There was I preparing to write a post in praise of Japanese-made typewriters. Then up turns a man who is opting out of this mad, mad, mad world and heading off to an overgrown paddock in Fiji. So he needs his typewriter put in working order. No computers where he's going. He found the Brother in an op-shop some years ago, all of $35 worth, and has never been able to use it.I’m not surprised. It’s a beaten-up JP-3, second variant, serial number D8925202, more familiar as a Montgomery Ward Signature 510D. The D stands for Dire. This is the worst typewriter I’ve ever worked on. Worse than the mind-blowingly crappy Chinese-made Olivetti MS 25 Premier puss, or the almost equally inferior Brazilian-made Olivetti Lettera 82.
Is it possible the Japanese made a typewriter this bad? Apparently so. I also happened to have on the workbench an Akio Kondo-designed JP-1. A reliable, highly functional machine, the original flagship of the Brother fleet. Can you believe this? The JP-1 has 13 screws holding together the full mask, the JP-3 has 37!!! What the … ? Badly designed, over engineered, just a complete mess.
It’s working now, just. The carriage ball bearings had “frozen” with corrosion, the alignment was all over the shop, the touch control switch impacted on the ribbon movement. The saga went on and on. So glad it’s gone now.
Fully agreed. I had a 511D that I remember fondly. I came across a 510D with a script font; the memories of my 511 convinced me it would be a similar machine. Sadly, it isn't even close. Aside from the boxier styling than the sleek 511 curves, I have not been able to quiet down the internals when returning the carriage. I no believe there is no way to. The gears are plastic and not well fit; they rattle like an old machine missing its silent return spring.
ReplyDeleteI hope your endeavors with a 511 turned out better than mine have.
P.S. 510 & 511 are fun both fun in the fact they have a paper injector