Carriage removal/installation on Oliver typewriter

February 26, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

It may not be obvious to everyone that Oliver and Blickensderfer (and Adler Mod 7) can have their carriages very easily removed. Oliver is the easiest of all these - no tools required, no prior experience needed.

To remove the carriage just press both Tab and Right button at the same time. The carriage will move to the left and stop. Press them again.

Now with your other hand - while keeping these keys pressed - simply slide the carriage out of the machine, to the left. Job done!

No need to secure spring-loaded line. The machine takes care of that:

When the carriage is installed back onto its rails this clip is grabbed automatically - and it will sit as pictured below.

Neat, ain’t it?

So - with the machine facing you - press Tab and Right button and remove the carriage, to the left.

To put it back - if you had it removed during shipment or for cleaning - simply align 3 rollers on their respective rails and slide it onto the machine. From the left again.

Everything will jump onto place by itself.

Do not force it - if there is resistance then something is not aligned. Back the carriage and start again, this time straight.

That’s all to it, really.

The fun continues - Blickensderfer type elements & 3D printer

February 26, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

This 3D printing business got me!

Ability to make my own typeface elements to otherwise obsolete Blickensderfer typewriter is refreshing. I even started to use this machine for writing letters!

I’ve tried several fonts which are available for Windows/Mac free of charge. Some of them required several iteration of CAD design to get them look right on paper.

What I have learned - which should be obvious to anyone - is that the epoxy resin is very sensitive to temperature and humidity. Keeping these factors controlled makes the process much more predictable. In my case the workshop is heated to 20 degrees and stays like that during the whole print. Working in temperature lower than that - 10 or 15 degrees - yielded smaller openings, thus forcing me to file axle and steering pin openings to match my Blick.

As my arsenal of type elements is quite rich now I added type face name on the top of the typing element. Even covered with ink it is still visible, making it easier to pick from a can of these.

Curing the epoxy is crucial if these are to last. For prototypes I was just exposing them briefly to UV light from a small torch or leaving them outside in daylight for several hours.
To make myself independent of weather I made a simple curing chamber, out of old steel plate with mirror finish (drier plate form old photographic drier).

The plate is rolled to form a cylinder, held in shape with bolts and tape. Bottom and top locks should be mirrors but my wife was skeptical to give me her mirrors so I just took old DVD discs. They do the job equally well.

UV light source is the same torch, mounted onto the top lock. By trial & error I established curing time to be 30-45 minutes with this torch.

Choosing the font to implement is another thing. Apart from runes all other fonts need to be properly spaced so that words look like words - not like a bunch of letters. I am by no means educated book-press specialist so I rely on gut-filling.

My recent implementations are Fraktur and Bernard typefaces. In case of Fraktur I needed to change a shape of some letters to make them readable. They were too strange, especially with less than perfect Blick imprint.
Bernard took me 3 iterations before I can say I am satisfied. It prints clear and bold now so I think I will call it a day.

Recent fail was Bodoni typeface. It turned out to be too dense, resulting letters to be too far spaced in words. Not sure I will continue with that font, same as French Script which is too delicate for this technology of printing. Harrington looks promising but requires more work.

All in all - the results are promising and I am ready to buy and implement my two beloved type faces: Doves and Mason.

Stay tuned.

British Oliver 5 with cork platen

February 12, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

This fellow had a hard life. Apparently forgotten somewhere, sitting on some attic or barn for many years.
But these are tough machines.
Even in such condition it was still showing signs of life.

Olivers are infamous for their paint job and nickel-plating. Given conditions less perfect than warm house the paint will deteriorate and plating lifts from steel parts, flaking.

I would say it is part of their charm. Seeing Oliver in Perfect condition - like the one I saw in Grim’s collection - is rare and unexpected. I even dare to say: a bit uncomfortable!

Type slugs are in good shape so there is hope!

Carriage pinion wheel was busted - many teeth were broken. That’s what happens when someone forces the carriage onto the machine - or the machine is shipped with the carriage on rails.
In my case the machine arrived with the carriage stuck (hammered?) on rails, not moving at all.

Draw string certainly not original. Draw string clip was, of course, missing.

The usual appearance of chromed details exposed to harsh conditions.

