As hard as I am on Adler machines from the 1970s, I seem to have an awful lot of them. They pop up everywhere, especially in the form of this stained beast.
OK, I know that it's really a Triumph Gabrielle/Adler in Scheidegger's clothes. Certainly, Mr. Scheidegger had interesting taste. The blue is certainly blue. The yellowed and aged keys really set off the stains. What about the Brand Schiedegger?
Robert Messenger asked the question "Who is Willy Scheidegger?" and was unable to get anything beyond some basic information. All I know is that Willy Scheidegger ran a number of typing schools that had the dubious honor of requiring pupils to purchase their private-label machines to complete the course.
Maybe I'll give Willy the benefit of the doubt. The machines that were comissioned were quality typewriters. A Triumph Gabrielle (of any vintage) or Princess 300 aren't exactly a Rover 5000, but requiring students to buy your machines...well I think it's dodgy.
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| We can make you a star...typer! |
Almost as dodgy, say, as the cleanliness of this typewriter. Those stains look pretty shocking. You know what's more shocking? I don't think it's staining from smoke or sun. I think it's bromine.
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| Yuck. |
Yup, that cancer-causing flame-retardant bromine. I draw your attention to an open-source project called Retr0brite. I heard about Retr0brite a year or so ago and I was waiting for a chance to give it a go.
Retr0brite uses some commonly available chemistry to remove the staining from older ABS plastics. Looking over the entire body I can't find a mark indicating what type of plastic was used for the body, but it has the feel of ABS. You know, that slightly hollow, light feel. My suspicions were raised because of the general irregular pattern of staining. Some parts are ugly yellow and others are nicely blue and my gut says that it's flame retardant making things look crummy.
Retr0brite uses some commonly available chemistry to remove the staining from older ABS plastics. Looking over the entire body I can't find a mark indicating what type of plastic was used for the body, but it has the feel of ABS. You know, that slightly hollow, light feel. My suspicions were raised because of the general irregular pattern of staining. Some parts are ugly yellow and others are nicely blue and my gut says that it's flame retardant making things look crummy.
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| Contract? Serial? |
So, my plan is to mix up a little Retr0brite and see if the sad stains can be lifted away.
Of course, it's not like I don't have a few other projects on the bench. Why not add one more?
