Avanti - these are fun contraptions

Several hundred-thousands were made of these, but they are somehow rather thin on the ground. Did manage to snag one last week though - with 'patina', but complete and with intact decal.

There -of course- is information about pencil sharpeners on the hive-mind that is the Internet. There is information about the maker of these Avanti devices, the firm of Emil Grantzow in Dresden as well as on the machines and how they evolved over time. Mr Grantzow started patenting and making these little machines from around 1908. From the decal and its features, this specimen can be dated as having been made between 1923 and 1938. 

The remnants of gold pin-striping makes me think this one was made in the 1920s rather than the 30s

To clean the device, it was taken apart as much a possible.

The decal on these machines is by the way not applied direct to the little bin, but is on a separately applied nameplate. The brass knob holds it in place.

All individual parts were cleaned. Hot, soapy water for the greasy parts; scrubbing with stiff brush and steel-wool where needed. A polish for the nickel. A gentle rinse for the lacquered parts in warm water. Then new oil, grease and wax was applied to all parts.

Putting it back together, the pencil clamping-ring is a surprisingly nifty assembly with unexpected split baseplate. That baseplate needs some adjustment to get the friction right, for proper clamping of the pencil. Other than that, it is fairly straightforward. The reduction gear-train is on a plate that can be adjusted to fit properly right-below the pencil clamping assembly.

And all together again; a shiny clean pencil sharpening machine.

Then the question is; does it work?

Yes, it does :-)

The knives are certainly not as sharp as they would have been originally, but it does actually work. It does prefer hexagonal pencils, round ones can slip in the clamps. Very neat is that the lever at the side allows choosing how sharp the point will be; from a robust, blunt to a fine, sharp point for drawing. Also a feature is that when the pencil is sharp, the machine will simply stop sharpening - no 'chewing-up' of a pencil if you just keep turning (and the temptation is there, fun machine).

Every (home-)office should want one! -these really are fun contraptions :-)

Music and a no-label disk

Picked up for 50 cents in a local thrift-store. Sleeveless, but still playable :)

From the label, this is music from the 1929 "Fox Movietone Follies". The film itself is lost, no copies survive, but the music was published and recorded. Very up-beat and period jazzy tune :-)

Also included in the purchase; a much older disk that is more difficult to determine - no publishing-label.

Both sides are sung by Miss Olga Orsella with accompanying orchestra in Berlin. It is a dual-sided disk, but there is no catalogue number for the disk itself. Both sides have their own matrix-number only (8509 and 8510). There is no label-name or publisher noted, no mention at all.

 

From the overall look-and-feel of the disk, it probably dates from around 1910. It could be pressed by Dacapo, or by someone that got their hands on Dacapo matrices. They are one label that can be associated with 'anonymous' records in Germany of the early 1900s. The 8509 could e.g. very well the anonymized Dacapo side D-3300 of 1908 that has the exact same artist and details. Mystery remains why these were re-pressed anonymously; perhaps a way to be 'unfindable' and avoid paying contract/royalties? 

All-in-all well worth the 50cts - jaunty music to play when researching the mystery disk :-)

Uncommon variant of a common portable typewriter

Different, yet the lock is very familiar. The case is metal and the carrying handle is a metal casting.

The inside of the lid has all the fittings for securing the typewriter in place. This is unlikely a home-made case, but a professional job; factory-made.

Inside is the very common and unremarkable Remington Portable #2 typewriter. 

It is in a bit of a state and misses a few parts, but these are very well-designed and resilient typewriters - it could fix-up quite well.

Another indication that this is a Remington factory-supplied variant is the case-tabs at the rear. The locking tabs for the case lid protrude through the angled back-panel of the typewriter.

The case tabs pass through slots in the typewriter's back-panel, it's a bit of a wiggle to remove the machine from its base.

This back-panel is a different part from the common, 'normal' back-panel of these 1920s Remingtons. The profile is different and of course there is an extra slot for the case tabs. This looks like a factory-made variant.

The case is made of aluminum, about 1.3mm thick. It's had some repairs, one of the cast corner-pieces has been replaced with an improvised part and overall it's got its share of 'dings'. It doesn't close properly, but still very sturdy and should bend back into shape.

The typewriter itself is very common (and in not-so-great shape), but this aluminum case is a variant not seen before. The uncommon case was the reason to go out and pick this machine up, it was local and very reasonably priced. (Otherwise, I have quite enough Remington Portable typewriters ;-)

Perhaps these aluminum cases were marketed for the tropics, although locally here is certainly not a tropical climate :)

First more cleaning and some research into this!

