The Hall Typewriter

The Frame

Click the Hall graphic to return to the Hall index page.

To remove the printing mechanism, loosen the two screws on the frame, holding the space rod that the mechanism slides along. Pull it to the left, and slide the printing mechanism off to the right.
What you've got left then, is the frame that you see on the right. In this section, it is taken apart completely and cleaned.
The easiest way to work is from right to left.

Start by undoing the screws on the right side of the frame (see red arrows in the picture on the left).

You can now remove whatever rust there is from the first part that has come loose. Make sure to keep the screws in place!
To avoid scratching the part, remove rust with fine steel wool and polish. Put a wad of steel wool in a clamp and you have a great polishing instrument. After removing rust rub the piece until it shines.

Now, one by one, remove the bars, beginning with the one in the back, holding the bell and left margin stop. Like the front rail, this is blue steel. Remove any rust there may be carefully, to avoid removing the blue layer with it! (We'll deal with blueing steel when we get to the index cover of this machine.)

Next you take out and clean the space rod. Next you deal with the supporting rail and finally with the front rail. To remove it, first unscrew the knob the is used to free the paper feed (left).
After cleaning a part, immediately reconnect it to the right side of the frame. So that finally only the platen and paper feed rolls are left in the frame (above).

Now remove the brass platen knob on the left. Note that the actual platen, the print rail, the paper feed handle and paper feed roll are interconnected. The construction is very simple, but it's always wise to note what goes where ;-)

Once all the parts are cleaned and rubbed, slide everything back into place and reconnect the platen construstion to the left side of the frame. Reconstruct the frame and get ready to work on the printing mechanism!