After I arrived at the auction place it became obvious that my concerns about shipment were true. Folks have no idea about these objects, not even how to operate them. (how come it became so difficult? Just 50 years ago they were in common use!).
I checked the machines on site and to my joy both worked just fine! I like the look of the earlier one, with chromes but the typing action of the later Hermes was just extraordinary! Like shooting a machine gun with almost no recoil!
I grabbed my machines, sat in the car trunk (it started snowing) and typed short letters to my family. After short refreshment I hit the road again. As I’m not 20 years old any more I had to stop for a short nap. Planned to take just 15 minutes but it became 1,5 hour nap!
Late evening I arrived home. Yes, it was worth it.
Tired but happy to find my Holy Grail machine!
The newer machine turned out to be much more used but also serviced recently. I could tell because it was rather clean inside and there were traces of oil in some places. In fact in too many places so I had to degrease it a bit to keep mechanism clean. The mechanic (or butcher?) managed to scar many screws with improper screwdrivers. These screws are special: they have wide but low head, with very narrow slots. Kind of like in watches, just bigger. You need to have properly shaped screwdrivers to work with them. Standard screwdrivers will mar the heads immediately, especially when trying to break loose a screw which sat in its place for so many years.
What was worse is that many screws were missing and these still left where all different from each other. And marred. That bugged me so I replaced them all with modern but still slot-headed screws. There is no way to get original screws other than buying yet another Hermes in rough condition and scavenging them. I’d rather have non-damaged but modern, stainless screws than keep looking on butcher’s job on the originals. Luckily all screws are metric so that was an easy fix.
Rubber feet were disintegrating, too. That’s important part of the machine indeed - they damp vibrations and keep the machine from sliding around when you return the carriage. I managed to found matching modern replacements so that was fixed quickly.
After a few writing sessions I discovered three additional problems. One is skipping A-letter on fully returned carriage. I tried to troubleshoot it but could not find the cause for that. Letting off the main spring eased the problem a bit but made typewriter sluggish so I tensioned the spring back by 10 turns.
Skipping occurs only when one uses improper typing technique - which happens sometimes when I write very quickly and forget myself. If used in “staccato” mode all works fine.
The second problem was that margin setting stopped working. These machines have “magic margins” which means that you set them very conveniently from the front of the machine ans spring-loaded mechanism sets them in the internals. That worked for a while but suddenly started to complain and eventually failed. After some trouble-shooting I found that someone has not put yet another screw in its place. The problem was that to get there I would need to remove the platen and I did not feel confident enough to do that. I temporarily fixed the problem with small but strong neodyne magnet which hold pieces together well enough to use the mechanism.
Third problem, not big, was that tabulator setting was not working. I pin-pointed the issue to misaligned mechanism on the back panel. I still could set tabulators by manually pressing tabs on the back but that was inconvenient. Besides - my dream machine must be in fully operational order to fulfil its mission!
I could not find a service manual for Hermes 2000 but on other models it is said to be adjusted with just one screw, on the left side of the carriage.
Well, I checked that Hermes 2000 has no such screw. Upon diving into the mechanism I discovered 6 huge screws which take care of that adjustment. Armed with gunsmith screwdrivers’ set I fixed the problem in just half an hour.
But margin setting is crucial so I decided I need help. There is only one typewriter mechanic shop in Sweden so I gave them a call. They didn’t sound enthusiastic when they heard it is Hermes. They consider these to be low-cost machines. Bad sign - but not for the machine, rather for these mechanics. Hermes is known to be one of the finest brands, most refined and valued in USA. And Americans certainly know stuff about typewriters - they invented them, after all! My personal experience also speaks for Hermes quality - but it is complicated machine and mechanisms are a bit different from “standard” american machines. Maybe that is what puts of these mechanics.
I drove to the shop anyway, with hope that I can leave the machines for CLA (cleaning, lubrication, alignment) or at least get some guidelines on how to fix the problem.
Maybe I was unlucky that the mechanic himself went home before I came so I was talking with the owner. He is a very nice guy and we talked typewriters for more than an hour but I have a feeling that he does not know much about fixing them. Probably the mechanic does the job but it was him who, before he left, warned the owner to not take “this shit” onto the bench. For them it’s Facit, Adler, Olivetti, Underwood which are proper machines.
So, after all, I did not leave my machines there. I got the feeling that they don’t want to work on them because they don’t know them well. Sorry guys, with all do respect, I’d rather do it myself.
But it was worth visiting them anyway. I got a chance to try typing on a few Facit and Olivetti machines which are so valued by many. Personally I detest how they look and how much plastic is in them. Typing feeling was definitely not in my taste either: spongy, no crispiness, no life. This famous Facit with it’s smooth carrier return… Really? Cheap, East-German Tipo1 typewriter I have has smoother carrier return action and crispy touch at the same time.
And these were machines they serviced and put for sale so I suppose they are in their top shape, correct?
I decided to bite the bullet. Armed with reprints of US War department’s manuals which arrived today from Lulu.com I sat to the job.
