Sad News

I never knew Mr. Whitlock, but I know there are others in the Typosphere who knew him.  I remember reading about him and he seemed quite a fellow.

At age 96 the oldest living typewriter repairman is no longer with us.

Here is a link to the story:

http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20130828/new-haven-typewriter-repairman-manson-whitlock-dies-at-96

Here is a link to another story about Mr. Whitlock

 http://www.nhregister.com/opinion/20130829/randall-beach-having-manson-whitlock-as-a-friend-a-delight-to-the-end

He will be sadly missed.

When an Olympia SM4 Gets Stubborn It Becomes a Parts Machine

Remember my SM4 from my last post?

This is how the space bar will allow the machine to type

From this position to about half way down all carriage functions work fine.

This is the linkage to activate the escapement.  Types fine.

The space bar linkage when properly fitted and the machine will not funcito.

This is what should be normal space bar alignment. The machine will not type.  Even the carriage lock will not align.

I did not put the cover fully on the machine.  I did not find any bent levers or linkages.  I cannot bend the tabs on the front of the case (shown in the above photo) or on the space bar enough to allow the typewriter to work when the cover is on.

Adding good washers exaggerates the situation and really locks the machine.

I cannot find any place that slipped or that can be adjusted.  It does not appear a former owner bent anything.  I have found and magnified many of the photos I found on line that show the bottom workings of the machine. They all look normal to me, but when I make my SM4 normal it will not work

Any suggestions?

I'll move on to the Underwood Universal problems if I ever decide to return to working on it,

Maybe that is why I only paid $5.00!

Sorry for my typos.  From the workbench again.

I have a Baby

This is what happens when I do a typecast from the work bench

I also repeat myself

I use this on the chrome and other non painted metal and plating

Same as FinishLine, but from Lowe's it is $3.00 to $4.00 cheaper.

Not bad for $5.00, it works too, but smells like rotten tobacco smoke

Can you guess which is the Montana Luxe and which is teh Hermes Baby?

The Luxe, Skyriter, and Baby

Skyriter is a bit larger, taller and heavier than the Baby

A RockMite 40 (Thought notagain might enjoy)

More on the SM4 later.