Scriva / Triumph Norm 6. Snappy typer in cherry-red
I have a weak spot for Triumph machines. One of them, Triumph Perfekt from 50-ties, is my go-to machine for longer typing.
When I found this Scriva I knew already that it is a Swedish clone of Triumph. I grabbed it even though it was extremely dirty and clogged. Nothing was moving! It must have been sprayed with WD-40 or equivalent and then left to die. Run it hard & leave it wet!
Somewhere there is an escapement mechanism!
I masochistically like such machines: you never know what will come out of that mess. Will it type nicely? Will it have nice typeface? What is the color of body panels???
Ribbon cover is made of ebonite, all other panels are steel. Easy to remove, no surprises.
Platen removal is even simpler: both platen knobs are screwed into the core. Both are standard, right-hand threads. A bit of cursing and they unscrewed from both sides, freeing the platen. So no central rod to be removed and wiggled upon installation. Nice!
The platen is in good shape, no cracks or dents. Oxidized and dirty but salvageable.
Feed rollers and paper deflector form complete subassembly. Easily removed with just two screws. Rollers are grippy and round - just dirty. Good sign.
One type arm was not able to come to resting position. Apparently someone tried typing on clogged mechanism and bent a link. Easy fix.
After brushing the dust and blowing with compressed air the gross of dirt was removed. What was left was a goo on all internal parts. Still hardly anything could move. I decided to give it a deep immersion in ultrasound bath. White spirit with a few drops of machine oil.
It took four such sessions, followed by compressed air, within three weeks. After the first cleaning bath the mechanism was free but I knew that after the thinner evaporates there still can be problems.
Leaving the machine “naked” for a week to check if all is fine. Nope, of curse - so another bath and compressed air. Finally, after the fourth bath, all goo was gone and the mechanism was working fine.
In the meantime I worked on the platen. After light sanding on a lathe the rubber appeared to be in good shape although a bit on hard side. I treated it with chemistry to bring back a bit of elasticity.
Felt pads - noise isolation - are in good shape and not smelly, just dirty. They cleaned up very nicely.
I finally could put all back onto the machine.
Spacebar rubber dampeners were shot, I made new ones from silicone.
Now the escapement is visible - nice and clean.
I could finally try typing.
And it types like a dream!
Elite sized, very pleasant typeface. Carriage shift, well balanced - feels very light.
Very handy machine indeed. Classy look, very snappy typer and not as noisy as my other Triumph.
Platen and feed rollers grip a paper like a bulldog!
Cherry-red with small blue details. Eye-feast!
Bi-chrome selector was so dirty I could not tell which mode I’m in. It cleaned up nicely, too.
Like other Triumphs this machine has very robust carriage lock mechanism. So that the escapement is protected well during transport.
That beauty deserves a photo session.