Adler mod.7 rescued
Here is a gallery of quite unusual, horizontal-strike machine Adler mod.7 which I renovated recently.
More details from overhaul can be found here.
Adler model 7 - complete overhaul
This is a machine I wanted to acquire for quite some time now. They are not very common and when they appear on auctions they usually have prices beyond my range.
This particular specimen was in poor shape with few parts missing. Price was attractive thou and it has Swedish keyboard so I did not hesitate to byu it. Its characteristic Adler logo, with German eagle sitting on bicycle wheel was covered with sticker, making it non recognisable at the first glance.
It matched quite nicely the model name, gold-lettered on the key-levers cover but I could not find any trace of such coloured Adlers anywhere in the literature. Upon closer inspection I noticed that this is in fact a foil sticker, cut nicely to shape but certainly not true to the time when this machine was built: 1912.
I removed the sticker. The whole cover was apparently painted black with someone who did not fancy doing it properly: thick, black goo, splashed all over the place, mixed with the sticker’s glue rests.
I attacked it with denatured alcohol, to remove the glue. Lots of paint came out, too. Original Adler logo appeared faintly from below together with original, glossy enamel paint.
It seams that the logo - eagle - was scraped away, as if someone thought it’s nazi symbol - while the rest of lettering is just covered with paint.
In its glory it should look like a machine on this page.
I was hoping to remove the goo-paint and reveal original enamel but had no idea how to do it. While thinking about it I switched to the mechanism.
As a first step I fabricated new set of rubber legs - old ones were far gone. Then I could work more safely on the internals.
It is quite different than most known typewriters - it strokes the paper horizontally. Most modern typewriters we know today use down-strike mechanism for printing: type slug is meeting the paper (and ribbon) on its way down towards it. Adler machines have shorter movement as they attack the paper horizontally.
My machine suffered from someone who sprayed the mechanism with WD-40. That inevitably clogs the mechanism, with all the dust and grit glued to it.
Surprisingly, even though very dirty, this machine still worked quite OK! That says a lot about the sturdiness of the mechanism indeed!
Anyhow - to become part of my arsenal it had to go through proper cleaning and lubrication.
This is undoubtedly the easiest machine I ever worked with, in terms of taking it apart for cleaning.
Type bars can be accessed after removing 4 screws of the top casting.
All felt cushions are in perfect shape - not smelly nor deteriorated. I just cleaned them with compressed air.
Once the top casting is removed each type bar can be lifted for cleaning.
I place them on temporary fixture to keep the order - for easier assembly after cleaning.
Each type slug has 3 characters: capitals, small letter and a sign. Similarly to Oliver machines the carriage moves in 3 steps. Oliver lifts or lowers the carriage for different letters, Adler uses double down-shifts: lower for capitals and lowest for signs. They are operated by side levers, characteristic only to Adler machines.
Gliding surface is nice and smooth but quite a lot of debris was accumulated under slugs.
Draw string was missing so the machine was inanimate. Luckily one part - connection to main spring - was still attached. Carefully to not brake it I managed to unfold the metal to remove old draw string rests. Curved needles came handy here.
New string attached - I used natural - fibre cord, matching better this old machine than nylon string.
Mounted on main spring drum.
The other end was missing so I made one in brass.
It is slightly different from original but serves the purpose equally well.
Tensioning knob on the main spring was not moving. I took all apart and found out that it is the small screw on the side which locks the knob. Same as in old Colt revolvers - I should have known that without disassembly. But it was fun anyway.
And then the machine came to life!
Escapement - although dirty as hell - is doing its job flawlessly. Great feeling to see this machine working!
I came back to disassembly before chemical cleaning.
Carriage on this machine is easily removable. Almost as easy as on Oliver machines, it slides out of guide rails on the right side.
With carriage and type bars removed I had enough access to perform chemical bathing. Activities moved outside, onto the fresh air.
Flushed with white spirit + engine oil the machine was now clean and protected from rusting. Drying in the evening Sun.
Back in the workshop I turned my attention to key levers. They were originally nickel or chrome-plated but now they were covered with goo. I removed them one by one for cleaning.
Key-lever cover bears model name. This is the only part left with original gold-plated lettering. I cleaned it carefully to not damage it.
Sound dampening re-attached with spray-glue.
I turned back to the top cover. Tried different chemicals in the hope of removing top paint but keeping the original enamel. Alcohol worked to some extend but I reached the end point. Time for stronger stuff - acetone bath.
I left it in the tray for several hours and moved into the carriage assembly.
Paper-feed roller was in bad shape.
In my attempt to remove the platen the right knob got cracked. There was a lot of corrosion there, apparently it weakened also the bakelite knob.
I wanted to remove the platen to get access to this damaged paper-feed roller. Taking note on geared rack position before removal.
I need to disassembly one side of the carriage to remove the platen. Left side it will be.
Separated into two parts, with main spring visible in the background.
Why stop here? I go further! Here is tensioning spring for paper-feed roller.
Finally the platen can be removed. Certainly not as straight forward as on Remington Rand!
Mission objectives finally reached - both the platen and paper-feed roller removed.
Frame is broken in one end. Machine works fine with this fault but eventually tension from the main spring will break the other side. Time to fix this.
This is a cast iron - I think - so welding is not an option. Luckily we have XXI century, JB Welds come with help.
Platen knob gets epoxied at the same time.
All metal parts cleaned and ready for re-assembly.
The platen got sanded and treated with rubber reconditioner.
After chemical cleaning serial number of the carriage appeared on the frame casting.
Paper-feed roller is in bad shape.
I tried sanding away cracked rubber. It didn’t make the situation better.
I cannot leave it this way so I cut out all bad rubber with a knife.
Poor-man’s lathe to smooth it out.
I found a rubber hose matching the outside diameter. After sanding the remains to a proper internal diameter I prepare for sliding a replacement rubber. Exposed steel is polished at this stage.
It is a tight fit. Sliding the hose onto a core is done with the help of liquid soap. When doing such installation one needs to make sure the hose never stops gliding - if it does all gets stalled and very difficult to move. My take is to use rotation while sliding the hose onto the core.
Final result after trimming the excess rubber and chamfering the edges as in the original roller. Nice & grippy, ready for installation.
My machine has a mechanism which I never saw on any other Adler in the Internet. It is a lever with attached hands, on both side of the platen. Size matches standard 1/2 inch ribbon but it is not spring-held in position for typing. My guess is that it was added by someone afterwards, possibly for correction tape.
When one inspects the platen frame there are cavities made for hiding screw heads inside the frame.
These very screws are instead used to hold additional mechanism, sitting on top of small steel tabs.
Certainly an after-market addition.
I put all parts back together.
Lubrication of key components - there are lubrication holes on the platen’s axis.
Carriage back in place. Space bar got polished to bare steel.
Initial type test on the old, dried ribbon.
Not bad - the print is faint but rows are straight and capitals sit on the same level as small letters.
I check on top cover in acetone bath - no success there. Paint sits as it was. I try hot air, with the hope of lifting the black goo from the original paint.
No luck neither.
Last idea is to use chrome-polishing paste to lift the paint with help of ammonia.
Nope, that did not work either. Flakes of new paint still of the same size. Original enamel is nice and glossy but only in few spots.
I decided to remove all to bare metal. If I paint it back into glossy black it is good to have clean layer of steel for fresh paint. If I leave it bare it can look good as is.
Few hours of hand-sanding later the cover is shiny silver. Steel is covered with camellia oil to prevent rust.
Sound-dumpening re-attached.
The machine is now ready!
I don’t know a source for so wide ribbon so I attempt to re-use the original one, re-inking it manually on a simple fixture.
Time-consuming process but the result is quite OK.
Ready for serving its user for another 100 years!
Mr Oliver is back in operation!
This green little fellow took me many evenings to bring back to life. But it was fun and eventful journey, with many “aha!” moments.
As a predecessor to most modern typewriters it has some cool mechanical solutions which amaze me. Most of them were developed further into what we now see in modern machines. Some of them were abandoned for reasons which I don’t understand.
My journey through this wonderful mechanism can be seen in more details here.
It was called a “visible typewriter” since it allowed seeing what is actually typed. Before it there were many constructions which printed on the bottom of the platen - to check what is being written the operator had to stop and lift the platen to check the print. Such machines were called “blind typers”.
Below is a gallery of restored machine, with her “honest patina” which I have decided to leave, as a part of her history.
Carriage is easily removable, with smart draw-band catch which re-attaches the draw-band upon reinstallation of the carriage. Why was this abandoned in later machines?!
Restoration details can be seen here.
Oliver no.5 typewriter
This fellow occupied me for many evenings. I’m not yet done on it but it types now reasonable well to be fully usable.
I bought it from Swedish collector. The machine is more or less complete but was not working due to thick layers of dirt in the mechanism.
The first thing to do was to blow out most of the dirt. Hard brushes and air compressor came in handy.
This is my first and, so far, only Oliver. They are much different from other machines I worked on but their mechanism is fully accessible and hence easy to understand.
I removed as much as I dared, starting from front panel.
That gives access to bar links and vibrator connectors.
“Patina” goes a long way as how much wear can be accepted but these keys are simply dirty. That will need to be addressed later.
Carriage on Olivers is easily removable, no tools needed. Smart catch mechanism is catching draw band which is attached to the main spring. On all other machines one needs to first detach the draw band and secure in some way before carriage can be removed. Oliver takes care of it by design.
Body panels, type bars protector with felt rest pads and carriage left aside for later. All the rest of the body is a solid iron cast.
Back side of the machine. Cover housing up & down shift adjustments is removed.
On the bottom-middle can be seen catch mechanism holding draw string in the absence of the carriage. Smart!
Ribbon vibrator, luckily complete and not damaged. It allows typing on one colour ribbon. Later, with Oliver 7 & 9 it is equipped with shifting tab, to allow typing on dual-colour ribbons.
Three-bank keyboard, Swedish language. I document the layout before I move to the next step.
Here we go with removing keys for cleaning. No lousy press-fit, each key has its screw and washer! This machine was built to allow easy service.
Patina? Should I leave it or remove it?
My wife had strong opinion about that so I decide to clean them properly. It is many years of finger dirt and tobacco smoke on them. It will be a tedious work so I leave it for now.
I remove the main spring drum to inspect the spring and be able to clean everything under it. Many Olivers come with broken springs: user-adjustable thanks to knurled knob on the side, they often get tensioned too hard and break with time. Mine is in good condition.
I decided to bite the bullet and remove the whole carriage rails assembly. There are a few links which need to be disconnected first.
Both “towers” are serving as anchor to the rails. I remove the complete arms.
Ribbon vibrator actuator arm is in the way - I disconnect it through the top opening. It is held by springed catch.
This tiny “bird” is a bell hammer. Mounted on a piece of spring, to make it sound clearer. That’s what I call a real engineering catch - unlike in Hermes machines where bell is just dull, metallic “clink”, Oliver has a nice, clear sound to its bell.
I remove it - to remove the actuating rod - to remove the carriage rails - to remove… you get my point.
Shifting mechanism connection, I needed to unscrew it from the bottom. It has a rectangular washer which needs to be placed in the correct position upon assembly. I take a note on that.
Left margin stop - adjusted from the right - needs to be removed, too.
This is the last link holding rails to the rest of the machine. I hope.
Nope! Back space mechanism is in the way. Disconnecting the linkage should make room to move out the rails.
And one more thing: linkage under the Tab key.
It is in fact a simple brake - the link goes all the way to the main spring drum where it presses against the spring housing. The purpose is to slow down fast moving carriage, before it stops on the tab-stop. Very simple and effective.
It was later substituted with toothed gears on more modern machines, to use toothed-gear mechanism friction to slow down the movement.
Cool to see the predecessor sitting on this early Oliver.
With all that disconnected the rail assembly can be lifted up at the angle and removed from the machine.
