A try and a fail

Of things past

 

Old way - new way

Too fried to typecast tonight. Spent the a.m. typing for work and then all p.m. doing training for a new dictation system coming into use. Basically, we will now be editing dictations that have been "typed" with voice recognition software rather than typing from scratch. The pay rate is half that of straight typing, on the theory that one can get through twice as much work in the same time. We shall see how that goes! Then in the evening one of our dogs ate some string, necessitating an emergency phone call to our vet and the administration of hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting, fortunately successful. Not sure where the mouse that also came back up originated from, lol. Never a dull moment. Both dogs have to be at the groomers at 8 a.m. tomorrow to be made presentable for Christmas, so it will be a very early morning and then starting work on the new system. I think I would like to skip tomorrow and go directly to Thursday! On the plus side, the new ribbon for the Hermes arrived today, so the day did have something nice in it. Hoping for not freezing rain in the a.m. I'm starting to sound like Eyore, lol.

Analog photograpy

3 for 3

Hermes fun

Well, I got the bottom off the 3000 and followed the linkages for the backspace key. It looks like there is a small lever at the end that is maybe supposed to key into a cogwheel, but it doesn't, it is loose and floppy; however, it is  deep in the bowels of the beast and not accessible without major surgery which I am not qualified for, lol. I would rather just bump the carriage back a space and still have a functional machine than have one in pieces! Maybe someday I will find a typewriter doctor.

The Hermes has landed!

Even more retro than typing!

Mash-up

Over the edge?

Okay, am I finally losing it? I'm sure I saw a post about a Gromma Kolibri with a cursive font. Does this unicorn actually exist in the wild? I DID see one with a QWERTY keyboard. Has anyone seen one with both? I think I need to go lie down and have a rest now. Soon the little men in the white coats will appear and speak to me in soothing tones as they lead me away.

Spinning my wheels

Ribbon wars

I love it when a plan works out!

Cleaned the Skywriter and it types much smoother. Only thing wrong was 1 of the screws that holds it in the case is not gripping.Will work on that. Lots of grime came off. There is some glue residue from an old label that I did not want to be too aggressive about.

The Sterling looks like it came from the factory, and types that way too. Couldn't even get any dirt off the outside, it was so clean. The case doesn't have a mark on it. 

Touchdown!

Both the early Skywriter and the Smith Corona Sterling from the 60s arrived today, well packed and all in one piece. Woot!  Everything works on both, new ribbons are on order. I am going to clean both, the Sterling is cleaner than the Skywriter, well its younger, lol. Will try to post some pix. The Skywriter serial #2Y-52375 puts it at 1950 and the Sterling portable is 5AX-279144. I can only find 5A numbers, not 5AX for SMC and that would also be 1950, which does't seem right, as it is a 60's machine. Confused! It is the same as illustrated on the USB Typewriter page for the SMC 60s Sterling for which I ordered the USB kit.

Lookin' good!

My faith in my fellow man is being restored. I sent a message to the seller of the Hermes on E-Bay with the typewriter packing recommendations I found online in the typosphere, and this was his reply :

Hello.
I had it packed almost like you wanted it but after reading your request I opened it up again & redid it. Wadded newspaper all the way around it tight. Underneath & on top of the case is approx. 3" of dense foam. I know how postal carriers abuse packages. This one should be up to the test. Hope all ends well.
THANK YOU
Have a NICE Christmas
Steve

Workin' on it!

Still trying to figure out all the settings for the blog (my first!)and somehow when making the typeface larger on the older posts, I also inadvertently rearranged the post order. Oh well, its a process! 

In which I learn to type

Once upon a time there was a young girl who finished high school at 16 and was too young for university. Her parents said, "Go and learn to type. It will always come in handy." Although she did not think too much of that idea, she went to business school and learned to type (slowly) and do shorthand not very well.

