Happy International Typewriter Day!

I was thinking about what I would do for Typewriter day and decided to take my 1941 Corona Zephyr out to the ballpark.  This little portable precursor to the Skyriter seemed like just the machine that a sports reporter would bring to the ballpark back in the day.  My ballpark of choice is the Recreation Field in Montpelier, VT which was constructed in 1940 and hosted the traveling teams of that era.  This ballpark currently is home field for the Vermont Mountaineers, a college league team.

One of the most enjoyable things I have found about collecting vintage typewriters is how excited the students at my school get about these machines!  I have one boy who is seriously into typewriters and already has an Olympia, a Smith-Corona and an Oliver in his collection.  The young lady in the photo is posing with the Galaxy 12 that her mom and dad gave her for her birthday.  They had come in to ask me to adjust the ribbon and posed for this Typewriter Day photo!

Whether your typewriter is "youngish" or "oldish," I wish you a very happy Typewriter Day!

Remington 3 at the Type-In

This lovely two-tone green 1929 Remington #3 showed up at the Type-In almost by accident. Angela Palm came to get some coffee with her two little boys and noticed all of the typewriters.  She writes in an office upstairs from Maglianero's and went to get her Remington.  Angela had bought it at a local antique shop but it had a twisted ribbon.  Sam fixed that right away and she and her boys were happily typing on this fine machine. An especially nice detail on this typewriter is the replacement shift key from the the "American Writing Machine Company."  Putting advertisements on a shift key was a common practice for vendors and seems very fitting for this typewriter who is now in the hands of a writer.

Type-In News & Pictures

I was excited to see an article in Vermont's Seven Days newspaper about last weekend's type-in.  I am glad the event has gotten such a great response.  I will definitely be holding another type-in this fall.  

I'd also like to share some pictures of the fine machines that people brought to the type-in.  This first typewriter was brought in by Ryan McPhee. It might look common at first glance, being a Sears typewriter, but this "President" model has some special features.

First off, this is really a cross between Smith-Corona Silent Super and Galaxy 12 under the hood.  Secondly, this model types in cursive font.  Lastly, this particular typewriter has some unusual keys.  More specifically, the keys are unusual but the slugs are not.  Can you spot the difference?

Type-In Part One: The People

Vermont's first Type-In was a great success.  Eleven people came to the Maglianero Cafe in Burlington, Vermont to treasure some fine manual typewriters. Debbie came first and typed all afternoon on my SM3. Jenn brought her daughter Gillianne who looked like she was well on her way to getting vintage typewriter for her writing.  Ryan came up from the Connecticut River valley with a brown and tan twin to my black and white Underwood Quiet Tab Deluxe.  Margot came from the local paper and typed in between interviews.  Nicki brought her son Derek who got his Smith-Corona repaired.  Sam, of Samfixit, repaired a number of machines besides Derek's.  It was fantastic to see so many typing enthusiasts leaving with smiles on their faces and their newly repaired machines.  I'd like to give a big shout-out to Maddie and everyone at the Maglianero Cafe for hosting us. Everyone had a great time and asked that I schedule another type-in soon- and I will!

Sam-fix-it!

A back seat full of typewriters!

Vermont's First Type-In is Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day - Vermont will have its first Type-In at the Maglianero Cafe at 47 Maple St. in Burlington from 2-5 PM.  Come and bring your typewriter to show or trade.  There will be speed-typing and creative writing contests.  Sam Carlson will be by to offer $10 typewriter tune ups.  The day will be a blast!

Underwood Quiet Tab Deluxe

I posted a small picture of my new typewriter and Jack of A Kid, a Mouse, and a Typewriter guessed that it was Underwood Quiet Tab Deluxe, from 1956.  I will have more to tell about this spended machine in the days to come but check out the picture below.  Cody, the cool guy that I bought it from is totally into 50's, 60's vintage.  That's a 1953 Hotpoint Stove that he rescued for his house!

Lots of Typewriters in this Small State

It was an L.C. Smith and a Remington

My sneak peak was a fun little contest and there were a number of good guesses. JustAnotherGuy was partially right at first, the putty colored machine was a Remington Standard which, I believe, is the same as a Super-Riter.  RobertG threw me for a loop guessing a Harry Smith which I guess could technically be right because Harry Smith refurbished many typewriters.  Maryech got both right - L.C. Smith #5 and a Remington Super-Riter (Standard).   Thanks for playing along with the comments.  I will have to wait until after this Saturday's Type-In before I give these two typers more attention.  The Remington has a broken drawcord but is otherwise in great shape - built like a tank!  The L.C. Smith actually types and just needs a cleaning.

Olympia-cast and a Sneak Peak

I put a new ribbon in my Olympia SM8 and took it out for a typecast. You can see that it types just as well as I thought it would.

And now for the sneak peak....I got two new typewriters today.  A parent at school who collected military antiques gave me a dog-tag pressing machine.  Quite a cool object but not something that fits in with my collection.  The husband of one of my teachers does collect military items and traded me two typewriters for it.  I only got to look at them for a few minutes, so here is a sneak peak at these two typers.  Can you guess what they are?