How to change the ribbon on a typewriter

The ribbon is a strip of fabric soaked in ink. With each keystroke, the character presses it against the paper — it is the impact that deposits the ink. Over time the strip runs dry and the typing fades. Three signs never lie:

• a pale, grey rather than black line;
• letters that are only partly printed, especially the solid ones like O or M;
• a steady loss of contrast that gets worse toward the end of the spool.

A new ribbon fixes all three at once. You can see the difference from the first line — see the ribbons in stock at the workshop.

On all of these machines, the ribbon follows the same route: it leaves one spool, goes around a side guide, passes through the part that lifts it to the point of impact, reaches the second guide, then winds onto the other spool. When the take-up spool reaches the end of its travel, a mechanism reverses the direction and the ribbon runs the other way.

Plate from a period manual

1  The spools — they carry the ribbon and pull it from one side to the other.
2  The side guides — small rollers, pins or slots that hold the ribbon flat between the spool and the centre.
3  The ribbon holder — also called the fork, vibrator or ribbon lifter. It raises the ribbon in front of the hammer at each keystroke, and it is the part that differs from one model to another.

• a new ribbon with the right reference — if in doubt, send us a photo of your machine ;
• a a sheet of paper for the final test;
• possibly a pair of tweezers, handy on ribbon holders with narrow slots.

Your machine's spools

A new ribbon comes wound on its two spools, ready to fit. In the vast majority of cases the job comes down to a swap: you remove the two old spools, put the new ones in their place, and all that remains is to pass the ribbon through the guides and the ribbon holder.

Removing the old spools

The spools are held on their shaft in one of three ways, and a glance tells you which one you have:

• a ratchet or a side tab that you push aside with a finger to release the spool;
• a drive wheel or a lug that you lift a quarter turn;
• nothing at all : the spool simply lifts off its shaft.

In all three cases, start by freeing the ribbon from the ribbon holder, then from the side guides, and only then take out the spools. In that order, nothing pulls and nothing tears.

Fitting the new ones

The new spools go exactly where the old ones were, red side down if it is a two-colour ribbon. Check that they turn freely in their housing and that the ratchet or lug holds them firmly: it is what drives them, and a badly seated spool won't advance.

That leaves the passage through the ribbon holder. This is where machines really differ, and it is the subject of the section Threading the ribbon through the ribbon holder below.

The special case: transferring

Some machines have spools that are specific to the model — diameter, thickness, shaft shape, hook position — or held by a fixed ratchet that cannot be taken apart without a tool. In that case you keep the machine's own spools and do a transfer : you unwind the new ribbon from its original spools and wind it onto the ones already in place.

1. Remove the old ribbon and leave the machine's two empty spools on their shafts.
2. Hook the end of the new ribbon onto one of them.
3. Turn that spool by hand, letting the ribbon unwind from its original spool, which you hold in your other hand.
4. Watch how it stacks: the ribbon must wind flat and untwisted, in even layers. A slanted winding ends up rubbing against the flanges and slowing the feed.
5. Once all the ribbon has been transferred, hook the other end onto the second spool, then wind back about twenty centimetres the other way: that gives you the free length you need to thread the guides and the ribbon holder without hurry.

At rest, the ribbon holder sits low, tucked against the carriage, and you can't get at it. Period manuals all give the same trick, and it still works perfectly:

1. If your machine has a two-colour selector, push it to red: the ribbon holder rises to its highest position.
2. Engage the shift lock (the key that locks capitals).
3. Strike two keys in the middle of the keyboard at the same time, fairly firmly: the two typebars jam against each other at the point of impact and stay hooked up in the air.

The jammed typebars hold the ribbon holder up. You have both hands free and a clear view of the part. At the end of the job, you just release the two typebars and the shift lock and everything drops back down.

Ribbon direction

The winding direction matters as much as the colour. The ribbon must leave each spool on the same side, otherwise it twists on the way and rubs against the guides. On most machines it comes off over the top of both spools.

A few models do the opposite. The mark engraved on the machine, or the photo you took before dismantling, always settles it: trust them rather than habit.

This is the heart of the matter, and the reason why a manual found at random almost never matches your machine. The part that lifts the ribbon in front of the typebars takes three main shapes. These are the ones most often seen at the workshop; there are others, and a few machines combine two.

To identify yours, free the ribbon holder and look at the part that holds the ribbon just in front of the point of impact:

• two thin prongs in the centre and two curved tabs at the sides → the fork ;
• a solid plate with two vertical slots → the slotted plate ;
• a U-shaped piece with two small hooks open upward → the hooked U.

The fork

European portables

Plates from a period manual, in French

The fork has two thin prongs in the centre and two side tabs. The ribbon is woven between them: behind, behind, then in front.

This alternation is not decorative: it is what keeps the ribbon flat and taut at the point of impact. A ribbon passed straight in front of the fork prints pale and shifts sideways with every keystroke.

The slotted plate

Office machines and portables with a central plate

Plate from a period manual, annotated by hand

A central plate pierced with two vertical slots frames the point of impact, with a guide just below. The ribbon passes behind the guide, then slips into the left slot and the right one.

Key point: the full width of the ribbon must be engaged in the slots. If it only goes in halfway, the strike cuts off the letters at the top or the bottom.

The hooked U

American portables — Royal, Remington. The manuals call it the vibrator.

Taking out the old ribbon

Plates from a Royal Portable manual

The vibrator is a small U-shaped part that rises with every keystroke; on either side, two hooks hold the ribbon. The five plates above show removal : they explain how to free the old ribbon, not how to fit the new one.

To fit the new ribbon

Repeat the same sequence in reverse order, from picture 5 to picture 1 : bring the ribbon behind the vibrator, lower it in front of the hooks, then lift it back up to seat it inside. The typebars stay jammed at the point of impact throughout.

This is the manoeuvre that puzzles people most, because it takes three steps and the ribbon seems to take an illogical path. It becomes obvious once you have done it.

Side guides: rollers, slots or lugs

Present on every machine, in different forms

The rollers are not a ribbon holder: they are side guides, and every machine has them in one form or another — a slot, a lug, an eyelet or, here, two small rollers. The part that lifts the ribbon is still one of the three above.

Plates from a period manual, in German

Two small rollers or lugs frame the path, and the lifter sits in the centre. It is going around the rollers that keeps the ribbon taut: if it is routed wrongly, the ribbon advances but never comes back the other way.

On these machines the ribbon is often attached to the spool by an eyelet — remember to leave it between the spool and its roller.

Four checks before closing up

The most common mistakes

The ribbon is only one of the maintenance tasks on a typewriter. For cleaning, lubrication and adjustments, see maintaining a typewriter: the right moves.