Luckily the mechanism is complete, if only dirty. No serious rust or pitting which would require swapping any parts.

After freeing the carriage out of its rails I disassembled the top mechanism for cleaning. That was easy, done it before with my first Oliver 5.

While at it - I open the main spring housing, to check the spring. Of course it is broken.

After repairing the spring I assemble back the housing and notice that the top washer is missing.

This washer is crucial to integrity of the shaft: the spring-end is locked into this shaft and top screw, holding all in pace, is threaded into the shaft. Without the washer the shaft will open itself at the top, like a flower.

I made a new washer.

Draw string clip was missing.
Thanks to that clip one can quickly remove the carriage from the machine - feature otherwise seen only on Blickenderfer and older Adler machines.

I make a new clip from brass.

The machine is cleaned and dried. I start assembly.

Keys are dirty but complete.

They get a bath in surface-active liquid. Just 20 minutes there and all grime just slides off without damaging keys’ material.

I use the waiting time for de-rusting screws and levers. Brass wire-brush does the job efficiently.

Clean keys ready for assembly.

Escapement star wheel removal

The rack-pinion gear was busted on this machine - many teeth were broken. I have another derelict machine which agreed to donate the part.

To change it one needs to remove ribbon vibrator mechanism - and a few more parts since the gear and escapement star wheel are assembled as one part.

The procedure is quite simple:

Remove backspace actuator arm (yellow arrow)
Unscrew ribbon vibrator actuator arm (red arrow, standard right-hand thread, loosen locking nuts first)
Remove the fat spring (if present) and undo both screws marked with green arrows

Now turn the machine upside-down and find two screws holding backspace guiding plate. They are deep inside but accessible with long screwdriver.

Remove the one on the left and just loosen the other one, keeping it in place.

Now back “on surface” wiggle the subassembly out.

There it is.

With that out of way we can remove the star wheel / rack pinion gear assembly.

These machines come from pre-standarisation era so expect to do some adjustements when swapping parts between them. In this case the rectangular bushing was too wide. I filed it down a bit.

Machine prepared for a new heart!

After fitting the subassembly just follow above steps in the reversed order.

Screwing back the barrel screw for ribbon vibrator actuator arm can be a bit tricky. To make it easier it is good to remove tension from the bottom spring, on the inside of the machine.

With tension released the barrel screw is easy to screw back and adjust.

It is important to secure the barrel with locking nuts from above and below. If this part becomes too slack the carriage will stop moving.

Backspace mechanism adjustment

While in this area one can adjust backspace mechanism.

My machine had a problem with backspace not advancing enough to “click” the escapement pawl into position.

Bryan from Vintage Type made an excellent video about points which should be checked/adjusted to fix this problem.
I’ve checked all these adjustments on my Oliver but the problem persisted. To solve it one can “form” (“bend” in layman’s terms) the backspace guiding plate, marked with red arrow below. In my case a bend needed was around 1mm, in the direction of an arrow.

But before doing that it is good to first remove any play on both screws which hold this plate on the bottom of the machine (these marked with yellow oval on one of pictures above).

Just loosen them so the plate can wiggle and then press backspace arm to max position and tighten these screws.

That should solve the problem.

Ribbon spools

Ribbon spools were missing so I manufactured new, from aluminum. Original spools were made from wood but I felt adventurous and went for metal.

The internal cavity (collar) is 17mm diameter. Central axis hole is 5,3mm.

Fresh cotton ribbon installed on new spools.

As is often the case - ribbon spool covers were missing, too.
Before I find original covers I can use copies, 3D printed. They will make the job of holding the spools closed done.

Excellent resource, available to everyone, is 3D Typewriter Parts. I downloaded Oliver 9 spools as Oliver 5 are not yet present.

I arranged supports so that their traces will be on the inside face, not visible from outside. Just to save me work with sanding.

There was a snowy and sunny winter day - lot’s of free UV in the air. I took them outside for curing.

Mounted on the machine. I could sand them and paint green, as originals, but I feel no need to pretend these are genuine. They do the job and match quite well.

Turning into carriage. Lot’s of work here.

First step, after removing paper fingers, is to remove the platen. Right platen knob got some soaking in penetrating oil to loosen plunger screws holding it in place.

