December 2024

November 2024

October 2024

September 2024

August 2024

1954 Hermes 2000

In typewriter enthusiast and collecting circles, the more modern Swiss-made large portable Hermes 3000 has an almost legendary status, with prices to match - especially for the slightly curvy early 1960's model. To afford this model these days, you really really have to want one ! And yet there are equally good Hermes models which everyone seems to overlook, with correspondingly cheap market values. One of these is the Ambassador office typewriter, featured as a 'Typewriter of the Month' back in 2020. Another is the Hermes 2000, logically the predecessor to the much vaunted 3000 model.

First introduced as early as 1933 - with a cheaper non-tabulator Media model following in 1936 - the model was steadily developed over the next two and a half decades. Development continued during the Second World War of course, since Switzerland was a neutral country. The case colour changed from black to grey and then eventually to green, keytops went from the typical 1930's 'key card and key ring' to round black Bakelite, and then on to the square olive drab keytops that you can see in the pictures. The very last of these models, for production continued as late as 1960 (overlapping the new 3000 model by two years) had a bright green casing and light green keytops.

Why these machines are not particularly sought after is beyond me. They will do almost everything that the later 3000 model does, with utter reliability. Maybe the 2000 isn't as pretty, and also maybe it is because it has a shifted carriage rather than the shifted segment the 3000 has. But the German Olympia SM1,2,3,4,5 and 7 also have a carriage shift and the Olympia models are considered amongst the finest large portable typewriters ever produced !

The Hermes name, of course, has a certain exclusivity. Compared to other makes in the UK, and probably elsewhere in the world too, not that many were sold. This was mainly due the the high exchange rate with the Swiss Franc, but at least you got a well-engineered typewriter for the (inflated) price !

This particular Hermes 2000 belongs to a customer who brought it to me for some repairs, a service, and a new platen. The Achilles heel of all Hermes typewriters is hard platens. All models left the factory from new with a fairly hard platen in order to give the type a crisp impression. Nice at the time, but now that a lot of Hermes typewriters are approaching their seventh decade, those platens are now so hard that they are allowing the machine to punch holes in the paper. Another rubber component that often needs attention on these machines are the rubber feet. Again, they deteriorate with age and slowly disintegrate. Unfortunately you cannot simply fit a set of generic rubber feet. They have to be a specific height and diameter to fit into little aluminium cups set into the bottom of the carry case. Fit anything else and the case will not close on the machine ! I had to machine a set of rubber feet specially to fit.

My customer was delighted with the result since this typewriter had a sentimental attachment for him, as old typewriters often do !

July 2024

1946 Olympia Model 8

I make no apology for featuring another pre-war style German office typewriter after last month ! This time we have an Olympia Model 8. Olympia's parent company AEG (still known today for electrical appliances) began manufacture of a very similar typewriter back in 1914. Although it has a striking appearance of its own, close examination reveals that the designers must have had a jolly good look at the best selling American typewriters of the era because there are mechanical similarities to Underwood in the accelerating typebar action, and to Remington in the location of the ribbon spools. A typical case of taking the best ideas from other manufacturers when developing an entirely new product. The original AEG Model 3 developed into the Model 6, then 7, finally Model 8 in 1934. All were quite similar to the first machine, simply being refined and improved in detail as the years progressed. Along the way, the AEG name was quietly dropped, to be replaced with the more familiar name 'Olympia'

Just like the Imperial typewriter company here in England, Olympia continued to produce typewriters throughout the war, and afterwards. This 1946 model was intended for the British market, hence having an English keyboard. The original purchasers must have felt somewhat conflicted, having bought a machine manufactured by a country that had been the enemy only a year before. But it has to be put into the context that there was a terrific shortage of typewriters for many years after the conflict, and maybe a German machine was better than no typewriter at all. They need not have worried about the durability however. The fit and finish is second to none. Except for just one thing. There were post-war shortages of materials in Germany just as in the UK. The seemingly insignificant collars that support the ribbon reverse mechanisms, were brass castings in pre-war Model 8s, but the post-war versions featured collars made from Mazak - a poor-quality aluminium-based casting material that slowly disintegrates after a few decades. This, sadly, is the Achilles heel of these machines although fortunately they still appear to be intact in the machine shown in the photos. Another indication of the shortage of materials (also often seen in British typewriters of the same era) is the cork platen and feedrolls. Cork was an alternative to rubber - more durable but with the trade-off of less grip on the paper. The platen is almost certainly the original, now 79 years old and still perfectly servicable. Rubber goes hard and then cracks over a similar timescale.

