Things I've Done Since September

It's been several months since I've updated you, my regular readers, on the happenings in my world. We last talked about the various typings culled from our highly successful Type-In at the ABQ Museum in August of 2025. We also had acquired a lovely Adler J3 typewriter, seen above. I've been wanting to make a comparison video between that German-made medium-size portable and several other German machines, because I've since acquired another Olympia, which we will get to in a moment.



In September I had been having fun with the newly purchased Nakajima WPT-150 daisywheel machine, and this video (above) was the second one I had made about it. I found it useful to document as much as I could about these machines, partly because not that much has been done to document them in video format, and also because they are still in manufacture.



Next, I made a video about securing typewriter cases whose latches are wonky. This has been a recurring problem since I first began collecting. Some portables, like the Olivetti Lettera 22, were well known for their zippers rotting out. Other machines of mine have broken latches or zippers in various states of failure, and up till now I've been using military web belts to secure the cases. But in this video (above) I decided to explore making custom straps for the purpose. I remember seeing, some years ago, nylon strapping with plastic latching buckles available at hardware stores. It turns out these local stores have ceased carrying these components, but I was able to secure the necessary parts from my local REI sporting goods store. As I indicated in the video, I could probably have found a cheaper source of parts online, but I didn't want to wait, so acquired them locally. These straps have turned out to work very nicely for the job, and I will be making and using more of them as needed.



Next up was a fun photography project involving using the screen of my iPad Mini as a digital negative. I took a black and white digital photograph from the tablet and made the image negative. You can do this either via photo editing software (by inverting the tone curve) or more simply by setting the tablet's screen to "smart invert" mode. I display the image full-screen. With the table set in this way (and the device on airplane mode, notifications off and the power saving feature turned off) I proceeded to load some sheets of black and white print paper into a 4x5 sheet film holder and, using my Intrepid camera with Fujinon 135-F/5.6 lens, I photographed the screen of the tablet direct to paper. It's helpful to ensure no glare from artificial lights hits the screen of the tablet while doing this. By simply processing the paper in conventional black and white paper chemistry I ended up with finished 4x5 prints of the image. The beauty of this process is by either toning the negative image digitally, or using colored contrast-control gelatin filters over the camera lens, the print's contrast can be directly controlled. Also, more sophisticated darkroom techiques are possible, such as dodging and/or burning parts of the digital negative image ahead of time, so the process of making the finished silver gelatin print is as simple as expose and develop. More work using this technique is certainly warranted.



Next up was a niftly project that involved making a calendar system that works kind of like an abacus, but instead of beads on rods it uses steel balls in pockets. There's a central set of pockets for the seven days of the week (in blue); two fields (in yellow) for the units and tens digits of the date of the month; and six additional pockets (in white) for storing unused balls. Since making this device I've used it every day and the only issue I've had is knocking the balls off while busy on my studio table. I've now acquired a set of small rare earth magnets and will be making a follow-on version using magnets to hold the balls in place, along with additional pockets for the twelve months of the year (six on the left and six on the right). I have a friend who's seen this device and wants me to make a version for him.



Along with typewriter and other videos I on occasion make these more "arty" pieces, this one about the turkey vultures who blessed us with their presence in the neighborhood this summer, roosting in the tops of some large cedar trees across the street. They've since gone off to warmer climes, but we hope they return next season.



The final Nakajima WPT-150 video was about fixing that nagging problem of the bottoms of some characters printing lighter in tone than the rest. It turned out that by examining the exploded view of the machine in the parts document at the NADIST.COM website I was able to identify the adjustments on the left and right sides of the printing carrier for making this adjustment. The result is that now the machine prints very nicely, as it should.

I also identified the inexpensive six-pack of ribbon cartridges I bought off Amazon as being junk, with poorly manufactured film. But I also identified several sources of good ribbons, both from Amazon and Ribbons Unlimited. This has me confident that I can give this machine plenty of use and be able to keep it in fresh ribbon.

Incidentally, the machine was technically under warranty, so I could have sent it back for that printing problem, but I wanted to learn how to do the adjustment, and of course to document it for others to learn from.



I also made a comparison video between two SCM 6-series electric machines, the Coronet Automatic 12 and the Electra 220. These are very similar machines, the Coronet lacking the power-on lamp, but the Coronet also has the half-line spacing feature. It turns out that many of these SCM electrics were not well documented, so it's up to us owners to document them as best we can. This is especially true of their serial numbers, as Smith-Corona didn't publicize many serial number dates for these machines.

