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Saturday, April 28, 2012

Mystery typewriter parts

A quiz for you: What are these typewriter parts?

The first photo shows a factory-made part.
The next photo shows the first three prototypes I created, inspired by the factory part.
The last photo shows my fourth attempt, which works as intended.

Guess away in the comments, and the truth will be revealed in due course.



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9 comments:

  1. tr0xApril 28, 2012 at 10:19 AM

    When I saw the first photo I thought of a sort of spring used in the mechanism for releasing the paper rollers... but while this one is almost flat, the last one is more three dimensional, so I really don't know :-D

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  2. Ton S. April 28, 2012 at 10:25 AM

    All I see are mangled paper clips. ) :

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  3. Ryan AdneyApril 28, 2012 at 10:29 AM

    Could it be a carriage return lever spring? Perhaps it is for a very oddly-shaped carriage return lever.

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  4. notagainApril 28, 2012 at 11:45 AM

    I have no idea, I'm obsessing on that interesting ruler. The part does look as if it loops around the carriage end to hold something.

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  5. Rob BowkerApril 28, 2012 at 12:42 PM

    I have an old boxwood rule of my grandfather's just like that. These look like retaining clips and from the patina, I'd say from a post 1960 machine. More than that would be plain guesswork.

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  6. Richard PApril 28, 2012 at 2:08 PM

    Keep guessing, folks.

    That's a 19th-century folding ruler, a gift from a friend which is very useful.

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  7. AnonymousApril 29, 2012 at 1:03 AM

    It's the spring from the mousetrap on the rare 1956 Remington "Rifletyper" as used by Ernest Hemingway and other adventurer-authors.

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  8. Scott KApril 29, 2012 at 4:34 AM

    Not a spring. This is a clip. It slots into a location and is meant to be pinched together to lock a component or something into place. It is also meant to be removed with occasional regularity. I'm guessing the extension is a pin that also locks something. So, I'm guessing a component that locks a ribbon spool into place.

    Other than that, My other guess would be a ribbon cover, or typewriter case lock.

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  9. rnApril 29, 2012 at 12:11 PM

    Looks like a spring or guide to control the motion of raising a paper bail and to provide enough pressure to hold the bail against the paper when it's flipped down. Rob

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