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Friday 9 May 2014

Belting Out a Typewriter Case Strap

This little Remington portable is winging its way to Queensland as I write. I sold it on eBay to a Sunshine Coast woman and it seems as if it is going to a good home, where it will be suitably cared for and appreciated.
Its case had no handle strap, so I fashioned one from an old leather belt.
In my haste to leave Cork in Ireland for Paris at 1am on January 17, 1974, I forgot to pack a belt. So I had to go shopping on the Rue Saint Honoré the next morning. From memory it cost me no more than about 40 francs. But it proved its worth. It lasted me more than 40 years. It finally snapped off at the notch end just a couple of weeks ago. Faced with the need to replace the Remington's case handle strap, I used part of what was left of the belt. It worked out well, I think.
Don't worry, Georg and Richard, I still have other belts to keep my trousers up! No more "saucy" pics of me typing!
This is one of about eight typewriters I have sold in the past couple of weeks. A very nice Blue Bird (Torpedo 18), a pre-war Hermes Baby in excellent condition and a post-war Hermes 2000 left here this morning with James, a new Melbourne collector. A lovely grey Royal Quiet DeLuxe I used for a typecast a week ago is also on its way to Queensland. A glorious Underwood Model F with gold painted panels was sold to a Canberra lady. Another fantastic Remington portable went to Sydney. And an African Mahogany Rheinmetall will be leaving here next week. All have helped keep the wolves at bay. 

4 comments:

Rob Bowker said...

Exact same thing happened to me - belt snapped at the most used hole. If I'd shown early promise and put a few pounds on, I doubt that hole would have weakened as it did over the years. It was actually a swap from my partner's sister for a book on independent film making I had by Lenny (Puff The Magic Dragon) Lipton. I ended up with stay-up trousers, she ended up an award-winning television progamme editor. I've hung on to the remains for old time's sake but now I know how it can be redeployed and have a second life. Cheers Rob.

Scott K said...

Nice work on the replacement. So, are we going to see any of these guys at our next type-in?

Bill M said...

Nice looking typewriter. Great idea on the strap.

Richard P said...

40 years for the belt and it's still useful, in a new position. That's some tough leather!