Since making this video I've gifted the Coronet to a friend, who wanted one of these workhorse typers with the energetic automatic carriage return. Jitters, as the brown-toned machine is known by, will be missed; but I have three other SCM electrics in my collection to give me comfort.



One Friday morning while on a neighborhood walk I happened by an estate sale. I returned after breakfast with my car and found this lovely Olympia SM4 in script typeface, for $10! It needed a bit of work, the usual bushings being crushed flat, and a bit of degreasing and cleaning, along with a fresh ribbon, but it types wonderful now.

Being as this is now my fourth German medium-sized portable (the others being the SM3, the Optima Super and the Adler J3) I figure a comparison video will be in my immediate future!

At last weekend's Typewriter Social I showed up with my new SM4, my wife brought the SM3, our friend Kevin brought his SM4 with an international keyboard, and a newcomer brought her SM7, making for a good showing of these well-made German machines. Not to be outdone, two other guests brought their Hermes Rockets!



Fiddling around with the Brother-made Kmart 300 Deluxe 12, I discovered that it (being a JP-7 chassis) has an automatic paragraph indent feature, similar to many of the Olivetti portables. This feature is activated by pressing and holding the margin release while making a carriage return. The carriage on the Brother will stop 5 spaces right of the left margin setting. It was fun discoving this feature, as up till now I'd assumed only the Olivettis (and Olivetti-Underwoods) sported this ability.

I've also been tinkering with the abacus, here are two new abacus videos I've made, they are unlisted right now on YouTube but are accessible through my Abacus Playlist.



This one (above) talks about taking the Chinese 2:5 version and masking off the bottom row of beads (using a piece of cardstock folded for the purpose) to make a novel 2:4 configuration abacus, that has some properties of both the Chinese 2:5 and Japanese 1:4.



Naturally, when I get interested in some subject I fixate on it and this second video (above) is the result, a guide for the newcomer to decide which type of abacus to get in order to learn this ancient skill, the choice being between the modern 1:4 Soroban, the older 1:5 Soroban or the 2:5 Chinese Suan Pan.

I will be publishing these two abacus video this week, so look for them on my main YouTube feed.

I'm also in the process of making a lens review of a new L-mount lens, so look forward to that one also.

Thanks for stopping by and reading!

Typings Culled From the Museum

Last month we had our most successful public typewriter event yet at the Albuquerque Museum, where hundreds of people had the opportunity to try their hand at a dozen typewriters we had brought. Check out the blog article for more details.

Just like with previous events, once the crowds have dispersed we are left to pack up our machines and collect the papers strewn across tables and left in carriages. I'm always enjoying the after-event reading of the culled typings, sometimes a day or two later, which has become for me a kind of private celebration of yet another opportunity to see the Venn Diagrams of typewriters and the public at large converge and overlap, if but for a brief moment.

Often times the typings are roughly done or barely legible with too slight of neophyte finger force upon keys, and too often riddled with repetitive hints of quick brown foxes and lazy dogs galore. Yet in the midst of the drivel are hints, barely perceptible perhaps, of the inner spirits of poets and writers struggling to be set free. With that in mind, I present to you the culled typings from this event. Enjoy.

Adler J3

This is the original dealer tag, from Boulder, Colorado.

There's a second tag on the left side from a California-based office supply store in Universal City.


The styling of this machine is wonderful! The three levers visible here are, from left to right, paper release, carriage release and all tabs clear. The carriage lock lever is visible on the bottom.


Another beauty shot!
I think the feel of the keys is great, similar to either an Olympia SM3/4 or Optima Super, but slightly different, enough such that each of those machines has their own personality, and whether a person prefers one to the others is up to how their personality gels with the machine's. Yes, the SM3/4 has a metal body shell, as does the Optima, but the styling of the Adler is superb.

To remove the body shell, you remove the four screws on the bottom, then unscrew the left platen knob and three screws securing the left carriage cover, then remove the cover. Then loosen the screws on the right carriage cover and remove the rear panel with the paper support. This then gives you enough room to move the carriage fully to the left and lift the right side of the body shell up and over the carriage tracks.


I've noticed that many portables have carriage bearing races made of formed sheet metal. But the Adler's are machined, a manufacturing method more involved, but possibly producing a more accurate part.



Above is a side view of the one remaining intact locking lever bushing. The righthand mechanism was entirely missing the rubber bushing, so I installed some grommets that work well enough to lock the machine into its case bottom.