Once the right platen knob is removed - and all plunger screws holding the platen - the axis rod can be removed together with the left platen knob assembly.

To lift the platen one can simply spring away paper rollers’ assembly.

Platen was hard but not cracked, wearing signs of someone typing without the paper. It looked like oxidized, worn rubber.

But it is not rubber!

After sanding on the lathe a nice cork surface emerged!
So this machine was build or refurbished during war time, when Great Britain had rubber shortage and cork was used instead, where possible.

After cleaning the carriage assembly and installing the platen I checked if paper is fed properly. Feed rollers are fine so all should work well now.

It didn’t - the paper was going in crooked, whatever I did.

After closer inspection I found a source of problem: main roller holding bricks (yellow arrow below). They are housing axle of the paper roller and are screwed to the carriage very close to leaf springs (red arrow) which tension front paper rollers.

Well, these bricks are not symmetric.

Someone servicing this machine before me mounted one of them in opposite direction, in result having it laying partially on leaf spring edge.
This, in turn, resulted in a gap between paper roller and the platen, thus crooking the paper.

Once that was fixed the paper rolled in with authority, straight!

All ready for the first typing test.
As expected, capital letters CAPS and FIGs needed to be adjusted. It is done with double set of nuts on the back of the machine (yellow arrows).
While being there I adjusted spring tension (blue oval below) and amount of breaking power for TAB mechanism.

Friction-break to slow down the carriage while using Tabulator.

One more problem appeared while typing: just after line advance the row starts too high and slides down after a few characters. It looks like this:

What happens is that line advance ratchet does not rotate far enough to fully engage with the spring-loaded roller. It looks like this:

After typing a few letters vibrations in the mechanism cause it to finally glide into place while rotating the platen a fraction of an angle. Rest position looks like this:

So the synchronization between line advance mechanism and the ratchet was crooked.

Oliver has only one adjustment in this area but it is responsible for timing line advance with escapement pawl “click”, so that the carriage, upon return, stays in exact position, not in “half-character” mode. This adjustment is a screw with its locking nut as shown below.

My problem was related to the distance between this screw and a face marked with arrow below. Upon meeting at line advance the actuator arm is engaging the gear which in turn advances the platen. And it was advancing a tiny-tiny too little, certainly due to wear of parts.

I sanded the face of extrusion, marked with red arrow below, just a fraction of mm. Polished and cleaned, the actuator rod lightly oiled and gear axle (with its spring) got a drop of oil, too.

That did a trick - the travel of actuator arm upon hitting the extrusion is long enough to fully rotate the platen into next “click” on the ratchet.

So there it is, finally typing!

I especially like numerals, look at this 8 and longer tails of 3, 5, 7 and 9!

So, as a prize for all this work I took my new-old Oliver 5 for a proper photo-session.

Clean and dry mechanics, with a few drops of machine oil only in places which require it.

The carriage is easily removed just by pressing TAB and RIGHT buttons close to ribbon vibrator.

Retaining clamp sits in its parking position, waiting for the carriage to grab it upon re-installation.

Carriage rollers cleaned, moving freely. They require oiling with machine/gun oil, sometimes - thus oiling holes in them.
The oil should lubricate their axles, not surface which shall be dry.

Brass patent plate cleaned but not polished - to preserve the patina.

British-layout keyboard.

It was a very satisfying restoration.

A handsome machine, to be used for many years ahead.

Yost 15 (Part I). Passion to words connecting people.

February 04, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

My fascination for mechanical machines led me to yet another typewriter: Yost.
In this case it is Yost 15 which looks like any other standard typewriter of 20-30’s but has unique to Yost front striking action.
One step closer to my dream machine, the Williams typewriter.

As happens quite often in this hobby, the machine became just a cause to meet very interesting people!

It was listed in Mora and personal pickup was desired. Well, 4,5 hours drive one way from where I live. I was not sure if I wanna drive that long until I called the owner and we talked. After a few minutes of phone conversation I was convinced that, regardless of condition of the machine I want to meet the owner!

Monica is a professional bookbinder : person who “builds” books, in layman terms.
In the world of online printing houses like Blurb and Lulu if you want to have a beautiful and custom made book - you turn to a bookbinder. Nothing can substitute an artist and craftsman for the very special book you plan to make.
Not only that, she is also an artist and educator. And for me - it was thrilling to get to meet such person and have possibility of a few hours conversation and exchange of experience. And to buy a few typewriters, by the way!

