Happy Typewriter Day from Keylime, the Vogue Royal

I hereby interrupt the vacation typecast series to bring you a greeting from the newest member of the Vintage Technology Obsessions typing stable.  Vintage Technology Obsessions will return to regularly scheduled posts after Typewriter Day.

That would be "exercise" that Keylime needed.  At least I spelled derelict right the first time.  Spell check has ruined me.

You might remember this mystery machine from the recent post on the derelict red Royal I saved from a key chopper on ebay.  It has the Vogue typeface, but is many hours of repairs away from being useful for actual typing.  I found Keylime first and happened upon old Red several weeks later.

It only took us a few minutes to determine the appropriate name for this machine.  She came from Florida and reportedly belonged to the spouse of a former president of a state university.  The color balance in these photos is pretty accurate.  This is one upbeat and perky little typewriter!  She is sweet and tart like a slice of keylime pie.

As I noted in Old Red's post, finding a Vogue Royal was an eight month obsessional journey for me.  I don't regret the search.  However, like any junkie, I have experienced a bit of a letdown having procured my fix.  Now I will happily type away until I find a Graphika or something with a fractur typeface.

As for may statement regarding interesting typewriters showing up in threes, I will provide a few examples.  All of these showed up in one to two week clusters, some have just disappeared even in common form:

Olympia SM3:  Three machines with the italic typeface and fairly clear photos.
Facit:  Three portables of various descriptions with the cursive typeface.
Royal Portable:  Three machines ranging from Futura to Safari models with the obscure cursive typeface.
Erika:  There was a week where almost ten model 5 machines appeared.  This is the week I scored an incredibly rare Erika M while no one was paying attention.  Well, that is more than three.

This typewriter had a bit of a premium attached, but it was in line with the prevailing prices of similar second generation Royal portables with average typefaces.  Having come from Florida, I was pleasantly surprised that Keylime had no funky odors (unlike Margo, the gold Royal QDL from Florida).  All I did was a basic clean and lube and here she is!  The type bars were clean prior to adding a cheap Office Max ribbon.  She really deserves an NOS silk ribbon if anyone has one available.

By the time this post goes live, the big Kansas City weekend of Maker Faire and Art of the Car will be well underway.  I am looking forward to geeking out on technology old and new.  I am not looking forward to the 100+ degree weather expected on Sunday.

With that, I will leave you with a closeup of this luscious typeface.

No Kitty Cat Pajamas Allowed: Typed with a Campy Aristocrat

Welcome to the first of several posts from our most awesome family vacation to the San Luis valley in southern Colorado.  We were unplugged for a good portion of the trip.  I brought along my one compact typewriter, a Hermes Baby clone branded as an Empire Aristocrat.  I bought this last year after looking at the Hermes version.  I can't say I like its stock paint colors.  Besides, the Aristocrat has a somewhat universal keyboard with pound and dollar signs.  I also like the glitzy red keys apparently ripped off from Olivetti.

This most awesome typing locale was right behind our campsite.  The rushing white water is great for sleep and for causing the family to make multiple trips to the pit toilet.

Um, that would be "schlep".  The anniversary part refers to the date upon which MEK and I were hitched.  I can think of worse places to spend an anniversary.

And now for the sorry story behind the "No Kitty Cat Pajamas" camping dictum.  As you read the following typecast, realize that I was sleep deprived.  I got the sequence a little mixed up.  We most decidedly did not go camping last year after this not-so-pleasant episode.  The event in question happened after primitive camping on the Cedar Mesa in southern Utah.  The closest cell tower was around 30 miles away.  The closest neighbor was perhaps 5 miles as the crow flies.  That is the way I like it.

I could try and pass off "diesal" as a warped sense of humor thing.  Alas, I was brain dead and misspelled it while the the grips of the luscious white noise from the stream.

Thus spake the gingercat: "You misspelled whatever."  Watever.

Now you know how we roll.  We aren't misanthropic.  We don't necessarily hate people.  We just want our dose of nature to not involve loud humanoid noises in the night.

Here are a few more images of the Empire Aristocrat.  It isn't a bad little machine.  At some point I will have to try a small Olivetti or Skywriter.  Unlike some Typospherians, I actually like the short throw on the Olympia SF and Socialite machines that were gifted to my daughters last year.

Big KC Weekend: Maker Faire and Art of the Car

Credit where credit is due:  This is a lino cut produced onsite by Will Burnip of The Print Factory.  This mobile printing operation was just one of over 100 exhibitors at the 2011 Maker Faire.

This weekend is the best of the best when it comes to area festivals.  First up, we have the Kansas City Maker Faire at the Union Station on June 23-24.  It is dedicated to all things maker.  If you live in the area, you must go.  If you don't live in the area, you should look into the other regional Maker Faires or perhaps find out about your local maker collective.

For a preview of what to expect, visit Late Maker Nerd News
The official website is here http://www.makerfairekc.com/

The Art of the Car Concours is here Art of the Car 2012.
This year, the Concours features one of nine Talbot Lago coupes ever built.  Now in its sixth year, Art of the Car attracts some of the finest vehicles in the country.  This is also the year of the peddle car at the Concours.  All proceeds benefit the Kansas City Art Institute's scholarship programs.

Bobby Darin's Dream Car by designer Andy DiDia.  This is a past year feature car.

Royal Typewriter Rescue and Another Special Typeface

The Royal portable typewriter on the left in the photo below is a recent rescue from ebay.  I was happy to liberate it from the clutches of a key chopper (evidenced by a bid history on typewriters and craft supplies).