The customer who brought it to me for a full service and repair certainly had a soft spot for this machine. He had bought it in a jumble sale as a child for the magnificent sum of 50 pence ! It had always had one foot missing, so would rock a bit when being used, but still largely worked. I had to find a way of replacing the original 'push in' feet with something more substantial, and eventually took advantage of the metric threads in the bottom of the foot sockets (originally intended to allow the machine to be bolted down to a typewriter desk) to make threaded adaptors so that a screw-in foot could be fitted instead. The result is an appearance very like the foot on the earlier models.

Production of the Model 8 continued until 1952, although after 1948 it was branded as an 'Optima'. This being because the Olympia factory was located in what was to become East Germany and in the late 1940's the Olympia management fled to West Germany, taking the Olympia trade mark with them to set up anew. The factory, with all the technicians and tooling, had to change name.

June 2024

1940 Urania Model 8 - The one that got away !

Urania was one of a number of obscure German typewriter manufacturers before the war, making both portables and full-size office typewriters. A product of Clemens Muller AG of Dresden, typewriter production began in 1909 with the Model 1. Urania typewriters were widely exported and sold under other names including Aristokrat, Concordia, Gallia, Haddad, Imperator, Merkur, Saleem, Ujlaki and Urdu ! I featured an Urania Piccola portable with an Arabic keyboard in November 2016's 'Typewriter of the Month'. As far as I am aware, this brand was never officially imported to the UK.

This particular machine was made in 1940, at the height of the Nazi era. But although it has a German keyboard, the 'Y' and 'Z' have been transposed to make it into a quasi-QWERTY keyboard for use in Britain. Although there is no documented history with this machine, it is fairly obvious that it would have been one of the 'spoils of war' taken from a defeated Germany for further use here. Usually these 'liberated' German typewriters were portables, but the occasional office typewriter also made its way to a new life in the UK too.

In many ways this was an advanced machine for the times. The row of four red-coloured keys above the keyboard is a decimal tabulator, generally used for invoicing. A 'special order' add-on from most other typewriter manufacturers, it came as standard with the Model 8. The cover around the ribbon spools, seen in the photos to be so badly broken, is moulded from Bakelite not metal as one might expect. Brought to me for an estimate to service and put back into working order, it proved to be an expense too far for the customer in these straightened times and was sadly given back unrepaired. However, it was so unusual that I thought I might share the pictures with my readership anyway.

The Model 8 continued in production until 1943, resuming unchanged from 1947 to 1950. From 1950 to 1953 a revised Model 9 took its place. In 1954 with a slight update as the Model 9a, production finally ground to a halt.

May 2024

1965 Royaluxe 425

Like many other American typewriter firms, Royal looked to Europe for a way to manufacture portable typewriters at far cheaper labour costs than at home. This often led to buying an existing Continental typewriter manufacturer and making them a division of the parent company. Royal's first venture in this direction was to buy Orga in Mannheim, Germany. At first, the Orga office typewriter continued to be produced under the Royal name, for Europe at least, but in 1952 a new large portable was produced - the Royal Diana.

A nice, but underrated typewriter since Royal were still producing the well-respected and equivalent Quiet De Luxe in America, the Diana is a fairly infrequent find today. There was also a longer carriage version, possibly intended for light office work, called the Administrator. Production soldiered on until 1958 when manufacture was transferred to another Royal subsidiary in Holland - the former Halberg factory. Presumably labour costs were even cheaper there !

By 1965, the outer casing had been re-designed to something a little less rounded than the 1950's original, with an attractive plastic 'Royal' badge in the centre of the ribbon cover. With this new look, the model became the 'Royaluxe 425'. But underneath, the 'works' were still much the same. It is believed that this model continued until 1969, when Royal bought yet another European manufacturer - Triumph-Adler in Germany. The entire range of Dutch-made portables, large and small, were discontinued in favour of assembling the newer T-A Tippa 'S', a lightweight 'flat portable'.

The machine in the photos was sent by a customer whom, I suspect, bought it on a well-known auction website. Like many old machines, it looked to have spent some of its life in damp storage, hence a little rust and internal corrosion. The main problem, however, was a bent escapement rack which was making the carriage alternately stick and then jump several spaces. Once that was attended to, there were multiple problems with seized and worn mechanisms. After correct adjustment and investigation of the other faults, including a non-working tabulator, it turned out to be a fine machine, with an easy typing action. And although of German origin, with all-metric screw threads, it still featured the famous Royal patented Magic Margin - which allows the margins to be automatically set with the flick of a button.

