Author: Diane

The Typing Declutterer – Election Day edition

I guess looking at my blog entries, it has been even longer than I thought since my last update. How time flies!

I actually typed the above text yesterday. However, early yesterday morning, I had made the difficult decision to have one of my cats put to sleep. She had lost so much weight and the vet couldn’t determine why. Her quality of life was not good and that was what ultimately made that decision for me. I miss her very much. It was a terrible way to start the day and the week. I never got around to posting last night.

I forgot to mention that the above text was typed on my 1976 Olympia SM-9.

I plan to do a before and after picture when I have completed the project. I ordered a new shredder today and hope to have it later this week.

The Typing Declutterer

28 August 2022 edition (finally getting published!)

Before
After

Unfortunately, I had my work laptop (left) closed for this exercise. My home laptop is open on the right; it stays open mostly because it is so old that the screen is better off if it remains open.

Edited: Now that it is 9 October 2022 and this post has been sitting in a draft state for a while, I am going to publish it. Not sure why it took me so long to decide that. The other thing is that my desk layout will be changing again because the personal side of the desk needs to be updated as it simply is not working for me. Another post for later.

The Joy of Typewriters

28 March 2021

It’s been a long time since I last posted on my blog. However, during the Typewriter Talk Live that is held each Sunday, I pulled down a typewriter from one of the shelves in my living room and started fiddling with it. The machine in question is a Smith Premier No. 5. I bought it from another collector several years ago and for some reason, never put a ribbon in it or even tried to get a type sample from it.

During the pandemic, I have learned more about the typewriters that I own and want to get each machine back to the point where I can at least get a type sample.

1906 Smith Premier No. 5
1906 Smith Premier No. 5

Back to the SP5, I decided to see if I could get it going. I pulled the entire ribbon off the spool. The ribbon is 1 3/8″ wide. No problem. (I can see users of more modern machines raising their brows at this statement). I have one or two of the larger ribbons when I am ready to put on a new one. Today was just to take a look at it and figure out how (or if) I could get the old ribbon back on and type something.

I removed the platen and saw, you guessed it, LOTS OF DUST!!! I can hear the narrator in the 1943 video, titled, Maintenance of Office Machines, say, “The three deadly enemies of machinery. Dust, dirt, and carelessness.”

While the discussion was ongoing, I brushed out the dust that could be reached with a dry brush. Then, it was time to figure out how to get the ribbon back on the spools and fed properly through the machine.

The Typewriter Talk Live had ended by the time I got the old ribbon attached to both spools and threaded. I was able to generate the following type sample:

Smith Premier 5 type sample
Smith Premier 5 Type sample

I was thrilled to be able to get any text from the old ribbon!

If typewriters could talk, what stories would they tell? In any case, wouldn’t they say, “Please use me to send a letter. Let me fulfill my purpose.” or even, “Thank you.”? But, alas, typewriters cannot talk.

Diane

p.s. Thank you Joe Van Cleave for your video about how you put together your blog for different devices.

There Can Be Only One – Typewriter

As I typed the title for this blog, I was reminded of a show called The Highlander. The tagline to it was, “There can be only one.”

So, In the course of being in any hobby, the inevitable question of “what if you could only have one of whatever it is, which one would it be?” I myself have answered this differently over the years I have collected various things. Even for typewriters. What would your “only one” be?