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Home » Olivetti » Lettera 22 » 1954 #027716
1954 Olivetti Lettera 22 Serial # 027716 1954 Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter, Serial # 027716 Paolo Dal Chiele's 1954 Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter. 2020-04-19 From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Paolo Dal Chiele: 1954 Olivetti Lettera 22 Serial # 027716 The fact of not being a collector or of having commercial interests offers me the freedom to dedicate time to machines destined, at best, to be parts donor.
And this sometimes offers some satisfactions, as in the case of this Lettera 22.
This Letter 22 first series found in Romania had so many problems to make a sad future sure: some typebars were blocked, the paper support was broken, a key was missing, the ribbon reverse mechanism did not work ...
Judging by the amount of debris and dust accumulated outside and inside the typewriter, the bag was also lost long ago. After cleaning the machine, it was first evident that the paper support broke due to a violent impact on the right side of the carriage, confirmed by the broken roller knob. The knob had been repaired so carefully that the crack is not even noticeable at first glance. Unfortunately the paper support could not have been repaired at that time unless a new part was available. This problem was so common in the first series of the Letter 22 that in 1955 Olivetti changed the fixing system of the paper support to the carriage in order to avoid it.
A careful analysis of the machine then revealed another interesting aspect: the French-Italian QZERTY keyboard was ingeniously modified to write also in Romanian language, that typing the diacritical marks . The letter "c" with the cedilla has been milled, leaving only the tail so that it can also be used for typing other diacritical characters. To get the accent instead the upper half of a type has been replaced, also in this case in a very professional way.
The paper support problem has been solved by replacing the whole carriage with a correct one, that is same colour and coming from a machine of the same year.
The problem of the blocked typebars was the last to be solved. It didn't take long to realise that the problem was due to the deformation of the segment slots in the typebars guide, which required a lot of calm and patience to solve.
In the end all solved, apart from the missing key that I do not have available in my stock of pieces, but that sooner or later I will find.
The result is a machine that writes surprisingly well, I dare say that it is one of the best Lettera 22 I have ever used.
Which was not obvious at the beginning ....

1954 Olivetti Lettera 22 #027716

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Paolo Dal Chiele (pdcox)
Created: 04-19-2020 at 08:02AM
Last Edit: 04-19-2020 at 08:25AM

Description Hunter 30 Photos 1 Like  Find on Ebay #AD  Find on Etsy #AD

Description:

The fact of not being a collector or of having commercial interests offers me the freedom to dedicate time to machines destined, at best, to be parts donor.
And this sometimes offers some satisfactions, as in the case of this Lettera 22.
This Letter 22 first series found in Romania had so many problems to make a sad future sure: some typebars were blocked, the paper support was broken, a key was missing, the ribbon reverse mechanism did not work ...
Judging by the amount of debris and dust accumulated outside and inside the typewriter, the bag was also lost long ago. After cleaning the machine, it was first evident that the paper support broke due to a violent impact on the right side of the carriage, confirmed by the broken roller knob. The knob had been repaired so carefully that the crack is not even noticeable at first glance. Unfortunately the paper support could not have been repaired at that time unless a new part was available. This problem was so common in the first series of the Letter 22 that in 1955 Olivetti changed the fixing system of the paper support to the carriage in order to avoid it.
A careful analysis of the machine then revealed another interesting aspect: the French-Italian QZERTY keyboard was ingeniously modified to write also in Romanian language, that typing the diacritical marks . The letter "c" with the cedilla has been milled, leaving only the tail so that it can also be used for typing other diacritical characters. To get the accent instead the upper half of a type has been replaced, also in this case in a very professional way.
The paper support problem has been solved by replacing the whole carriage with a correct one, that is same colour and coming from a machine of the same year.
The problem of the blocked typebars was the last to be solved. It didn't take long to realise that the problem was due to the deformation of the segment slots in the typebars guide, which required a lot of calm and patience to solve.
In the end all solved, apart from the missing key that I do not have available in my stock of pieces, but that sooner or later I will find.
The result is a machine that writes surprisingly well, I dare say that it is one of the best Lettera 22 I have ever used.
Which was not obvious at the beginning ....

Typeface Specimen:

Photos:

The final result...
The final result...









The modified typebars.
The modified typebars.

Very clean job done professionally when the machine was brought to Romania.
Very clean job done professionally when the machine was brought to Romania.



The typebars blocked to deformed segment slots.
The typebars blocked to deformed segment slots.

The broken paper support fixing, that in the Lettera 22 produced until 1955 was a weak point.
The broken paper support fixing, that in the Lettera 22 produced until 1955 was a weak point.

The broken platen knob, very well repaired.
The broken platen knob, very well repaired.

After removal of the body.
After removal of the body.




After removal of the carriage and of the typebars.
After removal of the carriage and of the typebars.








The ribbon reverse mechanism after the repair.
The ribbon reverse mechanism after the repair.

Now is in full efficiency, and what is important is that it is not alone anymore...
Now is in full efficiency, and what is important is that it is not alone anymore...

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 ...


RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Olivetti Lettera 22 on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Olivetti Serial Number page and the Olivetti Lettera 22 By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.

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