Getting to see her workshop was a joy!

Old, classic, robust tools for a serious job.

It was like a workshop for me. We were exchanging experience in our passions and my eyes were opening wider and wider. Go and check yourself, you can reach Monica through her webpage: www.langwe.se

I took my Blick no.5 with me, to show my custom-made typing elements. As a professional in book printing crafts Monica was interested in Blick as a machine which uses direct inking technique - just like a book press.

I’m glad I took it with me - at least I could show something interesting too!

To my regret I could not stay longer - I had still another 4,5 hours to drive back home and I also got a tip from Monica to visit Rosenlöfs Tryckerimuseum which is close to Gävle.

The museum is normally not open during weekends (out of the season) but I called them and they were eager to meet me and to open it for me on Saturday!

On my way, quite unexpectedly, I got a message from Grim. We’ve never met before but we had contact through typewriter enthusiasts group and I bought a few machines from him before, among others my first Oliver. It struck me that I am, in fact, very close to him!

Bamm! Change of plans!
I called the museum that I will not make it that day (I would not manage anyway, one should reserve at least a few hours to fully anticipate what is there!) and headed to Rättvik, to meet Grim for the first time in “real”.

Grim is a typewriter collector, repairman and writer. We started in his workshop which, compared to mine, is nice and neat!

Talking typewriters, tools and stories we moved on to his writing room where most of the collection is displayed. This is also where he works on his books.

Now that I call a proper working room!

I got to see some crown jewels, too.

He even has Bennet, with Swedish typeface!

Thanks to this beautiful Oliver I got a chance to take my Oliver 5 from his hands!

My eyes fell out when I saw Blickencderfer 7 with Swedish scientific keyboard!
I’m gonna make a custom type wheel with runic alphabet for this machine.

I forgot to photograph other machines as we talked but it was my “Hermans” on Swedish soil that day, indeed.

The day was beautiful, cold and sunny. The weather stood up to the challenge.
With regret I left Rättvik and its magnificent view over Siljan lake at dusk.

Typing runes on Blickensderfer

January 29, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

My friend from work, Marcus, happens to be very comfortable in using runes for everyday notes.
Yeah, I work with extraordinary people!

That gave me an idea to implement runes as a custom font on Blick. Why not? I could write semi-secret notes to Marcus without really knowing this alphabet, right? The machine will cover that part!

Apparently there are several versions of runes and while they were in daily use there were many versions of the same sign, depending on artist and region. I decided to implement the version which Marcus is using most frequently as this is also the version which has almost all our Latin signs covered.

With notes and guidelines from Marcus I designed my wheel.

The prototype worked well but I made a few mistakes in rune size and form. The second one, corrected, was created a day after. And so I can type in runes!

I know that Richard Polt receives The Typewriter Manifesto translated into different languages and alphabets but as far as I know he does not yet have one in runes.

I sat down and typed The Manifesto in ancient runes.

After all - most of them are found in Sweden so this is legit to send him such document from here.
With a twist: it is typed on very old machine, in XXI century, with alphabet preceding usage of our current one (in this part of the world).
The Revolution roots are ancient!

Blickensderfer 5 with custom type faces

January 29, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

When I first got my Blickensderfer typewriters - both with most common DHIATENSOR and (less common) CHARIENSTU keyboard layout I was thinking about converting them into QWERTY layout, simply to be able to use them as easily as my other machines.

Two elements would be needed to make such conversion: qwerty-layout type element (cylinder with fonts) and moving a few keys from the lowest row into upper rows, as qwerty has 10 keys in the highest row while dhiatensor layout, with its pyramid-shape, has only 8.

I quickly dismissed the idea of such brutal mechanical intrusion into so ancient (and mechanically magnificent) machine. After all - I have plenty “standard keyboard” machines. So instead I started to get used to dhiatensor, scientific keyboard and to my surprise it took not too long to become comfortable with it.

But the idea of interchangeable, custom fonts stayed with me. One can find original typing elements on the market, sometimes, but they tend to be rare and expensive. Besides - I liked the challenge of making my own!

