Urban Inspection 3: Waterfront

Today, Ned and I took a walk down to downtown Tacoma's waterfront.

Heading down Schuster Parkway towards Thea's Park.

On the 4th Street bridge, looking north you can see the railroad sidings and Temco, the grain exporter.

Looking south, you can see the Murray Morgan Bridge which connects downtown to the port over 11th Street. This was closed in 2007 after the collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minnesota and opened again in 2013 after comprehensive rehabilitation.

A closer look at the ship Dansas.

Looking down at Thea's Park, where the 2014 Tacoma type-out was held.

Walking south along Dock Street, you can see the old city hall with its broken clock behind the I-705 exit ramps.

Now, Dock Street doesn't connect to downtown Tacoma for quite a while due to the railyard and a steep hill. But what's this I see?

Yes, it's a glass elevator! This saves walking 8 blocks out of your way to get into downtown. At first I was a little suspicious about whether it could be open to the public or not. It seemed too perfect.

There is even a nice mural and art installation under the bridge.

I had to take a video riding up the glass elevator, of course. This is facing north towards Thea's Park and eventually the Olympic Mountains.

Now on bridge level, looking down.

Looking towards the bridge from downtown.

I took a short detour down Cliff Ave (which is hardly an avenue, more like a back alley) for another look at the bridge.

After the bridge was bypassed by SR-509, WSDOT wanted to tear it down. The City of Tacoma bought it and after several years of neglect, finally closed and restored it.

Walking north again on A Street to the 9th Street intersection looking into the heart of the Theater District. You can see the Tacoma Link crossing the street.

Getting closer to home now, walking up the steps towards the old Elk's Lodge.

Ned was worn out after all this fast walking uphill. A tired puppy is a happy puppy. I, too, think it's brilliant that we have all of these cool places within walking distance.

The Final Call (1kd)

Sent from my Ideal Portable M

Rheinmetall Red

1958  |  Rheinmetall KsT  |  503317

And here is Urban Inspection 3: Waterfront

Sent from my new Rheinmetall KsT

Extreme 2-finger typing

Best viewed in full screen, of course.

Sent from my Torpedo 18b

1955 Erika 11 spare parts catalog

Published by VEB Schreib- und Nähmaschinenwerke Dresden in 1955, Erika 11 Ersatzteile-Katalog is 61 pages in German.

Download the 1955 Erika 11 spare parts catalog (40 MB)

Wow, this is my 450th post.

Big sale! Typewriters, parts, and ephemera

I have way too much stuff around the house, and it's time to clear out. Technically it's too early to call it spring cleaning, but as we haven't really had a "proper winter" this year in Tacoma, it's just been a blur from fall to spring. March is spring enough for me.

I have 9 project machines and 7 parts machines. I consider project-worthy machines to be in good or better optical condition, and generally working well except for a few problems. If fixed, they would make fine machines. Parts machines may be partially disassembled, have bits missing, and are generally broken in multiple ways and may not be in very good optical condition. They're not worth fixing.

For pricing, I have tried to balance between how much I paid, how much the fixed machine is worth, and how much work I think needs to go into it. If you think these are way out of line, prices are negotiable! The important thing is I need to get rid of these. A ribbon is not included unless if the typewriter uses special spools. These have all been surface cleaned but may need more thorough cleaning inside. Shipping is not included in these prices. I will ship worldwide, and I prefer PayPal payment, but check is possible from the US. Local Tacoma-area sales are even better.

If you're interested, want more information, or pictures, just send me an email.

Project machines

Sold — 1934 Corona Silent. Fantastic optical condition with excellent green paint and excellent decals. A real beauty overall. The problem lies with the carriage advancing. It moves fine with the spacebar, but it doesn't advance well with keystrokes. Sometimes it works, but usually it doesn't. The harder you hit the keys the more likely it is to advance. US keyboard.

$40 — 1950s Tower Tabulator. Very good optical condition overall, with excellent decals. The action is just not very responsive. It could just need a thorough cleaning and lubrication inside, because nothing appears to be physically broken. The case doesn't latch. US keyboard. Instruction manual included.

$70 — 1976 Erika 40. This one is in almost perfect optical condition and very good working condition. The only problem is the type alignment which is off. I don't have the tool needed to fix it, but that is the only problem it has. UK keyboard.

Sold. $80 — 1933 Olympia Progress. Very good optical and working condition. The decals, which are often work on this model, only show a little wear. The carriage return doesn't work right, it won't linespace. There's just a tiny bit of rust but it's not a problem. German keyboard.

Sold. $90 — 1960 Facit TP1. Very good optical and working condition. Sans-serif typeface. The only problem is the ribbon doesn't lift high enough in black mode. Instruction manual included. US keyboard.

Sold. $80 — 1932 Torpedo 15a. Excellent optical condition with just a little wear to the paint and perfect decals. The keys are also not discolored as they sometimes are. The problem with this is that the carriage doesn't advance well on keystrokes. It works better if you strike the keys hard. German keyboard.

$30 — 1960s Triumph Perfekt. The carriage return lever's post that connects it to the carriage is broken. The type action is a bit uneven from key to key. It would probably be a bigger project, hence the lower price. US keyboard.

Sold. $40 — 1959 Smith-Corona Empire. One of the last Empires made in England after Smith-Corona took over. Very nice optical and working condition. It only needs a new mainspring. Instruction manual included. US keyboard.

Sold. $70 — 1930 Underwood Portable. Very good optical condition with some paint wear and excellent decals. It just needs a new mainspring and a slight alignment adjustment. US keyboard.


Parts machines

If you need any parts from these machines, I can send them to you for free or a small cost (depending on how easy it is to remove the part). Or, if you're interested in the whole machine, I can send it that way.

Underwood Quiet Tab Golden Touch (no case)
Remington Portable 1 (no case lid)
Adler Contessa
Montgomery-Ward Signature 511
Olivetti Lettera 32 (no case)
Smith-Corona Galaxie XII
Facit TP1


Ribbons

Sold. $5 — Smith-Corona/L C Smith ribbon. Plastic spools, the ribbon is dry.

Sold. $5 — Olivetti ribbon spools, metal.


Ephemera

$5 — Siemag standard typewriter manual (German)

$5 — Orga Modell 10 manual (German)

$5 — Hermes Baby manual (Spanish)

$1 each — 2 typewriter eraser sticks

Be sure to read the paragraphs at the top before emailing or commenting.