The good news and the bad news

Filed under: Errata, typewriters — olivander August 28, 2008 @ 5:07 pm

Good news! The green script Royal FP arrived today!

Bad news. It was left sitting on-end on the front stoop.

Good news! The seller packed it exceptionally well, and no damage was done. Carriage hadn’t even twitched.

Bad news. It has no ribbon spools, and standard spools don’t fit.

Good news! The spools from a Royal HH fit!

Bad news. The carriage doesn’t move when I hit the keys.

And that’s where it sits. There must be an unobtrusive little lever somewhere that “unlocks” the keyboard, because the escapement and all other functions work fine. Carriage moves when I hit the spacebar, or tab key, or backspace. Just not when you hit anything connected to a typebar. Not much time right now to delve deeply into the issue, but quite frankly, I’m flummoxed. Typically, the spacebar uses the same escapement release mechanism as the keys. I assume since everything else related to the carriage and escapement work that I must be overlooking some “feature”.

And no, Monda, this isn’t a sign that I should send the Royal to you right away. Though I am wondering about your little curse hoodoo.

3 Comments »

  1. No one believed me when I said this typewriter was cursed. Well who’s laughing now?

    Actually I am not laughing. I hope you get the *&^% thing working.

    Comment by Strikethru — August 28, 2008 @ 6:03 pm

  2. I warned you some of the bad mojo may have leaked out. I did. If you still can’t get it working in a few weeks you could…um…send it to me. You know, just so I can undo the hoodoo or something.

    I’m just here to help.

    Comment by monda — August 28, 2008 @ 9:29 pm

  3. Gosh, thanks, Monda. You’re a peach. I have always depended on the kindness of strangelings.

    However… I hate to deflate your hopes, but I got her working this morning. And in the process she murmured her name to me. I was a little surprised at first, but the more it sinks in, the more appropriate it seems.

    Still needs some degunking before I can properly introduce her to the world, but I’m happy to report that she is once again fully functional.

    Comment by olivander — August 29, 2008 @ 11:29 am

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