HAMMOND MULTIPLEX

Today's tinker....


I'm working on an old Hammond "Multiplex" typewriter restoration at the moment.  Hammond Multiplex....what a great name to name a typewriter. I bought this machine on EBAY awhile back and it's getting close to completion.  When I first bought it, I had no idea what a project it would turn out to be.  When I first started on it, I couldn't figure out how the thing worked.  It looked like some "Steam-Punk" robotic crab.  It's like no typewriter that I've seen.  My first goal was just to figure out how the thing worked.  Little by little, it came to life!  Maybe that's why I like working on these old machines....it's kind of like Dr. Frankenstein....."IT'S ALIVE!!!!!"  I basically finished up cleaning, polishing and oiling the mechanical parts, now I turn wood worker, (which I don't know much about,) and try to salvage a chewed-up, splintered, broken wooden base and lid.  Here's what the base and typewriter looked like to start....

Before.....

and after

I'm working on the final piece now which is the wooden lid.  Like a relic from King Tut's tomb, It is so shattered, crushed and mutilated, that it can hardly hold itself together. Actually, the stuff in Tut's tomb was in better shape! It is really messed up!  It's made of steam bent oak veneer on a thin wood.  When I first laid eyes on it, I nearly tossed it out. But, I hate to throw away something without at least trying to save it.  I'm now in the process of trying to glue it back together piece by piece. It's like archaeology work.

Well, I'm down to the final steps of this project.  I'm adjusting the type, trying to make the end result the best it can be.  It's a finicky typewriter, seems you tweak one thing and it throws off something else.  As soon as I am satisfied, I'll try my first "Typecast" and post it.