Warning: Viewer Discretion is Advised.
A package is on its way. A special sort of package, one which requires the workbench to be cleaned and prepared.
Lo. The UPS was able to deliver the package safely, something they don't seem used to doing.
As you have already guessed, the contents have a particularly familiar form.
Beneath the cardboard and the bubblewrap, we have a case.
And Houston, we have a typewriter. A Victor portable typewriter, to be exact.
Yes, this is the machine which languished on Ebay for over a year. The price finally came down enough that I decided to throw a best offer out, and it was accepted. So now I am the owner of one of the failed typewriter designs of the '20s. And I'll be honest. This thing is in good shape all around, save for the one part that was made of potmetal (and which also happens to be rather important); the frame-segment. Everything else is high enough quality steel.
Well, you know me. And what I tend to do to typewriters. So lets pop the hood, get to work, and give the typosphere the best glimpse its ever had of the Victor Portable.
The carriage lock is a cool feature, that seems to work well.
The carriage knob is unique, in that the screw goes through the plastic part of the knob itself. It also turns out that the rod is spring loaded on the left side.
The carriage bearings are rather unique. They are like an Underwood 3-banks, save for extra star wheels.
The carriage rocks back for shifting.
The design is meant for the escapement to stay where it is, though, so the carriage escapement rail is designed to sway over the fatter gear.
A cool "feature" of this impressively designed machine is that the carriage is actually held in place by a swinging pivot. Unscrew the one on each side, and pop. comes right out (be careful around the ribbon vibrator).
Taking the keylevers out was a task which I was rather unorthodox in, to say the least. But theyre out.
The Victor portable (patents pending). It will clean up great, as there is no rust what-so-ever; just a very sludgy layer of grime all around. The real task at hand will be the repair of the broken up pot metal. That shall, indeed, prove a daunting task. But nothing that a blowtorch, some solder, and some grinding shouldnt be able to fix