Made in the U.S.A and in London; Remington Portable 3 typewriter

On Wednesday, December 16th of 1931 this typewriter was purchased in England, most likely bought in London. It was purchased by a Dutch secretary working at the head-office of the Unilever company, then an Anglo-Dutch concern. She was probably travelling frequently between the Rotterdam and London head-offices. The date of purchase was written on the Remington "World Service" label stuck inside the lid of the carrying case.

The typewriter is a then-current Remington Portable 3 in gloss-black. It has a British keyboard layout, so it sports the now-popular @-character and an ample supply of fractions. It is a sober-looking, serious portable typewriter of a quality make.

This typewriter was used a lot and with care, always kept in its case. When it was handed down to her descendants, it was put away safely and stored in a dry and warm location. Many decades later in the 21st century, it was sold to me by her son. He was anxious that it should not end up being scrapped or abused (or 'up-cycled'), but appreciated and preserved. We have tried to do just that.

It only required light cleaning, the typewriter was free of rust and the paint-loss is appropriate for a machine being used well. The platen was however rock-hard; this was sent off to a professional re-surfacing service and now has a fresh covering of 'Contirite' rubber. A few screws needed tightening (carriage-lock bracket has almost worked itself loose), and the shift-position could perhaps be aligned better. The overall condition of the machine so far stopped me from taking-off the housing to adjust the shift; it is simply too nice to risk removing the housing and it types really well as it is.

Its parts were made in America, yet it was assembled in Britain. This means the typewriter has a label that it's made in the USA (on the front), and a text on the back-panel with the extra information that it was assembled in London.

As per standard Remington London practice, the serial-number gets an extra pre-fix letter; this machine is TV240754, instead of a regular 'V' number.

The 240,000 number would place it in November 1929 for the US production. It is possible that this machine remained unsold for 2 years, but also possible that serial-numbers of British machines lag the US numbers.

It is very probable that blocks of numbers were assigned from the US to the London factory who could then manufacture from this block. Unlikely to telegraph new serials every month, more probable that a batch of numbers was periodically assigned for the parts-shipment to London. E.g. twice a year.

The London-prefix numbers were either stamped in London at the machine's assembly, or already complete with prefix during parts-manufacture in the US: marked as a 'housing for shipping out'. It is possible that the production-rate in London meant that the 240,000 number was reached in the British factory only in 1931 - in a numbers block (and parts-shipment) assigned to London at the end of '29. 

An expensive item like a typewriter would be unlikely to spend more than a few weeks from being manufactured to being in a shop. A shop would however depend highly on chance, and may have had a machine in the shop for a year.

It's probably the combination of both, spending time in a store and lagging of London assembly, perhaps by December 1931 the shop really wanted to sell it and gave a discount :)

Whichever way, a November 1929 or a mid 1931 machine; it is a fine, typical specimen of the third iteration of the Remington portable typewriter.

A regular, black Remington Portable 3 typewriter - a quality typewriter from around 1930.

Time-travel to Japan and an aluminum Perfecscope

The late-model Perfecscope is mostly made out of aluminum. By 1900 aluminum had become relatively cheap, and a viable alternative for the wood and leather these things would previously have been made of. Another more-modern trait of this stereoscope or stereoviewer is that the hood and lens-holder parts are also glued together.

That gluing makes this about as far as it can be taken apart for cleaning, without resorting to more drastic measures (e.g. boiling water). The handle-bracket had been bent out-of-shape, but fortunately could be bent back without breaking.

The wire-loops that hold the stereocard on the sliding holder were lost probably decades ago - instead there were bendy lengths of brown electrical-wire. These were pulled off and replacement loops were bent from an old knitting-needle. Nickeled copper fuse-wire might have been better, and easier to work, but this'll do. (Knitting-needles are plentiful in thrift stores and are a useful source of odd-size rod material.)

The velvet rim around the hood had come apart and was also very dirty. This rich purplish-red is probably a decent match, taking into account how much the original is faded.

Glueing a ~1/2" wide length of red velvet around the rim (glue-stick glue) finishes the stereoviewer, and makes the aluminum hood much friendlier on the face.

The bottom of the stereoscope states it is an H.C. White 'Perfecscope', with a patent date of October 15, 1895. That would refer to US patent 548,149 by Hawley C. White himself. In this patent he claims an improved shape of the hood to better match the contour of the face with the benefit of reduced light-leakage. (Manufacturing such an improved shape is probably made easier by using aluminum.)

The decorations on the hood also have the medallion of the Exposition Universelle of 1900 with a small image of the Grand Palais. The slider has an extra patent date in 1904, so this Perfecscope specimen probably dates from some time between 1904 and, say, 1914-ish.

 Today it's again ready for viewing stereoviews - ready for Virtual Reality time-travel to a century ago :-)

Slotting some old stereoscope cards in the holder's new knitting-needle guard-loops, and it transports you right to early 20th century Japan!:

Во избежание ошибок... (To avoid mistakes...)

