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Silver Reed EZ43 Typewriter [proto-topre]

Posted: 02 Oct 2020, 03:32
by zrrion
Just got a hold of a Silver Reed EZ43 Typewriter with a variety of proto-topre that I have not seen before.
This pic is from the listing because shipping absolutely destroyed the typewriter, box was crunched a little and it was not packaged well so some significant damage was done to the case and the type mechanism, but thankfully the keyboard survived unharmed.
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The stem on the caps is larger than standard topre and much larger than other vintage proto-topre and this causes the caps to be incompatible with topre. Topre caps are almost compatible with these switches, but they do not stay. I suspect using a small amount of plastic film might help with the fit.

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Initially I just opened this thing enough to pop a cap while on break, and on another break I opened it a bit more to find this damage. When I was finally able to unpack age this thing completely I was greeted with this fantastic sight:

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And its not better really anywhere else, the thing was just full of little bits of plastic crumbs. So I don't have too many pics of the case to show off as none of my pics would be any good.

But anyway, lets look at the keyboard some more

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I have another Silver Reed typewriter that had a good module so any time I see one of them I take a look as it is likely that their other typewriters have high quality keyboards as well. Now the thing that really tipped me off about this typewriter though is the green sub-legends. A small amount of sleuthing and I came across this image of an EZ50 with yellowed caps but on this example some the caps with green sub-legends are more yellowed, which is a tell for triple-shot. Triple-shot caps with green sub-legends on typewriters has been proto-topre in every instance I am aware of so that's the secret sauce for finding these I guess. Squinting at listing pictures on ebay I can pretty confidently say that the EZ 20, EX 36, and EZ 50 all appear to have the same caps for sure probably.

Cracking open the already cracked open thing we can easily remove the keyboard module and get a look at the stuff.
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The top housing is screwed to a metal back plate like a lot of these membrane based proto-topre boards, and unfortunately there is no branding on this thing anywhere.

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The membranes fold over the middle spacer layer and are "spot welded" together to keep everything in place. Its an interesting way to go for sure and the first time I've seen it.

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And the sliders are what you would expect form proto-topre but really short. I don't have any topre sliders just laying around but they are likely around the same height. They feel pretty similar to my wife's type heaven in terms of tactility, not quite the same though. Not a lot to say about them that isn't true of basically all good dome boards, domes are snappy and not too stiff.

As for the caps they are really nice. They have a pretty coarse texture which is especially noticeable on the spacebar. The caps that don't feel worn at all. I suppose I can wire this up to something and use it, but I think I've seen like 1 board on taobao that looked like it might have the same switches. Maybe someday I'll get one of those and swap on some cool looking caps.

EDIT: pics of the stems on Brother Proto-topre, Topre, and Silver Reed Proto-topre respectively
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Re: Silver Reed EZ43 Typewriter [proto-topre]

Posted: 03 Oct 2020, 20:19
by hellothere
Nice work!

Re: Silver Reed EZ43 Typewriter [proto-topre]

Posted: 14 Oct 2020, 04:38
by evitatan
Nice one.

Re: Silver Reed EZ43 Typewriter [proto-topre]

Posted: 15 Oct 2020, 05:22
by beanter8
hellothere wrote:
03 Oct 2020, 20:19
tetris
Nice work!
i think same! skribbl io