Adler Gabriele 5000 — anonymous competence

The Adler Gabriele 5000 (Triumph-Adler from the time it was owned by Litton) is an unremarkable but competent typing machine. I would rate it as a small office machine. It is electric, and rather too big to call a really portable portable, but it is relatively easy to carry around in its big, cheap-looking plastic case (you know, the kind of case where the ‘hinge’ is just a thin bit of plastic, not a real hinge and it is all made of ripply black plastic; the sort of thing a cheap drill might come in). It has a good set of capabilities — tabs set from the front, graduated paper stand, wide carriage (can take A4 paper in landscape). The thing I like most on this one is the font.

To me the ‘r’ looks like it comes from another font.

This one came with the cord cut off because it had apparently failed a safety check. Turned out the motor was not spinning freely when they tested it — probably from it sitting around. I opened it up, gave the motor s pin by hand, and since then it has worked a treat. Seems to be in essentially perfect condition; the ‘y’ key is a little sticky, is all.

I cannot say the styling is in any way impressive, and the plastic case is dull two-tone dark brown and beige. But it produces a very nice line of very regular type (maybe not quite striking the lower parts of a couple of characters properly — you can see the 4 in the quarter is a bit uneven, and I can tell you that the underscore does not come out. I think the ribbon is getting lifted a bit too far).

The keyboard is very responsive. You can type very quickly on this machine — in fact, I would say that for a machine of its type (moving carriage, typebars), it is the fastest and easiest to type on I have used. You can see why a machine like this would sell — the electric striking makes for a very even row of type, especially in terms of the impression. It can do most of what a typewriter is expected to do, it’s not terribly bulky and it has a keyboard that does not need much more force than a computer keyboard.

This one seems rather noisy — the whirr of the motor and rubber belt is quite loud. Significantly louder than the Hermes 10, for example. That machine is probably on the whole my preferred electric for actual use, but I think I am being influenced by style. This is virtually as good. Indeed, you could probably make your choice based on font.

Here is another type sample.

The gap between the sterling and ampersand is the underscore — as I said, the ribbon tends to lift too high, which I ought to adjust. You can see the faint lower half of the half as well.