MKE typewriter

This megadoodle by yours truly appears on the cover of the new QWERTY Quarterly, the official publication of QWERTYFEST MKE. (The decal on the paper table represents the Milwaukee Art Museum.) It should be available soon on Etsy.

 

Parting with parts

I don't even remember where they all came from: these mutilated, disabled writing machines loaded onto my basement shelves. Some were donated, some came from thrift stores, some seem to have been generated spontaneously. 

Often they've provided a useful part here, another there. But the sheer tonnage has been weighing on my mind as well as on my shelves.

Half-functional remnants of once gorgeous typewriters ...

Machines built in the '20s, rebuilt in the '40s, de-built in the 2010s ...

Now-inoperative carcasses of once productive office machines ...

Some might become functional with some elbow grease (and literal grease) ...

Melancholy machines dreaming of long-gone touch ...

To the rescue: Trevor and Becca Brumfield of TB Writers Plus!

They came by this morning and filled their pickup to the brim.

Destination: Dayton, where they're running a typewriter repair business the right way and planning for the long term. 

My parts machines will continue to help writers write, bringing their twentieth-century technology into a twenty-first century that sorely needs it. Bon voyage!

The ROKR wooden typewriter: a closer look

In April I posted about the wooden typewriter from Chinese model kit company ROKR. Easily believing Rokr's prominent warning that this is "NOT A TYPING TOOL," I took it to be a charming, though arguably somewhat kitschy, tribute to typewriters rather than an actual writing machine.

It turns out that the warning on Rokr's ad is overly cautious. Their typewriter does type!

Their website is less modest:

Assemble a real working typewriter you can actually use, complete with moving keys, a rolling carriage, an ink ribbon, and that familiar ding at the end of each line. Type your message on paper and experience this mechanical office staple from the not-so-distant past.

Numerous YouTube videos confirm that the device can type. OK, only in capital letters, and certainly not as smoothly and reliably as the Underwood that inspired it, but it does write. For $119.99, this is an affordable way to get a brand-new writing machine! Or at least, a way to type a few notes.

I haven't tried it myself, but so far, I am certainly more impressed with it than with the nonfunctional Lego typewriter and its imitations. Since it's a keyboard machine, it is also considerably more complex than the functional, 3D-printed neo-Mignon. 

The device is made primarily of laser-cut wooden parts. (Early Remingtons successfully used wooden key levers.) Other parts are plastic or metal, including springs.

Austrian blogger Rodja Pavlik reached out to Rokr, and the company provided the following interview and facts. (The questions seem to have been posed by ROBOTIME to ROKR. I'm unclear on the relation between these two companies. — Update: see comments for a clarification.) Thanks to Rodja for sharing this text! You can find his own reflections on this typewriter at Die Schreibmaschinisten (Google English translation here).

Principal mechanical invention credit for the Rokr typewriter goes to Yuzhen Wang, who worked with product designer Chaorui Guo and product manager Yifan Zhu.

The text below has a few quirks that show it was not written by native English speakers, but it's quite understandable. I've added a few comments in brackets.

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At the swap meet

My efforts to sell much of my collection have been successful. The major step was holding a swap meet at WordPlay Cincy on May 2. It took some planning ... but it's fun for me to do things like design event tickets.

The day before the meet, Dave Brechbiel very generously helped me transport a ton of typewriters to WordPlay from my home and office.

On May 2, weather was pleasant and there was a good turnout—I'd guess about 50 people came by, including longtime collectors and new users. Visitors came from as far as Boston and D.C. Some people had appropriate clothing!

Whether we bought or not, we got to admire and test a wide variety of machines, including classic midcentury portables.

The WordPlay mural formed a perfect backdrop for the swap meet. (Here you can read about the mural and the writers it depicts.)

Yvette brought a full-keyboard Smith Premier no. 10, a red italic Spanish Remington no. 3, and a Royal Quiet Deluze with double gothic type (sans-serif capitals).

Max looks cool next to a selection of machines from my collection and the Brother he brought.

Yes, it is a bit sad to bid goodbye to beautiful speciments like this Hispano-Olivetti M40. But I mostly feel relieved; I have literally had recurring nightmares about managing all these heavy antique machines.

As I expected, not everything sold. The bigger machines especially had some trouble finding new homes. Fortunately, I just had to get them to the basement of WordPlay, with a little help from my friends ....

Here the unsold machines can wait. And I may well decide to keep some of them! (If you spot something you really want, let me know.)

A couple of typewriters ended up donated to WordPlay, including an L.C. Smith with this fabulous decal.

Many people asked: Is this an annual thing?

Answer: Maybe so!

You can find more pictures here.

Swap meet on May 2

 

The sale is underway

My list of nearly 200 typewriters for sale went out to about 300 people on Saturday morning. I've had a good response, with about 1/3 of the typewriters sold or receiving bids so far.

There is a good opportunity now to acquire the remaining 2/3 at quite affordable prices, as long as you're willing to pick them up in Cincinnati by the end of May (perhaps at the May 2 swap meet). Here are pics of a few of the remaining machines. If you're interested, email me and I'll send you a spreadsheet.

A wooden typewriter kit

Seen on eBay this morning. What do you think? They're honest about the fact that you can't type with it, but it looks like it can do more than the Lego typewriter and its imitators. The aesthetic is a little too cutesy for me, but this could be a fun weekend project. As for the inspiration, I think it's clearly based on an Underwood, somewhat simplified (just three banks of keys) and decorated.

Preview of my typewriter sale

Psst! Here are glimpses of a few typewriters I'll be offering. All told, there will be about 175 typewriters from my collection plus about 100 free parts machines.

Here's the plan again:

My sale: On Saturday, April 11, at 9 am Eastern, I will email a spreadsheet that lists the machines I’m selling. You will be able to buy them then for the asking price or make a lower offer. Typewriters will need to be picked up in Cincinnati, Ohio before the end of May.

Swap meet: On Saturday, May 2, there will be a sale at WordPlay Cincy, 1556 Chase Ave., Cincinnati. Unsold machines from my collection will be available, and you can bring your own typewriters for sale or trade. I’ll provide details and instructions in my April 11 email.

If you're not yet on my email list and want to be, let me know.