There is one obvious problem:  this machine is hammered.  It appears to have spent the last 50 years or so in a barn or attic with no cover.  The seller even commented that he had done an initial cleaning.  Every part that can be dried out is.  The paint is scuffed, chipped, oxidized and crazed.  At this point, you may be wondering why on earth I bought this beater.  Am I really so crazed about key choppers that I would rescue junk?

As the title implies, you will need to read on for the answer.

The typewriter on the right goes by the name of "Keylime".  She will remain a mystery until a future post.  However, a side-by-side view gives you a pretty good idea of how far gone this poor red Royal is.

Kissing cousins, as if anyone would want to kiss a derelict.

As seen below, this rescue was not entirely altruistic.  Actually, it possesses a typeface that is my one of my "white whales".  It is an obsession among obsessions.

This typeface appears to be identical to that of a Royal Aristocrat shown on the Cambridge Typewriter Company blog.  Tom Furrier identified it as "Moderne Pica Block, Ra 280" by Alfred Ransmeyer &  Albert Rodian Vereinigte Typenfabriken, Berlin.  I have reason to believe this is actually the common variation of the rare Vogue typeface available for the 1930 variation of the Royal portable.  More on that subject in a later post.

Is this Vogue by another name?

This poor machine has seen better days.  I have yet to take it apart to assess whether it can be repaired as is.  If not, the type bar assembly will become the subject of a transplant operation to another Royal.  For what it is worth, the other residents in the House Full of Nerds think it is beautiful and see its potential.  I'll give repair an honest try or perhaps combine it with another parts machine if necessary.

What do you think?  How far should I go to bring this basket case back to good health?  I am out on travel at the moment, so comment moderation will be delayed.  Rest assured, they will appear in the near future!

Zombies on the Streets of Kansas City

By the way, it appears they want your typewriters.  This is a street poetry producer protecting her prize.  (Ick.  What a word combination.  It is 1:00 AM and I should really give my brain a break.  Mmm... brains....)

Stage blood by the gallon.  What wholesome family fun!

Some people take their characters very seriously.  Point a camera at them and watch the fun!

This was part of a a 15 second head to toe spasm.  Impressive.  And scary.

"Did you say something?  It's hard to hear you over all this moaning!"

Clowns.  Why did it have to be clowns?

Favorite sighting of the evening:  this zombie is contemplating a happy couple inside a mobile photo booth.

A zombie walk through throngs of art lovers is towards the top of my list for fun street shooting.  I live for content rich scenes like this.  Claire came along and loved every minute of it.  We were going to dress up and join the fun, but after laying a new living room floor I was looking a little too much like a zombie to do a good job gimping along with the crowd.  Besides, inside the pack you only see the few participants surrounding you.  I love being on this side of the lens.

All photos were shot on a Canon 60D; some with a wide zoom and most with a 50mm f1.4 or 85mm 1.8.  I am out on travel.  This post is brought to you by the magic of Blogger scheduling.  Please leave a comment after the tone and I will moderate it on my return.

Beeeep!

Transit of Venus Nerd Family Viewing

Claire had a birthday around the time of the transit of Venus between us and the sun.  I rushed home from work and gathered a bunch of optics and parts.  The old Canon FD lenses couldn't be focused quite right.  Ditto for the old slide projector lenses.  The 12x50 binoculars bungee corded to an old tripod did the trick!

 Thanks to the people that threw up a webpage dedicated to viewing the transit.  The tips came in handy.  Sure, it was a shadow on a projected image but we felt like we had done something wonderful.  Claire had been at a K.U. engineering camp earlier in the day and was happy to be doing some practical science.

I am out on travel at the moment.  This blog is on scheduled post mode.  Please leave a comment if you so choose and I will moderate it when I return.  Thanks!

Opportunity: Hail the Amazing Rover!

NASA's Opportunity rover is now 8 1/2 years (3043 days) into its 92 day mission and still going strong!  It powered up after its fifth Martian winter and is on the move.  It is a little pokey given the amount of dust that is collecting on the solar panels.  Still, we at the House Full of Nerds are impressed at this engineering accomplishment.  This little guy landed on Mars on January 25, 2004.

The twin rover, Spirit, became mired in deep sand and its last communication with Earth was on March 22, 2010.  Opportunity is currently alone on the red planet, but will be joined by the next generation in rover technology in August, 2012.  Curiosity is a substantial mobile laboratory with a nuclear power source.  The landing system is unique and we are hoping for a good start for the mission.

The vista circa May, 2012.  This is the largest crater in the journey and represents the oldest rock strata.  You can see the edge of one of the solar panels in the foreground.  The dust accumulation is reducing power output.

Just to give you an idea what Opportunity has been up against, Mars receives roughly 43% of the amount of sunlight that Earth receives.  With a thin atmosphere, it can't hold heat well.  The high summer temperature ranges up to 23 degree F.   Mars has frequent, large scale dust storms which sometimes cover the entire planet.

Discovery from late 2011:  Gypsum like deposits caused by free water percolating through rock strata.  Opportunity and Spirit both observed evidence of past free water on the surface of Mars.

Self portrait from 2007.  The solar cell still look pretty clean.

Source:  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/multimedia/pia15684.html

Video: Eight Years and Counting

Congratulations to Opportunity and the many builders and mission operators of NASA.  The mission is now open ended.  We hope Opportunity keeps producing good science for many days to come.

Opportunity in 2002