At that time 3D printing technology was not mature enough to be capable to replicate such small elements as fonts. At least the machines within my budget. Instead I considered casting fonts from existing slugs, making silicon “negative” molds and then casting final letters from rubber. These would then be mounted/glued on a lightweight cylinder to fit the machine.

Yeah, lots of work and many traps where things can go wrong. Also very messy. I paused the idea and moved on with other projects.

Only recently we started to look again into 3D printing technology, to buy a machine for my factory. At the same time Facebook group member posted his results with 3D printed cylinder for Blick and it was magnificent!

Richard Polt wrote about this on his blog here. Leonard Chau, who made this happen together with Brent Carter, gave me some tips how he made his cylinders. That was enough for me to look into making one by myself.

I bought Anycubic printer, small and cheap enough for me but with DLP technology, hoping that it will be able to render very fine details as serifs and ornaments found with typefaces.
A few trials to dial in parameters for resin exposure etc plus several evenings of reading and watching YouTube clips about that and I was ready to print my own cylinders.

The original cylinder is made of rubber.

I started by making exact CAD model of my existing cylinder.

Having that I decided to modify it a bit, to make it more interesting and possibly even lighter. After all - I don’t have technological limitations similar to Blickensderfer 120 years ago and I’m using a different material so my type element can be optimized. I ended up with Japanese magnolia-style cylinder.

The first prototype lived only half a page when it broke. I was a bit harsh in my tests but they must withstand angry writer, too!

I reinforced the walls and made additional adjustments with font leveling.

Even though my CAD model was reflecting the original cylinder, the epoxy used for 3D printing is shrinking/expanding during the print process and one needs to adjust the model to accommodate that.

The next trial went better but retaining clip extrusion prove to be too weak and broke after 1 day.

After adjusting the model for that I finally arrived to a design which is as sturdy as the original and weights a bit less!

Choosing typefaces was fun. I made several cylinders and the results are promising. Hardly surprising but imprint quality is highly dependent on good platen. My Blick has it hard as stone so I use thick, double paper to achieve acceptable quality. Time to re-coat this platen!

Remington Rand Model 5

December 18, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

This beauty will go to my close friend for Christmas. I hope that he - or his kids - will find it useful in their creative pursues.

Apart from broken line-advance spring - and tons of dust, dead spiders etc - this machine had no problems when it came to me. Usual pain of hard platen is not present here - apparently it was changed not long ago (a few decades maybe?).
Paper rollers had no flat spots so platen sanding and smoothing, to remove dents and oxidized rubber, brought back grippy action.

Disassembly process is straight-forward. After body panels are removed one gains good access to the whole mechanism. Dusting-off with brushes and compressed air was all it needed to be clean again. No excess oil, no sticky goo found inside.
And to my pleasure - no butchered screw heads! She had luck to be served by proper mechanics throughout her life.

I like lines of this machine.
Streamliner from the forties, in unusual light-gray-green color, frozen surface.

Small design details catch my eye: keyboard hardness dial.

Typebars lying flat, accelerated with Remington-style teethed wheels.
Typeface is in Pica, classic standard, easy for the eye.

Under plastic cover caps sit Remington-standard small spools, cutely marked on the top surface.

It does not have a tabulator as a custom-spaced mechanism but instead features Self-starter which is fix-set tabulator. Pressing it moves the carriage by 5 spaces anywhere on the line.
It suffices for majority of people writing letters or books.
Accountants or engineers would, however, complain.
But we can ignore them.

Handsome beast.

Typing action is smooth and responsive. Snappy and fast.
Backspace is on the right so no need to adjust modern-man behaviors shaped by computer keyboards.

Almost fully enclosed body protects the mechanism from dust and tiny fingers of curious young primates.

Panel on the back is enclosing margin settings. No-nonsense, manual setting, no “magic tabs” gizmos.

All usual and expected controls reside on both sides of the carriage.

Starting from the left side:

Carriage release - yellow arrow
Line spacing (two settings) - blue arrow
Manual ribbon reverse and rewind - white arrow
Carriage blockade - red arrow. One pulls the lever in front of angled metal pin. This engages carriage release (thus protecting escapement) and actuates little catch which goes into notch in carriage rails, thus blocking the carriage in the middle position.

