A Diamond in the rough, don't judge a book by its cover. Well made typewriter from the 1970's Easy to find and cheap to buy, they make a great first machine.
The Traveller de Luxe is one of the best value for money typewriters out there. They are cheap, plentiful, very reliable and well made - and that includes the UNIS ones made in Yugoslavia. I've got two, one with a Dutch and one with a Spanish keyboard and indeed my first typewriter was one of these. It's not suited to everyone's idea of visual aesthetics, but I quite like that Functionalist look. 26 typewriters later, it is still one of my favourites to type on, and it's possibly the one that feels the most reliable and solid of them all.
I learned to type on one of these and nostalgia for it made me buy one again recently. Oh what joy to type on it again. After several years of using an Olivetti Lettera 35, its a joy! I was already vaguely familiar with its functions even though it was 50 years ago when I took my first faltering pecks at the keyboard. It's so neat and built so well. I use mine for crafting projects and also quite often for envelopes. It's so much easier to slip one into the typewriter than try to remember which way an envelope goes in a particular printer (don't know how many I've wasted that came out printed upside down!) Its only quirk and the one which made me eventually fall out with mine first time around (and only because I needed it for my typing exams) was that it has only pre-set tabulation at every 10 spaces. You can't set your own. That and the lack of a $ key are its only downfall and don't matter to me now).
Thank you so much for the video, it really helped me out. I've got a Yugoslav made UNIS tbm De Luxe, which is basically the same as this one, and was quite popular around here. Fun fact, one hospital department in my town still uses it, they find it much more convenient to fill out many forms on the go than to use the PC printer (but some younger staff does so).
Loved watching this. Thank you. Very informative. I have one of these myself. A gift a few days ago - which I will now cherish. I need to look at the ink ribbon as I suspect it is not on properly (my error I should add! As I bought a new one to replace the old one) but other than that a good clean and I am good to go typing!
I have recently bought one of these second hand and it seems to be working fine, except the carriage is slipping when I press the keys sometimes. Do you know why this might be and how I can fix it? The string and spring under the carriage seem to be fine - no breakages - and I am not sure where else the problem might be.
I found that same typewriter today at a thrift store. The keyboard is in Cyrillic 🙂. I would love to find an owner's manual for it. You don't happen to know where I can find one of those? Doesn't have to be original.
Hi there! I found one of these on the street. The note taped on it said it was it needed minor repairs, but I can't actually get to the typewriter inside because it seems to be stuck in it's case due to someone closing it improperly. Do you have any ideas on how I can get it out?
That is quite common, the rear clips jam on the back edge and carriage. Working on a table, push in the release buttons, while pushing up and back at the same time. One of them jobs you need an extra hand for.
