and the platen's not too bad. It has one original ribbon spool and a bit of wear on the wooden space bar.
All four of the original glass windows are intact and unchipped.
This is actually the first 4-window Royal I've seen in person.
Paint all around is in pretty good shape, with just a few chips on the front frame. Margin bell rings true. Still has 2 of its original tab set pins!
Missing drawband, but I wound the motor up and it holds good tension, and drives the ribbon spools just fine in both directions, once I PB Blasted the gook out of it.
This test sheet was typed on a notice left on my front door about a recent burglary caught in progress in our little Stepford community blockwatch area. Yay, more crime in our tiny walled city. You may remember this incident from almost exactly one year ago. Bleagh. The Ranch was a far safer place to live, I think. Incidentally, the L32 which acted up while I was writing that linked post is now fixed, which is a topic for a later post.
Speaking of previous posts, let’s dredge up a connection to this one by linking to this photo:
This is Owen, the owner of this 1917 Royal #10, getting birthday cake licked off of his face.
I can’t wait to see the finished project. That is a beautiful #10.
Sweet machine, especially considering it’s an early one.
That looks like mine! It’s the only heirloom, having belonged to my wife’s grandmother.
Can’t wait to see how the project goes.
Having used my KHM quite a bit lately (great for 380micron card stock) I saw a 10 going on local eBay and was taken by the double glazing. If only I had the space…
I have a Royal Model 10 (1920) that I have been cleaning up. With the exception of the drawband, all seems to be working well. I have purchased some 3/8″ nylon webbing that appears will work for the drawband material. I have the clip that attaches the band to the mainspring but am missing the clip that would attach it to the right side of the carriage. Do you have any pictures or instructions on how to obtain or make the clip in addition as to how to attach it to the right side.