1911 Bennett typewriter
The Bennett typewriter is likely the rarest typewriter I own. It is the smallest typewriter ever made with a full keyboard and is about the same size as a wireless computer keyboard. This typewriter succeeded the Junior typewriter, a similar looking typewriter, introduced in 1906, which used ink rollers and was less reliable. The Bennett uses a ribbon which is slightly smaller than a standard half inch typewriter ribbon. To replace it with a newly inked typewriter ribbon from eBay, I had to wrap it around a piece of cardboard and cut it so it was the correct size. The Bennett uses an interchangeable type element, similar to a Blickensderfer, which decreases the mechanism’s size substantially compared to a typebar - based typewriter. It has no drawband, instead using a pawl activated by a keypress, to advance the carriage. When I got it, it could not print the correct characters. I had to adjust 2 elliptical washers, which to fixed this problem.
1904 Williams No.4 typewriter
The Williams typewriter is one of my rarest and unique typewriters. It has a peculiar design compared to a typical manual typewriter - the carriage is located in the middle and two segments fan out from the front and back of it. The typebars hit the paper in a grasshopper-like motion. Moreover, the typewriter does not use a ribbon - the typeslugs sit on a stamp inking pad (which had to be replaced). When I got it it was very rusty and dirty, I didn't even know if I could make it type again or not. However, the restoration was easier than expected, partially due to the easy disassembly of the carriage section. Most of the repair went into cleaning it and removing rust, and now it types well. It was also missing its wooden base when I got it, so I had to make one. It also came with its original metal dust cover. Overall, I am quite happy with this restoration.
