Typing outside on a 1964 Hermes Ambassador typewriter

[@GeoSlash99]

Awesome typewriter and you are very fast using it. Thank you for sharing. Sounds lovely in harmony with the cicadas :)

[@diedonner299]

Awesome! I have one that’s still in its shipping case, looks more like a steamer trunk. Came with a cleaning kit in a little box including brush etc. Amazing machines.

[@okdinogagah]

hermes green is just awesome!!

[@notleifz1442]

Idk why this is in my recs. But i loved this and appreciate the content.

[@seikoboy65]

Great video i have just acquired an ambassador but the paper injector doesn't work, I read in your comments that you might make a video on how to fix it. That would be so helpful or a complete dissemble and reassemble. I've looked everywhere for the info thanks. Will keep watching 😊

[@haelscheirs_haven]

I'll see if I can edit together my existing footage regarding this by this weekend.

[@seikoboy65]

@@haelscheirs_haven that would be great really appreciate after watching your video I picked up a another Hermes identical to your sea green one. I think I'm hooked on them, thanks again for your help.

[@seikoboy65]

Hi have you had time to edit the video for the paper injector,did you use a service manual to disassemble I've been looking for one but to no avail regards John.

[@haelscheirs_haven]

@@seikoboy65Sorry for the delay. I got caught up doing lots of research for my audiophile hobby. Shopping for speakers... I'll see what I can do by tomorrow.

[@seikoboy65]

@@haelscheirs_haven thanks I was browsing your site you have some fine typewriter some quite rare ones did you renovate them yourself? You must some good service manuals? Thanks again,i found a service manual for a Hermes 9 but it doesn't help.

[@tjpj111]

It’s interesting that you seem to choose the lightest touch setting on your typewriters and yet type quickly. It’s usual for people to get better results increasing touch weight with speed

[@haelscheirs_haven]

I've seen someone claim better results from replacing a spring in their Hermes 3000 with a heavier version, but with my technique, I could type much faster than in their video while simulating not having that spring at all (but still being able to advance the ribbon; it also feels much smoother this way, but the ribbon vibrator ends up inherently stuck in the lifted position). If you can press the keys and release them very fast, they can generally rebound fast enough from the impact against the paper/platen, gravity, and the slight jolt from the key resetting; if the typebars are being slowed down too much by the impact with the paper/platen, then you may indeed need some help from springs. Having too high of a touch weight hinders the typebar's motion toward the platen which then requires a stronger and deeper touch which is by no means good for speed as I have found. Likewise, if your finger is encouraged to be further down in the stroke for longer than usual, it will counterproductively hinder the typebar's return. With a minimized touch setting, you will in fact need a faster finger technique for sharply imparting enough momentum into each key and then immediately releasing the key before your finger could interfere with the return; this quick release also makes that finger much more quickly available to press another key, whereby I wouldn't want anything like heavier springs requiring more effort to achieve that motion. The typebar will thus arrive at the platen generally faster than had there been a heavier spring, and will bounce back faster than had it arrived more slowly and needed to be accelerated by the heavy spring first, or had the heavy spring caused your finger to be in the way of said acceleration for a short bit. Speed demands that the time each typebar spends in the air be minimized, and I find that heavy springs hinder that at least for the typebars' motion toward the platen, probably creating an inequality in travel and return times that could make jamming more likely than had those times been equalized.

[@HotRodTypewriter]

Does that button unjam typebars? It looks like there is no real way to hand pull any stuck bars without pulling the cover.

[@haelscheirs_haven]

The only typewriters that I know have an "unjam" key are the 60s to 70s Smith-Corona portables. This machine does not have any such button, and while the type basket is quite obscured by the cover, I haven't yet encountered a jamming situation where I couldn't just reach from the small opening on the top (the same opening I use when taking the cover off) and push the jammed bars back. EDIT: Actually, now that I realize what button you are talking about (probably the small one on the front left), I have yet to try it.

