An impulse buy

Just picked up for the sum of five (5) Euro. An impulse buy with serial number Y7461873.

According to a very quick look at online resources, this should mean it was manufactured in Scotland in 1929.

It's dusty, dirty and in some places a bit rusty, but seemed complete and everything moved. Some weekends to come with enjoyable cleaning and polishing - and then getting it to work again :)

Spotting a silver Sterling

At least, that's what it looks like.

When watching the movie "Kiss and Make-Up", the secretary in the very swanky beautician's office uses a typewriter that seems to match the overall decor. The machine is light in colour, definitely not black.

A few moments later, the typewriter is shown better. As Annie looks up, the machine fairly gleams - this is a metallic shine and not a coloured lacquer. The top-cover and the panel in the sides also clearly confirm this to be a Corona typewriter, a so-called 'flat-top' model.

As is written on e.g. the Corona page at Machines of Loving Grace, in 1934 a small series of actual sterling silver typewriters were made to promote the updated 'Sterling' model. Seeing this machine shine, it seems likely that this is one of those limited-edition typewriters with a housing of actual silver.

A shiny silver typewriter fits right in the general decor, so it may have been chosen by the studio - it may also have been a promotional  'product placement' by Smith-Corona. When the film was made, these silver promotional models would have been brand-new, just about to appear in showcases in a select few shops.

However the brand name is nowhere shown, even in this view of the back of the machine any lettering seems to have been removed. So it is perhaps more likely to have been the studio's choice. (Not sure about the silver Corona's, but regular machines have the name printed on that back panel.  Have never myself seen an actual silver typewriter; these were rare then and are even rarer now.)

The movie itself is of course a bit dated and very much a 'pre-code' production. Light comedy and visual escapism that is lightyears removed from actual reality - let's just say that the film was not made for its storyline.

It has an 'extravagant' cast to match the film's theme, with Cary Grant as the male lead. And they used an extravagant typewriter prop too.

In any case, a pretty rare machine to spot!
(Picture of an actual existing sterling silver typewriter here.)

AvoMinor 67004-442

From the company that invented the multi-meter, a small and simpler instrument. The 'AvoMinor' was introduced in 1933, upgraded in '35 with a socket inside the Ohms adjuster knob. (As with every little niche, there is quite a lot of information available online. Especially informative were the pages at Richards Radios.)

When purchased a while ago, the case looked a bit tired and the instrument didn't work.

Luckily the fault was repairable and the case cleaned up nicely. (Again; experience with typewriter cases restoration comes in handy.)

With newly made leads, the fixed instrument is again usable. Even though quite limited in function when compared to modern or even the contemporary regular Avo meters, it is good enough for most of my simple measurement needs.

The back of the instrument screws off, the cardboard battery compartment can then also be taken out. The battery leads were already broken, otherwise these will need un- and re-soldering. A quick inspection showed that fortunately the coil movement was still fine. With another meter, the various parts were inspected and tested.

This is very 'mechanical' and visible electrics, before packaged components were used. With the aid of the explanation and diagram at Richards Radios, the only actual fault was found to be the top-right coil being open-circuit.

This coil could then be taken out by unscrewing its 6BA bolt and nut and unsoldering the leads. 

Then unpacking the coil to find the fault, it turned out that luckily it was a case of lead-in wire having come loose from the coil wire proper. This is often the cause of old coils being open-circuit, rather than breaks somewhere deep inside the wound coil. The thicker lead-in wire was originally merely twisted with the coil wire, now repaired by soldering and again wrapped in paper-tape.

Battery contacts soldered again with the battery-well in place and a regular 1.5V AA battery provided with some padding or sabot then fits well enough inside the compartment.

Re-assembled and functional again, with the original instruction booklet. The serial number of the instrument indicates manufacture in April of 1942. It survived very well, the dial crisp and clean and no damage to the bakelite housing either.

