Friday, September 28, 2012

Royal "O" & Praying Mantis
















12 comments:

  1. Great Royal 'O'! My QDL skips at random as well, although I DID manage to write two whole pages yesterday (at a slow to moderate speed- A Richard Polt Suggestion-)and it wrote like a dream, with no issues.
    Nice Praying Mantis, too. Very noble looking insects. And I've never seen one in brown either.

    Oh, those IBM golf balls were mailed off on Wednesday. Dammit, I should have included a typewritten note, but I did put something else in the package instead. At least it was typewritten...partially.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, these Royals do tend to behave better when they are typed on slowly and smoothly.

      I have to really modify my usual slap-dash, staccato-burst keystrokes in order to achieve a uniform effect on this machine. (Same with my Gossen Tippa -- an even MORE finicky typewriter.)

      THANKS AGAIN for sending me the type elements! I will be sure to do a post on them when they arrive. Anticipation is making me wait!

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  2. Oooh, what a lovely little portable! Skipping just seems to be a Royal 'thing'; I'm not sure we have one that doesn't skip. It was also told to me by Reuben Florez that it's all about the rhythm. I'm still mastering this.

    Lovely mantis, too! The brown ones are just a different subspecies. We see several different colors here, but what I'd love to see is one of their leaf-mimic cousins. I sort of have an affinity for creepy-crawlies.

    The stamp is adorable, but so is MiniRhino!

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  3. I love that you compared the skipping to Elton John's teeth. LMAO!

    I'm behind in my reading, writing and fall cleaning, as per usual. Glad to see that you're doing well!

    I love the stamp too.

    Oh, but the praying mantis? FREAKY!

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  4. Nice machine but I'm sorry, the mantis stole the show. So cool!

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  5. My FP skips, my Arrow skips... Pretty much every Royal that I know does something weird with the escapement. I've settled on it being my typing style, but as it only happens with the Royals, I'm putting it down to a combination of my typing style, and bad design. When I have kids write on the Royals, they never see the problems. But they're not touch typing or even coming close to my speed. When I increased the touch control, I too found myself having less errors.

    But they are a great little machine those!

    You know.... One day I'm going to try a Gossen tippa, just experience that finicky nature that people keep talking about.

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  6. I have a Royal Arrow which also tends to skip spaces... when I type slowly on it. Curiously enough, that little machine always seems to be in a hurry; the fastest I type, the better the typing action and the less the skipping. Maybe yours is also impatient; could be a common trait of Royals.

    Fantastic photos!

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  7. Another Royal. No doubt, a lovely *looking* machine. Their early portables were absolutely beautiful. Apparently, though, they do not age well, as seen from the stereotypical skipping.
    Nevertheless, a breathtaking example of a great looking machine. Also, that stamp is...odd, to say the least. Twins with their arms around each other? Odd looking twins, at that. Really neat, but I just don't get what it is!

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    1. The stamp represents the characters Tweedledee & Tweedledum, from "Alice in Wonderland". They are twins of a sort. It is actually an apt stamp for James & me, who some people think are twins!

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  8. I have a larger rubber stamp collection, which I used often when writing cards and letters. Alas, they sit unused, like the LPs. I enjoyed them so.

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  9. I shall remember the Rhino.

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  10. cameron
    just a quick note on Miranda Hart videos, they are available at amazon uk, but they go by region. usa is region one, england is two, australia is four. It is possible to change regions on your computer but only for a few times before locking your self out. hope this was helpful.

    ray

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