April 2024

1935 Blue Bird (Torpedowerke) 15a Portable

Made in 1935 by Torpedowerke in Germany for the British market, this typewriter was sold here as a Blue Bird. Since there was still a lot of anti-German feeling in the inter-war period, it was marked as 'Foreign', not 'Made in Germany'. And following the First World War, anything implying German Torpedoes would not have gone down too well either !

But there was all sorts of connections that a retail purchaser would not have been aware of. Torpedowerke, a well-established typewriter manufacturer, was bought by the American firm Remington in the late 1920's - possibly with the idea of turning it into a subsidiary factory making Remington clones as they had done in many other parts of the world. However, it didn't work out that way. One of the first things they did was try to market the machines as 'Deutsche Remington'. Sales dropped off dramatically. The German public didn't want to buy anything with that name on it. Reluctantly, they changed the name back to 'Torpedowerke'. Sales improved. So the Remington management decided to leave the factory alone since it was now making a profit. They also decided to allow the factory to continue with its own typewriter designs. Again, they were selling so why not leave well alone. But they did install a chief designer who was English. Herbert Etheridge had worked for Bar-Lock before seeking his fortune with Remington in America. Now he was parachuted back into Europe.

In the meantime, in 1932, the British firm Imperial - who had only made office typewriters up to that point - bought the tooling and rights to a Torpedowerke portable design that became the Imperial Good Companion. It had some resemblance to the Remington Portable. Now you may understand why ! When war broke out, Mr. Etheridge came to England to work for Imperial, no doubt bringing the drawings with him for a new portable that was in the design stage. After the war, it became the Good Companion Three. Torpedowerke released a remarkably similar typewriter at about the same time.

In the 1930's, Germany held much the same economic position as Japan did in the 1960's - a well-oiled industrial machine churning out goods that were exported all over the world. Of course, Torpedowerke had a slice of the action, and produced lots of 'private label' typewriters. One of the most interesting was a green 'Harrods' portable for sale by the famous London department store. It was actually the most stripped down, cheapest, 'bare bones' model of the range and a close relative of the 15a model that you see here !

Unlike most of the typewriters featured on these pages, this one does not belong to a customer but is from my stock - although by the time you read this, it will probably be sold. A lucky purchase, it required a fair bit of work to bring it up to standard, including a new platen. Still, I think you will agree that it is a handsome machine, and most unusual to be a colour other than the standard black of most pre-war typewriters. Even the carry case continues the blue theme, in a darker shade.

March 2024

1938 Groma Model N

I have featured a Groma model in a previous 'Typewriter of the Month', the Kolibri which was a post-war portable model made in the former East Germany and so thin that it was reputed to have been hidden under floors by dissidents because it was slimmer than a standard floor joist. Sometimes referred to as the mysterious Groma company because almost nothing is known of its history, unlike other typewriter manufacturers whose stories are well-documented. Clearly they were making typewriters before the war too, and the larger portable featured here was manufactured in 1938, so clearly a product of Nazi Germany. Never intended for the English-speaking market, it has a full German keyboard.

My suspicion is that it may have found its way to England in a soldiers kit-bag, looted during the war. Quite a few German portables found their way here by that route, and often there is no carry case, or just the bottom half, still attached to the typewriter. Snatched in haste from some poor German's desk possibly ?

An e-bay purchase by my customer, who wanted it for war-time re-enactments, externally it looked quite good. But unfortunately it had been damp-stored for a long period with the result that practically every mechanism in the machine was seized solid with rust. Dismantling it and getting it working was quite a game, since the frame was cast aluminium and electrolytic corrosion had practically welded some of the screws into place. Because shafts pass through the frame for the ribbon reverse mechanism, freeing that off was a whole new ball-game ! The machine turned out to be excellent quality, which is probably how it managed to survive, and an interesting surprise was that the front part of the cover was Bakelite. For the late 1930's this was pretty leading-edge !

The platen had suffered and was rock-hard, causing the characters to cut through the paper. Unfortunately, my customer could not justify the additional extra expense for a re-rubbered platen because the machine was going to be used mainly for display. I do hope that he brings it back for a platen at some time in the future. The machine really deserves one !

February 2024

Monroe L-160 Mechanical Calculator

Now and again, I get asked to look at something which isn't a typewriter - even though it has a carriage ! A customer who had previously had an Imperial Good Companion serviced and repaired was so pleased with my work that she asked me could I see if I could get her late grandfather's mechanical calculator working. Always up for a challenge, I said yes !

