The Siemag portable typewriter

The Express and the Siemag:

Skeleton shift on the Siemag:

You can forget about easy access to the escapement (the Express is the same):

The problem I ran into with the ribbon mechanism is that it depends on a hook that hooks around a tiny screw. On my Siemag, this hook kept sliding right off. 

Interestingly, the corresponding hook on the Express curves around more, so that it can't possibly get detached from the screw—a much better design. Could it be that this tiny difference made Siemag portables less reliable and contributed to their swift demise??

I was able to connect these two pieces by wrapping the hook in some shrink tubing, puncturing the tubing, and running a wire through the puncture and the screw hole. Ridiculous, but functional. The ribbon color change doesn't work, but at least you can type.

Click here for more examples of Siemag portables on The Typewriter Database.

Click here to see a big Siemag.

1950 Siemag II T typewriter

Last night I restored this 1950 Siemag II T which I imported from Germany several months ago. It just needed some cleaning to start functioning robustly again. "Robust" is certainly the word for this make. (I picked up a Royal KMM yesterday afternoon from Craigslist, and after hefting the Siemag around, the KMM felt light.) Everything on the Siemag is solid and well-designed.


The Royal-esque side panels come out very easily when you push buttons underneath them. This reveals levers that can be flipped to allow instant removal of the carriage. It's almost as easy as doing it on an Olympia SG1.



As just one glimpse of the quality of this machine, here's a close-up of the controls on the left side of the carriage. Note the thick, chromed pinch lever that selects the line spacing.


Will Davis's II T
More II Ts on The Typewriter Database