Midsummer miscellany

I don't have a well-developed topic for a post, but thought I would publish a few notes on my recent activities.

I continue to bike around Cincinnati in the early morning, before it gets too hot. Here's a view from Mt. Storm Park just after sunrise today. My new bike doesn't currently have the wherewithal to strap a typewriter onto it, but I'll work on that ...



Although Urban Legend Typewriters is officially on hold, some people in need find their way to me. I just finished restoring this Burroughs, which was very dusty and had a couple of mechanical issues. The main problem was that one cam that's crucial to reversing the ribbon was missing, and the other was damaged. Tyler Elliott on Facebook came to my rescue, and sent me the parts. As I've noted before, in general Burroughs are very robust machines—at least on this one, even the paper table is cast, not sheet metal! But their ribbon reverse system is finicky, and if it fails, it will put tension on a plastic (!) gear at the base of the ribbon shaft, which will break and render the typewriter inoperable. Every typewriter has an Achilles' heel, and this is a classic example.



I've also recently cleaned up an Olivetti Studio 45 and this 1929 Underwood no. 5.



This morning I discovered a review on Amazon that gives me hope that sometimes I can manage to be the person and the writer I aspire to be. It was posted years ago, but it's fresh to me and I very much appreciate it.



I received an advance reader's copy of the forthcoming, mostly typewritten novel by Lee Siegel, Typerotica. Eventually I'll publish a book review here.



Cold Hard Type III: Backspaces is proceeding well. I've received typescripts from most contributors and am lightly photoshopping them into publishable form. We may be able to publish around September 1. Here's a sneak peek at the cover, featuring a photo by Fred Durbin.



Finally, after a three months' wait, I received a historic typewriter that was shipped to me from Romania.



This 1932 Urania-Piccola is signed on the back, in a place normally hidden by the folded paper supports, "M. Heidegger." Martin Heidegger is the philosopher to whom I've devoted most of my research for over three decades. He didn't like using a typewriter, but in 1932, his assistant's Torpedo portable was stolen. Evidently Heidegger bought a replacement, and signed it in case of theft. The typewriter was sold by Strangfeld, a dealer in Berlin.



There is much more to say about this machine, and eventually I think I'll write an article about it. [2022 note: I did.]



In order to afford this typewriter, I sold this Sholes Visible which was a duplicate in my collection. It's shown here with the shifting portion of the carriage removed (an easy thing to do—you just unhook it and lift it out).



I guess it's been a pretty eventful midsummer. I won't even get into my professional news (in brief, I'm starting a three-year term as associate dean in the midst of the turmoil of the pandemic).

I hope my readers are doing well and putting in some good, healthy time at their typewriters.

Burrowing into Burroughs typewriters

Rear view showing part of escapement mechanism, mainspring, and wheel that turns the ribbon shaft 

Ribbon reverse mechanism (left side of typewriter, currently taking up ribbon from right to left). The gears are currently engaged on this side. When the gears are disengaged the mechanism is higher up and the ribbon is moving from left to right. In theory, when the ribbon runs low, the hook will fall down, get caught by the toothed wheel shown here, and drag the mechanism downwards so the gears engage on this side, and the mechanism starts taking up the ribbon. In fact, aside from various particular things that can go wrong, there may not be enough time for this sequence of events to happen before your ribbon runs out completely and the mechanism jams.

Burroughs spool

Woodstock spool

Wide-carriage Burroughs on the operating table. The side and back panels of the typewriter lift off once you remove lots of screws, providing pretty good access to the mechanisms.

Warped and worn-out soft rubber platen knobs. I didn't throw them out -- you never know what might come in handy.

Nice decal on the wide-carriage machine.

Note the subtle difference between earlier and later Burroughs logos: 

The legend on the back panel also evolved to add "Made in the United States of America."

Maybe Burroughs was anticipating exports.

Will Davis on Burroughs typewriters
Will's article on Burroughs in ETCetera no. 76

PS: If you want a service manual for Burroughs, check my collection on The Classic Typewriter Page (service manuals are at the bottom of the page). Alan kindly provided it. The manual takes a lot of things for granted and I did not find that it solved all my problems, but it includes helpful diagrams and some very useful tips.