Skyriters are great fun, functional, fast and reliable little machines. I thinned my Skyriter collection a bit over the past year and I think I'm down to only 7. I have never gotten one of these that did not work or have a hard platen, even my 1949-50. I like the mid-50s era ones since they have a page gage that can be set to indicate the end of page.
Nice font on the Electra. I never used one, but it does seem the space bar needs pressed a bit far.
I bought new metal spool ribbons from someone I'm sure it was Jay Respler(NJ) or Ernie Jorgensen(ID), but I forget who.
I got a Skyriter last year from Goodwill. Great condition - even the space bar shows virtually no wear on it. Works perfectly, just needed a light cleaning and it was ready for use. I recently got a nice Olympia SF though, and I think I prefer the typing feel on that one to the Skyriter. I have even played with the idea of giving the Skyriter up, since it has gone largely ignored after acquiring the SF, but it's really just such a nice little machine, and it takes up so little room that I just can't quite bring myself to part with it. Also - it matches my '54 SC Silent nicely! And who am I to break up a family?
Back in the Kodachrome days of the 1950's, the price of the film included processing by Kodak, and the package included a similar tagged bag just the right size for the roll of film in its aluminum screw-top canister. You filled in the address of the nearest Kodak lab (I still remember it as 925 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto,CA) along with your return address on the label. A week or so later it was exciting to receive and open the little yellow box containing the processed slides. Thanks for the memories!
Skyriters are great fun, functional, fast and reliable little machines. I thinned my Skyriter collection a bit over the past year and I think I'm down to only 7. I have never gotten one of these that did not work or have a hard platen, even my 1949-50. I like the mid-50s era ones since they have a page gage that can be set to indicate the end of page.
ReplyDeleteNice font on the Electra. I never used one, but it does seem the space bar needs pressed a bit far.
I bought new metal spool ribbons from someone I'm sure it was Jay Respler(NJ) or Ernie Jorgensen(ID), but I forget who.
I got a Skyriter last year from Goodwill. Great condition - even the space bar shows virtually no wear on it. Works perfectly, just needed a light cleaning and it was ready for use. I recently got a nice Olympia SF though, and I think I prefer the typing feel on that one to the Skyriter. I have even played with the idea of giving the Skyriter up, since it has gone largely ignored after acquiring the SF, but it's really just such a nice little machine, and it takes up so little room that I just can't quite bring myself to part with it. Also - it matches my '54 SC Silent nicely! And who am I to break up a family?
ReplyDeleteBack in the Kodachrome days of the 1950's, the price of the film included processing by Kodak, and the package included a similar tagged bag just the right size for the roll of film in its aluminum screw-top canister. You filled in the address of the nearest Kodak lab (I still remember it as 925 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto,CA) along with your return address on the label. A week or so later it was exciting to receive and open the little yellow box containing the processed slides. Thanks for the memories!
ReplyDelete