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| 1936 The Baby Empire 2574 |
It felt so old, so unique.
A relic from the past.
There was something about it that appealed so strongly.
And I loved it.
I never realised that The Baby Empire was such a good typewriter.
I had it for a few hours.
I didn't even type a whole page with it, but what I did type was amazing.
I brought it back from being a rusted, completely unusable typewriter to one working fine.
And then the 374th Baby Empire ever made broke. Right in front of me. All my work was lost.
The clock motor broke. I broke it.
I didn't even take a picture of it after I'd cleaned it up. But as soon as it broke, I took it apart and tried to fix it but there was nothing I could do. So the pictures you see are not the working, cleaned up, beautiful typewriter I knew.
I thought I was so lucky, and so clever.
I dumped my heart into it.
Not only was it special and so very old, it typed amazingly.
It won't any more.
And it hurts.
You don't have to say anything. I just had to get that out. You know how that sometimes helps you get over it. I'm getting over it. I'm still really sad, though. I was looking forward to taking this typewriter with me as my go-to travelling typewriter. The spring in the motor cracked near the end. I suppose if I could somehow get it open it might be fixable? I don't really know.
Too bad about the main spring. Maybe you will come across a parts machine or just what you need on Epay or someplace and then you will be able to bring the Baby back to life.
ReplyDeleteWe can re build him. We have the technology.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if someone comes up with a part, so don't despair. However... You CAN get into the main spring drum. If you really get stuck - look for a clock repair man. Indentical components are used in clocks.
That really is a cute decal.
ReplyDeleteBroken mainsprings aren't hopeless. You'll have to jimmy open the casing for the mainspring and see what's going on. It may be that the spring just isn't catching on the central shaft; the tip of the spring may need to be bent so that it does. Or it may have broken right at the shaft; you may be able to discard the small broken end and bend the new end so that it catches. Or the spring may have broken somewhere in the middle and may be unfixable -- in which case you need a new spring. Since this is a Hermes Baby clone, you just need a Baby parts machine.
It broke -somewhat- near the end but I have no idea how I should try to get it open. It's so strong and there's so little to work with.
DeleteSo,etching just occurred to me. I have a latter model parts machine. Wanna get some photos of that mainspring?i'll see if they are the same.
ReplyDeleteI doubt they are the same because a later 1960s Rocket has a completely different one, but I can send some. How should I get the pictures to you?
DeleteIf the helpful suggestions from our fellow typewriter collecting friends don't work out just drop me a line at laverypeach@bigpond.com maybe I could help. cheers..John
ReplyDelete