Royal Senior Companion, 1954

The Royal Senior Companion is a typewriter that was designed for students. While it looks like a Quiet Deluxe, there are many differences. Most notable is the lack of Touch Control. It also lacks a tabulator, paper support, pop-up ribbon cover, and the nameplate on the front is painted on (instead of chrome). The carriage ends are structural, and uncovered. It also lacks the Quiet Deluxe's line-finder. It has manual margins, one carriage release lever (instead of two.) Its touch is also much lighter than that of the Quiet Deluxe.

However, Royal's attention to detail is easily visible by looking at the painted nameplates. The Royal nameplate is outlined with a fine pinstripe, and the "Senior Companion" nameplate is perfectly straight on the panel as if it were the separate part that it is on the Quiet Deluxe.

This was one of the lowest priced Royals from the 1950s. However, it is very well-made, and it uses a similar tweed-covered fiberglass case as its more expensive siblings. However, unlike its more expensive siblings, the lid from the case can be taken off, making it possible to type with it anchored onto the base of the case.

An ad for the Senior Companion from Life Magazine, April 18, 1955 

Advertisement from The Oakland Tribune, September 11, 1955

According to Google Maps, Milen's Jewelers has been replaced with a Bart station:

Olivetti Lettera 22/A Note on the Typewriter Database

Apparently, the serial numbers listed on the Typewriter Database are for January 1st of each year. That means that this Olivetti is a 1956 model, not a 1957 model. Either way, it was most likely sold by The Typewriter Clinic.

 The carrying case

 This dust cover is from a British Olivetti (coming soon)

 The round box contains:

 brushes for cleaning the Olivetti

 This is the manual:

Cover of the 1956 Seattle Telephone Directory (Courtesy of the Seattle Public Library)

The only Olivetti dealer listed.

1939 World's Fair Remette

One of the most valuable Remington typewriters--this is a special edition Remette made for the 1939 New York World's Fair. Many of these sell for around $300. 

June, 1967 Royal Custom II

This is my second Royal Custom II typewriter. (My first was from the Seattle Goodwill: http://royaltypewriters.blogspot.com/2013/09/another-refreshed-royal.html . The paint was in poor enough condition that I refreshed it. That one is from April, 1968.) I traded in a Royal 890 and an Olympia SM-7 for this one in Tacoma, WA. From what I was told, it was sold to them by the son of a typewriter dealer from either Seattle or Tacoma. Because the only 

What is very interesting to me about this typewriter is its manufacturing date--June 1967.  While Royal made a Custom typewriter in 1967, it was basically a Safari. The Custom II was mainly advertised after 1968. However, there were some ads for the Custom II in 1967. The patent numbers on the underside of the ribbon cover date from 1957-1961. The design patent is for the Futura:

When the Custom II is viewed from the side, it becomes apparent that this typewriter is based very heavily on the Futura, but made wider. The mechanical elements are identical to the Futura. Even the spacebar is the same! To make matters more confusing, there was a 1960s typewriter called the Futura, which came in a color known as "Vegas Gold." It came with manual margins, and lacked the 1/! key. 

1960s Royal Futura (Image courtesy of Ebay.com)

Olympia SF/Traveller Typewriter Ad Copy

Olympia SF Typewriter : The Individual

(from the Ruston, Louisiana Daily Leader, November 26, 1971)

As Olympia has now shown the world, a typewriter does not necessarily have to look like a typewriter. The styling of the Olympia SF Deluxe will be appreciated by those people who like something special. And fresh colors too. ..like Cosmos Blue and Mars Red. It's amazing how many special benefits have been engineered into this small machine. Margin stop scale with stops tor left and right: three different line-spacings. 1. 1 1/2.,2; Vertical paper support for easy reference to typed material and two color ribbon plus stencil position. It adds that personal touch that makes a nice Christmas gift for anyone.

Canadian Olympia Traveller de Luxe

I went back to Bremerton Office Machines this morning, where I found the most interesting typewriter I have ever seen. It was designed in Germany in 1969, outsourced to Yugoslavia in 1972, (mine was made in 1980), and mine was most likely sold in Canada in 1980, and resold in Bremerton, WA, USA in 2013--a true Traveler! Mechanically, it is an Olympia SF, with a two-color ribbon. It is quite compact, and somehow quite heavy. I was able to test it and a Remington Noiseless--the Olympia seemed quieter to me! I thought that the whole typewriter was plastic, until I lifted off the ribbon cover--only the black panels are plastic. 

The carrying case/lid is plastic, and stamped with the name "UNIS". UNIS stood for Udružena Metalna Industrija Sarajevo, (United Metal Industries, Sarajevo, in Croatian) and manufactured Olympia Traveller typewriters under licence for many years (most 1970s compact Olympias were made by UNIS.) More about UNIS can be found here: http://oztypewriter.blogspot.com/2012/02/yugoslavian-typewriter.html

and http://machinesoflovinggrace.com/ptf/unis.html

The Traveller is a very sturdy typewriter. The margins are set in the rear. It is also rare in the United States. 

The carrying case/lid.

The Traveller looks very much at home on the M/V Kitsap, which, coincidentally, was also built in 1980! 

I have since moved the dealer label to the rear of the machine.

The only advertisements I could find for this model were in Canadian newspapers:

From the Brandon (Manitoba) Sun, August 28, 1980

Special Thanks to Richard Polt

A few weeks ago, I asked Richard Polt if he had an extra rear panel to a 1950s Royal Quiet Deluxe. He said he did, "But it's pink." I asked if he could send the other pink panels, and he did--in its case! Thanks to him, my $2 Royal Quiet Deluxe is now much less drab.

He is also a great resource of information on prewar Remington Portables His site devoted to them is below:

 http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/rem-portables.htm

 The new case

 The dark gray panels are original, but the pink panels are new. I love the differences in texture between the two colors. The pink panels are from a 1957 or later Quiet Deluxe that was Mr. Polt's parts machine. The push-button mechanism is built into the front panel. The red panel with the word "Royal" on it is original to this front panel (the original front panel had a gray panel)

In this picture, it is less pink, but tanner. 

The tan/pink panels have a crinkle finish, while the charcoal panels are very smooth. The new case is in much better condition than the case it originally came in (which I now think was not original either, after seeing other charcoal Quiet Deluxes on Etsy and Ebay with gray-lined cases.)

The end result reminds me a lot of the late-1950s Speed King:

Royal Speed King, circa 1959. Notice the bulky keytops, which were found on the Futura, and the later Safari. This was a lower end alternative to the Quiet Deluxe and the Futura, lacking the Futura's keyset tabulator.