And off we go for cleaning session outside. Having now good access everywhere I again brush the mechanism with hard brush and blow out the crud with compressed air. Then I move to chemical cleaning: I use 2 parts of white spirit (low aromatic) and one part engine oil. That is more or less what was used in typewriter workshops back in the day, it solves old grease and when solvent evaporates it leaves a thin coat of oil, protecting metal parts from rust.
Rails assembly gets similar treatment.
In the evening Sun it looks like a model of International Space Station.
Back on the bench for assembly.
Paint on most Olivers did not last well through the time, mine is no different. After cleaning it turned out to be quite fine. Bryan calls it “honest patina” which the machine acquired through many years of use and being touched by hands people working on it.
I’ve decided to leave it “as is” and not repaint it.
I polished it a bit and wiped exposed iron with camellia oil. Same as used on samurai swords.
Inspecting and assembling the main spring.
Time has come to clean the keys. One by one. I didn’t dare to use bleach on them, to not damage already faint letter markings. Tested denatured alcohol - didn’t work. Acetone melts them so no use here.
In the end I scrubbed the crud with soft sanding pad.
With keys attached I moved to the second big component: the carriage. It required some serious overhaul.
Nickel plating is gone on most parts, left overs covered with rust, flaking ugly.
Suprisingly decals are in good shape. I proceed carefully, documenting each part’s position before removing.
Ratchet tensioner - for platen’s step-less turning - has its U-spring intact.
Carriage pitch adjustment is sitting on rusty rail. That goes off also. I keep the original position unchanged.
It is connected to two leaf springs sitting loosely on top of each other. I note which of them was in top position.
The roller is in good shape - it was covered with oil. Removed to have the whole rail available for polishing.
Platen can now be removed.
Free-glide tab is spring loaded. I detach the spring before the cleaning.
Chemical cleaning and brushing followed.
Carriage end plates lost most of their plating. I don’t have nickel-plating bath right now so I just polished them to bare steel and treated with camellia oil, to protect them from rust.
Same treatment for margin bar: nickel and rust removed to bare steel, buffed on bench grinder.
Platen was very hard and dented after years of service. It should be recoated but for now I sanded it with 320 grid paper so it is smooth again.
I could not resist to check how it is built inside so I unscrewed one face. Yep - it is wooden pipe in the core!
Very important detail, on every typewriter, are rubber legs. Especially on so heavy machine as Oliver. Old legs were gone - rubber hardened and became brittle, they fell apart when I tried removing them.
I took redundant mooring dumper from Meritaten. It is a modern rubber-like material, very resilient and elastic. I turned new legs on lathe - not an easy job with this material but it turned out quite well.
Installed on the machine.
Adjusted shifting lock and oiled it before putting back the cover.
Last thing to do was to fabricate new rubber spacers which sit under ribbon cans. Old ones disintegrated, rubber remains told me that there should have been something there. Checking on Bryan videos I found that indeed rubber rings are supposed to sit there.
Mine are made from Biltema’s rubber locks, punched to clear the screws. They put up ribbon cans to the same level as spooling mechanism.
Without them spools sit too high. It still works but then spool covers cannot be put on top.
Now was the time for type-test.
This machine had some uneasy years. Printed letters were all over the place. I adjusted general position on both shifts but still many letters were printed at different levels.
One by one I formed each bar to bring all letters - from both towers - into one, common level. It took a few hours and quite a few pages but in the end I managed to get aligned and good quality print.
I’ve put old-stock cotton ribbon, heavily soaked with black ink - from old Facit office supplies.
So the Oliver is back to operation and can serve its purpose for another 100 years!
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.
Olympia SM3
This old, German machine had no serious problems. It just needed CLA and replacement of few rubber parts.Most typewriters on the market really need only that - cleaning, very moderate lubrication and alignment. They were build to last and withstand years of heavy beating. Unlike computers or mobile phones…
The main issue was that carriage assembly was scrubbing body panels on the sides. It is a common issue with these machines and is caused by rubber cushions being compress to much or decomposed due to age. Most owners do not recognise that there is a problem until the carriage does not want to move any more and side panels have deep, ugly dent. This machine, luckily, was not used when the problem occured. Side panels have just a bare sign that the carriage got too close.
