First off: Mary, it turns out the only wood in a Royal 5 is the space-bar.
So just a couple of days ago I introduced you to my new Royal 5 typewriter. Since then, I realized it was pretty severely rusted in multiple places, and overall an incredibly dirty machine.
Honestly, it reminded me of my Underwood 5 when I first got it. I suppose there's just something about model "5"s for me that means they cant be ready to go right off the bat. Oh well.
Overall, the Royal 5 turned out to be a very well designed, simple, yet very functional typewriter. It has all the amenities of larger, full priced desktops of the time, yet has its own unique twist to it all.
And I came to realize that, like, half the bloody machine is in the carriage. The bloody thing was a third the entire mass of the machine.
Anyway, here is the Royal 5 now that I'm knee deep in old grime and grease.
The only thing I could not get off was the spring drum.
I've never seen any other type of keylever than the generall "L" shape, so its cool to find a machine with an "l" shape instead. The Royal flatbeds use pivoting action between two linkages on the keylever to get the typebar to swing up.
A few seconds of steel wool scrubbing made an immediate difference.
If its any indication of my overzealous desire to see how machines function on a detailed level, I currently have:
A dissassembled Corona 3
A dissassembled Fox 24
A dissassembled Fox 24
A dissassembled Fox portable
A dissassembled Royal 5
Woops.
I have a disassembled LC Smith 8. The problem is that I keep coming across other typewriters that need my urgent attention and the poor old Smith Bro suffers from my neglect. I have taken lots and lots of photos of the disassembly to supplement my memory. The LC Smith 8 will ride again.
ReplyDeleteThat's the same conundrum I hit, truth be told. I always feel the need to focus on new arrivals first. I never took the Typocratic oath, swearing to focus on those machines most in peril.
Deleteas long as you can get 'em back together again! :D
ReplyDeleteOne way or another, they'll come back together again! Now whether they will be more useful as typewriters or boat anchors at that point is up for debate
DeleteFun stuff!
ReplyDelete(Now only avoid ending up with a Corona 5 and a Royal 24 :-)
... Now I want to see a Royal Corona Model 24-5
DeleteThese pictures are nightmares for me, because I could never reassemble the pile of pieces! I trust you to do so, though.
ReplyDeleteWell, truth be told this one will be a bit trickier as I completely forgot to take pictures of the process (I hadn't planned to take it apart at all). But, as with most other machines I deal with, its all early enough that it inherently makes sense to me where parts are supposed to go given that I took the machine apart in the first place. And on top of that, this is the simplest desktop ever designed.
Delete