Yet Another Typewriter

Back from The Fix It Shop. In what I recognize now as an increasingly unhealthy obsession with getting my relatives' old typewriters up and running, I now have with me a fully-working Brother Electric typewriter. I don't know the year it came out, but it looks like a late 1960's early 1970's model. This is the oldest electric typewriter I've ever laid my eyes or hands on, and it's in very good condition, given its age. And it works fine too.

It's another heavy machine, and except for the keys, it's made of solid cast iron all over. When you turn it on by pressing the red, square switch on the right side, the motor starts to roll, turning a small belt inside, probably activating the inner gears. I pulled back the first time I pressed that red button because the machine started to hum loudly, not unlike an electric generator. I thought it was radioactive.

Before it was repaired, the owner said that if you were to type barefoot (as she once did), it would give you mild electric shocks after pressing certain key combinations. This was probably the earliest form of spell-checking. "If you're going to use it, wear shoes," she said.

I checked the wattage consumption at the bottom of the typewriter: 50 watts. To compare, a 19 inch LCD TV being sold in local appliance stores consumes only 40 watts.

But it works!