She decided she wanted to work for a while to save some money for further schooling, so she applied for a job at a big insurance company. They said, "We are going to train you in an exciting new field, the world of computers." She thought, "Gotta be better than the typing pool!" She was taught to be a "key punch operator" creating the punch cards for the giant Univac computer that filled an air conditioned room with glass walls about half the size of a football field. Typing speed was not an issue, but accuracy was, and it paid pretty well. Later, she worked for a large railway doing the same thing with railcar waybills, long before the days of bar coded cars. She eventually knew the 4-letter abbreviation for just about every railway in North America.

Then she went to nursing school and finally to university to study photography. After a career in photography and when her children were small, she went back to nursing part-time and also worked in doctor's offices. Finally, when she retired she continued working at home part time online for a large hospital as a medical transcriptionist/ dicta typist.

So, as much as she hates to admit it, her parents were right. Typing did come in handy, and she still gets paid to type every day!

Got one!

Just won an E-Bay auction for a Hermes 3000 with script font! Got it cheap because it is missing the right platen knob, but thanks to the typosphere I know how to make a new one, lol. That's it for the buying for a while. Now I can spend my time worrying if the three I have bought are going to arrive in one piece, and start cleaning them up when they arrive. Then on to typecasting! I am also a bit concerned about my USB typewriter kit, since there has been no communication beyond acknowledgement of my order, and I am really hoping to get it by Christmas. 

Of other low-tech

When I was studying photography at university there weren't a lot of women in the program. All the guys seemed to be in a competition to have the biggest, baddest, fastest camera possible. While I appreciated the shiney and new as much as the next gal and had my share, my interests were otherwise. I was fascinated by the old and the low tech and spent a lot of time experimenting with pinhole and toy cameras. Today, they are all the rage but back then it certainly wasn't! My fave class was Historical and Experimental Processes where we recreated the bygone techniques of early photography, even making our own photographic paper. Most of my work has continued in that vein.

Here is one printed on hand coated platinum paper (most photographic paper used silver) and then hand colored.

A near miss

I continue to work on the typewriter “wish list.” I did bid on E-bay for a Hermes Media 3 with script font, but didn't win. It went for more than I could reasonably justify spending right now, and I bid more than I should have, so it is just as well. It would be a problem if I spent all the grocery money on typewriters. “Here, honey. Have some tasty gruel and check out this great type font.” I think not, lol.

Down the typosphere rabbit hole...

How can it be that a week ago I had no interest in typewriters and now I am consumed by the thought of them? The internet strikes again... It was THIS that caught my eye and immediately became an object of desire. I thought, “How cool is that!” and I knew I had to possess one as soon as possible. I could not afford a ready-made unit, and indeed they were all sold out, but I convinced myself that a kit was the way to go. But first, I had to acquire a typewriter that would work with the kit. I started Googling and, of course, found myself in the typo sphere. For one that loves new information, it was heaven. I had to disregard all the warnings about E-bay and Etsy, since typewriters are pretty thin on the ground in the northwoods where I live. Soon I found a sweet looking Smith-Corona Sterling from the 1960s, the era when I learned to touch type, on E-bay and won the auction. It is on its way to me. But, of course, when an obsession takes hold, one is not enough. You know how it goes. I started “the wish list'” based on what appealed to me and what I was reading. I fell in love with the small, ultra portables and especially the Skywriter. What a great name! It reminded me of my childhood in the 50s watching Sky King on TV on Saturday mornings. “From out of the blue of the western skies comes Sky King!”. I always wanted to be Penny and go on those adventures. At any rate, an early Skywriter with the stripes on the top is also on the way to me. I think we share a birth year. I have gathered all the tools and equipment to do a thorough cleaning and we will see how it goes. Stay tuned! The next in line will be a Hermes 3000 script version. That may take a little longer. I know, predictable, but I don' t care. From there, who knows? I'm thinking one from each decade. The 50s may be a Smith-Corona Super Silent, blue. The 40s and 60s are covered. I have to look more for the earlier period, such a difficult task, lol.