TelvanorA typewriter bench journalhttps://telvanor.click/2026-11-07T19:30:00-05:00WaltNo. 15, Underwood standard: The t still sits a hair highhttps://telvanor.click/machines/no-15-underwood-standard.html2026-11-07T19:30:00-05:002026-11-07T19:30:00-05:00A thirty-pound Underwood out of a neighbor’s garage, with nothing faint and nothing skipped: every common letter is just standing in the wrong place. Eleven evenings of bending typebars back, less one.No. 14, Smith-Corona Skyriter: Capitals riding highhttps://telvanor.click/machines/no-14-smith-corona-skyriter.html2026-10-18T19:30:00-04:002026-10-18T19:30:00-04:00Every capital on a Smith-Corona Skyriter printed a step above the line, and only the capitals. One loose locknut, and eleven tries at a screw to put them back.No. 13, Remington Quiet-Riter: A space it didn’t earnhttps://telvanor.click/machines/no-13-remington-quiet-riter.html2026-09-27T19:30:00-04:002026-09-27T19:30:00-04:00A Remington Quiet-Riter with clean, level type and a carriage that takes an extra space whenever it likes. Cleaning the escapement got it most of the way. Not all the way.What the garage did to No. 2https://telvanor.click/machines/bench-note-summer-air.html2026-08-29T19:30:00-04:002026-08-29T19:30:00-04:00One summer in a Florida garage turned a working typewriter into the top strip. What damp air does to these machines, what I do about it, and the forty-minute drill for hurricane season.No. 12, Hermes 3000: Red feethttps://telvanor.click/machines/no-12-hermes-3000.html2026-07-26T19:30:00-04:002026-07-26T19:30:00-04:00A Hermes 3000 off a thrift-store shelf typed every letter with a red bottom edge and faded to nothing by the end of the line. Two faults, both in the ribbon’s travel.No. 11, Olympia SM3: Everything rubber had quithttps://telvanor.click/machines/no-11-olympia-sm3.html2026-06-21T19:30:00-04:002026-06-21T19:30:00-04:00An Olympia SM3 that typed downhill and punched its periods clean through the paper. Platen, feed rollers, bushings, feet: four kinds of rubber, four ways of failing.Cleaning type, and what stays in the garagehttps://telvanor.click/machines/bench-note-cleaning-type.html2026-05-16T19:30:00-04:002026-05-16T19:30:00-04:00What I clean typewriter type with, in the order I reach for it, and the six things I’ve stopped letting near a machine. Shown on No. 6, which I let go fourteen months.No. 10, Smith-Corona Silent-Super: Fishing line and five turnshttps://telvanor.click/machines/no-10-smith-corona-silent-super.html2026-04-12T19:30:00-04:002026-04-12T19:30:00-04:00The drawband on a Smith-Corona Silent-Super had rotted through, so the carriage stood still and the whole line landed on one spot. Three tries at winding the mainspring.No. 9, Royal Quiet De Luxe: It’s never the faint letterhttps://telvanor.click/machines/no-9-royal-quiet-de-luxe.html2026-03-07T19:30:00-05:002026-03-07T19:30:00-05:00A Royal Quiet De Luxe from an estate sale types a line with three letters missing. The missing letters are fine. The trouble is the ones in front of them.