In Mechanica Antiqua

The Hammond 12 was debuted in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.  James Hammond's machines had been considered technological marvels a few years back, beating out other prominent manufacturers such as Remington.  The introduction of the number 12 only served to propel Hammond's reputation as a mechanical genius further and further.  The number 12 on it's own was an updated version of the number 2.  It came with both an ideal and a universal keyboard, the one I have here being universal.  The two major things that this machine improved from the number 2 was the introduction of a ribbon vibrator (which kinda works) to increase type visibility, and the addition of a two color lock.  This two color lock allowed the user, for the first time on a Hammond typewriter, to type with a bichrome ribbon.  Hammond called this little leaver, the "Polychrome Ribbon Attachment."  Early number 12's came with four rubber type heads on the hammer, but the ...

The Royal 5 was the second commercial model produced by the Royal Typewriter Company, not counting the original Royal Grand, which was pulled from the market in 1907.  The Model 5 was introduced in 1910, with three successive versions with larger carriages.  The standard machine featured a 12" carriage, and came in either Pica or Elite pitches.  This machine was eventually replaced by the upright Model 10 in 1914, however the Model 5 stayed in production for a couple more years. The Number 5 Flatbed features a very similar carriage system found on the Model 10, but the rest of the machine is very different.  Two key mechanical differences lie in the ribbon transport system, and the keybed.  The ribbon in this machine is driven via the mainspring like the model 10, but uses standard universal spools without the later reversal mechanism.  This machine was capable of taking those spools, but did not include auto-reverse, instead the ribbon had to be manua...