At Last, an Update!

Here's the work I did on the Royal Century:



Here's the 1941 Underwood Universal, at the Ernie Pyle Library event:



I think the standout machine at this event was the Remington Portable No.2 (which formerly was my machine but I've since given it to my friend Bill), as Ernie evidently used one of these as a traveling journalist in the 1930s.



Okay, back to that pretty blue Seiko-made Century, I was impressed with the consistency between it and both Mercurys I've owned, in terms of build quality, precision of alignment, type quality and feel on the keys. I've discussed this before many times with friends, and did at least one video on the subject, but if there is a spectrum of quality in typewriters, where the smaller and lighter the machine the poorer it is, I'd rank the Seiko machines as the smallest, lightest with decent build quality, alignment and typing feel. Any smaller, like the Hermes Baby/Rocket and SC Skyriter and there always seems to be noticeable compromises at play. This is my experience from having owned three Seikos (four if you count the electric Saturn), two Rockets and a Skyriter. Here's a video where I discuss small typewriters:



Both Mercurys I've owned were made in the early 1970s ('71 and '72) while this Century appears to be vintage 1967. The electric Saturn was also made in 1971.

Both the Royal Saturn and Century are irresistable if for no other reason than their blue color; there's something about a blue typewriter!

Before I close, I must also mention another machine that entered my collection, a green Kmart 300 Deluxe, made by Brother. This was a gift from our friend Matthew, and the machine comes in a handy clamshell plastic case that I think is very convenient for protecting the machine and makes it easy to carry too.



It features keyset tabs, a repeat spacer and a 12 inch carriage. Brothers are another Japanese-made machine that seem to be high quality, but it's been a few years since I've had one. I think this begs for me to make a comparison video between the two Japanese-made brands in my collection, the Seiko and the Brother. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, here's my review video on the Brother-made Kmart 300:



Since my last blog update I also made a video about how to use the Typewriter Database:



Finally, I also made a video about this crazy idea for a typing scale, inspired by our friend David Karoly: