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Meet the Typecasters
"You use a typewriter to write letters, but you do not put it on an altar and worship it." -- J. Krishnamurti
"A recent survey of the top 1,000 living English-language authors finds that more than 80 percent own manual typewriters averaging 43 years in age and three broken functions, with a per-unit resale value of $4.75 and slipping. Yet in a questionnaire about their response if brigands should invade their homes and demand either their beat-up old manual typewriters or their spouses on pain of death, a whopping 96 percent wrote 'Spouse.'" -- Robert McCall, "Keystrokes of Genius," The New York Times, June 2, 2002
1934 Royal Portable
This is my 1934 Royal Portable, which I picked up for a measly $25 from an antique shop in Savage, MD about a decade ago. It was still in its original case, which looked like it had heroically repelled repeated assaults by several generations' worth of demented, incontinent rodents. But the machine inside was in perfect mechanical condition and required only the most basic of cleanings.
Fountain pen collectors call this a "Sumgai" -- exactly the thing you're looking for, in great shape, at a ridiculously cheap price, which usually gets snapped up just before you get there (as in, "Yeah, we had one of those, but Sumgai was in here yesterday and bought it.")
After following the excellent restoration instructions provided at Richard Polt's Classic Typewriter Page, and instaling a fresh ribbon, this little machine has served me faithfully ever since. (And I'm still on the same ribbon, BTW.) The lid has a rather vicious-looking gash on the right side (barely visible in the picture), and it's missing one of its rubber feet, but in every other way this machine looks factory-fresh.
1923 Remington Portable #1
This is the latest addition to my collection, a 1923 Remington Portable #1, which I found in another Savage Mill stall not too far from where the Royal had been sitting ten years earlier. Unlike the Royal, Remmie did not come with a case and consequently shows many signs of a hard life. The machine has a fair amount of rust on the body and some of the stainless steel levers are heavily pitted as if it had served time under a leaking roof.
I worked hard to remove all the grit and grime within reach, and it took a lot of scrubbing just to bring out the most basic of shines. Remmie would probably benefit from being stripped down to its springs and cleaned piece by piece. Even so, after a little oil and a fresh ribbon, it goes like a trooper.
Not as smooth or quiet as the Royal, and plagued by "creeping scroll," Remmie is at the moment on assignment as a roving reporter while Royal handles the typecasting desk.