The contact bushes are (of course) an odd Imperial size, they're 1/8" so a little over 3mm diameter. Even though this is an unusual size, a batch of 3mm banana-plugs were sourced. With some modern flexible litz wire and some shoelaces, look-alike reproduction leads were mocked-up. They turned out too large diameter when compared to originals - but they work and don't look too much out of place.

Added some 3mm alligator-clips, and the meter is in use - here showing that this lantern-battery is quite tired, nearly exhausted.

A nice vintage and very usable instrument again. And in reality quite complex enough, for use by a mainly-mechanical user too :)

An extra part it does not absolutely need

From having bought the parts of a 'boat-anchor' Remington Portable typewriter, there's a good supply of screws and sundry bits 'n bobs in the spares box. With the benefit of reference machines, two of these bits have now been identified as the spring to press down the margins-bar and its mounting screw.

Comparing one typewriter with a next, it turned out that my 'statistical machine' did not have this spring fitted. It may never have had it, or may well have lost it during its 90+ years of alternating use and neglect. In any case, to be fitted with one again. The Remington Portable still works fine also without this part, the weight of the margins-bar is enough to make it drop back in the correct position after any 'margin release' use. With the spring it'll work better and more reliable, it should then even be possible to type with the typewriter held upside down (?).

The spring is placed with the long end tucked into the corner of the margins-bar. The eyelet shown in front of the threaded hole for the mounting screw.

With the mounting screw through the eyelet of the spring, it is held in place and the margins-bar is kept in position more firmly.

(Whilst not strictly necessary, it's a lot easier to mount when the platen is first removed. On the Portable this is a fairly easy procedure.)

Everything re-assembled - hardly noticeable, yet a more complete and fully functional Remington Portable typewriter.

From looking again at an old record sleeve

Just noticed that the stylised tuning fork on a record sleeve is actually a very exact picture of the genuine article. Even the tapered handle is correctly drawn.

This made me have another, closer look at the sleeve. The sleeve has an overall 1930s feel to it, and fairly conservative in its design as well.

However this particular sleeve can be dated to probably the early 1940s. The address for their Rotterdam store is located at the Goudschesingel street, but then is noted to be in the "Temporaryshop" block C. These "Noodwinkels" were structures built quickly to provide temporary, emergency shops after the infamous bombing in May 1940.

(Image: US Defense Visual Information Center photo HD-SN-99-02993 / Wikimedia)

Very quickly after the complete destruction of the city centre, plans were published already in June to erect a first series of 750 temporary shops. So unexpectedly a bit of history (of not all that long ago) from a simple address line on an old record sleeve.

With case, ready to go

With the old case polished up nicely, this Remington Portable typewriter is ready to go.

The case is still sturdy and protects the machine well, but has had a replacement handle fitted some time during the past 90-odd years. Unfortunately the inside of the case is discoloured, e.g. showing the marks where the original warranty label was torn off.

Despite all that, the machine is screwed firmly to the base with new rubber feet and is again well protected. The final parts fitted back on the machine were the paper fingers at the back of the carriage,  then completing the machine with a new ribbon as well.

With pictures taken outside in sunlight, the machine is ready to travel and has been put up for sale on the local classified site.

That then concludes the project of machine NV700212 - we'll see :)

Remington decal applied

The most satisfying part of repainting; applying the decal on the paper table!

With another few applications of Micro-Sol, the boundary of the decal sheet should become less obvious. The 'Remington' decal was made the same way as before - printed on transparent waterslide transfer sheet in reverse. Carefully fill the black-rimmed letters with gold paint. Then apply the right-way-up, having first used a bit of blank transfer sheet to get the gum/glue on the paper table for adhesion.

Was aiming for Remington Portable color No. 17 (Tan and Pompeiian Red) as shown on the The Classic Typewriter Page (i.e. the definitive source for anything pre-war portable from Remington). Turned out more an ivory than tan, but overall quite a credible looking typewriter with these colors.

Still some adjusting to do, new ribbon - but the machine is very much 'getting there' :)