Portable Typewriters by Brand

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Acme Office Machines, 2400 N. 45th, Seattle

Acme Office Machines (Image From the Washington State Archives Puget Sound Branch, King County Assessor Property Record Card collection.)
Acme Office Machines was established in the 1950s in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood. By 1973, Acme Office Machines had two locations--the former E.W. Hall location at 2015 3rd Avenue, in downtown Seattle, and a new Wallingford location, pictured above. Around this time, they serviced the Olivetti below:



Notice that the dealer number has numbers only--before 1974, Acme advertised their phone number as "ME-3-3355" ME was short for MElrose, which was replaced by "63"

Sunday, May 25, 2014

My favorite typewriter

This is a typewriter that I've always dreamed of owning (especially in this color). I traded my Royal Model O for it at a vintage market--it was well worth the trade! This typewriter did not come in a case, but fits incredibly neatly in a shoulder bag. This is the first 1930s Royal I've ever owned that has had a tabulator. (Also, my first 1930s Royal that is painted a color, in this case, Duotone Brown) At some point between 1950 and 1963, this typewriter was serviced by the Wager's Office Equipment/St. Paul Typewriter Exchange (the label lists both). 





Below is a flyer for the Duotone Royal, provided to me by Darryl Bridson, Royal Consumer Information Products


Mid-Century Portable Typewriter Spotters Guide

If you are interested, my book is now available in Kindle Format and in Paperback on Amazon.com. The paperback includes space for note-taking, because I had noticed that no other typewriter book has room for it.
Enjoy!
Nick

Saturday, May 3, 2014

1957 Smith-Corona Sterling with Presidential Pica

 As found--before cleaning
After a light cleaning, the paint looks like new:



It types in the second font on the page below: