Vintage typewriter repair kit

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By John Edgar Park
Posted 2009/08/20 @ 9:50 am
Category Tools

Check out this beautiful, fetishistic vintage typewriter repair kit:

I borrowed it from my friend Andrew Leman, (actor, prop builder, graphic designer, typographer, and filmmaker) who got it to use in an upcoming Lovecraft film he’s producing. I used some of the tools to straighten bars in my vintage typewriters. Now he wants his kit back, so I thought I’d better take some photos of them first. I love the little compartment for the three parts drawers.

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17 Responses to Vintage typewriter repair kit

dijonaise on August 20th, 2009 at 7:45 pm said:

I inherited some of both my G-pa’s and my Dad’s tools and it makes me smile every time I touch one of their implements.The photos of this typewriter repair kit literally brought tears to my eyes.
I am lucky enough and yet cursed enough, to have witnessed the entire changeover from mechanical devices to the packetized digital future that we live in today. As a young man I served in the U.S. Coast Guard, and used a variety of “transitional” technology. The main method of communicating was the TeleTypeâ„¢. We had plenty of vacuum tubes, but computers as well. Don’t get me wrong, I am no codger, this was 1982.
The patina on those tools, and the machines they serviced are an anachronism now. However, they evoke the hard working romantic vision we have of that era which we have left behind for ever.

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KentKB on August 20th, 2009 at 7:56 pm said:

What a wonderful thing this vintage typewriter repair kit is….
“Fetishistic” indeed.

Do not give it back! As a Prop builder myself, I for one would never loan it out, so, Keep it He will learn a Lesson ;-}

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Rachel Hobson on August 20th, 2009 at 9:29 pm said:

Fantastic! This makes me giddy!

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- Joseph on August 20th, 2009 at 10:29 pm said:
  
  I think that’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a -long- time. I’d love to own one!
  
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Jonathan Peterson on August 21st, 2009 at 7:00 am said:

I have the exact same pair of parallel jaw pliers on the top of the heap partially hidden by the brush. They were my grandfather’s, who was a dentist and are sitting on my bench right now.

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John Park on August 21st, 2009 at 7:26 am said:

Joseph, I wish I knew where to find one too. I like Andrew and all, but I’ve been kinda hoping he’d get knocked on the head and develop amnesia or something…

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salsa on August 21st, 2009 at 8:39 am said:

I found a very similar leather case at a garage sale last year– paid ~$8, complete with two metal trays in the base, but without the stash of old tools.

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- John Park on August 21st, 2009 at 11:23 am said:
  
  Nice one! Where do you live, and do you have a guard dog or alarm system?
  
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Dave Ewan on August 21st, 2009 at 9:06 pm said:

Circa 1969 I got a job fixing typewriters & was given one of the leather bags for a while. They eventually gave me one that looked like a brief-case and weighed twice as much. Weight was a concern because the broken machines could be anywhere in a factory, from the receptionist’s desk to the dusty old greasy mouse-poop filled manual that they had back on the shipping dock. I would have ben a much happier man with a Leatherman tool in my pocket, but they weren’t available at the time. The 10 years I worked on typewriters was the same time that mechanical calculators died. There was no contest. In ’69 a four function calculator cost $1000 and required about $50 per year in maintenance. By 1979 they had dropped to $30 to $50. I did have a year when I worked on one model almost exclusively. I got to know that machine so well that I can still operate it in my head 35 years later. Not many people get to do that in the 21st century.

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Drake on August 22nd, 2009 at 8:48 am said:

Who the hell uses a typewriter anymore?

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Joe Bowers on August 22nd, 2009 at 10:52 am said:

Looks more like a robot repair kit to me, the kind one would use on ones self…

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- John Park on August 22nd, 2009 at 11:37 am said:
  
  [Jorb knows too much. After upgrade, must eliminate him.]
  
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Barry Briggs on August 24th, 2009 at 10:42 am said:

These bags worked great for locksmiths as well. I wish I still had mine from Clark AB the Phillippines.

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- John Park on August 24th, 2009 at 11:23 am said:
  
  OK, great point. I’d love to pull of a caper with one of these bags in hand.
  
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JW on August 28th, 2009 at 5:09 pm said:

I’ve had one of those bags for 20 years, never knew what it was designed for, still doubt it was designed for typewriter repair, but a good guess I suppose. The little trays on mine have a leather cover, it’s a good bag for a spy I think.

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- John Park on August 29th, 2009 at 12:24 am said:
  
  Great point, I’d love to find it in an old Sears Catalog , listed as The Handyman’s Travel Satchel or something.
  
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Bill Cropley on May 6th, 2010 at 7:42 am said:

I am a retired IBM’er since 1991. I made thousands of $$ working on the ‘big systems’ guy’s 360 system Selectric i/o printers (the 360, model 65 had two of them). I loved it because of it’s intricacies and peculiararities. I started in 1962 as a Customer Engineer and never changed. When I retired I kept my tools and somehow over the years they just sort of disappeared. I am now a missionary in Nigeria lecturing in a seminary-some change, huh? and would give my eyeteeth for a couple of the large springhooks (well, not really!) If anyone there has any to spare or donate I would much appreciate them. My daughter lives in Washington state and could forward them to me. You can let me know via email . Thanx.
By the way I think I got one of the first of the brief case type tool bags.

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