Here's a blog article from Mary of My Old Typewriter where she shows how she fixed the case lock bushings, and also mentions Ted's blog article on how to finnagle the machine from its case bottom when the locking mechanism is broken. There's also a link to the Adler J3 manual in Mary's article so be sure to check it out!

A Busy Type-In Month!

Our 12-typewriter setup at the Albuquerque Museum

This month has been busy for the ABQwerty Type Writer Society! We kicked off the month on August 2nd at the Ernie Pyle library with a Type-In celebrating the famed journalist's birthday. Check out this blog article for details.

THE SECOND EVENT:

Next came our biggest event yet: a public typewriter gathering in conjunction with the Albuquerque Museum's third-Thursday-of-the-month Open House, that promised hundreds of guests and the opportunity to rub elbows with a wide variety of creatives from the community.


The official program of the evening's events

Along with our public Type-In, our very own Woz Flint graced the main auditorium with several presentations throughout the evening on the topic of "Embracing the Typewriter in a Digital World," based on her book The Distraction-Free First Draft. I would also like to encourage you to click the link and consider acquiring Woz's book, it really is a great motivator if you are a typewriter geek who also aspires to write.

Our friends Bill Tefft and Ethan Moses were a great help to me in hauling typewriters to and from my vehicle, assisting in setting up and tearing down, and interfacing with the public throughout the evening; along with Woz's help, I couldn't have managed this event without them.

For this event we set up in the main hallway that connects various gallery rooms, just adjacent to the auditorium where Woz made her presentations. This turned out to be a great location, as people exploring the museum were immediately attracted to our interactive display of a dozen typewriters, ranging in age from 1947 to 1978.

For this event I brought the following machines: 1960 Smith-Corona 5TE Electric (the only electric I brought); 1947 Royal KMM (in its laser-cut plywood transport box); 1952 Royal Arrow (surprisingly popular with the crowd!); a sampling of three Hermes 3000s, one from each body style; 1954 Smith-Corona Silent-Super; 1966 Olivetti Studio 44; 1962 Underwood-Olivetti Studio 44; 1973 SCM Galaxie Twelve; 1978 Olympia SM9; 1976 Brother/Kmart 300 Deluxe.

We were continuously busy for entire duration of the event, helping to familiarize newbies to typewriters, getting them set up to write and answering (or attempting to) their many questions. We also gained dozens of new contacts to our mailing list, who we hope will become active participants in future events.

As has been my recent style, I've photographed the hands of many of the participants upon keyboards, illustrating the popularity of the event while helping to anonymize their identities. Here's a long list of such images; the rest of this article follows these photos.













The surprise highlight of the evening was the coordinator of the event collected an assortment of "typings" from our tables and a local poet used them to create a spoken-word poem, which was then performed by a trio of young people. This and other highlights from this evening are included in my video:




THE THIRD EVENT:

This month's third typewriter event was a "Type-Out" at one of our favorite locations, Pennysmiths Papers, located in the Rio Grande greenbelt of Albuquerque's north valley. Emily and her staff were super helpful in getting tables, tablecloths, chairs and decorations set up for the event, which went from 11am to (officially) 3PM but actually ended near 4PM, with enthusiastic visitors wanting to try the typewriter even as we were tearing down!

Here are some photos from that event:



This Skyriter was brought by one of our members:


For this event I swapped out the KMM and oldest Hermes 3000 for the Remington Ten Forty, Seiko-made Royal Century and KUKA (Kellar Und Knappach Augsburg) Exemplar 300:













A common theme from these latter two events was the question "Where can I get a typewriter?" I can't count how many times I heard that question this week! Our usual response was "Visit John Lewis" or "Look online," but those answers seem so inadequate. What people seem to be looking for are a ready-to-purchase consumer product, not necessarily a lifestyle of tinkering and DIY-ingenuity.

I think over the last few years we've done a great job of evangelising the local populace to the fun and inspiration that comes from a dedicated, direct-to-paper writing device like a typewriter, but there remains a gap between demand for such a device and actual supply. Which has me think ... but that's a topic for another blog article, and/or video! Stay tuned!

In the meanwhile, I've made it a habit to test out each machine before and after each event; beforehand, to ensure a reliable machine for the event; afterward to catch any mechanical faults induced by the public's hard use. (Just between you and I, I'm nervous whenever I see a young child heading for a typewriter, and keep my third eye on the lookout for possible abusive behavior, such as jamming the typebars together then trying to move the carriage -- which can break the escapement starwheel.) I'm fortunate to report that all my machines survived intact and with zero problems noted! I also clean up the cases and wipe the body panels and keyboard, ready for yet another upcoming event!