The second issue was misaligned position for capital letters. Easy to fix.
I started by cleaning disassembled machine, to blow away all dust and dirt accumulated through the years. Font bars of few letters were a bit stuck so chemical degreasing of the whole basket was needed. Keyboard and platen covered with rags, to protect them from nasty chemicals.
Font slugs were dirty, filled with dried ink.
Cleaned that - now they look properly and leave clear, crispy imprint.
Keys were a bit grouse and dirty but suffered no damage. They are chocolate-brown, matching nicely sea-foam green body.
Luckily this machine was not treated with WD-40 or similar pseudo-oil. There are many folks who believe that this is lubricating oil. It’s not. WD stands for water displacement and it does exactly that. After a while it hardens and solidifies. If precise mechanism is sprayed with WD-40 it will work for a while but then it will stall!
Someone attemped service on this machine and greased most part of the mechanism with thick lithium grease. I needed to remove all that - even though it does not stall the mechanism it accumulates dirt and will cause problems. These portable typewriters really should be dry. There are only few places where a drop of thin, machine oil (literally, very small drop) is needed. Otherwise - no lubrication!
To get inside the basket I lift type bars with a rag. Spraying solvent onto the mechanism and blowing all gunk out with compressed air.
I then attended aligning the carriage, starting with small letters. Olympia SM3 is a carriage-shift machine meaning that to get capital letters one lifts the carriage. More modern machines have mostly segment (basket) shift meaning that the heavy carriage stays in the same place and font slugs are adjusted up and down instead. As the segment is lighter than the carriage such machines are usually quicker and easier to write on. Some refined machines with carriage shift can perform equally well, carriage shift is assisted by spring mechanisms.
Regardless of the construction the goal is to get the best imprint by aligning the assembly so that font slug lands on the proper part of the platen’s curvature.
It is an iterative process. This machine has adjustments screws on both side, accessible after body panels are removed. We start with small letters, aiming for even imprint on both upper and lower part of the letter.
Screw for small letters adjustment visible in the frame opening
Once happy with the result we move to capital letters adjustment. This is controlled by screw positioned close to ribbon holders. Again, both sides need to be adjusted on Olympia.
Each adjustment is checked by typing test, until we have capitals aligned and good quality imprint. I use old ribbon for that - new ribbon, with its abundance of ink, will not show clearly enough if the font has weaker imprint on one side.
Several iterations later the adjustment was finished.
Carriage supports can now be slid into place and tightened.
After last adjustment - for Caps Lock - the machine was ready to get her body panels.
These got proper cleaning. Felt sound dampening was blown from dust and dirt. Metal panels got proper scrubbing and cleaning and were drying in the sun before assembly. WD-40 applied on their surface removed humidity rests and added some gloss to this crinkled, green paint.
Rubber cushions were flattened and almost decomposed. I’ve made new ones, circa 5 mm thick, from rubber pressure hose.
They are installed on shoulder screws, with corresponding washer.
With panels installed I check “under the hood” if nothing was missed or left inside the mechanism.
Typing test follows.
Ready for service for another 50 years!
Typewriter's pad
It seams not important but a pad dampening typewriter’s noise and vibrations is crucial for peaceful coexistence between the typist and the world around. Especially in public places or in your own kitchen in the evening. Not once was I asked to finish because family was going to sleep.
It can be whatever, just so that it dampens vibrations and noise. There are fancy pads on Etsy which can cost more than a typewriter. I decided to make my own, from scrap pieces of foam and yoga mat.
As simple as it looks: a piece of yoga mat (very soft and spongy) sandwiched between rubberised foam. I like rounded corners so I trimmed them with sharp blade.
Some finishing with sanding blocks so that all three layers blend into common edge.
As a trim and personalisation I added metal plates on each edge. Just for fun. I use old Dymo index-machine from 70’. I discovered by accident that Dymo with steel letter matrix can stamp also on stainless steel and aluminium tapes. There is of course brand new version of this machine, dedicated for metal stamping but it costs a fortune. The one I have I picked from thrift store for peanuts.
