Remington Remette - minimalist machine
This machine was produced in the midst of Great Depression era. Only ca 192 000 were made, between 1938 - 1942, after Richard Polt’s information.
It is a very minimalistic yet very functional machine. This particular machine has a family history spanning three generations so I’m not sure it should stay in my arsenal…
Anyway - I took her on my bench to take a closer look on the mechanism and to restore it back to operational state. Removing the body panels (ribbon cover and main body panel) required unscrewing 6 screws. There should be total 8 screws but 2 are missing.
The mechanism was working, with a few keys getting stuck at times. Machine was spared receiving dreaded WD40 treatment, thanks god for that.
Removing the platen is very easy: Remette has only right platen knob, held in place by wide screw. Removing the knob enables sliding out the platen rod through left side. To ease the whole process of lifting the platen one can unscrew card holder.
The usual tumbleweed landscape appeared after the platen was lifted.
Inspecting the basket I noticed missing one type lever - happens to be letter Q. So this machine, right now, is not QWERTY but WERTY! Oh well, another sign of eventful life.
One can also see that neighbor type-slug bears signs of repairs.
While playing with the mechanism and testing all functions I managed to lock the carriage… Something was binding. Closer look revealed that it was ribbon-retaining arm which got its spring loose. Fixed that.
The machine got several blasts of compressed air and a long session with dust brush. No need for chemical cleaning.
I then turned to the platen. It must have been re-coated at some moment because the rubber is still elastic and not cracked or oxidized. It was certainly used heavily, judging from rows of indents on its surface.
I sanded down the rubber to regain smooth surface. This will make much better imprint on paper.
Looks like brand new again!
Paper-feed rollers must have been replaced too - they are in good shape, grippy and elastic. No flat spots.
Someone doing this maintenance thought that no one will notice… I did. And I’m sure it was not Remington Factory who installed this feed roller. It works fine, thou, so I leave it as is. A funny quirk in machine’s history.
To remove paper-bale one needs to find and release two small hinges under the carriage. It seems that someone got too nervous while trying to remove it - it was bent. I straightened it and cleaned before installation.
To remove paper-bale one needs to open two hinges under the carriage. Shifting all the way to the left for left part and to the right for the other.
Observant eye will notice how the end of these axles is formed: sharp and knurled, as if saying “here shall ya pull”.
Open position with paper-bale hinge inserted. View from below the carriage.
The pin re-inserted for paper-bale installation.
Feet were in worse condition although some springiness was still present. They were too stiff to do their job of holding the machine stable so I decided to mount new rubber.
Original feet consist of one-part rubber with steel washers as locking wedge, to retain them in frame openings.
I found matching substitutes from fresh rubber. Retaining part will also be rubber, pressed inside new feet.
Keys cleaning followed. There was quite a bit of residue and dirt indeed.
Last step was cleaning type slugs.
And so I could mount the ribbon onto original, tiny spools, and hit the keys for the first time. Not bad indeed!
Some key-levers needed some adjustments to not bind in type guide but that was an easy and quick fix.
I used the ribbon which sat on the machine. There is still quite a lot of ink left and it is a cotton ribbon - much better than polyester.
I waxed body panels with Fulgentine, taking care to avoid areas with decals. They show “honest patina” anyway and I don’t want to turn them silver with careless smudge of the wax.
It is a very handsome machine and it types very well. Missing “Q” does not disturb me much right now, for most of the time I could avoid using it by choosing different words. A bit more disturbing is letter “A” which lands too high. It was soldered by someone - type slug and type arm bear signs of filing and too high temperature soldering.
I will fix that once I find a replacement for lost “Q” type-arm. For now I will treat it as patina and a sign of machine’s history.
Remette has no bell, no margin release (although there exists mechanism which enables doing it, one sign at a time) and only monochromatic ribbon color. Hard-core minimalistic but by no means disturbing during typing.
Arm for paper release visible close to right-side platen knob.
All other levers are gathered, as usual, on the left side of the platen. Line space lever and knob (single and double-spaced lines), platen ratchet release (for typing on forms or making typewriter-art) and margin release tiny lever on the back.
Streamline shape is pleasant to the eye.
A little eye-candy decal is hidden under the paper-table!