In Mechanica Antiqua

Above you might be able to notice that those key legends are not original to a 1927 Royal Model P, and you would be right.  So here's the catch, I received a broken down corona electra in script, and decided to resolder all the type slugs on my model P for the first ever one and only cursive royal portable. So what's the quick and snappy rundown on how the hell I did this?  Prepare to burn yourself...many times. First things first, measure.  Standard pica stands 2/16ths inches tall.  Standard script, at its tallest, is nearly 2/8ths. One eighth larger than most royal slugs. As it turns out, the diameter of the royal platen is slightly larger than the 5 series corona, so the switch was geared to work out fine.   the Corona Using a handheld blowtorch (made by Jobon and powered by butane) I was able to very quickly remove the script slugs from the electric machine. Afte...

I can't believe I finally have one Taken on my Nikon F3, pushed kodak Ektar The Williams has always been personally regarded as one of the most beautiful typewriters ever made.  Not too long after I first got into typewriters, I unlocked the world of pre-1900 machines, and was never the same.  It wasn't long after owning my very first machine, a 1930s Royal Model 10, that I came across what I regarded to be the best typewriter ever made.  The 1930 Royal Portable.   I had seen hundreds of machines, but something about that one in particular called itself out to me, and I never thought I'd find better.  I first saw the Williams typewriter in a news video discussing the collection of Martin Howard, I remember thinking to myself, "damn, wouldn't it be amazing to own that machine?"  Martin's description troubled me though, as he mentioned that it was one of the rarest of rare machines, and that equated a hefty price tag.  ...