Wednesday, November 27, 2013

It's A Jewell

I did not quite know how I wanted to start this post.  If I had chosen it was a Jewell of a day or some similar title I was unsure what to write.

Today is my third day in Pennsylvania and the fifth (not of Scotch though) of my trip.
Earlier today there was a bit of sleet so Debbie and I decided to wait on the weather and see if we would get rain or snow.  As it turned out the precipitation stopped so we decided to take a trip to visit some Army surplus stores since it was one of the planned stops of my trip. We then packed the car and headed to Coleman's Military Surplus.

Debbie had never been to any surplus store before and was amazed at Coleman's.  We spent several hours there and a few more dollars than planned.  We never did make it to Millersburg and Saturn Surplus.  Had I brought my Blazer that would have been a must stop as I wanted to get another 4A032 engine and a few other generator parts.  Now I have an excuse for another trip.

Then we headed North and stopped at my parents house where I picked up the Jewell.

I did not want the flash, but the camera froze (as in due to the 20 deg. F temp.) and I could not retake without the strobe.  I like the contrasting colors to my Ace.


 Blasted Blogger!  I hate the auto crap Blogger does, but it is free.

I started to type out on the patio because everyone else wanted to talk and the typewriter drove kitty cat crazy.  
Then the snow started falling again and blowing in on my paper.  As the paper got wet it did not want to feed correctly so I plopped the lid back onto the machine and put the typewriter in the car.

Hope these typecasts are readable.  I am using my camera since I don't have a scanner.

Now Blogger lets me have normal justification.  I made quite a bit of typos in the typecast.  The first was because it was difficult typing in the blustery wind.  Later as I started to type in the hotel room I became interested in a documentary about Johnny Cash that I had never seen before, and I did not pay much attention to typing.

Another neat logo


I found this to be the most common of the Underwood globe and wing logo.
Like my ACE the Jewell has little listed on either Typewriter Serial Number sites.  I am guessing this one is from 1954 since the serial number is W 2499306.  If any one knows better please let me know.


I bid everyone a very enjoyable and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

For now from the Keystone via my Underwood Jewell and Dell XPS

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Live and Direct From....Well, At Least I am in Pennsylvania

This is kind of a hybrid post/typecast.
I'm actually in East Pennsboro Township, but by Google Maps I am in Mechanicsburg (which I know is wrong.  I grew up in the area and Google Maps are wrong 99% of the time.  I would only trust Google maps if I were giving them to an enemy)  Or I am in Enola according to Yahoo! maps which are usually 90% correct.  Now the other map services are about on par with Google.  The address here is probably Enola since I can toss a stone on Wirtzville and Enola is just over the hill.  Earlier in my life this area was farms and East Pennsboro Twp.

So far this typewriter:
Crappy lighting and no tripod.  Sorry for being out of focus.


From the Carina 2.  Needs a bit of aligning.

Surprisingly clean.

Nice typer for a Nakajima.  Quiet, soft platen too.
I did not record and look up the serial number.  Presently the typewriter is back out in the car.

I've not gone typewriter hunting yet today as the snow is now freezing rain. Once it changes back to snow or to rain I may head out again.

I planned on using a Skyriter for my posts, but Mrs. is sleeping and the lobby is quite small and there are a few people out there so I resort to the digital realm.  I like snow and if it were only snow coming down from the clouds I would commandeer one of the tables in the closed pool area and type.

Back to the Carina 2.  I find this a nice typing little typewriter.  It is made by Nakajima from all I can find.  The platen is quite nice as it is soft and quiet. It reminds me of my recently used SM9 or my Skyriters.  The typewriter is fully featured with a tabulator, paper guide, pop-up paper prop, famous Japanese automatic, but I have yet to find anything but uselsess, automatic spacer, 1, 2, or 3 line spacing and variable, a nice touch and nicely built machine for being a later plastic machine. It seems to be more substantial than my Brother.  I will need to compare them when I get home.

