Saturday, January 18, 2014

Manual typing and the Olympia SG1


11 comments:

  1. I don't have an SG1 so this is the first time I have seen this feature. Out of all the radio stations where I worked not one used copy like that. I don't recall if any had Olympia typewriters. Most I used were Royals or Remingtons and a few Underwoods until the Selectrics gained in popularity. Usually IBMs and any electrics were reserved for the office secretary. Copy writers, news and sports caster and on-air folks and the engineers only had manual typewriters.

    I know newspapers use spaces between the letters of a word or words to fill a column width.

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  2. I have increasingly been exploring big, standard typewriters and appreciating more than I used to. The SG1 is a tank, but a very refined one. The Royal HH doesn't feel nearly as precise and smooth, but it is fast and a fine typewriter. My favorite at the moment, though, is the Remington KMC.

    I discovered your blog via Bill M's blog and have added you to the blogrolls on Writing Ball and Welcome to the Typosphere. Type on!

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    1. What is better? SG 1 or SG 3?
      If the SG 1 is a tank, the SG 3 is a spaceship... :P

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  3. I had an SG-1 nearly fifty years ago, when I was working on a correspondence course in electronics. I loved the typewriter--solid, precise, versatile. Hope to hear more from you and other readers. Marvin, osugeography@aol.com

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    1. My SG 3 is over thirty years ago. I learned how to type and the secretarial profession using an Olympia SG 3. The SG 1 is very likely. It seems the shell is the only, unique difference. While the SG 1 has a green shell, the SG 3 has a white and dark gray shell...xD

      You can see my typecasts made with my SG 3 at: http://joshbeta1.blogspot.com

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  4. I think the wide-spacing key was for titles. I remember spacing between capital letters on a conventional Royal for that purpose. My Olympia SG1 is a dream machine. It's even got that elusive plastic paper rest and ruler!

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    1. The paper rest with line counter is the worthwhile feature in SG 1 and SG 3 typewriters...xD

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  5. SG 1? I have an SG 3!!...xD
    I suppose the SG 1 is as astonishing as the Olympia SG 3...xD
    They are very neat machines indeed...xD

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  6. Howdy....digging through stuff and saw this posts to a blog I started when I was unemployed and having fun. Work now gets in the way. I love my SG1. I bought a Royal HH to do a head to head comparison but the Olympia beats the HH hands down. I am not sure why. I think everyone needs two typewriters. A SG1 and a Skyriter. The world of tossing a typewriter in the car...in the backpack and typing in the outdoors is a great experience.

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  7. Wide letter spacing exists on Olympia typewriters because it was used for emphasis in German (like how we would use italics today).

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