Nanonovel no. 2: Ingrid Gudrunsdottir

A visit to Bill Morrison Business Machines

Eugene checks out the Junior:

Robert Messenger is informing Oregonians about Facits:

The Oliver (both it and the Facit are for sale):

Bill Morrison Business Machines

12227 SE Stark

Portland, OR 97266

503-255-1617

Facit's facets: the Facit TP1 typewriter

A ready tool:

The complexity of the end of the carriage is impressive. Note how instead of riding on a conventional carriage rail, the back end of the carriage is housed in a tube.

The lever at the bottom that is marked "1" is used for setting individual tab stops. Push it back to set a tab, pull it forward to clear.

A peek inside the tube, where the carriage rod is surrounded by ball bearings.

The rack of tab stops is inside the body of the machine, instead of on the carriage as is typical. The whole rack moves back when you set a stop, and forward when you clear it.

Now let's take a look at the right end ...

The lever marked "B" (does it stand for a Swedish word?) does something very remarkable. It controls what the user's manual calls the "mechanical memory" -- several pre-set tab stops. When you push the lever, seven tab stops are activated (at positions 0, 20, 42, 64, 74, 84, and 94). Pull the tab forward, and all tabs are cleared.

I know of some typewriters that have fixed tab stops, but no others that let you alternate between pre-set tab stops and stops of your own choosing.

Now let's raise the paper rest. The two prongs are connected by a bar that makes them move in parallel.

Under the hood, we find a touch control at the left front corner. This control and the typebasket are very reminiscent of this machine's predecessor, the Halda portable.

The keys are pleasantly concave.

The edge of the keyboard shows careful styling.

The carriage lock is at the left top corner of the keyboard; it's engaged when it's up, and you push it down to release the carriage.

Like the Halda portable, the TP1 has one big rectangular "foot" that makes it very stable.

Handsome typewriter, eh?

Now, of course, I'm curious about the TP2. Did they manage to improve on this machine?


Read more about the TP1 and its designer, Sigvard Bernadotte, on Robert Messenger's blog.
Halda/Facit history by Will Davis
Bill M's techno typeface TP1
A TP1 finished in wrinkle paint on Fossils Without Fear