Author: cloudytype

On the Thames

~ cloudytype ~ 2 Comments
My first zip on the cable cars yesterday. I do not have a head for heights so taking photos was a good distraction.
Getting my land legs back along Southbank, we met these guys. It was so good to see poets with typewriters again. I asked for a poem, and received a lovey response.
I love the fact that the word “unbroken” is the only word here with a typo. The poets blog included here at the top of the image 🙂

Elegant ugly

~ cloudytype ~ 4 Comments

As soon as the non-essential shops were allowed to open again, we went straight out to poke around in the junk shops. Only one thing on my mind of course and here’s what I found…

A mere £220 and you still need to fix it up
Slightly less on the price tag , but still a big fat no thanks
Are you kidding me? Lockdown has been messing with everyone’s minds
Seems like a reliable hulk but too big to carry up the hill
In the same junk shop as the Adler. £22, for an SM 9? that’s more like it. Knocked it down to £20, not noticing the dodgy ancient platen knob fix until I got it home.
I also discovered this little issue, no wonder the carriage was a bit sluggish in the shop. What you can’t see in this picture is the hideous tangle behind the mainspring. Those teeth on the edge of the mainspring drum are really dangerous to fingers. With extreme caution I gave the drawband some slack with one hand and used a pair of tweezers to free it from the jaws of death and reposition back into place.
Which just left one more twist to sort. Fortunately the SM9 has a nifty hook arrangement on the end of the drawband.
These alcohol mini-wipes have been really useful for disinfecting phones and public touch-screen tills and ticket machines. Turns out they’re good for getting rid of old tippex on rubber too.
Say “aaahhhh”
Ok, you’ll do. Pretty cool for an ugly office machine. Owned by one person, a Mr French of Hastings, and purchased for the princely sum of £61.56 inc tax, in August, 1974
I love these original packing details!
Factory export ticket! Tucked in under the plastic form in the case since 1974.
Here’s that awful platen knob fix. Mr French! What were you thinking?! Some kind of epoxy gunk which oozed all over the place. Not sure I want to tackle a remedy for this at the moment. I can live with the wonk for now.

New Year, New Phone

~ cloudytype ~ 7 Comments
Well of course! A 1960s GPO Bakelite from Brighton. Plugging it in (already converted) it received calls but could not dial out. Oh dear.
Searching for clues online, I found advice that recommended checking the wiring and a drop of light oil on the dial spindle to increase dial speed. So I took the back off to check the wiring and find the spindle…

Hmm. The wiring was correct but the whole area underneath was drenched in oil, so I dabbed up as much as I could with cotton buds and slips of newsprint, and added a new drop to the spindle nut, feeling that this was not the answer. And it was not. The dial still returned too slowly. From zero it should return while you say “one, one thousand and one” and stop on the last “one”.

Further searching (on YouTube, the Facebook telephone groups were a dead end) told me to go on in from the front. (Edit: I would have tried to do the next part from underneath but I thought I would have more space going in from the front) The newer (1070s) models make this easy. This model is tricky if it’s your first go. Just take photos at every stage and make sure you do. I did not. These are photos I took putting the phone dial back together.
Getting this enamel plate off is an absolute pain. All the chipped enamel was not my doing, wiggle the number plate off very carefully. Take photos.
Ok we are in. Don’t be intimidated. It’s just like a typewriter only with two bells.
If the dialling is too slow, you need to gently squeeze these two metal prongs, (which have weights on the ends which you can’t see. ) Then test your dial before fitting the plates back on. Plug phone back into socket. Lift receiver, turn dial mechanism while listening. On return the dial tone should disappear when your number has dialled. If not, go back and squeeze a little bit more.
Fit your paper disc in place. This is not my number, by the way, it is the original Vintage Brighton number, and I have not tested it for time travel tickets yet
All done. Thank goodness for that! Radiator cover still needs a couple more coats of paint… Bit for now, let’s have a cup of tea and a biscuit. Happy New Year, all.

P.S! this is the only phone we will be fixing on type the clouds, for this year at least. Back to typewriters now. I have a new Lettera 22 to smarten up …

Variations

~ cloudytype ~ 6 Comments
Cover design 1 in progress. Gold foil on maroon book cloth
Cover design 2. Ink on grey book cloth
Cover design 3. Silver foil on midnight blue book cloth
Jacket-slip typed on Smith-Corona Classic 12 6cpi
Pretty satisfied with the way this project has turned out. Now on to the next!

120 lino prints…

~ cloudytype ~ 6 Comments

being sewn into a first run of ten little books

This is tank-top guy feeling festive
This is Crow, missing her friend Tank-top guy
Sometimes when you miss someone, you just have to caw them up on the phone…
and work out how to spend time together, in a corvid safe way.

Replacing a paper finger on Underwood 5

~ cloudytype ~ 4 Comments

A little while ago an eagle-eyed fellow typospherian Bill M very generously offered me a replacement paper finger for my 1909 Underwood 5. I was so excited to receive the parcel and get the screw drivers out this weekend. The procedure for replacing the finger is quite straight forward when you know how and have prior warning about the teeny spring and rod in the finger which have to be held carefully in place. I was grateful for the instructions Bill sent along with the part, otherwise I might have spent a while messing about with fiddly bits!

The screw to release the rod for the paper fingers is located behind the nickelled plate on the right side of the carriage. I had to loosen the rusted in place screw first with some penetrating stuff (ok, ok! it was WD 40, but as you can see I protected the rest of the typewriter with rags)
The rod lifted out without a hitch. Bill kindly sent the replacement finger with a bolt holding the spring and rod in place
Sliding the part into place on the rod. (Yes, my fingers are stained with black printing ink 🙂 more on that another time but I can tell you I’m kind of wishing I had a printing press now!)
Lovely
The rod slides back onto the machine. You can see part of the serial number there which is hidden beneath the nickelled plate.

It’s the little things that make all the difference. The typosphere is a wonderful thing! I’m always grateful to be a part of it.

Printing without a press

~ cloudytype ~ 2 Comments

This is the first test this evening of a bookplate design. A lino cut of my Underwood 5, and text printed by hand using some type I bought off eBay a few years ago. I made the text block by clamping the letters and spaces together with duck tape. I’m using oil based block printing ink, and rubbing the back of the paper with a bone letter opener. The text block is simply stamped on by hand. I do love making things completely by hand. Don’t let the lack of a printing press stop you from making prints at home.

Distraction

~ cloudytype ~ 6 Comments

Yes! It’s a photo of a machine I’m happy to be addicted to. Also, I finally got around to taking some nothing else in the background shots of my Underwood Five.

What a massive hunk of machine with only one purpose. “I’m here to serve your every writing need. I promise not to distract you, or judge you. I promise I never even thought about trying to spy on your friends or track your every step around town. I won’t measure your waking hours or interrupt you when you are eating with friends and family or reading a book. I’m yours, I’m just waiting for you. Whenever you’re ready.”

Imagine what the makers of this machine would make of that imagined typewriter dialogue. They would be shocked, horrified. Amused? Bewildered? What kind of world has this machine travelled to? One in which we do still have a choice. It’s worth clinging onto choices.