Clutch release for step-less line advance (line memory reset) - green arrow

Right side of the carriage:

Paper release - green arrow. Here in “release position”
Carriage release (repeated) - red arrow
Right platen knob - blue arrow
Ribbon reverse and rewind - yellow arrow

Left side of the keyboard houses margin release (green arrow), shift (blue arrow, also on the right side of the keyboard) and shift-lock (or CAPS-lock in modern terms, red arrow).

Continental 50 (or 100?) Portable

December 18, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I've prepared this machine for my good friend and his daughter, in a hope that they will find it useful in their enormous creativity.
It started a bit like “Hanks effect”, with a picture of another typewriter starring in current popular series on streaming channel. Juwel is this other machine. I did not have it in my collection but accidentally it was listed a few days ago on Tradera. I ignored it at first - it did not look interesting, design-wise it was rather moderately boring. A kind of Halda Portable. I did not know it is now famous machine due to television series.

It was not certain that I win the auction and that the machine will arrive in time before my journey so we chose another machine - much in the style of this Juwel but most probably much better typer and - in my eyes - much nicer to look at.

Continental Portable. Very good machine, favorite among many sport journalists back in the day due to its fantastic typing action, robust construction, light weight (that is relative) and compact form. Robert Messenger wrote about these on his blog.

I have two machines, they differ slightly in small details but their engine is basically the same. The chosen one has nicer paper table - with paper guide on the left - and wire paper support. Just like the Juwel.

Both my machines had problem with backspace action but otherwise they work perfectly well, even though they are dirty and dusty as hell. That tells a bit about robust design.

As always I started with disassembling cover panels and platen removal. No surprises - all is done more or less as on every other portable machine.

There are signs on the front panel that someone was attempting removal by prying near ribbon spool.

Luckily he/she did not get through (I think) because there are no screw heads which were butchered with improper screwdrivers. What a joy to work on such specimen!

The front panel is easily taken out once side panels - and their metal inserts - are removed. I flattened dents near ribbon spool and blackened them to match the rest.

Platen removal is straightforward. Platen rod goes out on the left side, after releasing blocking plungers and knob screw on the right.

Right margin stop has bell incorporated, sliding together on the margin track. The whole track is spring-loaded, spring attached below it, to the right side of the frame.

Backspace mechanism was kind-of working, especially when the machine was tilted a bit backwards. This “gravitational assist” was certainly not by design so I detached the mechanism for better look.

The arm looks solid and not deformed by any means so I formed only the end of it, where star-wheel engaging rollers reside. After several attempts with very gentle forming I hit the spot where the mechanism works regardless of machine inclination. Ready to be taken to ISS!

Rest of the job left was routine dusting off the mechanism and chemical bath in “typewriter soup”. Lots of compressed-air later the machine is clean and ready for assembly.

Rubber feet are still fine so I leave them in place. This machine must have had platen and paper rollers changed not long ago (like - 30 years ago?) because rollers are grippy and round and the platen, even though marked with dents from typing, is still elastic and grippy.

I sanded the platen smooth, to remove dents and oxidized rubber. Oiled platen axis rod - with clutch disengage cones - goes in without additional drama unlike on Olympia SM4.

Before assembly all panels get waxed and buffed. Side inserts got their felt dampening stripes re-glued.

Lastly key-tops got scrubbing, to remove dirt from edges of metal rings. These keys have real glass, not celluloid like Smith-Corona portables, so they are still perfectly clear and free from scratches.

And so we are done. Test typed on new black-red ribbon reveals no issues, all works as it should.
The beauty is taken home for photo session before she leaves my collection.

If I interpret Typewriter Database correctly then this machine is from around 1942.

Typeface is in Pica size: 10 cpi, classic style.

CONTROLS

Left side of the carriage:

Line advance - blue arrow
Left platen knob - yellow arrow
Step-less line advance (clutch engaged - “row memory”) - red arrow

To disengage line-advance clutch you pull both platen knobs away from each other. Platen moves independently of the toothed wheel and “row memory” can be reset.
To go back to stepped line advance push both knobs back towards each other.

Single and 1 1/2 line spacing lever is under line advance arm.

