Bennett Portable
Smaller than your average toy typewriter, this ultra-compact begs the question of whether it is possible to make a typewriter too small.
The Bennett is a strange beast. I originally found myself looking for one because I had been thinking it would be fun to have something that would fit in a backpack and could make for fun typing in locations further afield. It certainly can fit in a backpack and reach those far out places, but when it comes to fun typing, I have bad news...
Index typers are always interesting as they usually wear the mechanisms on their sleeves. They always have a bit of a steampunk flair and are a blast to see how the simplified mechanisms work. The Bennett does not disappoint in this regard and I actually enjoyed digging into this one even more than the Blickensderfer by virtue of the compact package. The whole machine fits into a small lid with two pull tabs ons the ends, pulling on these releases a pair of springs and letting you lift it off the machine. Avoid the temptation to use these as some kind of carrying strap mounting spots though!
Once the lid is off you can begin to appreciate just how compact this thing is. The paper tray flips back, revealing that bright red Bennett logo and the smallest keyboard you could imagine. On the left side of the keyboard there are two shift buttons, one for capitals (CAP) and the other for special characters of figures (FIG). If you depress them, a tiny arm lifts up with a notch in it. If you push up, it locks the arm into that mode, giving you a shift lock on even the smallest scale. Two thumbscrews secure the key levers and ribbon system to the body and carriage.
Unscrewing both of these (they have the same threading and can be inter-changed) the top half of the bars and ribbon system simply lifts right off, revealing the almost circuit-like key levers visible. The ribbon cups are retained by a pair of e-clips and the ribbon kept in place with a pair of wire-guides.
With the top removed you can see the minimalist workings of the Bennett, a single sector gear against a pinion translates to a rotation of the type element as it is pushed against the platen. The forward movement of the type element advances the carriage as well; no drawband or mainspring here!
The type element is held onto the arbor by means of a small spring that overhangs the element; rotating it 180 degrees allows you to lift it off, but a bend in the wire gives a little retention when you rotate it. Removing the carriage can be done by fully lifting the margin lever. When fully lifted, the whole carriage assembly slides off to the right side and clear of the frame. Against the back of the frame there are a series of steps, if you position the carriage and move this lever down as far as it goes, you can set the margin against this shelf and it sets your left margin.
A bit unusually (at least if you aren't coming from a Blick) you'll find your newline arm on the right side of the machine. Since there isn't a fixed position for the carriage (it advances one relative space for each character but is not locked in any position) the return arm really just feels like it's there to advance to a new line on the page.
Cutting straight to the chase, this machine is a pain to use. Everything feels very mushy and even a child would probably have difficult fitting their hands on the keyboard. The compact feel is interesting when carrying, but the moment you begin to type, it's difficult to avoid the nagging feeling that you would have been better served by practicing your penmanship. I still plan on trying to take it a few places, but I can't imagine typing more than a few short paragraphs on it. Perhaps being able to print new elements will entice me to use it more, however for the moment I think it's mostly just for looking.