• Meet Percy, the First Rooster in the Hen House


    Percy came to me in a dream, almost. I'd been hunting one of these with a vengeance for some time and with no luck whatsoever. Then - just as it happens with true love - I stopped looking and this Royal KHM showed up at my office door with a fist full of road-picked flowers and a shy grin.

    It seems he's not from around here. Probably hopped a train from Chicago - I found the barest remnant of it stamped on the shreds of his vinyl cover. You know, I live in a train town and it's not least bit unusual to find a wayward traveler here and there. I've taken him in, promised hot water and hot meals in return for a little office work.

    Oh, he's filthy. I knocked out dirt-dobber nests and a couple of spider skeletons. Despite that, I was able to dust him off, put in a new ribbon, and begin typing as if not a day had passed since 1936. A steady, even Elite. This will be my new office typewriter - after a good going over.

    Ed, I'm sorry you couldn't get your hands on this one. You would've loved it.

    10 comments → Meet Percy, the First Rooster in the Hen House

    1. Percy's a beaut!

    2. Love him!

      He somehow reminds me a bit of the photos you see of Depression times: men wearing the remains of expensive suits as they wait in line at soup kitchens, having fallen on hard times.

      There are the remains of a fine gentleman about him, and while he may be a bit bewildered and bitter about his fate now and again, I betcha he's never forgotten how to treat a kind lady!

    3. Handsome feller, that Percy. Careful that his slick city-boy ways don't turn the heads of your bevy of beauties, Monda. (I'm not worried: you raised 'em right.)

      Most of my NaNo is being written on my KMG, say 60-70% of it. It's a workhorse, and those glass-rimmed keys aren't as hard on the fingers as I expected, and I've got a lead on a similar-era Quiet DeLuxe stowed in a local garage. Those Royals, they'll catch you up and not let go.

      Ed would have been pleased.

    4. Nice! I can tell he's going to shine up well.

    5. I dunno, Monda. Fella like that, come callin' on a lady who just happens to be housin' a stable of good lookin' lady typewriters...a fella that just so happens to be long on look & charm...

      Just keep an eye on him, that's all I'm sayin'.

    6. Percy's a twinkle-eyed rascal. Something about these old Royals make me want to type forever.

      I hear there's a typewriter man in Hot Springs who knows his stuff, but I'm not quite ready to do that yet. I'll clean as much as I can myself, although that may not amount to much. If anyone has a manual for Percy, I'd be thrilled to pieces to get a look at it.

    7. Monda, I don't think there's too much about Percy's controls that you don't already know. I can't tell from the photo if he's got "Magic Margins", but that and the ribbon reverse are the only two oddments on my KMG -- the carriage looks very, very similar to my machine.

      The platen should be easily removed. On my machine, you flick a round knob on the top of the right-hand side of the platen, and then the whole platen lifts out, very much like changing a roll of paper towels -- the left-hand side of the platen fits into a little metal "cup" and the right knob comes along with the assembly. I can photograph this if you like.

      Looks like you have buttons to pop open the ribbon covers (?). The lever on the left-front side is probably a ribbon reverse, and I'll wager that small button next to it is either a margin release or a cover release. hard to tell.

      Prepare yourself for respooling the ribbon on Percym, though. Those Royal spools are unlike anything else I've seen, with a little hook that drops down when the ribbon is totally unwound, and catches the reverse mechanism.

    8. ges

    9. It really seems like love in first sight. I'm so happy for you two for finding each other. There's no greater love, than a love between a person and a typewriter.

    10. Cool picture, it reminded me of the times my father used these type of writers for his work.

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