Area zoomed above shows color selector for bi-chromatic ribbons.

Right side of the carriage:

Carriage release - red arrow, pull towards you.
Paper release - green arrow. Picture shows “working position”. To release paper pull towards you.

Not complicated and rather straightforward, I think. No nonsense like “magic margins” or tabulator keys - it is a portable machine after all!

A bit of mechanical porn at the end.

Olympia SM4 with wide carriage

December 11, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

This machine had a good life. No one approached her with WD40 or excess oil. There was no wanna-be mechanic who serviced her either - screw heads are intact and not butchered by improper screwdrivers.

She was just forgotten somewhere for many years, gathering dust and dirt. But still working and with just a few issues.

Standard procedure - removed all body panels and platen, to dust off and to check feed rollers.

Impressive carriage with tabulator which is operated from the keyboard.

My favourite typeface size: Elite.

The usual problem with these machines - flattened rubber spacers under the frame - was not present here. Apparently she was serviced not long ago.

It is a modern machine - well, relatively - her serial number places production around 1950.
Platen core - and shaft! - are made from aluminium. I opened the clutch as it was not working properly.

Cleaning and oiling solved the issue.
Inserting the shaft back on assembly is a bit of work due to long, conical clutch centre tube sticking into the platen core: one needs to fit the long shaft (even longer on this machine) exactly into M2-small opening. But it can be done with a bit of cursing.

Bigger chore is removing - and re-installing - paper deflector. Apparently German engineers saw a need to attach it to the carriage. Most American machines do without it with no problems but on SM4 it is attached with two tiny springs, hardly visible at first.

The machine works perfectly without them but I bit the bulet and re-installed them after cleaning the carriage and sanding the platen.

Paper rollers were soft and grippy, no flat spots. Probably they were replaced at some point. The platen is hard and wore signs of heavy use. I sanded deformed surface and gave it some texture so that it grips paper with authority.

New ribbon installed and test-running all functions.

Very pleasing to type on. Responsive, precise and very ergonomic. Indeed a workhorse for serious writting.

I took her home for photo-session.
Key tops are dark brown while platen knobs, tabulator controls and space bar are nice, deep green.

Discreet chrome stripe around the body adds class. Chrome is used quite liberally.

Wider carriage corresponds well with bumpy body and gives, of course, possibility to type on A4 paper in horizontal position.
Lever on the very left, neighbouring to pound-symbol, is carriage lock. Margin release directly below it. Backspace key in the same place as on modern computer keyboards.

Ribbon cover opens up on hinges. Under the hood there is touch selector.

Right side of the carriage has all controls one would ask for: tabulator erasing arm, carriage release and paper release. Right platen knob with button for clutch release (step-less line advance).
Paper bale can be lifted or shifted front for rolling new sheet of paper.

Left controls: line advance selector (three settings), carriage release, line advance arm. Lever on the back disengages stepped line advance.

Handsome look also from the back.

Extendable paper support jumps out (spring loaded) when small button is pressed on the right side of the carriage.

I like how dealer plate is fitted on central panel, sized to match tabulator shield.

Very handsome indeed and a benchmark machine for all other portable typewriters.

Groma Gromina - older sister of mighty Kolibri

June 06, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Older sister of Groma Kolibri - equally low profile machine, ultraportable typewriter in most strict sense. Maybe not as sexy as Kolibri but still very handsome.

I bought her to study mechanical evolution between Gromina and Kolibri. And because I fancy thin, low profile, ultraportable machines, easy to hide at home so no one is mentioning quotas on the number of machines I own. You get my point, right?

This particular specimen came with its own carrying case, Wehrmacht-gray. Locking hatches were not engaging - apparently due to lacking springs.
I have no idea how they should look like but judging from the shape of latches I fitted standard, strong springs around swiveling posts. Works like a charm.

Gromina is made to be used mounted on the bottom plate of her carrying case. There are no feet on the machine once you unscrew it from the board.

That would be fine but I don’t like this. Mostly because the machine is so tiny and I want her to remain as small as possible. The board adds unnecessary thickness. Most importantly - the board acts as resonant membrane and typing on mounted machine is very loud and clunky.

