Royal Arrow. Escapement problem.
Design classic, Henry Dreyfuss-designed Royal portable.
They were produced for only 3 years, between 1947 and 1949, after which Royal diverted from Dreyfuss design towards more “flashy” form. Nice review of it is available here, from Tyoewriters Justice.
I didn’t realise until reading this article on oz.Typewriter page that it was also Dreyfuss who designed iconic Polaroid SX-70 camera!
My machine bears classic colours: black and grey. Tombstone-shaped keys and very ergonomic placement of all necessary controls makes this very compact machine a pleasure to use. And it has Swedish key layout!
It is one of few machines in my collection which came to me with no particular problems. Well, the bell was not ringing but it doesn’t count - it was easy to fix. I just cleaned the mechanism as a routine and the machine was ready to go.
At least I thought so.
Ribbon cover opens like a car hood - no need to place it on the side when changing ribbon or cleaning type-slugs. If Woody Allen had this machine he would probably not loose the cover!
My first impression when typing was puzzled: something was wrong.
Keys were sluggish and space bar was not always reacting properly. Definitely not something one expects from such famous machine.
I inspected closely all links in search for something bent or loose. Nope. All seemed to be normal.
Escapement then!
It was my first Royal portable so I was not sure what is “normal” and what is abnormal in the escapement mechanism. Upon closer inspection I found the source of binding upon key action: escapement trip.
This machine has the escapement buried deep inside. In despair I removed the carriage assembly, thinking that I’ll gain access from above. I did but could not figure out what causes the problem. There was no screw or link which I could adjust for this particular bind.
I put the machine on workshop shelf and it stayed there for months. Today I was looking through my collection and picking candidates for new homes - I decided to scale down a bit.
This unfortunate Royal was an obvious candidate: every time I looked on it it reminded me my failed attempt to fix it. It was typing so it was not broken but… it was not fully operational.
I took it down to try typing again. Still bad. Some letters were not printing and to get proper imprint I needed to bang on keys instead of lightly snapping them as on other machines.
No, I cannot give away such machine, not in that condition.
I browsed through repair manuals in search of information. No good. I then tried Youtube and finally I stumbled upon very recent videos from Duane, Phoenix Typewriter. What a timing! Just a few weeks ago Duane posted exactly this problem when working on Royal QDL! Which is exactly Royal Arrow with some additional features.
In his second video he shows extracted escapement mechanism. Excellent aid to understand what is going on there!
It is this thin and curved tab which got, most probably, bent during shipment! This happens when the machine is not properly secured against shocks. An energetick whack on the carriage end causes escapement failures - in case of this Royal luckily nothing broke but the shock was taken by this adjustement tab which is luckily made to be formed - the steel is not hardened.
So there we have it: this ball, marked with arrow below, was sitting on top of star on the star wheel, instead of being just slightly after it, like on the photo.
To adjust it back into position I needed to form the steel tab so that it will stop the pawl (which in turns stops the star wheel) in proper position for the ball-ended pawl to just miss the star.
To do that I needed to make a tool, to reach deep into the mechanism, grab a tab and bend it back to its proper position.
And there we go! With just that the machine came back to life! As Duane says: it looks we have a survivor!
Typing action became smooth and light, very pleasant indeed! What a difference!
It is again one of the machines which are a joy to look at and to use.
Colour combination together with no-nonsense design mark the hand of the great industrial designer.
It is a segment-shift machine so the shift to capitals is very light and smooth.
My machine has the original platen in still very good condition - the rubber is grippy and not hardened. Same with feed rollers - I didn’t have to do anything to them, they still grab paper with authority.
And most of all - this machine is very compact and lightweight, even though all panels and mechanisms are steel.
I’m not sure now that I want to part with this beauty!