Last Bit of fresh rubber for Little Jake

Heh, the cloth-ribbon IBM Selectric doesn’t like to type on a Matte-finish paper. It’s almost like the ink gets squeezed out of the impact point and leaves something that almost passes as an outline font.

The original bushings. exactly 80 years old.

New bushings fit a bit loosely in the mount hole (I assume that the original feet fit snugly enough that you could unscrew the machine from the base and just use the rubber feet to set the machine on)

Little Jake: new platen & feed rolls, and now new feet bushings. Oughta last another 80 years, I expect.

Updated: January 14, 2013 — 9:24 pm

5 Comments

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  1. What is it about typewriters that brings out the rubber fetishists in us all?

  2. pretty neat! I always liked that unit.

  3. Sweeeet.
    Time to find some bushing in my end of the world….

  4. Reverend,

    Random question: Is there a central list or database listing the dimensions of platens? I’m considering undertaking a DIY platen replacement this summer on a small roller, but I’m curious if dimensions have already been recorded somewhere. It would help in the reconditioning aspect for other DIY’ers. Thoughts?

    Thanks very much,
    Jonathan

    1. Some platen diameters are listed in the typewriter database‘s manufacturer serial number listings, but we do have info on many more from “Liste der Herstellungsdaten deutscher und auslandischer Schreibmaschinen – 1962”. That book is in the “Age List” section of the TWDB file library, and is the same source used by JJ Short for recovering platens today. There are no known lists of pressure roller diameters, though.

      BTW, I upgraded your account there to “Typewriter Hunter”. enjoy! (:

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