Aluminium is easier to work with so I reserve steel only to outdoor projects.
First test. Machine sitting on the pad is Remington Noiseless Portable.
It is indeed almost totally silent while typing now!
Perfect combo for late night consciousness streaming onto paper.
Machine guns: Hermes 2000
This is where my quest for perfect typewriter ended. At least for now.
It started very crazy: I promised to myself (and the family) that I’ll buy no more machines. I already have too many. To cut temptation I stopped looking on Tradera or Blocket. I thought I was safe.
What I forgot is that once upon a time, in my kerosene lantern madness, I registered my mail on auction website. They are kind enough to send solitary emails from time to time. It’s mostly furniture and some antik stuff - I like to browse through that occasionally. So I got one of these mails and, unaware of the danger, I opened it and… saw these two machines on auction…
The seed was planted (yet again!) and nobody was bidding so… I placed my bid. Pocket money indeed.
And I won both auctions.
Next step: shipping.
It came out that, even though both machines were at the same auction house, I have to pay for separate shipping and that it will take 2 weeks, at least, to get them here. Not to mention that shipment price was much higher than won value.
But that was not my biggest concern. I realised that kind people selling them did not care much if the machines will arrive intact. Of course they will pack them in bubble plastic and stuff but they have no idea how to protect the mechanism from damage when the package is dropped from the track. And we all know that they will be dropped several times, don’t we?
Typewriters today are mostly considered as decoration so if they arrive in one piece most people are happy. In my case I will use them so I won’t be happy getting them with broken escapement or so.
I have two Hermes Rocket/Baby ultraportables. They are beautiful pieces of precise engineering. And with that comes (relative) fragility. These Hermes 2000 are portables so bigger and heavier than ultraportables. Mechanical shock when they drop will definitely destroy or misalign the internals if not properly secured.
So I decided to pick them myself. After all it’s just 850km trip so why not?
I took a day off, jump into the car and hit the road. Destination: Oskarshamn.
It is not much to see in Oskarshamn, apart from sea cost and nuclear power plant. Nothing which would justify 850km drive. Apart from two Swiss-made Hermes 2000 machines in unknown condition.
One of them is earlier model, from 40’. Chromed details, logo in chrome.
The second one was born a bit later, probably in 50’. I haven’t yet run their serial numbers in Typewriter Database but there is roughly 10 years difference between them. Decals are painted, chrome substituted by black trim. Stealth look.
After I arrived at the auction place it became obvious that my concerns about shipment were true. Folks have no idea about these objects, not even how to operate them. (how come it became so difficult? Just 50 years ago they were in common use!).
I checked the machines on site and to my joy both worked just fine! I like the look of the earlier one, with chromes but the typing action of the later Hermes was just extraordinary! Like shooting a machine gun with almost no recoil!
I grabbed my machines, sat in the car trunk (it started snowing) and typed short letters to my family. After short refreshment I hit the road again. As I’m not 20 years old any more I had to stop for a short nap. Planned to take just 15 minutes but it became 1,5 hour nap!
Late evening I arrived home. Yes, it was worth it.
Tired but happy to find my Holy Grail machine!
The newer machine turned out to be much more used but also serviced recently. I could tell because it was rather clean inside and there were traces of oil in some places. In fact in too many places so I had to degrease it a bit to keep mechanism clean. The mechanic (or butcher?) managed to scar many screws with improper screwdrivers. These screws are special: they have wide but low head, with very narrow slots. Kind of like in watches, just bigger. You need to have properly shaped screwdrivers to work with them. Standard screwdrivers will mar the heads immediately, especially when trying to break loose a screw which sat in its place for so many years.
What was worse is that many screws were missing and these still left where all different from each other. And marred. That bugged me so I replaced them all with modern but still slot-headed screws. There is no way to get original screws other than buying yet another Hermes in rough condition and scavenging them. I’d rather have non-damaged but modern, stainless screws than keep looking on butcher’s job on the originals. Luckily all screws are metric so that was an easy fix.
