Bleeding

Bleeding

Sunday, June 21, 2015

The Royal Litton 560 Typewriter

The Typewriter Database is a wonderful website, but it doesn't have every machine ever made. This set me off on a little research project to discover some things about my new electric typewriter.



For a while, I didn't even know what this thing was called. It resembles my junked 470 manual typewriter. I didn't find the identifying marks straight away, so Google Images takes the credit on this one.


This ad comes from The Deseret News in 1971. It's a pretty bad image of the machine.


This article is from an issue of Fortune magazine in 1979. It describes the 560 as a "modern, efficient electric that will handle just about every kind of office job. It's rugged. Quiet. Handsomely designed." It's definitely quiet. The article goes on to describe the Royal 565, the "clean hands typewriter" that used a "new carbon ribbon dual cartridge" which snapped in and out of the machine. From the way it's worded, I assume the ink ribbon stayed in place. I can't find a single image of the 565 model or this carbon ribbon cartridge.

The large slab in the front of the machine reminds me of some of the Hermes office models. But this Royal has no means of holding paper for the typist to copy documents. At any rate, I discovered the identifying marks after finding these articles.



The serial number is partially blocked by the escapement. 
The full digits are: 560-13-9428254


Or, you could just look at the neat label someone printed on the side and save you a lot of time and effort. However, the typewriter does not print in 10 point. It's too big. More like 12.

I haven't figure out what's wrong with the tabulator yet. Setting tab stops messes up the escapement and the carriage freezes when you hit the stop using the space bar. Sometimes it advances to that point automatically when hitting the return button. For now, I'm not using the tab system at all. I fixed the broken ? and + keys by simply jiggling the connecting bars underneath. Lucky me.

The 560 is an obscure addition, but an interesting one. I like the keyboard a lot more than the SCM Electra.


Power to the pen.
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7 comments:

  1. Richard PJune 21, 2015 at 10:11 AM

    That is one bohonkin' typewriter.

    10 point is bigger than 12 point. Point = characters per inch. Or maybe I misunderstood your comment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Taylor HarbinJune 21, 2015 at 1:15 PM

      It's a giant. I always thought 10 was smaller than 12....could be wrong.

      Delete
    2. JustAnotherGuyJune 21, 2015 at 1:37 PM

      Think about it this way: the smaller the characters, the more that can be fit into an inch of space. Thus, 10 cpi is larger than 12.

      Delete
    3. Taylor HarbinJune 21, 2015 at 5:32 PM

      Ah, thanks! That clears it up. Too much time at the computer's word processor. JustAnotherGuy, you still interested in it? ;)

      Delete
  2. JustAnotherGuyJune 22, 2015 at 10:23 AM

    I am, but the prospect of having that massive thing shipped to me is unnerving. I'm worried that it could be badly damaged in transit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Taylor HarbinJune 22, 2015 at 11:27 AM

      Send me an email and we'll work out the details.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousJune 23, 2015 at 12:43 AM

    Very interesting post. I think I've seen one of these near to home, must investigate further...

    ReplyDelete

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