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.