How Eveline Theobald restores old typewriters

QSqueaking, rattling, stuttering, squeaking – if the acoustic repertoire of a typewriter sounded like this, we might have skipped this step in our cultural history. Bang, boom, straight from the fountain pen to the computer. Thanks to the skills of countless mechanics, it didn’t happen that way. That it sounds different in Eveline Theobald’s workshop, which is completely devoted to these machines. More like soothing rattling, rattling, clicking and once more and once more the bell-bright ping when the end of a line is reached.

Anyone who enters the small workshop not far from Saarlouis probably has a typewriter with them that they want to repair, restore or at least have checked. Or he doesn’t have one with him yet but intends to leave the house with one. In this case the former is correct. A “little Conti” has found its way within the family from one person’s attic to the other’s living room. Where the machine, found at a flea market, originally came from, what it can do, how old it is, nobody, at least not in Germany, can answer that as accurately as Eveline Theobald. Even if her official job title no longer exists today, the types of a machine give her 32 striking emphasis: office machine mechanic.

Grown up in my grandfather’s typewriter workshop

Eveline Theobald is sitting on the ground floor of the typewriter house, her black gloves already on, she switches on a lamp over the tiny wooden table and inspects the Continental she has brought with her from the traditional Chemnitz company Wanderer. The result first: “Not a total catastrophe. But it would be a complete overhaul.” You didn’t hope for that, you kind of expected it. One look at the keys, “verdigris has them,” but that’s just the beginning. The platen has become hard and shows small injuries, but that can be sanded down. The pressure rollers are over for that. The paper is between them and the roller, but one is torn and the other is no longer turning, so replace it. The pull rope that moves the carriage backwards is worn out. The ribbon lift doesn’t work quite correctly, it’s a matter of setting, as Theobald says, but as long as it’s not done, the lower part of the letters will run out when they’re supposed to write red. The biggest construction site, however, are the guys. The rust is bothering them, there is a problem. “I would have to take out the type levers because they don’t fall back properly,” says Theobald, pushing the carriage to the right once more, his fingers dashing on the keys, yes, “I would rework them individually and sand down both sides.”