Typewriters

I've typed a bunch of that, for sure. There's a Wiki article that says the first instance of this pangram was in the February 9, 1885, edition of The Boston Journal. And it had "A quick brown fox…" instead of "The quick brown fox…", the latter first appearing in 1888 in a book by Linda Bronson.

The typewriter was procured for free by my younger brother from someone he knew who was moving.



I took a class in high school. That may have been motivated by the fact that my father had an old Underwood typewriter that I believe was this model:



It worked and I even had the chance to make use of it for some papers in high school and/or college that needed to be "neatly typed in double space," etc. etc. It was a bear to do it because any mistakes were difficult to correct. White-out was of some aid but couldn't correct everything. There was a lot of starting over. That movie-cliche of tearing a page out of a typewriter, crumpling the paper, and throwing it into the wastebasket definitely wasn't a cliché.

The computer word processor (let alone, the electric typewriter) had to have introduced a boost in secretarial productivity, although I'm sure there were many ladies (perhaps some men) who were quite proficient on these purely mechanical machines. I'm trying my hand at doing so and my fingers are definitely feeling the strain. Yep...I have girly-fingers. But then any fingers are girly-fingers when you first tackle one of these beasts.

I had a girlfriend who could type over 100 words per minute on an IBM electric.  I think it was between 110 and 120. She was incredibly fast. Some "girly-fingers." 

Somehow, it gives me a "warm and fuzzy" feeling. Probably because it reminds me of simpler times and my youth.

From this video (which no one need watch, although it is presented by a good soul), it becomes understood that this Safari version of the Royal typewriter is a somewhat budget model, although she says actual typing performance is pretty good. (Given that she is a hunt-and-peck typist, I'm not sure I'd put a lot behind that opinion.) It just seems that the bells-and-whistles are not that of a better model.



She notes, for instance, (and I can confirm) that the "Magic Margins" and "Magic Tabs" are problematic and anything but magical. The one thing that does not work on my typewriter is the tabs. But I think I'll pass on even trying to fix them because it doesn't sound as if they work all that well even when they work.

I like how this chick has painted it bright pink.

It was the same for my father.  As I recall, very early on after signing up, a sergant asked the new recruits if anyone could type. As my father had taken a typing course in high school, he raised his hand. And the rest is, as they say, history. 

This is where R. Lee Ermey comes in and asks if you are a steer or a queer, boy. Work those fingers. Strengthen those girly digits. And it's funny because after typing on the mechanical typewriter, I've had that baseball experience of swinging two bats in the on-deck circle before getting up to the plate. Now a regular keyboard is just so easy.



Few miss the rack or thumbscrews. And I've come to the point in the refurbishment of this old Royal Safari typewriter to just declare victory and find a place for it as an ornament.

I did have one final refurb victory. For some reason, the backspace key would indeed go one space back when pushed. But further pushes ("press" does not describe the pressure needed) on the key would do nothing. But I looked underneath the machine and found a linkage that had come undone in a way that it would work for one backspace and no more. It's fixed now and was just a matter of re-slotting a metal prong into a slot.

There are a couple more niggling things (can I say "niggling"?) that need fixing. Magic Columns (aka "setting tab stops") doesn't work. And from what I can see, I would need to take off the outer case to get at the fix. But in attempting to reason-out how to take off the outer case, I could see this was a far more complex operation than I thought. So we'll just have to forgo the tabs.

What I've since learned by looking at several models of this machine on eBay is that the one I have is in very good condition. Models that go for $150.00 or more are in obviously worse outer condition than this one, although it could be that the mechanics of some of these are better.

A learned from a couple old typewriter coots in a YouTube video that this particular typewriter was first made in America. (And, indeed, that is written boldly on the outer case of the one I have.) But apparently the manufacturing of later models was farmed out to other countries where apparently (remember, this is back in the early 60's) the quality was lower.

So even though the color is gold, I didn't probably get a lemon. I still can't find that front Royal logo that fell off. There's also this same logo (which is still there) on the back of the computer and it sure looks as if it is made of metal. Well, the working theory is that it got washed off with the hose when I had it outside. But I've looked around for it thoroughly, including liberal use of a metal detector. Nothing. It remains a mystery.

But I believe I can now put it on display, in good conscience, and am not going to come back to it in a month and find it rusted shut. I do believe I was able to blow all the water out of it with fans. And I do think I have lubricated all the parts that need lubrication, so this thing is surely a lot better than it has been in a long time. Here's the photo my brother had initially sent to me with the question, "You want this?"



I have since cleaned up the case as well. It is structurally sound but obviously well-used. I'm guessing whoever owned it used the case a lot to take the typewriter between home and wherever.

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You are all very generous to endure my hobby.

You will see from that very first picture I posted that the transparent plastic paper guard is very dirty.

I had some success tonight cleaning that with a special 3-solution plastic cleaner. It really did the trick. But in doing so, what the gods of fix-it give they also take. For some reason, the ability to print with the red ribbon went away.

This is strange because in order to take off the plastic paper guard thingie I simply removed a functionless faceplate and then loosened two screws underneath. That allowed the plastic paper guard thing to slip right off for cleaning. So this process required no decoupling of any mechanisms or anything like that.

Still, the ability to print with the red ribbon went away. This has been the modus operandi for this typewriter. A couple things previously had gotten magically fixed and I have no idea why. These were things I didn't specifically troubleshoot but simply started working again. I think just using, moving, and joggling the machine caused stuff to happened in the background. Most of it was good. But some of it (like the loss of printing in red) was not.

The bottom line is that I know I am not a fix-it ninja. I love watching YouTube videos where people are fixing and refurbishing old things (such as watches and computers). But I don't have that natural skill.

Those who do will pooh-pooh me as someone who simply hasn't applied himself. But such people do not recognize that their own skills are often innate. Could a monkey change the spark plugs and set the points on a 1964 Ford Galaxy 500? I have done that. I'm not without the ability to get by. But I'm not naturally good at this stuff. And dealing with this typewriter is a reminder of that.



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