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1948 Royal KMM Serial # KMM12-3820044 1948 Royal KMM typewriter, Serial # KMM12-3820044 Karl Harris's 1948 Royal KMM typewriter. 2026-02-15 From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Karl Harris: 1948 Royal KMM Serial # KMM12-3820044 Acquired for zero dollars ("Please just take it away!") at a family friend's business closing. In great shape as found, the usual sticky type bars and sluggish movement due to someone hosing it down with WD-40 and leaving it to dry. Left "Magic Margin" lever broken off, but still works with remaining stub (seeking this part!) One key weight / return spring broken ("T"), fabricated new one from music wire (it's the shiny silver one in the pic of the underside.) The usual fossilized rubber. Quick & dirty platen reco er with shrink wrap (works kinda meh...) Some slight type misalignment, particularly the lower-case "a", which sits higher than the others (but oddly enough, the upper-case "A" doesn't. ???

1948 Royal KMM #KMM12-3820044

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Karl Harris (kharrisma)
Created: 02-15-2026 at 07:04AM
Last Edit: 02-15-2026 at 07:41AM

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Description:

Acquired for zero dollars ("Please just take it away!") at a family friend's business closing. In great shape as found, the usual sticky type bars and sluggish movement due to someone hosing it down with WD-40 and leaving it to dry. Left "Magic Margin" lever broken off, but still works with remaining stub (seeking this part!) One key weight / return spring broken ("T"), fabricated new one from music wire (it's the shiny silver one in the pic of the underside.) The usual fossilized rubber. Quick & dirty platen reco er with shrink wrap (works kinda meh...) Some slight type misalignment, particularly the lower-case "a", which sits higher than the others (but oddly enough, the upper-case "A" doesn't. ???

Typeface Specimen:

Photos:

Carriage controls, RT
Carriage controls, RT

Key weight/return spring bank
Key weight/return spring bank

Fabricated spring, fifth to the right from center space
Fabricated spring, fifth to the right from center space

Full frontal!
Full frontal!

Secthon (yes, the ribbon is uipside down, it's how they wound it. Rewind in works!
Secthon (yes, the ribbon is uipside down, it's how they wound it. Rewind in works!

Key banks
Key banks

Right quarter
Right quarter

Tabulator rack / backside, left
Tabulator rack / backside, left

Tabulator rack / backside, right
Tabulator rack / backside, right

Carriage controls, LT, with broken-off "Magic Margin" lever.
Carriage controls, LT, with broken-off "Magic Margin" lever.

Hunter: Karl Harris (kharrisma)

Karl Harris's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]

Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 0

72 year-old retired gent living in New England, with a lifelong fascination with typewriters, starting with my mom''s Smith-Corona portable that I used to pore over as a kid, trying to work out how this miraculously complex machine worked. Was recently given ("take it away, please!") a 2948 Royal KMM in surprisingly good coondition, and my wife dragged home a portable Smith Corona (not like my mom's) with a mis-matched case awhile ago that I haven't gotten around to yet.


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