To Type, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth...

Thunderbird, and the Evidence of The Eyes (Mercedes Corrected)

munk — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:37:58 +0000

Robert Messenger’s research on the Selecta/Superba question.

Updated Mercedes Page with new serial numbers, and the debate over the K45 Superba…

munk — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:49:52 +0000

This post by Robert Messenger piqued my interest over the Mercedes serial numbers in the Typewriter Database. They had not yet been updated with the newest information from Source #24, and so with Mr. Messenger’s post in mind regarding the K-45 “Superba/Selekta” issue, I delved into it.

This is what Dirk Schumann had compiled from Sources #7, #10 and #13, and it’s what I started with in my update. I don’t actually have access to *any* of the three sources Schumann used in compiling his data, but I *do* have Source #24, Schramm ’62, which is an updated edition of #13. This is what I checked against to verify Schumann’s data.

Let’s look at the Source #24. This is a composite image of the relevant section, and it shows quite clearly that the K45 is called “Superba” and the K50 is the “Selekta”. This seems to confirm that Schumann didn’t just copy it down wrong, and it suggests that Schramm didn’t feel the need to correct the names in the 1962 Updated edition from the 1955 edition even though quite a bit of new updated information *was* included in the 1962 edition:

So there it is. Mr. Messenger’s source is Leonard Dingwerth’s “Die Geschichte der Deutschen Schreibmaschinen-Fabriken” and Ernst Martin’s “Die Schreibmaschinen und ihre-Entwicklungsgeschichte” (Source #4), neither of which I have access to to confirm, so the debate will continue as we try to work out which model names belong to which model numbers. :D

Typewriter repairmen may be doing well in the US, but not so much in India

munk — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:09:43 +0000

Here’s a story in the Indian Express that pretty much states that typewriter repair is a declining profession in India. It’s good at least that it’s booming in the States.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/key-skills-attracting-rust/1114954/

TWDB Manufacturers list additions and floppy disks and Petrus Aged Red

munk — Sun, 12 May 2013 06:44:46 +0000

Lucky Goodwill score: box of 10 5 1/4″ DSDD 360k floppies that will work in my TRS-80 4P. Now I can make backups of the only two surviving floppies I have.

LS-DOS 6.3.1′s command-line conventions are not too far from MS-DOS, but remembering to address the drives as :0 and :1 really knocked some cobwebs out of my brain. Ahh, the joy of swapping floppies while listening to the squeaky grinding of the nearly 30-year old drives makes me think I ought to be looking for a pair of TEAC replacement drives.

Last night’s brew, Petrus Aged Red, brought by The Boozemeister. Very tasty! Pictured is The Brother on the Adler Tippa S, which went home with him. Now I should switch it’s status on typewriterdatabase.com

It’s the little things that make life worth living…

munk — Fri, 10 May 2013 05:02:19 +0000

Drago’s gettin’ New Rubber!

munk — Thu, 09 May 2013 04:12:38 +0000

Leoben the Cat inspects my latest thrift store find.

a small travel clock-radio from the 1960′s. Made in Japan by Sun-Mark.

curiously, the clock is entirely mechanical. Even has 2 winding keys – one for the clock, the other for the alarm. I’m not sure how, but the clock can either set off the mechanical alarm bell or the radio for the alarm. There has to be a switch of some sort that I can’t see.

Digital Detox

munk — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:59:23 +0000

Typecast on Drago, 1920 Underwood #5

Discussion Threads for Typewriter Hunters now available at The Typewriter Database!

munk — Sun, 05 May 2013 21:18:04 +0000

Typewriter hunters now have a new tool to learn more about their machines. I’ve added the ability to add Comments and Replies to Comments to the Typewriter Gallery pages. Each machine has its own Discussion Thread, and only Typewriter Hunters can View the comments. Here’s the first Discussion thread started:

Which was started on this Gallery.

Note that submitting a comment or reply to the thread will touch the Last Modified timestamp for the gallery, and will shoot the machine to the top of the “Recently Modified” list on the front page. This makes it easy to see which machines have active conversations going along with them.

Enjoy! (:

Coming updates to the Typewriter Database

munk — Sun, 05 May 2013 03:43:30 +0000

646 Manufacturers and Marques, 540 Typewriter Galleries. Not too bad at all! This 50 a week thing was a heady rush, but then about 3 days ago, it all fell silent. The Hunters stopped hunting, and the fields resounded with the chirping of crickets.

Inactivity makes me nervous, and when I’m nervous, I get creative. I’ve mentioned before the idea of Discussion Threads in the Typewriter Database, and I’ve implemented it on my development server and am putting the finishing touches on it now. Each Typewriter Gallery will have a discussion thread attached, accessible only to Typewriter Hunters, where you can offer advice, help the owner properly identify the machine and year, and generally comment on the machine. It’ll be sort of G+ish, and will include the ability to attach a photograph to a main comment to illustrate your comment.

This is what it looks like on my development server.

The above conversation is a hypothetical thread that might occur on THIS gallery, for instance, except hopefully actually informative.

Anyhow, back to the salt mines of all-night coding while the little lady if off to the Tropics. I might be able to finish this off on the dev server this weekend and roll it out sometime next week. Still working out the details of collaborative self-moderation in the ruleset for who gets to delete what. I’m shooting for a fairly open system of self-moderation for the activities that the Typewriter Hunter group can do with the site, with a big, shiny ban hammer that could be used if self-moderation doesn’t keep the atmosphere civil. With typewriter people, I don’t really expect that to be invoked much if ever, to be honest.

Please, Typewriter Hunters, upload more typewriters from your collection! I swear I will code until 5am again tonight if nobody feeds my need to see that Gallery count go up closer to 600! :D

Mystery Machine revealed, plus jerkface Brooklyn polititian wants to ensure typewriters are obsoleted!

munk — Thu, 02 May 2013 15:03:42 +0000

I guess I threw you guys a softball yesterday with that quiz. You guys had it figured right off the bat, and Will Davis earns the nod for his fast, perfect guess.

See, I thought I was tossing a curveball since I’ve only ever seen this style of case contain the early electric 5TE’s, never a manual, so when I opened this one to find a Silent-Super, I was surprised to see a non-5TE in there. I don’t know the difference between Pink and Coral, so I’m accepting either answer, but those who guessed Silent-Super are right. I also didn’t think to grab the serial number off the frame, so I can’t verify the age, but mid-late 50′s is about right.

Also, this machine is loaded with a black/pink bicolor ribbon.

Now, for the Politician who hates typewriters and wants to scrap all the ones owned by the city of NY because they’re “obsolete”. Doesn’t seem to matter that they’re still around because they are still useful (many things are hard or impossible to do in a printer that are effortlessly done by a typewriter like multipart forms or addressing envelopes, or heck – a cop writing a condolence letter to the family of a crime victim, who uses a typewriter because it expresses a personal, caring touch.) This jerk just seems to hate for the sake of hating. If you live in Brooklyn, please vote against this douchebag:

Brooklyn’s Republican mayoral candidate blasts hipster causes

Well, you know, maybe he has a point. Typewriter ribbons can be very dangerous, as evidenced by this 1986 MSDS Safety sheet included with a box of IBM Selectric 72x ribbons: