IBM electric models
My two IBM model "B" electric typewriters.
The gray one on the left is pica, and the green one on the right is elite.
S/N 715336 (1958) and s/n 455594 (1956)
Purchased from Re-Store in Jun 2014 for $30 for both.
The IBM model "C" electric typewriter (I traded this one back for a 2nd model "B").
I didn't like the "futuristic" type font on this one ("manifold" font I think).
S/N 1551803 (1959)
1955 Remington Quiet-Riter
1955 Remington Quiet-Riter, s/n QR2819249
Pica sized type, segment shift. A nice, quiet, smooth typer with an
excellent looking print image. Only complaint is that you only get
four spaces after the bell dings before hitting the right margin. What a pain!
1936 Royal KHM
1936 Royal KHM, s/n KHM-1863385
The Queen of my current stable of typers!
Great touch, but has a problem with erratic print quality.
I bought it for $30 at an estate sale in June 2014.
It uses a 12-pitch elite sized font.
1941 Royal Varsity
1941 Royal Varsity portable s/n D-187581
This one had a broken drawstring, but I made a new one with
a piece of fishing line. I picked it up for $10 at a yard
sale, Jul 2014. It has a very light touch and is an easy
portable for use on short jobs. It has a carriage shift and
no tabs, no margin release key, no ribbon selector (black only)
with pica sized type font.
1946 Royal KMM
1946 Royal KMM standard s/n KMM-3189447
A big office standard, commonly seen in newsrooms of the 1940's/50's
This one really bounces my typing table. Has a fairly stiff touch.
Bought for $40 at a yard sale in The Dalles. It has been sitting for a
long time, needed a lot of oiling. I'm still getting the rust off of the
carriage rails. I may need to take off the carriage and use a little fine
grit sandpaper to get all of the rust pits off those rails.
Produces an excellent pica sized print on the paper.
1957 Royal Quiet DeLuxe
1957 Royal Quiet DeLuxe portable, s/n AE3535381
It uses a segment shift and has an elite sized font.
And it needs to be cleaned... badly!
1966 Royal Safari
1966 Royal Safari, made in U.S.A., s/n SA6489383
Pica sized type, segment shift, all metal case.
Somewhat mushy keyboard feel and poor quality print image on the paper.
1988 Royal Safari III
1988 Royal Safari III, made in Korea, s/n 3016528
I bought this new at the local Payless Drug store in The Dalles, Oregon.
I paid about $120 for it in 1988.
It is a good typing portable with a light touch. No sound deadening so it's fairly noisy.
It uses a standard Roman family 10-pitch font and has a segment shift. No tabs.
198x Royal Safari IV
This is really a Maritsa 30 typewriter. Made in Bulgaria.
It features plastic covers, a lightweight carriage that feels
like it's going to tear off every time I use the CR, and the
carriage is grinding on something for half the travel. A real dog of a typer!
Bought for $4 at an estate sale, and not worth it.
Nakajima Top-Star
This is a Nakajima "Top-Star" model AT-3002 portable that I
bought for $10 at an estate sale. I had to fix the platen mounting
so the paper feed would work correctly. But it's a nice, and surprisingly
tight sounding little typer now.
It uses a carriage shift and features a 10-pitch font, folding carriage handle,
fixed tab sets, ribbon selector, and touch control.
It's almost exactly the same as a Sears model 161.52602 manual portable.
I can't find any serial number on this one and I don't know the date of mfr.
1961 Olympia SM4
1961 Olympia SM4, s/n 1751311
I fixed the problem with the case to frame washers getting squished. Works great now.
It has an 11-pitch Roman font. I bought it at a yard sale for $10 in Sept 2014.
It makes a fairly loud, high timbre "tack tack" noise. Bit annoying.
Also, the keyboard is small, measuring only 6.5 inches from Q to P.
Normal measurement size for keyboards is 6.75 inches. So I have to
get used to this keyboard when I switch to it from other machines.
1953 Smith Corona Sterling
1953 Smith Corona Sterling, made in U.S.A., s/n 5A472232
Elite sized font, segment shift, a little bit of escapement skipping.
But a very nice, solid typer. I got it from St. Vinnie's for $6.99!
1940 Underwood Standard desktop "Master"
1940 Underwood "Master" desk model... s/n M5162437-11
This one has that wonderful Underwood "touch"!
And a pica sized font. Purchased at an estate sale in Jun 2014 for $50.
This one has been refurbished at some point with new keycaps, platen, and feet.
1950 Underwood "Finger-Flite" Champion portable
S/N J2017856
This is my 1950 Underwood Champion portable. It is actually a Finger-Flite
model, but this was very early in the production run (Jan 1950 I think)
and they may not have had the Finger-Flite decals available yet.
It DOES, however, have the same body
style as the Finger Flite models, made of aluminum.
I scavenged the space bar off and replaced
it with a homemade wooden space bar.
I have found that
the touch and sound of this machine is superb!
It uses a pica font and has a segment shift mechanism.
1955 Underwood Universal portable
1955 Underwood Universal portable. S/n _____
It uses a pica font and has a segment shift mechanism.
The segment area looks just like the Finger-Flite Champion.
But this has some differences.
For one, this typer uses a draw
string instead of a draw tape. For another, the platen knobs are
held on with allen screw set screws, instead of the flat-blade
set screws used on the Champion.
It has a little bit stiffer keyboard feel than the Champion, but
I am loosening it up with some gun oil on various parts.
This was bought at an estate sale for $10.
1966 Underwood "Touchmaster" Five desk machine
1966 Underwood "Touch-Master" Five, s/n 11-9760227
I bought this in Aug 2014 from an ebay seller for $60 (total with shipping).
The feel is rather stiff but I can type fast on it and it prints a good image.
It has an elite sized font. Has a segment shift (a surprise to me on an
Underwood machine that was based (I thought) on the venerable No. 5.