[GreenKeys] [External] Model 15 Print Quality

[Jones, Douglas W]

From: ad7i [ad7i at ad7i.net] -- Friday, October 23, 2020 4:14 PM

> As can be seen in the photos with the NOS ribbon, the top of the B has some issues, and other characters with closed elements

Back in the day when typewriters with cloth ribbons were everywhere, we all saw this problem eventually.  The letters with hollows (abdegopqABDOPQ) are all at risk, but eaoAO are at the highest risk because they see more use.  The problem is, they fill with waxy ink from the ribbon and become solid instead of hollow.  I got used to using a toothpick periodically on my trusty old Remington portable (a pre-war typewriter that was still going strong when retired around 1976.)  When you saw a letter starting to fill in, you'd take a toothpick and poke out the waxy ink filling the hollow of the type.  A bit of kleenex is handy for collecting ink crumbs.

I don't know why ink didn't also build up in the sharp angles of characters like vwyVWY, but I suspect that any open space in the fence around the hollow allows ink crumbs to escape and not be hammered into a solid compact mass.

     Doug Jones
     jones at cs.uiowa.edu
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