[@haelscheirs_haven]

Heh. And I also now know who you are on the Typewriters Discord. ;) Anyways, yes, I now know firsthand that that button does in fact act as a unjammer, which makes the tiny hole in the front cover much more sensible.

[@mx5701]

The small round button above the backspace key does, in fact, unjam any stuck keys.

[@GeoSlash99]

​@@haelscheirs_haven Not true! There are quite a few machines where the margin release button will do this, I learned. And a very rare swiss typewriter called the "Swissa Junior" has a dedicated untangle key also. I really wish it was adopted by more manufacturers. It is an incredibly useful feature.

[@MikeRandolph-kt2fr]

How would you describe the action, sound and feel of the Ambassador versus the 3000? Thanks for your thoughts.

[@haelscheirs_haven]

With a hard platen, the Ambassador is certainly louder. Otherwise, I find the touch lighter and smoother on the Ambassador since the Hermes 3000 has more resistance from actuating the ribbon mechanisms. The Ambassador's typing feel is simply excellent and primarily inertial with low friction. The Hermes 8 or 9 should be similar.

[@MikeRandolph-kt2fr]

@@haelscheirs_haven Thanks! Does the Ambassador have any equivalents or competitors in the soft, easy-touch category? Other than the 8 or 9, of course.

[@haelscheirs_haven]

@@MikeRandolph-kt2fr The Ambassador is probably the lightest-feeling standard typewriter I know. Others tend to have more force or inertia concentrated at the start or middle of the press (pre-war Underwood standards and similar, Triumph, Siemag Standard, Voss), or they increase progressively but in a somewhat mushy manner (post-war Smith Corona), else are heavy and consistent in variation (Olympia SG-1, Facit T2, post-war Underwood, Rheinmetall, Remington, Royal, Groma), or full or "lush" if not a bit mushy (Remington/Underwood Noiseless Standard, Consul/Commodore Standard, post-war Adler, Olivetti). The Ambassador maintains a lightness while also allowing you to release the key sooner so that the typebar can continue under its own momentum. Post-war Olympias portables starting with the SM-4 or later SM-3s can be quite light, but to the point that you will feel the keys bottoming out. For a fast touch that is a bit heavy and consistent but allows quick release of the keys, I would recommend Facit portables. Some machines like the Alpina SK 24 require adjustment or unhooking of a spring to get them to type very pleasantly light, whereas the Ambassador was this wonderful from the start.

[@MikeRandolph-kt2fr]

@@haelscheirs_haven Thank you for such a thoughtful and helpful response.

[@german7390]

Hi, I have a one but I don’t know what model is exactly :( could you help me?

[@haelscheirs_haven]

If you would like help with identifying your typewriter, consider posing the question on www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/ with photos of your machine.

[@miguel0226]

H! I find your videos interesting. I am wondering, among your collection, which ones are your most favourite? the ones that type the best, with the lightest feeling, very responsive and with good tactility? Thank you :)

[@haelscheirs_haven]