Written on a brass label, right next to the crank-handle:

Во избежание ошибок, 

начан оборот, 

добыл ручку до kонца.

With the wonders of the information age and the internet, this label can be read approximately as:

To avoid mistakes, 

when turning started, 

get the handle to the end.

This makes clear - the calculator does not have the protection against reversing direction half-way through a turn. Doing so would indeed mess-up the results of a calculation, so an instruction to complete a turn when started.

This is a relatively early Feliks (Феликс) calculator, model A3 and was made in Moscow probably around 1930. As is well-documented, a few years after the revolution of 1917 the Odhner factory in St. Petersburg was dismantled and moved to Moscow. From the early 1920s (?) the Arithmometer continued to be made there, in the late 1920s new models A2 and A3 were introduced. From about 1928 the machines were made by the "state plant of calculating machines named after Comrade Dzerzhinsky" and were labeled "Feliks".

This machine has serial number 52284. Whilst there isn't much clear serial number data for the machines produced by the factory in that period, from its features and labelling it most likely dates to the 1928 - 1932 range.

Around 1931/33 (?) an updated model was introduced with the characteristic 'corner-feet' baseplate. This basic Feliks-model was then manufactured for decades. After the Moscow factory was closed in 1941 and moved, manufacture of the Feliks starts again in the Kursk Calculator Factory in the late 1940s to continue well into the 1970s.

This A3 still has many of the recognisable design features of the original Arithmometer, it still is very much an Odhner Arithmometer. Although simplified, the drum is also still made of brass and steel. (Later designs replace brass with cheaper zinc-alloy and have a general further lowering of build-quality.) The mechanism is basic, functional - without much in the way of interlocks or safety.

The calculator feels fairly 'rough', with large tolerances on movements. (Compared to the heavy precision of a contemporary Brunsviga Nova, it feels positively shoddy.) Despite that, it does work and is a useful calculator. Its 'build' requires a bit more care from the operator perhaps, but will have made it much easier to manufacture and to maintain the calculator. 

The calculator has quick clearing; a sliding bar under the front of the top-cover can be slid sideways to block the slots and a quarter-turn of the crank then pushes all levers back to zero. On Odhner machines this quick-clearing disables the full-turn safety to enable the quarter-turn-and-back. The Russian machine solves this problem by simply leaving out this safety completely. Hence the extra warning label instead.

The labeling on the calculator gives extensive information on its source.

мснх   рсфср 

трест тoчной пеханиыи

гос. завод счетных mашин

им. тов.  Дзержинсного

москва

The мснх means the Moscow Soviet for National Economy and the рсфср is Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Then; 

trust for precision equipment

state factory of calculating machines

named after comrade Dzerzhinsky

Moscow

With Феликс as a 'brand'.

Apart from cleaning the machine, the detents for the carry-levers needed to be repaired. The small springs that hold the carry-trigger levers were broken on several columns - this caused the machine to make errors especially in subtraction. Removing the carriage is fairly straightforward, once the left side-cover of the carriage is unscrewed and rotated to allow the carriage to pass the counter-finger!

Then the rod that holds all the star-wheels for the result-register can be withdrawn, releasing all the carry-levers.

The carry-levers are held in position by a detent that is a small rod, spring-loaded in the lever. This chisel-ended rod pushes against the rod that holds the star-wheels.

In keeping with the general 'carelessness' of this machine, the spring-ends are not closed and merely consist of cut lengths of spring. Several of these had broken (inferior quality?) and the two ends wound into each other. In operation this caused the lever to be pushed back by the carry-pin before performing a carry - thus leading to errors. 

Fixed by separating and closing the ends of any broken springs and then all re-mounted. After this repair, calculating 525 - 7 again gives 518 instead of 528.

New 3D-printed rubber feet were fitted and one missing screw added to mount the bottom plate. This bottom plate is a bad fit, askew the base-plate. This is because the holes in the plate are stamped off, as if the plate was not placed properly in the stamping tool. It could be rectified by filing the holes larger, but was left as is - in keeping with the general character of this old Soviet-made calculator (i.e. its apparent 'careless' build-quality).

The Feliks clearly shows shared Odhner Arithmometer design-origins with the Swedish-made Original Odhner calculators. Compared to these Swedish calculators the Feliks hasn't developed much from the Arithmometer design near the end of Odhner in St Petersburg - in fact it probably regressed a bit. And then from the late 1930s it stayed essentially unchanged until the end of production in the 1970s. It even kept the by-then decidedly quaint wing-nuts until the very end of production.

When seen side-by-side with a 1930s Swedish-made Odhner, the overall difference in build-style is noticeable - on the Feliks it all works but there is just a general 'roughness' about the machine.

Now cleaned, preserved and operational again - avoiding mistakes :)