One of a handful of e.t s in amongst a large collection of antique typewriters listed on German eBay by galerie-alte-technik.de “Specialists in the sale of technical antiques and antique scientific equipment and accessories”) was quite unexpected …

… it being a Remtronic 2000 …

… a typewriter manufactured by the Remtronic Division of Remington Industria E Commercio de Sistemas Para Escritorio S.A., a spin-off company of Remington Rand USA.

While a bidding frenzy ensued for antique typewriters of a bygone mechanical era, this early 1980s plastic example (of how those machines evolved) attracted absolutely no interest …

… except for my interest of course. A 5 euro starting bid turned out to be the only bid …

Remington Industria may well have taken a few design cues from Olivetti. However, the Remtronic 2000 has a few idiosyncrasies all its own: In particular, two simple paper release (left) and paper bail (right) sliders on the sides rather than the top of the typewriter:

The rear is minimalist…

How many e.t.s have a power switch and a power cord located on the rear underside of the machine?

And instead of a conventional ribbon cover that flips up, this typewriter has a mini-circular (as in the minor arc of a circle) cover that can be removed to allow access to the ribbon cassette:

A combination carbon film/correction ribbon cassette appears to have been made specifically for Remington Industria’s Remtronic series …

As does the large-sized printwheel, which has a channel on the rear which allows it to be easily aligned with the print hammer:

At the time of writing:

  • A Remtronic Model 2404T and a Model 2000S (with what appear to be more conventional paper release/paper bail levers and a power switch and cord located on the rear, rather than the rear underside, of the machine) are featured alongside other e.t.s at: https://tecteclas.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_1.html
  • A “Manual De Instruções Máquina De Escrever Remington” is on sale at mercado livre:

Queremos trocar algumas palavras com as pessoas que pensan que maquina de escrever  eletronica e colsa do futuro. Esta e a maquina do nosso tempo.

We want to exchange a few words with people who think that the electronic typewriter is a thing of the future. This is the machine of our time.

Times have certainly changed!

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