Gromina has no bottom cover - Kolibri has it - so lap-typing requires using the board but for desk-top typing she should be fine without it. I could just screw legs into existing, threaded (M4) holes and call it a day but then I could not directly use carrying case.

My solution was either to screw knurled knobs with M4 thread so that I can unscrew them without tools prior to mounting typewriter in carrying case or to glue small rubber feet which will not disturb functionality of the case.
I went with the last option: self-adhesive silicone-compound rubber feet, of course Wehrmacht-grey.

They add enough height for the mechanism to clear the table top and are just thin enough to enable screwing the machine into its carrying case.

Typing when on these feet became instantly much more silent and smooth - while the machine stays in place even when I quickly return the carriage.

Apart from one or two butchered screws the machine was rather clean and was saved from WD40 “therapy”. I just needed to brush her from dirt and blow dust out the mechanism. All was working fine and smooth - but not the left margin!

After removal of carriage back plate I found the reason: red arrows show points left after missing part of this component.

To remove it from the machine one needs to pull away both platen knobs - otherwise side cover plates cannot be removed and there is no access to margin track screws.

After sliding the left margin cart out of the track it disintegrated even further. Not good.

There is no room around these carts to allow for screw heads so I was left with options of soldering/brazing, epoxy-gluing (JB Weld) or mechanical adapter encapsulating the remains of the cart. I went with the last option and fancied a rather complex fixture from thick copper plate.

Butchered to rough form it looked like that.

Some elbow grease with needle-files and polishing blocks I rounded all corners and drilled mounting holes for the steering tab. The original cart is held in place by copper tabs which bend into cart’s openings, holding the adapter in place. No glue, no alterations to the original part needed.

It looks rudiment as a proper handwork should. Works like it should so I don’t care - especially that it will not be seen at all after I put the back cover.

When assembling the track one needs to put it in exactly correct tilt - so that bell, margins and margin release work. After several attempts I finally found the right orientation and could call it a success.

Cleaning body panels and waxing followed, bringing back freshness and shine to the machine.

One last thing was too weak spring which holds paper bar. I changed the spring to much stronger one and the bar started to function properly again.

And she is ready to type!

As established tradition I took her out for photo session.

Foldable carriage return lever, to fit in low-profile carrying case.

The arm glides very close to ribbon cover - easy to scratch it if one does not install properly the cover after ribbon change. My specimen has very slight trace of such incident but most Grominas I saw had deep scratches through the paint. Careless owners, I suppose.

Typical for most Groma machines - tiny bell which gives beautiful, soft “ding” close to the end of line.

I’m not obsessed with dating my machines but one can look up serial number in Typewriter Database.
My machine was manufactured around 1954.

One of design features I like about her is space bar spanning the whole width of the machine. Very comfortable.

They dropped this feature on later Groma Kolibri, supposedly due to common problem of users who carry their machines holding them by front frame. Unimaginable for me to do but it happened all the time, resulting in damaged space bar. This machine avoided such fate, luckily.

Type bars resting flat in esthetic cutout in ribbon cover. When mounting the cover one needs to place it a bit under type bars before pressing the cover all the way into position. It is all tight and well matched.

At the bottom the machine has no protective plate so lap typing requires mounting her back into carrying case or using a piece of board. This is typical for most machines of post-War era.

Just for comparison I took out my Hermes Baby / Rocket, as it also bears military-gray paint and appears to be equally compact. Comparing both machines in their carrying cases.

Hermes appears to be marginally more compact of a package, mainly due to the fact that Gromina has wooden case while Hermes uses aluminum shell.
When out of cases the difference is nonexistent.

It is then up to perception which machine is more compact. Hermes seems more bulky and rounded, resulting in beefier form while Gromina is more sublime and, well, almost fragile.

Side comparison is a draw - both of them are equally low profile typers.

Taking now her younger sister, Kolibri, into comparison.

Design touch is much more apparent on Kolibri, Gromina is certainly more modest and toned, with less amount of chrome and not as “curvy” as Kolibri.

Mechanically they also differ. The biggest difference is that Gromina uses geared type bars, well known from Remington Portable machines.

Kolibri has traditional pull-levers instead, probably resulting in cheaper manufacturing. Both machines type equally well, I can not feel any difference in action.

Equally low profile, both are extra flat machines.