This typewriter does not have the cheap tinny sound of the Olympia B12 that I used to have.  The B12 was also a nice typer, but neither the B12 or the Carina 2 come close to the touch or quality of any of the early typewriters in my collection.

Typecast from my Carina 2.  Post from my Dell XPS running elementaryOS

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Monday, November 18, 2013

A preview of .......?


This has got to be one of my favorite typefaces in the collection.  That said, it takes a lot to beat out Techno.   This new one could very well be the favorite one.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Royal HHP a.k.a. the HH



This is my stand-up typing desk.  The HHP sits on top of 2 old speakers at one end of the work bench. This could be captioned A Contrast in Technologies.  The computer is reflecting the ceiling light.


All I did to this one is blow the dust out of it and install a fresh ribbon from Jay Respler.


This is quite like it looked when I received it.



My favorite feature, an easy to read, accurate position indicator.

These are the card guides that flip down by a little lever beside each one.

I ran out of paper.  The last of this section is repeated below.



All the text in the original is clear.  For some reason it blurred.  Blogger is too finicky to remove and try to insert an image.  So please pardon the blurrs.



This little cover flips forward to open allowing removal of the cylinder.


Here it is.  Royal's own name for the ribbon carrier and cylinder.






There are D-shapes in the left end of the platen that fit over the drive pin.

Thought I'd start adding serial number locations.  All I need to do is remember to do it with all typewriters.


I wanted to title this post H-Squared mathematically, but one of the features Blogger lacks is the ability to superscript in the title. I tried coding it and the title does not let me enter html code either.  I thought He2P or H^2P may not be clear to someone not in programming or engineering or math.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Fantastic Underwood Standard

I could not find the model name for this one.  It looks like several. Closest I can find is the Rhythm Touch.

I guess you can tell I get 2 sections of a typecast from one sheet.

I like the shift lock key on both sides.  The margin set on these is different than the ones on the rear. Left sets the right margin and right sets the left margin.  The setting is made by squeezing the indicator and sliding it into position.

Left Side.  Pressure rollers are still soft.  Platen is hard.  Feeds paper like a champ.  Straight and even from the start all through to the end.

Right Side.

I just noticed I typed one CR on the right and the one on the right.  It should be the one on the left is a carriage return and line feed while the one on the right is just a hook that can move the carriage.

Left end

Right end. Is this a right hand carriage return or is it used in conjunction with the carriage release to guide the carriage to position?  What is the purpose of the chrome piece under it? The tab beside the hook, when pressed, allows the left margin stop to be over-ridden.

The typewriter was quite dusty, but the bottom is near spotless.

Carriage return / line feed

Card guides in position

Card Guides retracted

I thought this was unique.  Nearly hidden is the ribbon guide where the ribbon comes off the spool.  There is a little lever on the spool holder that moves the guide out.  It is spring return. Sorry, I mis-spelled guide.

Halda - Facit,  Underwood had a round smooth easy (easier than my TP-1 actually) to slide carriage rail too.

The only thing on the back (sorry I did not take a photo) is Underwood Standard across the top and in the middle Product of Underwood Corporation.  I've always liked the scale and margin sets right on the front of the carriage.   

The only thing I find referencing 11 is in 1927.  This machine is newer than 1927.  
I believe this is a Rhythm Touch, but I am not sure.  It matches the Underwood Standard from 1947 on Alan Seaver's site.  Mine is not as clean, yet.  The numbers past the 11 (which may indicate the platen or carriage length) put this machine in 1947.

The book I mentioned I found by a link Robert Messenger  posted on his blog, but I could not find it again to link to his post.  The book was written in 1917,
The Evolution of the Typewriter

So far the best 2 typers in my collection are my Underwood Standard Portable 4 Bank and this typewriter.  Nothing is as fast and easy to key as these two.  My Adler J4 comes close, but just does not quite make the fantastic Underwood feel.