Are there any typewriter repairmen under fifty years old, I wonder? There might be a need for one or two in Brooklyn or Echo Park.
I worked with my brother and his kids a few years ago to build a series of underwater robots. We called our team The Typewriter Repairmen. A few of our creations had parts in the movie Spare Parts, which came out last month.
http://selectric.org/nurc10/index.html
Note the domain name.
typewriters are responsible for many of my most pleasant memories. once when i was young my dad let me disassemble an old typewriter and would quiz me at different points about what kind of leverage or transfer of motion the different linkages and assemblies within the typewriter caused. it gave me a first exquisite taste of the power and subtlety of machines and sparked an interest in technology that lives within me still. i also taught myself how to type by using a typewriter to write 4 collections of poetry, 8 research papers, two plays, and an attempt at a novel, all by the time i was 17.
although i do most of my writing and work with computers these days, i still occasionally pull out my old, beloved, royal manual typewriter to type a letter to a close friend or a hard copy of a new poem.
the good folks at Los Altos Business Machines did a complete restoration on my fathers Royal. My dad went through college with it, and it has been restored, back up and working, and my 8 yr old is very happy to use his grandfathers typewriter>
Saul (8 yr old) said “Dad, it’s like using a computer AND printer, all in one box!”
Heck, I’m surprised typewriters haven’t become ironically popular among the hipster crowd – why use a computer while listening to vinyl? Doesn’t that spoil the vintage effect?
Thats crazy, Im surprised at this too. One typewriter disadvantage is that they are virtually social adverse… you can’t share it, there is no external recognition. I guess one could carry a typewritter to a coffee shop and get noticed, but that would likely be too much effort even for the mustached and statement hat crowd.
Now… maybe if coffee shop owners made typewriters available???
but of course…
bonus:
I’ve read somewhere that owning a typewriter today is considered highly suspicious, because nobody really needs them except document forgers.
So this is the guy with the IBM Selectric 251 for talking to the Alternate Universe.
Typewriters are also used by writers of terrorist manifestos. This is their undoing, as the manifesto can be matched to the typewriter by the forensic typewriter specialist. However, the specialists have to be brought out of retirement. See any cop show on TV for details.
Came for the Fringe reference, left satisfied.
Nothing screams “Look at ME!” like bringing your own record player to public places. Seriously, just look at him!
i have looked, i have judged, i have found him lacking. 
I still bash keyboards noticeably hard as I learned QWERTY on an old manual.
I still have two typewriters, one electric and one manual (both portable). The problem isn’t the mechanics – they’re usually built to last – but rather, finding replacement ribbons.
Looks like a couple of people are selling my manual typewriter at eBay for wildly different price points. Here’s a good example (except mine is in like-new condition): Royal Mercury manual typewriter with hard cover.
Note the size: measures 12"d x 12"w x 3.5"h. It truly is portable.
No banana?
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