Rubber feet were disintegrating, too. That’s important part of the machine indeed - they damp vibrations and keep the machine from sliding around when you return the carriage. I managed to found matching modern replacements so that was fixed quickly.
After a few writing sessions I discovered three additional problems. One is skipping A-letter on fully returned carriage. I tried to troubleshoot it but could not find the cause for that. Letting off the main spring eased the problem a bit but made typewriter sluggish so I tensioned the spring back by 10 turns.
Skipping occurs only when one uses improper typing technique - which happens sometimes when I write very quickly and forget myself. If used in “staccato” mode all works fine.
The second problem was that margin setting stopped working. These machines have “magic margins” which means that you set them very conveniently from the front of the machine ans spring-loaded mechanism sets them in the internals. That worked for a while but suddenly started to complain and eventually failed. After some trouble-shooting I found that someone has not put yet another screw in its place. The problem was that to get there I would need to remove the platen and I did not feel confident enough to do that. I temporarily fixed the problem with small but strong neodyne magnet which hold pieces together well enough to use the mechanism.
Third problem, not big, was that tabulator setting was not working. I pin-pointed the issue to misaligned mechanism on the back panel. I still could set tabulators by manually pressing tabs on the back but that was inconvenient. Besides - my dream machine must be in fully operational order to fulfil its mission!
I could not find a service manual for Hermes 2000 but on other models it is said to be adjusted with just one screw, on the left side of the carriage.
Well, I checked that Hermes 2000 has no such screw. Upon diving into the mechanism I discovered 6 huge screws which take care of that adjustment. Armed with gunsmith screwdrivers’ set I fixed the problem in just half an hour.
But margin setting is crucial so I decided I need help. There is only one typewriter mechanic shop in Sweden so I gave them a call. They didn’t sound enthusiastic when they heard it is Hermes. They consider these to be low-cost machines. Bad sign - but not for the machine, rather for these mechanics. Hermes is known to be one of the finest brands, most refined and valued in USA. And Americans certainly know stuff about typewriters - they invented them, after all! My personal experience also speaks for Hermes quality - but it is complicated machine and mechanisms are a bit different from “standard” american machines. Maybe that is what puts of these mechanics.
I drove to the shop anyway, with hope that I can leave the machines for CLA (cleaning, lubrication, alignment) or at least get some guidelines on how to fix the problem.
Maybe I was unlucky that the mechanic himself went home before I came so I was talking with the owner. He is a very nice guy and we talked typewriters for more than an hour but I have a feeling that he does not know much about fixing them. Probably the mechanic does the job but it was him who, before he left, warned the owner to not take “this shit” onto the bench. For them it’s Facit, Adler, Olivetti, Underwood which are proper machines.
So, after all, I did not leave my machines there. I got the feeling that they don’t want to work on them because they don’t know them well. Sorry guys, with all do respect, I’d rather do it myself.
But it was worth visiting them anyway. I got a chance to try typing on a few Facit and Olivetti machines which are so valued by many. Personally I detest how they look and how much plastic is in them. Typing feeling was definitely not in my taste either: spongy, no crispiness, no life. This famous Facit with it’s smooth carrier return… Really? Cheap, East-German Tipo1 typewriter I have has smoother carrier return action and crispy touch at the same time.
And these were machines they serviced and put for sale so I suppose they are in their top shape, correct?
I decided to bite the bullet. Armed with reprints of US War department’s manuals which arrived today from Lulu.com I sat to the job.
It turned out to be an easy job! How come a professional typewriter mechanic is scared to take it?
I removed the platen, carefully to not disengage line-spacing mechanism, and unscrew roller holder. Turned out that internals here are clean and bear traces of oil. Cleaned all that and dig deeper to reach my “missing screw” spot.
Yep, there we have it!
Looks like M3 screw with low head should sit here but it’s not!
Fixed that, adjusted the mechanism, carefully placed back platen assembly - while replacing some more marred screws - and tried the assembled machine.
All function perfectly!
What a joy: well done job and functional machine-gun typewriter!