L.T. Hanlon

Category: Technology

Beaten by The Beast

May 17, 2020May 17, 2020 L.T. HanlonLeave a comment

Photo shows a small, manual typewriter painted gray and white. The faceplate reads Sperry Rand Remington 666. There is a rectangular blemish on the nameplate where a sticker has been removed. — This typewriter was picture perfect — until the Dark Prince made me defile it.

Photo shows a typewritten page with the following text. YOU-KNOW-WHO IS IN THE DETAILS. I recently got a good deal on a 1968—vintage Remington 666 manual typewriter. This machine with a rather unfortunate name came to me pretty much in NOS condition except for a Dymo label with a previous owner's name on it stuck on the front. At first, I figured well, that gives this typewriter an extra bit of character. But after a couple of days that name sticker really got to annoying me like an itch you can’t scratch or a pimple overripe for squeezing. So I carefully picked off the label sticker. But the old, dry adhesive didn’t release entirely and the surface beneath looked lighter than the surrounding faceplate. I knew I had to be cautious here; I tried to gently remove the adhesive with a Q—Tip swab. That didn't work, so I diluted a bit of Soft Scrub and gingerly massaged it in. And that's when I realized that Typewriter No. 666, the Remington Mark of the Beast, had tempted me as surely as Satan because not only did the adhesive fail to be removed but the surrounding surface had been marred. This typewriter -- a rebadged Brother JP-1 -- still works perfectly. But in having tried to delete its Ione beauty mark I 've made it uglier. The devil made me do it! I bought some cleaning goo I saw advertised on Facebook and it just arrived from China. This stuff comes in a small container, looks like Jell—O, and you press it to keyboards, car dashboards, and the like to pick up dust, particles, and various and sundry detritus. It’s almost like the title character of "The Blob." I tried it on the 666’s typeslugs and it seemed to pull inky deposits off pretty well. But when I tried it on the leftover label adhesive? Nada. I guess Satan never sleeps.

Photo shows a container with the label Super Cleaner. The container is open and a blue blob of goo sits next to it. This goo is the cleaning stuff. — What the heck is this stuff made from? Beats me. But it seems to work.

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What purpose did this paper serve?

September 24, 2019May 8, 2020 L.T. Hanlon2 Comments

Photo of a 4-by-7-inch piece of brown paper lying on top of a Hermes 3000 semi-squaretop typewriter. The piece of paper has the brand name Bran-O-Rost printed on it. This specially coated paper was found inside the typewriter and might have been there to prevent rust.

Bran-O-Rost (or Branorost) paper is still available and Brangs + Heinrich is still around too — although its headquarters is now in Germany, not Switzerland.