1979 Brother Wide-7 423 #D91117058
Status: My Collection
Hunter: Daniel Burgoyne (Ixzed23)
Created: 08-05-2021 at 02:07PM
Last Edit: 01-31-2024 at 08:06PM
Find on Ebay #AD
Find on Etsy #AD
Description:
Local lucky find in Ottawa, Canada, from the widow of the original owner. It is super clean and in perfect working order. Just missing the owner's manual, which I found online.
It is a JP7 model of the same design as the Kmart 300 deluxe 12 and similar to the Brother 750.
But the really astonishing feature of this Japanese machine is its keyboard layout, similar to the keyboard of an Erika M equipped with an international keyboard (see links below.)
The 44-key keyboard is a QWERTZ German layout for most keys, except the Y and Z, which are in a QWERTY layout. The keyboard has additional latin languages accents, on three dead keys located right of the 9 key, making it the most multilingual typewriter in my collection. This miracle is simply possible due to the absence of fraction keys and of the zero numeral, making room for the dead keys.
One can type on this machine in English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French. Using this keyboard is not as natural for me as with my other typewriters equipped with a Canadian bilingual keyboard. However, I am thankful for the presence of diacritics as dead keys: the cédille for ç, diaresis for ë and accents aigu, grave, and circonflexe. This allows the diacritics to be accessible for typing in the other latin languages.
The Pica serif 10 cpi typeface is very clear although a tad conventional.
It types very well and feels solid, even if the body is plastic. Very happy with this find. It comes in a very good plastic case, that is still intact.
It has all the convenient features of bigger typewriters such as a light segment shift, a touch adjustment under the cover, standard bi-chrome ribbon, simple direct margin stops, 12-inch platen, carriage lock, scale on the paper bail, metal fingers for cards, half spacing spacebar, 1-1/2 line spacing, keyset tabulator with simple set and clear lever and repeat spacer key.
A wonderful find!
Typeface Specimen:
Links:
Photos:
Hunter: Daniel Burgoyne (Ixzed23)
Daniel Burgoyne's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]
Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 595
Bonjour! I am from the region of Montreal, Quebec and moved to Ottawa, Ontario in 1992.
Amateur watchmaker and machinist, I love anything mechanical, hydraulic or electric. I have restored American and Canadian clocks and small lathes, milling machines and a jig bore.
Most of my typewriters have French Canadian QWERTY keyboards, with some exception for rare finds.
RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Brother Wide-7 423 on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Brother Serial Number page and the Brother Wide-7 423 By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.
