Triumph Perfekt - green/chocolade eye-candy
This is my second Triumph, if not counting Triumph Tippa which found its new home with Marek.
The other machine is Triumph Monica which is a lovely typer but shell is made of plastic. Nothing wrong with that regarding functionality but I just don’t like plastic shells on typewriters, that’s just me.
This machine has metal-all shell. Aluminum, to be precise. Cast-aluminum, to be pedantically precise.
That’s my kind of babe!
It came to me with no particular problems under the hood, just standard issues: dust, dirt, hanging keys. It was typing out-of-the-box and once I saw the typeface… men, I rushed to my workbench to clean it so I can start using it!
To remove the platen one needs to unscrew both knobs, in opposite directions. No central rod like in old machines.
One-part body panel is held by 6 screws on the bottom of the machine.
Care is advised when lifting the shell from the mechanism - chrome plated trim at the bottom edge of the machine is held with tabs to the frame, it is easy to disturb it with careless removal. I saw many such machines listed for sale, with this part bent beyond repair. It can be, of course, repaired but it will be visible.
With platen removed I inspected feed rollers, expecting standard flat spots on worn rubber.
Nope! This machine is equipped with cork rollers!
They held in perfect shape for all these 70 years! No need to do anything to them, just cleaning.
This is my first machine with such rollers. I love them!
Yes, they do not grip paper with such authority as rubber rollers but they do the job. Once they engage they feed paper nice and straight.
Platen was in good shape - no cracks or dents. I sanded it a bit to remove oxidation and gave it treatment with rubber rejuvenator liquid. It doesn’t do wonders but I like to believe that it makes hardened rubber a tiny-tawny softer.
Segment flush and type slugs cleaning followed, standard routine.
Nice and clean, smelling goooood!
Escapement right in front of me - no need to mess with that now but good to have it accessible should anything happened.
Paper table was missing one spring which should hold it firmly in position. It did not matter much but I went ahead and fitted replacement while on it. It feels better to have a complete machine, ain’t it?
Key-tops cleaning as a last step. Chocolate-coloured, match beautifully sea-foam green shell!
There!
With clean machine and new ribbon I finally sat down to type a few words.
This typeface!
What a nice typeface!
It is similar to famous Oliver Fontype but - oh men - typing on this Triumph is so much easier and enjoyable than on Oliver! It became instantly my go-to machine when typing letters. Let my friends enjoy reading text typed with so balanced and harmonic typeface!
Photo-session followed. I like esthetics of 50-ties, with these rounded forms, like Buick-cars of that era.
The only complaint I can think of is that carriage return handle, being very pronounced and otherwise comfortable for its function is at the same time a bit in the way when I type.
I’m being picky here. It is just a matter of adjusting how my hands fly above the keys to make this problem disappear but at first I was hitting the handle when mid-line, typing enthusiastically.
I like these small details which adds class to the whole form. Even Swedish dealer decal is a plate, not a sticker.
And - as if nobody new - this German-made machine was IMPORTED to Sweden!
Who might have thought…
Stylish finish for color selector and tabulator settings. Black knobs to contrast with chocolate-brown keys.
And lastly a bit more of mechanical porn!