My first typewriter was an Adler Tippa. It was gifted to me by my aunt who had purchased it new a few years before. The typewriter was made in Holland in 1972 by the Triumph Adler company. While not the best typer out there (I prefer my Olivetti Lettera 32) it is extremely portable, as it is only 2.75 inches thin in the case. I also adore the colour!
Luckily the storage case also kept the manual with the typewriter. You can download a PDF copy of the manual here.
And here is the story of the typewriter:
Each Sunday the Typewriter Club meets up online. One of the challenges is a writing prompt. Here's my response to the prompt for Dec 26th, "telling Santa how you feel when he didn't leave you a present".
Does anyone really need 4 typewriters? I'm told (by members of www.typepals.com) it doesn't seem to matter how many typewriters you acquire, you can always use another one.
Typewriters are getting harder to find in thrift stores. Lots of electrics but not so many manuals. I guess this is a sign that more people are discovering the joy of using typewriters - which is a good thing as these machines often have lots of life left in them.
My latest find was in the local classifieds. It is an Underwood Rhythm Touch. I watched the ad for several days as the typewriter was calling my name. At $50 it was around half the price of a couple of giant standards also listed. I finally succumbed to the temptation and drove over to take a look. The typewriter was working and a faint image could be seen on the paper. The space bar was sticky and the bell only rang about 1/2 the time. After paying the sellers $40 I drove away with my new typewriter.
After a bit of cleaning using air and alcohol (tip: don't blow the typewriter out on your office desk) the spacebar was no longer sticky. The bell took a bit longer to figure out. It required both cleaning with alcohol but also some sewing machine oil on the mechanism to allow it to reset between rings. It is now ringing the bell on every line as I approach the margin.
The serial number is 6716768 which identifies it as being manufactured in 1950. This is my oldest typewriter and also my first standard sized typewriter. The 11 indicates the carriage is 11 inches and will take an 8.5x11 in landscape orientation. This was originally designed for typing full size envelopes and such and is a handy feature without needing a wide carriage (like my Olympia SM9) which can be a bit too wide and unwieldy.
I was a little apprehensive about purchasing a standard typewriter because of the extra size required to store it, but I am enjoying the fact the page is so high. The paper is in your line of sight and limits the distraction around your - it is so easy to focus on the words on the page and the writing experience.
I have ordered a new two coloured ribbon and will still type on this one while I'm waiting.
This is book is amazingly well written and worth the small cost (less than $9 CDN). The short stories are of a much higher standard than I was expecting.
Several have left me stunned, shocked (including “You’ll Be Needing This” by Richard Polt) - and wanting to give up my tech job simply because I feel like I am responsible for the future collapse of society!!
On the other hand “Cold Dead Hands” by Steve Kuterescz has got to be the funniest thing I’ve ever read - laugh out loud funny. I especially love his creative character names for the President, Vice-President and National Security Advisor: Truman P Dold, Spike Mence and Mitch Finn (who don’t sound familiar at all!!! ;)
Do yourself a favour and buy this book as quick as you can. I have already purchased Volume 2 “Escapements” and am eagerly awaiting Volume 3 which will be about time travel. If these live up to the quality of the 1st then I’m absolutely hooked.
You might ask why anyone would need a typewriter in 2020. And that would be a very good question.
There is something appealing about using pre-digital technologies that can't be explained. As a computer "nerd" by day, it is a relief to find something that is reliable, simple and just "gets it done" with no fuss, upgrades required, bugs or constant distractions.
Enter the Olympia SM-9 De Luxe. I confess I have had this typewriter sitting on my desk for a few months but haven't taken the opportunity to write about it. This is the 2nd typewriter in my collection, after my original Adler Tippa from 1971 (given to me around 1980 by my aunt). I had been thinking of getting another when I encountered this one at a local thrift store. When I saw it the paper-bail (the bar that holds the paper down) was loose and floppy, and I thought broken. The rest of the typewriter was functional as I tested it at the store. I took my chances and bought it anyway.
The Olympia SM-9 is the Cadillac of portable typewrite writers. It has automatic tab features, key pressure adjustment, and even a "1" key - something some other typewriters don't have. The wide carriage is designed for landscape paper or, more likely, large envelopes.
It is a very popular typewriter model and commonly recommended to people seeking a typewriter, and I feel lucky to have found it locally because you wouldn't want to ship it as it is soooo heavy. It is considered a portable typewriter (with a carry case), heavy because of it's German-engineered metal construction. You wouldn't want to be hauling this thing around like a laptop but it can be moved easily enough if you wanted to relocate it.
As it turned out, the paper bail problem was nothing but a loose screw which was fixed easily and now everything is in great shape. I was curious about what font it used as Olympia used quite a few different fonts as documented here by T. Munk. A quick comparison of the letter "y" above to the Munk samples, shows that my typewriter has a serif font, which limits it to the "Modern" typeface and by measuring how many letters per inch, I know that it is a Pica (10 pitch) - so Modern Pica No. 67.
I have yet to find the serial number anywhere, but the shape of the typewriter suggests it's from 1966 (making it older than me, ha ha!). Anyway, if I'm not online, it could be that I'm jotting my thoughts down on this beautiful old thing.
