1966 Hermes 3000 #3357754

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Dan Johnson (rdj)
Created: 04-02-2014 at 07:13AM
Last Edit: 04-02-2014 at 07:13AM

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Description:

Boy did I get lucky on this one: $50 with free shipping on eBay. I was the only bidder, presumably because the seller admitted being unable to figure out how to unlock the carriage. Well, not quite: it unlocked from center/stowage position, but she couldn't figure out how to adjust the right margin, which seemed stuck around column 60. It is understandable that she thought it might be broken.

So, it arrived, and although the manual[*] is somewhat confusing – though in that precise, Swiss way – I figured it out.

This typewriter seemed just shy of unused. There was *some* ink on the typebars and platen, but other than that and the right platen knob having been in pieces (though the seller thoughtfully taped them into a plastic baggie inside the cover), this typewriter is a visual and functional beauty.

I do have relatively small hands for a guy, and this seems like one of the most compact of keyboards, and I hate to admit it, but this one feels almost better than my Royal QDL with its rimmed tombstone keys. Almost – I'll reserve final judgment on this a while longer until I've had a chance to give it a good run, but so far, it's holding up to the hype.

I am really happy with this one.

[*] Thank you, Richard Polt! http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/Hermes3000.pdf

Typeface Specimen:

Hunter: Dan Johnson (rdj)

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Status: Typewriter Hunter
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I have always loved typewriters along with other kinds of well-engineered tools and devices such as slide rules, calculators (particular HP), radios, cameras (particularly Nikons), and microscopes. In addition to appreciating their intrinsic beauty and utility, they represent "things that need to be figured out to be understood". That's how I first learned about computers and programming in the 1970s, by figuring things out for myself. It's activity in which I never seem to tire of engaging.

Although communities have arisen around other collection interests, typewriters have the advantage that those who use them also typically enjoy communicating through words, whether those words are about the machines themselves or their lives, hopes, dreams, or expressions of beauty. There's much to be appreciated here.