Monday, February 14, 2011

Cursive typewriter: the redemption






Thank you Tom! It's no surprise that you had exactly the typewriter I needed.


Cambridge Typewriter
Mimeographin' at the IPRC
The curse of the cursive typewriter
Posted by Strikethru
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18 comments:

Marko said...

I know that machine! I typed a page on it at Cambridge Typewriter, and came this --><-- close to buying it on the spot last year. Simply lovely, recovered platen and all. Smooth as buttah, and quiet as a down pillow.

Good thing you bought it, too. I have a lunch date in Boston with a friend at the end of the month, and I had fully resolved to stop by Tom's shop and buy that little blue SF.

Nice buy, and well worth the grail status.

February 15, 2011 at 2:44 AM
Tom Furrier said...

Cheryl- I'm so glad you like the SF. I hope you and Daisy will blog happily ever after.
Marko- I still have that SF you tried before, its straight elite type. Hope you can stop in to say hi anyway with your friend.

February 15, 2011 at 3:55 AM
speculator said...

I remember this machine- I bought it at Goodwill of Maine, in Portland, and gave it to Tom this past November. Of course it needed a good overhaul from the Gandalf of Typewriters.
Olympia's brand of cursive text resembles the way I was taught to write in script- it's very European. And those small portables- though rather heavy- make fantastic take-everywhere typewriters!
Congrats!

February 15, 2011 at 4:09 AM
notagain said...

that's pretty sweet!
very nice machine and case.

February 15, 2011 at 5:17 AM
PamelaArtsinSF said...

I got my typewriter from Tom too -- What a guy!! I am jealous of the script typewriter. My mom had one and typed me recipe cards and letters on one. Very sentimental.....enjoy yours.

February 15, 2011 at 8:00 AM
Little Flower Petals said...

I just love how connected we all are--this little gal came from Maine via Speculator, passed through Cambridge Typewriter, where it met Marko and possibly others among us, and then made its way to the Pacific Northwest. We also had an SM-9 with a Senatorial typeface at the Snohomish type-in that belongs to notagain courtesy of Richard Polt. And I'm sure there are other examples!

The SF is very cute! Love that little case, too.

February 15, 2011 at 9:09 AM
rad-tastic said...

Lovely machine Strikethru, I'm awfully jealous :)
And I'm glad you named it, because anything that writes in cursive needs a cute name!

February 15, 2011 at 9:52 AM
Machines of Loving Grace said...

Congrats on the new clickchild!

"I know some good tricks, said the Cat in the Hat"...

Did you know that SFs have the perfect ribbon advancement spacing for use with carbon ribbons? They do! The only trick is that because of the direction the spools turn, the ribbon will have to be wound dull side out. The little arms that hold the ribbon in snug should have felt applied to the insides so they don't rub off the carbon.

It will make your script typeface even more attractive!

February 15, 2011 at 10:57 AM
Strikethru said...

A carbon ribbon! I think I don't know thing one about carbon ribbons, but I'm intrigued.

Speculator, I think your contribution to the life-cycle of this typer makes it all the more a keeper!

As for the jealous, don't despair -- Tom Furrier just may well have your next holy grail.

So then Marko, am I to understand the SF you looked at is still there? * buy it * buy it *

February 15, 2011 at 8:31 PM
Adwoa said...

Typewriter twins! :)

February 15, 2011 at 10:33 PM
James Watterson said...

I was looking for a similar machine myself lately. I emailed Tom and he sent me a picture of a machine that looked very similar. I'm in search of a Olympia SF in elite to match the SG's typeface.

All that's left to do now is enjoy the great work that Tom preforms on all his machines. I know I do every time I sit down at my SG-1!

February 16, 2011 at 4:44 AM
snohomishwriter said...

It is kind of cool, like LFP said, that some of us are connected through machines. And like you said, Strikethru, everything's better in cursive. I have been tapping out letters and just plain nonsense on LFP's Olympia all weekend. My wife like's it so much she is threatening to do her first-ever typecast on her real estate blog.

February 16, 2011 at 7:45 AM
speculator said...

Amen, Amen!

Daisy sure has a collection of god-parents. I bought her on Nov. 10th, at the Goodwill of Maine store, on Diamond Street. When I got back to work I called Tom. Then she rode shotgun with my Lettera 32, to Tom's shop for one of usual Cambridge Typewriter animated visits.
From there, the Lettera and I got on the subway to the Boston Athenaeum.

Blessed be the tie that binds- evening when it's an inked ribbon.

February 16, 2011 at 9:41 AM
Little Flower Petals said...

I have a tiny nagging desire to have a Lettera 32 someday. The new Studio 21 I traded for at the Snohomish write-in has done nothing to diminish that desire. I'm thinking when I'm ready to pull the trigger, and provided a Lettera 32 doesn't find me first by some miracle, Tom should be the first person I call.

February 16, 2011 at 10:53 AM
Marko said...

I'll stop by at Cambridge Typewriter in two weeks, and if Tom happens to have a Lettera 32 on the shelf, it's coming home with me. I've been wanting one of those for ages.

Although that SF would not be a bad consolation prize...

February 16, 2011 at 11:16 AM
Martin A. Rice, Jr. said...

Wonderful little machine! Reminds me of the Groma Kolibri which is just a tad ever so lower in height! You're fotunate that the vinyl case is in excellent condition as so many of these--like on Olivetti's--turn to dust or have the zippers rip out.

February 16, 2011 at 11:35 AM
Miranda said...

Yes! That's just the font my cursive Olympia has, although it's a different model. Mine looks like your SM-9. And it also came from Cambridge Typewriter, of course. I just love this post.

February 25, 2011 at 2:25 PM
Felicity said...

I don't know much about type writers, I never knew such sleek models existed.

March 1, 2011 at 3:50 PM

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