*tl;dr:* There are a _lot_ of very good typewriters out there that can only really be described as different. So far, the only "bad" typewriters (after adjusting them to be as good as they can be) are really cheaply built later models (and worst of all, the Chinese-made Royal Classic among others, though they are based on the Nakajima portable whose earlier instances like the Adler Junior 12 are actually quite nice, i.e. same design, but actually built to reasonable quality standards), or some more obscure models which while mechanically interesting just don't perform as well. For lightness and excellent tactility, the Consul Comet is among my favourites, though it is an ultraportable; it also has the lightest and fastest carriage return ("carriage flick" where you apply a strong force at the start and let it move the rest of the way under its own momentum) for me such that when transitioning to it from a heavier machine, I need to watch out not to carriage return it too hard. Another great and surprisingly performant ultraportable is the Olympia Traveller de Luxe S or effectively any of the Olympia ultraportables (though I have yet to acquire an Olympia Plana). The Groma Kolibri is also very good and has a parallel linkage type action like the Erika (though I find Erikas too "springy" in touch for my liking while the Kolibri is more tactile) plus a quite smooth carriage return when the carriage rack is adjusted well, and though individual key presses may feel nice, I find it a bit harder to readily type fast on it. Triumph and Adler full-sized portables are also great and have a tactile touch, the 50s and 60s Triumphs being especially fast, whereby like the Hermes Ambassador, their escapement is designed to give the typebars a bit of a "kickback" after actuating so as to help them rebound out of the way faster. The Facit TP1 is also an excellent portable with a light, sustained, and fast touch, but typebar collisions more often result in jams compared to other machines where the collision is more likely to resolve itself. The Alpina SK 24 is light and fast (provided that you adjust or unlink a spring), but not as tactile, having a "spongy" touch. The Torpedo 18B while heavier-feeling to me does likewise have a very tactile touch (the force bows down and then up like the base of a quadratic function; the Underwood standard touch is the opposite and more analogous to rubber dome keyboards, but spread across a 1.5 cm key travel), but can also be very fast. Smith-Coronas I can only describe as good and having a distinct, "progressive" touch to them that starts light and builds up. While the standards can be nice, the portables though capable of typing quite fast and comfortably just feel more "fragile" and rattly to me. Early Consul 15-series portables or rebrands like Commodore may not have the lightest touch at the start, but have the closest thing to a "constant force" touch as opposed to one that increases, decreases, or arcs; later grey-keyed ones might feel springier. Among standard typewriters, of course, the Hermes Ambassador in this video is my absolute favourite for touch, smoothness, and speed, though I would hope that the Hermes 9 proves to have a similar type action while having a lighter carriage for faster carriage returns. The Olympia SG-1 receives a lot of praise, but I would regard its touch as being heavier and "fuller", increasing, plateauing, and increasing in force throughout the keystroke, and it to me feels less responsive in the sense that there can be a noticeable delay between the pressing of a burst of characters and the type slugs hitting the page; they are still great machines, whereby it is a matter of preference. For older standard typewriters, as you may have seen in my 110 WPM speed typing video, Underwoods can be quite reliable even at speed, having a tactile touch, though some might find it heavy compared to portables. I recently acquired a Royal 10, and while it can type fast, I am not as fond of its touch which is more springy. Siemag standards are exquisitely fast, having a similar, probably even more tactile touch than the Triumph/Adler portables, starting a bit heavy, then dropping off else plateauing. Monarch standard typewriters have a nice and light touch reminiscent of 50s+ Olympia portables (pre-50s Olympia portables and licensed rebrands like the Rooy IN and probably also the Kappel portable have a heavier and more tactile touch, whereby just a small tweak to the angle of the bellcranks created the exquisitely light and "silky" touch of the later Olympia portables). If I didn't mention a model, it's because I didn't consider them exceptional, notable or to my preference. Do let me know if you are interested in a review of particular models or makes.

[@miguel0226]

@@haelscheirs_haven Hi Haelscheir! thank you so much for the very detailed response! I appreciate all of that! You really know your subject really well. The moment I saw the video about the you doing some in-depth study on the typewriter mechanism, I knew you have a very good knowledge and expertise in typewriters and their beauty. I very much appreciate this very detailed answer. Never expected this to be this detailed. As you can see, I am very new to this. I started with Olympia SM9 portable but got hooked up with it. Now I have the Olympia Traveller de Luxe, next came Olivetti Lettera 22, and now my Hermes Baby. I found that all of them have different feel. I love my collection, all of them, because they have different characters or should I say personality. They are like alive! ...born with a particular character to know and cherish. I am still in pursuit of other good typewriting machines. Mainly, because of cramped space here in London, I prefer ultraportables. But portables would be nice as well. I cannot explain the feeling I have for typewriters. Very seductive, very addictive. But anyway, thanks again. I have subscribed to your channel and been watching you typing outdoors in awe. Really amazing. :)

[@pwill2010]

Thoccy af

[@haelscheirs_haven]

Heh. I'm guessing you came from my keyboard video.

[@zacjk682]

sounds like a machine gun

[@haelscheirs_haven]

Wait until you hear the Olympia SG-1 or IBM Selectric.