I am not an expert on these machines, but when I started in the trade my official job title was 'Trainee Office Machine Mechanic' which might give a clue as to what we did in those days. Not only typewriters, but photocopiers, dictating equipment, desk calculators (a repairable not throw-away item in 1975) and mechanical adding machines. I must confess that the last time I saw a mechanical calculator was one school maths lesson only, when several were produced and we were allowed to use them under close supervision. However, the inner workings are not unlike those of a mechanical adding machine (add-lister) but without the printing mechanism so I thought that I might be in with a chance.

Memories of servicing adding machines came flooding back after 45 years (am I really that old - must be !) so once I had worked out how to remove the outer casing, I was able to get inside and lubricate everything thoroughly. I found a missing spring, which I replaced, and re-painted parts of the keyboard, which had lost the numerals. Back together again and tested - heart in mouth - had I missed anything ? No, fine ! It all worked ! Customer very pleased !

After a bit of research, I found out that Monroe still exist in America - although these days they sell all sorts of office equipment. They began selling mechanical calculators in 1914, and this model was made between January 1929 and February 1971. An incredibly long production run. Something I hadn't realised is that Monroe had been bought by Litton Industries in 1958. The same Litton Industries that bought the typewriter brands Royal, Imperial, Triumph and Adler in the 1960's then sold them off again in the 1980's - as they did with Monroe.

January 2024

Olympia SG3 with Rare Carbon Ribbon Attachment

The German-made Olympia SG3 was probably the most common manual typewriter found in British offices throughout the 1970's and 1980's. They were used by companies large and small, local government and national government. I featured one of these machines in 2015 and you can refer back to the Typewriters of The Month for that year to read a more detailed description. However, what you see in the pictures is so rare that I have only seen illustrations in Olympia parts books until recently, and that includes a stint working for an Olympia Master Dealer in the 1970's !

Firstly, I should explain what a carbon ribbon is. The carbon ribbon was originally introduced for electric typewriters in an effort to make the work look as sharp as if it had been printed, rather than typed. The first carbon ribbons were almost exactly that - an 8mm strip of carbon paper, one-time use only. This came as a very long roll, the 'used' end of which fed out of the left hand side of the typewriter and literally fell into a conveniently-placed wastepaper basket. Within a few years, the carbon coating had been put onto a plastic film roll, rather like the tape used in the old-fashioned audio cassettes, and a special 'take-up' spool was added to the left side of the electric typewriter to collect the used carbon ribbon. Just like on a tape recorder, the film ribbon was moved on at each keystroke by a pair of rotating rubber rollers between which the ribbon was pinched.

The only manual typewriter which came from the factory with carbon ribbon as an option was the Hermes Ambassador. For other makes, either the factory or sometimes an enterprising third party, provided a kit of parts which could convert the machine to use these ribbons. Olympia provided such an aftermarket kit and what you can see in the photos is a machine so equipped. For a quality manufacturer, the kit that Olympia provided was remarkably crude and not up to the standard that one would expect. A holder for the reel of carbon ribbon is fitted on the left, with the carriage lock lever relocated to suit. There is a heavy wire loop to turn the ribbon path through ninety degrees, and a special ribbon vibrator in the centre to take either 'normal' 13mm fabric ribbons, or 8mm carbon ribbons. The spring-loaded pinch rollers on the left are deliberately designed not to meet. This is because they are rotated by a small rubber belt which is driven by the left hand spool carrier via a special pulley which replaces the normal ribbon spool. The back of the rubber belt itself actually pulls the ribbon along. Used ribbon is unceremoniously ejected from the left of the machine - in the time-honoured fashion straight into a wastepaper basket !

The customer wanted me to make the attachment work (it had obviously been used for many years with a 'normal' fabric ribbon) At first, I could not understand how the rollers were supposed to drive the carbon ribbon - until I consulted the parts book and realised that the converter pulley and drive belt were missing. No doubt separated from the machine years ago, and then discarded. So I made up a special spool to replace the pulley, and in the absence of the special belt, improvised with an elastic band of the correct length. I am pretty sure that the special belts were like elastic bands, so not too far from the original (You can see the elastic band in the photo - light blue !). Did it work ? Yes it did ! And although a wider band would have done a better job, I didn't have one.

I still think that it is an incredibly crude attachment. No wonder they were so rare. No-one wanted them !