This is mostly just a quick post to get some info out there that apparently isn’t available anywhere else. Life has been totally nuts lately so the blog-posting has taken a backseat to Real Life ™. But after helping someone out with details on the Oliver’s unique drawband carriage clip thingy, I did some Googling and realized that there really isn’t anything on the Internet about how to make one for yourself.
There are YouTube videos, sure, but apparently nobody has taken the time to put up some close-up pictures and measurements of the damn thing. So I dissected my typewriter and snapped a few lousy pictures of what must be one of the few original Oliver drawband clips left on Earth.
Here you go, Internet. Hope these help in your quest to get your Oliver working again. Feel free to repost / steal / et cetera, and/or go ahead and drop me a line if you need any more pics or information. Even if it’s like five years in THE FUTURE ™ I most likely still have the thing and am probably still hammering out random notes to random people on it. Hell, want a random note of your own? I will totally do that.
(Offer not valid if the Post Office ceases to exist, Panama conquers the USA, or in the case of general worldwide floods/famine/breakdown of global society.)
Nothing is Unfixable 
Thank you for the close-up pictures. Of the four Olivers that I have crossed paths with, all were missing their carriage cord hooks. I ended up fashioning very cheesy-looking hooks out of small picture hanging hooks that I bent into the proper shape.
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The picture hanger approach seems to be the standard, but you’re right about the questionable-aesthetics factor. I’ve entertained the thought of buying a metal sheet of appropriate dimensions and hammering out a few dozen high-quality replacement hooks… maybe over the winter.
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You could start a little business with the Oliver replacement hooks.
I don’t know if you have seen this before, but another typospherian made a nice looking replacement hook out of brass stock:
http://tonymindling.blogspot.com/2013/10/meet-ollie-oliver.html
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Thanks! This is a really clever design and I wish more typewriters had such a feature.
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Many years later, I find myself with an Oliver 9 that had its drawband jury rigged with fishing line. I didn’t know I was missing this weird hook until now. I looked at the pics and thought, humph. I’ll make one but it’s not going to work. I bent a copper wiring staple to this shape & size(love metric dimensions). And, Lo, it worked! Thanks for posting.
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