Saturday, September 12, 2020

Bennettcast




Rem-Blick bikecast




110 years ago, the Bennett and its predecessor, the Junior (which used ink rollers instead of a ribbon), sold in pretty good quantities. (Over 11,000 Juniors and 24,000 Bennetts were made from 1907 to 1913.)



You can find many web pages and videos that show the workings of the Bennett, so I'll just post a few glimpses here.








A disassembled ribbon cup and the ribbon advance mechanism:



Getting the metal to shine was a matter of rubbing patiently with Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish (using a rag, and Q-tips around the decal). The base, which is easily separated from the mechanism, was cleaned with Turtle Wax paste wax.



Now for those two technical tricks I mentioned.

(1) I owe the first insight to Keith of YEG Typewriters in Edmonton, Alberta. In the photo on the left below, there is an eccentric nut held down by a screw. As you turn this nut, you will affect the position of the typewheel when it reaches the printing point. (There are two such nuts, controlling the left and right sides of the keyboard.) The nut must be adjusted so that the holes in the typewheel line up perfectly with the aligning peg at the printing point.

(2) The right photo below shows the bottom of the mechanism. You can see a tiny wheel in the center of the photo; there are two such wheels. You can also see a spring that pulls the mechanism back from the printing point after every stroke (this is actually similar to a Blick). Friction can stop the mechanism from retracting completely, and the typewriter will then fail to move a space forward on the next stroke. In order to avoid this friction, the mechanism needs to be raised just slightly, so that the wheels run lightly and easily across the base. This lift was originally achieved by small felt circles around the screws that connect the base to the mechanism. I had lost all but one of these pieces of felt. Sticking a few new bits of felt on the base allowed the mechanism to move easily back and forth!



Serial number 13103 is stamped on the right rear corner (the photo on the left below also gives you a good view of the right eccentric nut). The number 286 is barely visible, too, scratched into the back of the carriage.






10 comments:

  1. Congratulations on getting your Bennett working. It's also a very nice looking typewriter.

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    1. Thanks, Bill. I can usually count on you to be the first to comment!

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  2. Thanks so much. This is very timely as I just got my Bennett yesterday and it also needs to be adjusted.

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  3. I didn't know that Bennett can type so neat, and has a shaded typeface, until today! I used to think, due to its age, it can barely work, What a ingenious contrivance! Great find Richard.

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  4. Wow. Very impressed with the copy you got out of that Bennett. Looking really good!

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  5. That is a very interesting typewriter. I have never seen one so small. I'll be on the lookout for one from now on.

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  6. I am very impressed you got your Bennett to work that well, and print that nicely. It makes me change my mind about wanting one...

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  7. NIce one - thank you. I've recently acquired a Bennett which is pretty complete although with a cracked platen and a lot of rust on it.

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    1. I got the platen on mine replaced by J. J. Short.

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