The rear of the machine displays a colorful decal (see below) and the only intentional indication of the machine's provenance. The logo reads 'PRODOTTO IN ITALIA' (Made in Italy). Framing the decal to the left and right are fasces, symbolic of Facist Italy, indicating that our machine may have been produced sometime during the mid to late thirties at the height of said reign of terror. The fit and finish of the machine are also of too high a quality to be war time production. The serial number, 121634, is preceded by the Initials, 'S.I.M.' which, in our estimation, abbreviates 'Italian Society of Mechanics', although it would abbreviate this in Italian and not English, perhaps something like 'società italiana dei meccanici'.
One can view a similar machine made by the same organization on Will Davis' type-writer site by clicking here .
The major difference between these two machines is the name as it appears on the paper table. The machine featured on the Davis site, and owned by Tilman Elster, a well-known German collector, is designated 'S.I.M. MOD6' which surely refers to 'model 6'. The Elster machine is dated to 1938. The serial number of the Conservatory's machine is only slightly lower, leading us to believe that our machine can't be older by much more than a year or so.
At the Conservatory we are constantly culling intelligence, provided by our spies and contacts throughout Western Pennsylvania, in search of type-writers. It was through one such source that we were apprised of an unusual portable obscurely displayed at the Laughlintown Antique Mall in Laughlintown, Pennsylvania. We wasted no time in sending a buying agent to confirm this report and on Sunday, December 2, MMVII, our agent discovered a rare example of the Italian made Augusta Portable Type-Writer displayed to the left. Recognizing its rarity and unusual features, our highly trained agent appropriated the machine for the Conservatory's collection.
The unusual keyboard immediately alerted us to the Italian provenance of this machine, with notations like 'ritorne' to indicate the backspace key and 'Maiuscole' to indicate the shift key. Perusal of the illustration to the right will quickly show you the differences between this keyboard and that of the standard Anglo-American machine. Note the unusual position of the letter 'M' as well as the need to shift to type numerals, whereas diacritical marks are produced without the need to use the shift key. The red key without any symbols is the margin release key. Margins are accessed by folding the paper table forward as on many American made machines of the 30s and 40s. The font size is approximately 11 characters per inch. There is no tabulator but the platen ratchets to a half space for the typing of super- and sub-scripts. The nickled extension on the left platen knob pushes in to activate the variable release.
The styling of our machine is reminiscent of that of Royals and Underwoods of the same period or perhaps slightly earlier. By the late 30s, both Royal and Underwood had enclosed the ribbon spools of their portables. Both the Augusta and S.I.M. MOD6 retain open ribbon spools, with tops similar to those on the Remington Noiseless series. Although the Conservatory's model has only one ribbon spool top, we hypothesize that our machine may well have come with only one top. The top on the left hand spool is made to screw into threads that protrude from the spool axle. The right spool axle is significantly different having no threads. Since our machine does not automatically ribbon reverse, the operator may have needed to see the ribbon take-up on one spool to know when to activate the ribbon reverse mechanism--the nickeled knob protruding from low on the side of the machine.
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