Continental Silenta
This machine was made in 30’s, in Germany. It was produced throughout the war until 1942 and was the most advanced and complicated machine of that time. Today it has a cult status as a super-silent typewriter.
That is indeed true: German engineers, inspired by Remington Noiseless, took the concept further and redesign the mechanism to improve it and make even more silent. That comes with the price: machine is complicated and has much more parts than Remington Noiseless, not to mention standard-action typers.
For many enthusiasts the action of Silenta’s type bars reminds moving jaws of the Alien, from Ridley Scott movie. It is alike Remington mechanism but there are more parts and swinging weights on each type bar assembly which “snap” the slug into paper regardless how heavily or lightgtly one strikes the key. Pulling arms slow down the slug just at the last moment, preventing it from hitting the platen too hard and thus avoiding click-clack noise known from standard typewriters.
My particular machine had lot’s of problems when it came to me.
Working on her was really a joy - it took me a few weeks (evenings mostly) to get her back into tip-top shape. It has Swedish font and luckily it did not contain SS-runes which would have to be ripped away on “denazification” process after the war. Many such machines went through this process, mine was apparently made for Swedish market so no Nazi symbols on her.
Lady from whom I bought her had this machine stored in a cellar for many years, after her father bought it on flee-market in Lund. They never used it, either because it was already broken or because her father messed up while trying to fix her.
As often is the case the machine was sprayed with WD-40 at some point, yielding it unusable - all mechanisms got stuck by hardened goo. Thorough chemical cleaning was my first step. I use white spirit with few drops of camellia oil. Compressed air to blow out all loose dirt.
This is an office machine, full size. It has all possible features available at that time. Among others it has a mechanical break/slowing down mechanism which prevents the carriage from flying too fast upon using Tabulator.
Not much could be removed before cleaning - the machine has only front panel removable, everything else is serving as a frame to the mechanism. Cleaning type bars assemblies while protecting the platen from splashes of chemistry.
There were a few type bars which snapped out and disconnected themselves. I fixed them at this stage. Few others were slightly bent in guiding slots - fixed easily with some patience.
Machine was blocked by crashed and bent Tabulator mechanism. Tab rail protection bar - which is a crucial part of Tabulator assembly - was bent ugly, locking all in place.
I straightened it and took out all dents with small hammer.
Almost no sign that it was in bad shape before.
It took me a while to figure how Tabulator mechanism works. Only then I realised that someone has attached Tab rail the wrong way:
It should be turned 180 degrees, so that spring steel rod sits inside the rail, not outside.
Tab-setting tongue had to be aligned against the rail.
Spring rod is being depressed by flat springs attached to protection bar. The rod is keeping Tab markers under tension, preventing them from moving if not pressed by Tab-setting tongue.
To align these flat springs can be a bit tricky. Small holes in protection bar allow checking the alignment: if one sees black through them then the flat springs (black) are aligned. If silver is shining through (spring rod) the springs are misaligned.
Pretty neat, isn’t it? It reminds me that nothing on the typewriter is there for no reason. Even tiny holes have purpose.
All screws which I had removed were cleaned and polished before screwing them back. Some of them - these which are visible up front - are nickel plated.
Glass keys had lots of hardened dirt after years of use. Cleaned with wooden stick to reach all cavities.
The second big issue was that the vibrator was broken and one part was missing. I detached it and removed from the machine after I removed the platen.
The vibrator is holding ribbon and rising it to meet type slug upon printing, then moving back into low position to take away the ribbon and show what was just typed. With left part missing the ribbon was not guided properly and the machine was unusable.
I was hoping that the broken out part will be somewhere inside the mechanism but unfortunately it was lost. I had to make my own copy to match the right side part.
I cut it out of thick copper plate - springy enough for the purpose and easy to cut and shape. Matching the right-side part.
I soldered it on place, the same way as the original was installed.
The whole vibrator got a coat of black paint, to match the new and the old nicely.
To function properly it had to be shaped so that it slides freely in the confined space in front of the platen.
With patience and carefully to not snap this delicate part I finally got it right. Connected to the mechanism it now serves its purpose properly.
Every part of the machine which could cause any rattling sound is silenced with rubber or felt. Top-cover rods had old and hardened rubber on them. I substituted it with new, soft silicone-rubber.
This is, of course, a carriage-shift machine. To enable soft and light touch on Shift action there are tension springs which help moving up the heavy carriage. They were tightened too much, the carriage was not returning back into lower position.
To service that I needed a better access. Removing paper table and the platen gave me a clear opening to play with the springs.
Next was the main spring: I winded it a bit harder so that Tabulator was working along the whole platen.
Fine-tuning the Tab trigger took me a while. The same lever controls Tab setting and removal. In confined space between other parts it has to be precisely adjusted to do the job.
The mechanism was now functioning properly. I moved on into assembling the machine.
While having the platen removed I wanted to try covering it with new rubber which would make it soft and even quieter, improving imprint at the same time. There is a company JJ Short in USA which does that professionally but I wanted to try inserting an old bicycle’s inner-tube. Lubrication is the the key here: tried first with oil but failed miserably: before reaching half way the oil got absorbed by the rubber and it stalled. The second approach was with liquid soap and that prove to do the trick. With lots of puffing, cursing and using my body weight I managed to squeeze in the platen into the tube. It was a tight fit.
When soap dried and nothing was moving anymore I trimmed the edges from excess rubber.
To my horror the rubber tube broke after an hour! Either was it too tensioned or got caught by paper rollers. I decided to abandon the idea and reconditioned the platen with rubber-softening elixir instead.
After installing the platen back onto the carriage the machine was complete. Rubber bumpers which hold the top cover were in pieces so I replaced them with new ones.
The last detail was paper bale where rollers were in bad shape. Their role is to press down the paper against the platen. I could not leave them like that.
I fabricated new ones from red tube encapsulated in transparent, silicone pipe.
Nice and grippy, matching the red line-release knob on the front panel.
The machine is assembled and ready for typing!
Polished and shiny it was moved to her new home, eager for another 90 years of faithful service.