26 June 2020

This Remington Portable typewriter was gifted by Terry and Shay at number 7, being aware of my interest in such antiquities. This occurred during the Covid lockdown, but as typists are key workers permission was granted.

History

In the UK, BSA (Birmingham Small Arms Company Ltd) produced both firearms and motorcycles. Over in the USA, E. Remington and Sons made both firearms and typewriters. Strange bedfellows maybe, but effective diversification.

The writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton pronounced the pen to be mightier than the sword, which could equally apply to the keyboard and revolver.

Needless to say, Remington did not acknowledge such comparison in their advertising.

Founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington II, the firm manufactured the first commercial ″Type-Writer″. This model incorporated the QWERTY key layout, and their follow up model 2 was the first to allow both upper and lower case letters using a shift key.

An early adopter of the Remington was Mark Twain, the first to publish a typewritten book - albeit dictated to, and typed by, his secretary Isabel Lyon.

This may have been quite frustrating for them, as the machine was an under-strike design that required Isabel to lift the hinged carriage and look underneath to check what she had typed.

Records for models assembled outside the USA are incomplete, but apparently the prefix EC was used for models assembled in the UK from 1930 to 1938. The TypewriterDatabase lists an early 1930s model 2 machine with the serial no. EC42046 - mine looks similar and is EC42154, so probably of similar vintage.

Agatha Christie favoured Remingtons. The 1937 model illustrated, courtesy The Christie Archive Trust, was supposedly used to write And Then There Were None.

The case of Agatha's model featured a fitted cleaning brush. The guarantee details glued to her case survived but its leather handle didn't. My case fared less well - its guarantee is torn, its handle is lost and it never had the fancy cleaning brush!

Quarantine over

Almost 6 years have now elapsed, so the chances of contracting Covid from the keyboard is minimal.

The first step is to familiarise myself with the operation and controls. The main take away is that the machine should not be operated until it is released from its storage configuration - the type bar needs to be raised and the platen knob pulled out.

Remington had to make other compromises for portability - for instance there is no platen knob on the left, the carriage return lever is less prominent than usual, and the paper table is shallower, augmented by two folding paper support arms.

Modern keyboard warriors would note the lack of 0 1 + = and !  keys. Vintage typists would have used a replacement character (eg lower case L for 1) or a combination (such as period, backspace, apostrophe for !).

I carry out an initial assessment, as shown in that mock-up. There is nothing too dramatic, so I remove the top cover and ribbons, and investigate platen removal.

There is much online to help, such as the TypewriterDatabase, Classic Typewriter Page, MyOldTypewriter, Backspace Does Not Erase (badonoer) and typewriters.ch websites. Many manuals are also available.

Disassembly

The machine is secured to the base by 4 screws. Once detached, the underside can be inspected - quite dirty as expected.

The top cover is secured by 4 screws at the sides and two smaller screws to the front. The platen is secured by an unusually thin slotted screw. There is much discussion online on methods to remove this fitting, but in my case the screw is easily removed. This allows the spindle to be withdrawn from the left and the platen eased out - remembering first to secure the ratchet mechanism on the left. With the platen removed, the metal paper well can be detached. This is secured by a pin at each end, accessible from underneath.

The exposed carriage bed is covered in all sorts of gunge, derived from paper fragments and ribbon residue. What originally looked like rust spots were fortunately easily removed red debris.

One of the rubber paper rollers is misaligned, and cannot be pushed back - this is resolved by heating it up until soft enough to push into place.

Platen refurbishment

There is also much discussion online about how to restore hard and pitted platens. I use emery cloth to level the surface, but it is probably too hard to provide sufficient grip for feeding paper.

One suggestion is to heat the rubber, and I warily use my hot air gun. The surface gets quite hot but no tackier before I bail out. Another suggestion is to apply heat-shrink tubing, using a durometer to achieve optimum Shore hardness (Albert Shore was an American metallurgist).

I am also wary of this approach, and after further search I discover AF Platenclene Rubber Roller Cleaner and Restorer. According to the manufacturer this should restore roller flexibility by dissolving ink stains, oil and grease. We'll see.

Applying the restorer to the platen and paper rollers does indeed remove the surface bloom and ink residue.

The type bars and linkages are cleaned up using a pastry brush. I use these for cleaning the coffee machine too, and at £1 a pop from Harts of Stur these are a valuable addition to my toolkit.

The line finder is a strangely contoured item, and it's difficult to determine the correct shape. It could also do with a paint touch-up, but painting is not one of my strengths, so I opt for authenticity and replace it as is.

Ribbon

The existing ribbon is tired and dry. I obtain a red/black replacement from Charlie Foxtrot, which according to their website was founded by Julie and Philip Chapman in 2012 in Sydney, selling typewriters online. They subsequently relocated to somewhere in rural Dorset - I don't know exactly where, so order the ribbon online.

I also cannot resist buying a cleaning brush from them, although my model does not have the built-in brush holder that we saw earlier on Agatha's machine.

The ribbon is a ½″ wide universal fitting, supplied on plastic reels. It needs to be shortened for my machine, and rewound onto the Remington's metal reels. This turns out to be a messy operation, as the ribbon ink is surprisingly wet (I've not handled a fresh typewriter ribbon before!).

The new ribbon has a rivet at each end to trigger the ribbon drive reversal mechanism found on some other machines.

The Remington reels use metal clips to secure the ribbon ends - quite straightforward, but also messy. Strangely, each of my reels has 'top right' stamped on it. Once wound, the reels are replaced and the ribbon routed accordingly - a messy process again. Unfortunately the ribbon does not advance during typing. The reels have small projections for the drive mechanism to engage, and mine were fitted upside down. If inserted the right way up the red strip would be uppermost - this is wrong, so I unwind the spools and (messily) rewind them correctly.

Footwork

The original feet would have provided shock resistance in transit, and a protective base when operated out of the case. However the feet have deteriorated badly - there are a number of options online, but none currently in the UK. The closest to the original design retail at 40USD, which seems excessive.

I therefore opt for a set of M8 26mm diameter soft rubber spacers made by Hawkeng, who make plastic injection moulded components at their Yorkshire base.

These have a hardness of Shore A 45, which is apparently slightly firmer than a baby's dummy.

Assembly

Assembly is straightforward, other than having two small screws left over. This is not an uncommon problem, but it takes an inordinate amount of time to discover where to insert them.

Testing ...

With the machine fully cleaned, assembled and ribboned up, it's time to test my typing skills.

All the controls appear to function correctly, although typed letters are slightly smudgy, indicating that the keyslugs need cleaning. After a quick scrub to remove ink residue the characters print cleanly.

Handling ..

A fully functional portable deserves an equally functional case, and hence a handle is required.

The original case would have had a leather strap, which like many of this vintage has since perished. Being unable to source a replacement I decide to fashion a handle bought via Etsy using the existing case fittings. This involves modifying the handle brackets and creating a hinge using Chicago screws …

The new handle brackets are removed, and one from each side is fitted to the handle using a Chicago screw. The brackets slide neatly inside the existing case fitting, using a small section of foam rubber to pad the gap.

Type approval

I'm happy with the completed project. The machine now looks suitably age worn yet clean, and operates as it should. I don't expect to write any murder mysteries on it, but as Agatha Christie apparently said, assumptions are dangerous things. . .