"They just make me happy" is how my wife once explained her enjoyment of jewelry to me. And I got it. Whatever other rationale we invoke to explain and justify our peculiar accumulations of stuff, that's what it comes down to. This blog is about how a couple of typewriters have achieved that critical criteria, and become members of the happy face club in my office.
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| Adler J4 |
The pictures below show the space bar at rest and depressed. The brown metal is the frame, and the shiny bits the space bar linkage. Note how when depressed the rubber bumper fits within the hollowed out plastic space bar. Shipping damage had left the bumper resting against the edge of the space bar, so that to trip the escapement, the space bar had to be pushed down against bumper.
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| We're looking down on the front end of an Adler J4 typewriter. While the critical parts of this well-made machine are metal extrusions, this end is formed of stamped sheet metal. The design is neither capable of surviving a fall from an airplane, as the ads for the cast iron Royal 10 once proclaimed, nor the handling of the US Postal Service. |
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| Before and after sanding down and polishing the Krazy Glue repair with a succession of increasingly fine grits of sandpaper and polishing compound. Not perfect, but not glaring either. And shiny. |
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| Cocoon! |
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| My new pretty. 1959 Olympia SM4. A dash of Scrubbing Bubbles and briefly intense polishing of the case latch, and good to go. They don't get any better. |
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Both are beautiful machines, congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThey both look great. Be happy!
ReplyDeleteCongress Elite #88?
ReplyDeletehttp://munk.org/typecast/2011/04/23/1964-nomda-blue-book-olympia-font-styles/
Fantastic diagnosis, repair and polish job on that Adler (:
Bingo! Thank you Ted. I knew the name had some sort of governmental connotation. And now i recognize your post of that font list as where I had seen it, and which probably seeded my lust.
DeleteExcellent job with your gluing goodness. Also, that is one great looking Olympia.
ReplyDeletePsssst. Could you add my blog?
Done, Scott. Thanks for the reminder. http://filthyplaten.blogspot.com/ is always on my rounds.
DeleteThanks!
DeleteThat is one very nice Adler, in my humble the best portable typewriter ever made. Just so easy to work on and to operate. Great find and an even greater repair
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind comment, John. I think the good construction of this machine probably saved it from fatal damage in that shipping incident.
DeleteThey are great machines and by the way I nick-name my 1959 SM4 "Caramelo Y Chocolate". Do you have a VOSS or ALPINA typewriter from Germany? Enjoy and keep happy.
ReplyDeleteI've entered bids on both, although they rarely show up on US eBay, and then the auction rapidly rises beyond my limits. But I've been collecting for only a short time, so will continue to be patient.
DeleteHey Tony,
ReplyDeleteI just ordered a J4 off ebay. It seems to type well, but have you had any issues with the carriage return lever? It doesn't seem to be engineered well to work because it scrapes across the lid over the keys. I can't seem to find a way of adjusting the height of the platen or angle of the lever. Any ideas?
Brian