I'll have to put it back together once I find a suitable replacement for the calcified rubber feet. Perhaps the larger cousins of the bushings I found for the Lettera 22 will work?
ahh yes, I went back to Ace Hardware and got some more of those rubber bushings in a slightly larger size, which work perfectly as replacement feet for the gull-wing cover Hermes Rockets.
Old feet, calcified, smashed and disintegrating, and the new rubber bushings. The smaller one to the right was the size I used as case bushings for the L22.
I didn't realize until I put it back together that the frame of the typewriter is supposed to rest on the rubber from the feet, which it now does again. This makes the insides of the machine ride slightly higher inside the case, which incidentally instantly fixes the notorious "Floppy gull-wing cover" issue that these old Rockets usually have. Whoda thunk? Anyway, not only does the machine now grip the table like a vise, it types quieter and feels more solid & doesn't sound like Carmen Miranda clacking Maracas on your desk.
Hello to the little Hermes from its home country! What’s the serial number?
5919360, which NOMDA ’80 says is 1962.
Hello munk. Where did you lookup the serial number? I have a Hermes Baby SN: 5173812 and would like to know the year it was made. Could you help me out please?
Oh silly me, I checked the next post in the blog and found out. 1950 straight! Thanks for the database link ;)
Hurray! What a perfectly complete answer (normally, I only get the first part). What a luxury.
Good luck with your repairs.
Ahhh, the wonders fresh rubber can do.
I don’t know how many typewriters I’ve seen with ribbon vibrator problems. The metal is weak, it gets bent, and it sticks. We have to be bold and bend it back.
Where can I obtain the rectangular (light gray) Hermes Rocket 1970’s rubber feet? Most appreciated for help?
well, they haven’t been made in 30 years, so the short answer is “you don’t *get* them, you *make* them”. (:
I just pulled out my ’64 Rocket and I see that the rectangular grey feet are intact, but hard as rocks, so I’ll be coming up with a replacement soon and will post about it. It appears to me that any flat rubber rectangles that you can drill a hole into would work. I expect the old ones are glued to the body as well as being secured with the frame screws, so expect to chip them off and glue the new ones on before driving in the frame screws. The feet don’t need to be any particular height, as the machine has a snap-on lid, so doesn’t need to latch into a case like larger portables do.