One of the anomalies in the Conservatory's collection is a British assembled Remington Model 2 Portable with an unrecorded--until now--serial number, EC 47104, which places its date of manufacture within l93l. One can note the legend on the paper table of this machine announcing where it was assembled. According to Richard Polt's Remington Portable Web Site (see our Type-Writer Links section) foreign variants of the Model 2 had six digits in their serial number after an initial two letter prefix. Our example has five digits. Prof. Polt has graciously acknowledged our anomaly on his site and we thank him. Since Prof. Polt has an extensive history and description of the Remington Portable series on his site, we will not repeat any of that information here, but simply refer the reader thereto. The photo at right shows the serial number of the Conservatory's example. Clicking any of our photos will produce a larger version of the same for better viewing.

Two of the most interesting features of this type-writer, not to mention its extremely low profile, are its carriage lock and type bar activation mechanism. When the right hand, and only, platen knob is pressed all the way in to the carriage and the carriage is centered, the carriage will be locked against further movement making it impossible to type. To free the carriage, one holds the carriage steady with the left hand and pulls the platen knob out with the right. The photo to the left shows the platen knob in the locked position. The photo to the right shows the platen knob in the carriage release position. For transporting the type-writer, the carriage should always be locked so that wild movement of the carriage will not damage the escapement.

After unlocking the carriage, the type bars must be raised for typing. This is accomplished by moving the knurled knob on the right side of the machine to the rear (see photos at left and right). To lower the type bars, move the knob forward. The type bars must always be in the lowered position when transporting the machine or damage will accrue to the type bars. This arrangement keeps the profile of the machine as low as possible. Note the hooked protectors at each end of the type bar arrangement.

Putting the carriage in the locked position for travel is slightly more involved than unlocking the carriage. With the left hand, move the small lever in front of the left hand carriage release forward (see photo at left) and hold it there. With the right hand, push the platen knob in towards the carriage as far as it will go (see photo at right). Releasing the carriage with one of the two carriage release levers, move the carriage so to center it. When the lock engages, you will feel the carriage catch. The carriage is now safely locked for travel.

Remington incorporated this very same carriage locking mechanism on almost all of its portables through the l920s and l930s. It's also found on the Remington Noiseless Portables.

Note Remington's insane four feed roller arrangement from the the back of the machine. This arrangement almost guaranteed that all paper would feed into the machine crookedly. Furthermore, it made replacing the rollers needlessly complex when the rubber hardened or flattened. Royal avoided this problem as early as l906 by having one long feed roller in the rear of the machine. This arrangement continued in Royals until the end of production. In the opinion of the Johnstown Type-Writer Conservatory, Royal portables and office size machines are superior to Remington, which did everything the hard way.