I have to keep it quiet. This is a noiseless typewriter, after all. More correctly, the Underwood Noiseless Portable, a clone of the Remington Noiseless Portable. Both were made side-by-side in the Remington factory (I'm going to presume in Ilion, N.Y., since uninformed presumption is such a big part of this blog).
This one just arrived today. I wasn't expecting it until the 28th but it snuck up on me. It's that quiet. Like a ninja in ballerina shoes. I was in downtown Lufkin this morning at an antiques store looking at some old machines (didn't take the iPhone, so no pictures). One was a very similar Remington, for $175.. It didn't work as well as this one, either....and this one cost me nowhere near that.
Put a new ribbon on it (a maddening experience which I assume must get easier) and cleaned it up a bit, but it was operational out of the box. The shipping box, that is, since it didn't have a case. Still, we're talking about a genuine hunk-o-history here, a living, breathing (so to speak) piece of ancient alien technology. This model's history is fragmented and poorly documented at best. There don't seem to be reliable production numbers and the serials are weird, but it had to have been made between 1937 and 1942. Or thereabouts. There is some more info on the Noiseless Portable here. The more you know.
I'm in the works of repairing a Remington Noiseless Portable. It has a bell, but it rings weakly. Had to have the mainspring remade at a watchmaker and am now timidly winding it. The carriage was the only issue; it didn't move. Now, though, the carriage advances until it gets to the last 6-10 characters and it gets sluggish.
ReplyDeleteI've also recently acquired a Remington Noiseless Deluxe Portable, circa 1941. I've done some work on it but it's in not anywhere near as good shape as the Underwood. I'm in the process of packing everything to move in the next week or so, and when I return I'll have more substantial details on all my children. I think there will be 38-39 of them by then.....
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