A customer of Urban Legend Typewriters brought me this Mercedes that she had bought in a German antique shop. (The shop later flooded, so this typewriter was saved from a sad fate.) I had never gotten my hands on a Mercedes standard before—they are rare in the US. (And no, they were not made by Mercedes-Benz.) It was an exciting, though sometimes challenging job to clean, restore, and repair this machine.
I knew that these typewriters were supposed to have an exchangeable keyboard/typebar unit. With the advice of fellow typospherians and some muscle, I managed to remove the unit, which had been locked into the machine by petrified grease. Two game pieces were hidden away inside.
The platen was rock hard and went off to J.J. Short for replacement. Many things needed adjustment or repair; notably, the shift mechanism was missing a piece and I had to raid my junk pile to find a substitute. But after many hours, this typewriter is good to go.
Although the design is very reminiscent of an Underwood, a close look shows that the Mercedes engineers tried to improve on every feature of the Underwood, and I'd say that for the most part they succeeded.
For example, the left and right margin stops are on the carriage, not the body of the machine, avoiding the counterintuitive set-up of the Underwood (where the right margin stop is on the left, and vice versa).
In back, you can see the tab stops on top, the enclosed mainspring on the right, and the tabulator brake in the smaller circular enclosure on the left.
The only feature I really disagree with is that the left platen knob is only for fractional spacing (i.e. permanently adjusting the line setting). To roll paper up or down normally, you have to use the right knob.
This keyboard includes Czech letters and a symbol in the upper right corner that I believe means square meters.
I believe it's a model 6 Express, but it might also be a 5.
Finally, here is my guide to the functions of this excellent machine.
Congratulations on your fine work!
ReplyDeleteSure is a beautiful and interesting machine. I don't know that I ever saw one before.
Now to get back to reading your novel.
Beautiful, the paint turned out nice & glossy! The replaceable keyboard is a interesting feature as well. And as bill says; now back to reading you're novel.
ReplyDeleteBrillant work, well done.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely wonderful restoration and what a peach of a typewriter! I congratulate the owner on liberating this machine and saving it from a horrific death. Very nice post!
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful machine. Thanks for documenting it for the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. The last thing I need is another standard but there's one of these going for (currently) peanuts locally. I'm seeing how firm my resolve is, but if I cave, I may be in touch :-)
ReplyDeleteI retrieved an old one from my father, but the charriage is somehow blocked, while typing it doens't move, sliding it to the beginning of the page does not work either. Any idea whats going on here?
ReplyDeleteIt's very hard to diagnose remotely. Possibly the escapement mechanism is jammed or frozen, perhaps due to old grease.
DeleteI ordered a Mercedes Express 6 S from Ukraine. Arrived in complete and solid condition…. But very dirty and oily…. Seems like someone oiled it regularly, and everywhere!
ReplyDeleteLots of cleaning, and a bath at the local hand car wash, using the “engine & tire” cleaning setting on the power wand, it is finally clean and working!! Mine is from 1945, and has panels covering the open sides, and black and red plastic keys, and a door over the key basket, so all in all, a bit newer and more streamlined looking!
These are great machines, and an improvement, as you say, on their Underwood roots!