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Home » Kappel » VA » 194x #0336565
194x Kappel VA Serial # 0336565 194x Kappel VA typewriter, Serial # 0336565 Paolo Dal Chiele's 194x Kappel VA typewriter. 2019-09-29 From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Paolo Dal Chiele: 194x Kappel VA Serial # 0336565 The machine was in very bad condition: the draw-band was broken, the spring was broken, rust in abundance, alignment completely busted ...
Thanks to Ovidiu from Timisoara the typewriter was saved from scrapping, and now is part of my collection.
After a conservative restorarion, the machine is good working conditions apart from some type that need to be aligned...
What makes this typewriter special to me is that it was built very close to what Germans calls "Stunde nul" (Time zero), the day when the war ended and everything changed. The fact that it was intended to be used in Central Europe is also particularly emotional, knowing in what terrible conditions it was and what suffering the senseless violence of the fighting had caused to the populations.
The serial number is very high, and or the information in the database are wrong, or a significant number of Kappels were produced in Erfurt after the end of the war.
Particular is the keyboard. At first I thought it had been modified, but in reality it is all original: it is a strange combination of keys that allow you to write in Romanian and Hungarian. This key combination is intriguing. The two languages are currently used in Transylvania, and indeed Romania and Hungary were both allies of Germany. The problem is that the first changed field in August 1944, while the second signed the armistice with Russia in January 1945.
Why should typewriters be produced in Germany in 1945 to be used in Transylvania, a territory that was no more under the control of the Axis forces?
Is it a clue that production of Kappels continued after the end of the war under the Russian control?
I can't give an answer, but a typewriter like this deserved to be recovered ...

194x Kappel VA #0336565

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Paolo Dal Chiele (pdcox)
Created: 09-11-2019 at 12:25PM
Last Edit: 09-29-2019 at 06:52AM

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Description:

The machine was in very bad condition: the draw-band was broken, the spring was broken, rust in abundance, alignment completely busted ...
Thanks to Ovidiu from Timisoara the typewriter was saved from scrapping, and now is part of my collection.
After a conservative restorarion, the machine is good working conditions apart from some type that need to be aligned...
What makes this typewriter special to me is that it was built very close to what Germans calls "Stunde nul" (Time zero), the day when the war ended and everything changed. The fact that it was intended to be used in Central Europe is also particularly emotional, knowing in what terrible conditions it was and what suffering the senseless violence of the fighting had caused to the populations.
The serial number is very high, and or the information in the database are wrong, or a significant number of Kappels were produced in Erfurt after the end of the war.
Particular is the keyboard. At first I thought it had been modified, but in reality it is all original: it is a strange combination of keys that allow you to write in Romanian and Hungarian. This key combination is intriguing. The two languages are currently used in Transylvania, and indeed Romania and Hungary were both allies of Germany. The problem is that the first changed field in August 1944, while the second signed the armistice with Russia in January 1945.
Why should typewriters be produced in Germany in 1945 to be used in Transylvania, a territory that was no more under the control of the Axis forces?
Is it a clue that production of Kappels continued after the end of the war under the Russian control?
I can't give an answer, but a typewriter like this deserved to be recovered ...

Typeface Specimen:

Photos:

The typewriter as it was when I received it from a good friend who saved it from being scrapped..
The typewriter as it was when I received it from a good friend who saved it from being scrapped..

Before starting the work...
Before starting the work...

Broken draw-band, but when I disassemble the spring case to replace it I discover that also the spring was broken and needed to be replaced.
Broken draw-band, but when I disassemble the spring case to replace it I discover that also the spring was broken and needed to be replaced.

Complete stripping for cleaning and repair
Complete stripping for cleaning and repair

After few weeks of work, the typewriter is again in good working conditions. Everything is working properly, and only problem that is still present is the misalignment of some letter.
After few weeks of work, the typewriter is again in good working conditions. Everything is working properly, and only problem that is still present is the misalignment of some letter.






Hunter: Paolo Dal Chiele (pdcox)

Paolo Dal Chiele's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]

Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 2417

Interested in historic motoring and vintage cars, I received a typewriter as a bonus when I bought and old off-road car. The previous owner had found somewhere a typewriter produced for the German army and when he sold me the car he gave me the typewriter too. As I learned later, it was a1961 Olympia SM7 Robust..
Of the typewriters I value more character than perfection, the signs that time has left and the stories - or fragments of stories - of those who used them ...


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