The Royal
So, the typewriter that will (probably) form the base of the Wireless Telecorrespondent (which we keep spelling in varying ways just to confuse you, Gentle Reader) is a Royal #10. We think it dates from roughly 1930, based on our understanding of the table of typewriter serial numbers graciously provided by the Typewriter Serial Number Database.
This Royal is somewhat unusual, in that it has:
- an extra-wide (18”) carriage
- six extra tabulation keys (marked with powers of 10, from 1 up through 100,000) above the ordinary keyboard
The glass panels (one on each side) are intact, and the overall condition seems fair. One significant flaw that we’ve discovered is that an extra guard piece at the rear of the machine (intended to protect the levers that connect the tabulation keys to the carriage mechanism) has its top 3” or so broken off. It is because of this break, and the otherwise merely fair condition of the machine, that we don’t feel too bad dismantling it.
It’s still not clear whether we’ll actually be able to gut enough of the internal connectors to make room for even a mini-ITX motherboard, but we’re sure going to try.