Halda Star typewriter

Halda Star and Olympia SG1:



Mayan temple:



Halda portable (more here):





You can read about the Facit portable here.

The Star's rubber base:



The Star disassembled:

Facit's facets: the Facit TP1 typewriter

A ready tool:

The complexity of the end of the carriage is impressive. Note how instead of riding on a conventional carriage rail, the back end of the carriage is housed in a tube.

The lever at the bottom that is marked "1" is used for setting individual tab stops. Push it back to set a tab, pull it forward to clear.

A peek inside the tube, where the carriage rod is surrounded by ball bearings.

The rack of tab stops is inside the body of the machine, instead of on the carriage as is typical. The whole rack moves back when you set a stop, and forward when you clear it.

Now let's take a look at the right end ...

The lever marked "B" (does it stand for a Swedish word?) does something very remarkable. It controls what the user's manual calls the "mechanical memory" -- several pre-set tab stops. When you push the lever, seven tab stops are activated (at positions 0, 20, 42, 64, 74, 84, and 94). Pull the tab forward, and all tabs are cleared.

I know of some typewriters that have fixed tab stops, but no others that let you alternate between pre-set tab stops and stops of your own choosing.

Now let's raise the paper rest. The two prongs are connected by a bar that makes them move in parallel.

Under the hood, we find a touch control at the left front corner. This control and the typebasket are very reminiscent of this machine's predecessor, the Halda portable.

The keys are pleasantly concave.

The edge of the keyboard shows careful styling.

The carriage lock is at the left top corner of the keyboard; it's engaged when it's up, and you push it down to release the carriage.

Like the Halda portable, the TP1 has one big rectangular "foot" that makes it very stable.

Handsome typewriter, eh?

Now, of course, I'm curious about the TP2. Did they manage to improve on this machine?


Read more about the TP1 and its designer, Sigvard Bernadotte, on Robert Messenger's blog.
Halda/Facit history by Will Davis
Bill M's techno typeface TP1
A TP1 finished in wrinkle paint on Fossils Without Fear

I adopt a Scandinavian

The rear of the carriage swings back, as on some Smith-Coronas, to reveal the margin settings and paper support:

The line space dial:

Intended as a foot, serving as a knob:

"M" is for Margin:

The ƒ (guilder/florin) key; touch regulator; silicone (?) typebar rest;
unique ribbon spool with 9/16" ribbon:

A plaque on the back indicates the store that sold the machine.

"Kantoorinstallaties" means "office installations" (machines?) in Dutch.

One big foot: