Back for with more typewriters from my collection, this time #'s 7-12. Again, these aren't in a specific order. I just pulled them off the shelf and took pictures. I'm considerably happier with the typers in this selection than the last, because they for the most part work.
This Smith-Corona Sterling is my latest addition, having arrived just a few days ago. They sold millions of the Clipper/Sterling/Silent family and I have several variations of this model, some that look exactly like this one. This one, though a bit dirty and with a broken back hinge on the case, works perfectly well. At some point I'd like to get some serials on them and find out just when they were made...but there are only so many hours in each day. But they're at least fifty years old. We used to make good stuff, here in the USA.
The Tower President XII was made by Smith-Corona and sold by Sears. This one has a unique unpleasant odor that escapes each time I open the case. I love the two-tone color and the diamond-shaped keys. It types remarkably well, though I'm pretty sure the bell doesn't work. My main gripe with this one is the shift lever. Essentially you have to manually scroll to the next line because it doesn't catch. I'm sure it can be fixed, but I'm not skilled enough to fix it yet and don't want to further damage it.
This Hermes 3000 is a very clean and beautiful example of Swiss engineering. It's a lovely machine that's very precise. It has one issue though, and it's a pretty important and annoying one: random skipping. It can't really go through a line or two without it happening at least once. If you catch it, you can backspace and fix it, but that doesn't really solve the problem. I love it, though. It's like typing with a tank.
This Remington (insert model name here) I picked up for $25 a few years back, I think. A typical quirky Remington, with the weird spools and all. Works fine, save for the space bar, which you sometimes have to hit twice to get it to catch. But it's not like the Cole Steel, which you practically have to beat to death to get it to advance one space.
Circa 1948, a Remington-Rand Portable Deluxe. I dig the round keys, and it works fine, but you really have to be over it to type. It's very old-school in that it's not that easy to see exactly what you're typing as you type. When I started collecting typewriters in 2010, this was the second one I bought, and the first one I got from Ebay. I paid like $20 for it.
This is a personal favorite, and if I had to sell my entire collection except for one, this would be the one I kept. I have checked the serial on this and it's a 1934 Royal Model O with Touch Control. I also paid more for this one than any other machine I own, about $60. Shiny paint, beautiful glass keys, types like a dream...I'm very happy with it. I've used it extensively and I can't say enough good things about it. Just a beautiful machine.
That's #7-12 of my collection. The next few shelves will probably be the Underwood portables and the many, many similar Smith-Coronas. The electrics might be last, because I am racist against them and their sort.
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