7 thoughts on “Wordless Wednesday: The conquest made real”
Beautiful Hermes. I have a similar model, inherited from my great-grandmother, but I’m having some issues with capitalization–when I shift, it stays cap-locked until I carriage return. Any helpful hints?
Thank you, Melissa. I wish I had answers, but I only just got ribbon for my Rocket last week. Everything seems to be in order now, but the funny thing that happened to me for the first few times I used it was that after I’d shift everything was tossed out of alignment. I would shift, then the following letters would be a millimeter lower, then I’d shift again and it would be lower still. The sentences looked like stair steps. After a few good carriage returns it all went back into place.
That’s exactly what happened with mine. I just lived with it, and then finally, it started typing all in capital letters after one shift. A mechanically advised person said that maybe it was just a worn-out spring… But we haven’t found it yet.
Mine still does this when I insert a new page, but once I carriage return everything settles down. Next time I’m going to do a good carriage return before I start typing to see if that does it.
Wanting more posts about the Hermes! Are you writing with it? I’ve been experimenting with a revision process for my fiction where I write a story on a computer, write it long-hand, and type it up, and it’s actually extremely helpful. Meanwhile, my Hermes is acting like an animal (chewing up ribbon, not spacing, not returning, not staying on one line) and I can’t stop using it. It’s shocking how the pace my logic brain moves when I’m typing is exactly the right speed for my creative mind to keep up.
Anyway. I want to see a typecast. Although I have yet to post one myself. Have you seen this (abandoned, not mine) blog?
I want to give you more, I really do. I love Lola and she works wonderfully, but I haven’t gotten into the swing of typing regularly. Part of it may be the fact that I spent so long looking for my first manual machine and once I got it (that 1910, Underwood No. 5 at the top of the page, Flo) it worked somewhat like a homing device for dejected typewriters and they started following me home. Strays, they are, and most of them not working. I’ve been cleaning them up, but there is major surgery to be done and I don’t even know where to begin.
I like your writing tenacity. I may have to give that a try, but then, I’d need a piece of fiction to start with and therein lies another problem.
I hadn’t seen that blog. Tell you what, you do a typecast and I will too. I’ve been thinking of putting up a new page devoted to the old coots as it is.
But it looks like the fitting is different than mine. It’s also funny, because in the research I’ve done the only Hermes that I’ve found that looks almost exactly like mine is yours. There seem to be many different flavors.
About fiction practice–I thought you were writing a novel! Have you considered NaNoWriMo? Or heard of it? It jump-started my fiction practice back in 2006 and I now have my manuscript under consideration by an agent.
Beautiful Hermes. I have a similar model, inherited from my great-grandmother, but I’m having some issues with capitalization–when I shift, it stays cap-locked until I carriage return. Any helpful hints?
Thank you, Melissa. I wish I had answers, but I only just got ribbon for my Rocket last week. Everything seems to be in order now, but the funny thing that happened to me for the first few times I used it was that after I’d shift everything was tossed out of alignment. I would shift, then the following letters would be a millimeter lower, then I’d shift again and it would be lower still. The sentences looked like stair steps. After a few good carriage returns it all went back into place.
That’s exactly what happened with mine. I just lived with it, and then finally, it started typing all in capital letters after one shift. A mechanically advised person said that maybe it was just a worn-out spring… But we haven’t found it yet.
Mine still does this when I insert a new page, but once I carriage return everything settles down. Next time I’m going to do a good carriage return before I start typing to see if that does it.
Wanting more posts about the Hermes! Are you writing with it? I’ve been experimenting with a revision process for my fiction where I write a story on a computer, write it long-hand, and type it up, and it’s actually extremely helpful. Meanwhile, my Hermes is acting like an animal (chewing up ribbon, not spacing, not returning, not staying on one line) and I can’t stop using it. It’s shocking how the pace my logic brain moves when I’m typing is exactly the right speed for my creative mind to keep up.
Anyway. I want to see a typecast. Although I have yet to post one myself. Have you seen this (abandoned, not mine) blog?
http://strokeandbore.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/the-hermes-rocket/
Hey Melissa!
I want to give you more, I really do. I love Lola and she works wonderfully, but I haven’t gotten into the swing of typing regularly. Part of it may be the fact that I spent so long looking for my first manual machine and once I got it (that 1910, Underwood No. 5 at the top of the page, Flo) it worked somewhat like a homing device for dejected typewriters and they started following me home. Strays, they are, and most of them not working. I’ve been cleaning them up, but there is major surgery to be done and I don’t even know where to begin.
I like your writing tenacity. I may have to give that a try, but then, I’d need a piece of fiction to start with and therein lies another problem.
I hadn’t seen that blog. Tell you what, you do a typecast and I will too. I’ve been thinking of putting up a new page devoted to the old coots as it is.
Just letting you know I put up a typecast!! Here’s a link: http://casting-off.blogspot.com/2012/06/do-things-we-choose.html
It didn’t turn out that great, primarily because my ribbon is acting up. Where’d you buy your new ribbon? I found this website: http://www.scantracker.com/Hermes_typewriter_ribbons.htm
But it looks like the fitting is different than mine. It’s also funny, because in the research I’ve done the only Hermes that I’ve found that looks almost exactly like mine is yours. There seem to be many different flavors.
About fiction practice–I thought you were writing a novel! Have you considered NaNoWriMo? Or heard of it? It jump-started my fiction practice back in 2006 and I now have my manuscript under consideration by an agent.