… The most eye-catching part of the Diamant 28 is its slotted segment — a high, substantial piece.
The designers of the machine seem to have been obsessed with stability and security. On each side of the machine there’s a rotating metal piece (A) and together they immobilize the carriage. Furthermore, the more conventional carriage lock (B) stops the carriage, prevents shifting, and locks the keyboard. The typewriter is definitely designed to be used on its base; in order to remove it from the base you have to unscrew the 4 feet from the bottom, and unscrew a further tab (C) on each side.
DSF stands for Diamant-Schreibmaschinenfabrik. The company was based in Frankfurt.
The earlier Diamant (model 1) was a three-bank portable reminiscent of the Corona, but not folding. Here’s an example (not mine, but seen on eBay a few years ago). Some of these were exported to England and named “Diamond.”
According to Leonhard Dingwerth’s history of German typewriter manufacturers, Diamant was bought out by Kappel in 1930. The factory then produced a few Diamant-style portables with the Kappel name, but these are also hard to find. The example below is from Herman Price’s collection.
I’d be interested in hearing from anyone else who has a Diamant 28. My serial number is 16545.
No such diamond in my collection, so just to say that I find it a beautiful machine. A machine with character, that is.
Very interesting typewriter. The obsession with stability and security is so German, don't you think.
It may just be me but I see a bit of the ICO in that Diamant.
That design is fetching. What sort of trouble was it giving you when typing?
I do see the resemblance!
As you can see in the typing sample, I'm having some problems with line spacing. This may be related to flattened feed rollers. The right shift key is also failing to lift the carriage high enough.
Very interesting machine! I find that range of smaller, less notable German typewriter manufacturers quite interesting.
That is an astonishingly beautiful machine! The more I see these machines, the more I want to limit my collection to just 1920's and 30's era machines. They seem to have more grace than later machines. But maybe I'm just too smitten.
That is one fine and interesting typewriter. I can't wait until you get the problems corrected because it has a fine typeface.
The redundant lock system seems like it would be difficult to operate without a manual. The segment really is one of a kind.
Yeah, it took me some trial and error to figure out the locks!
I like the segment, very cool looking!
Ah! German keyboard, that's your trouble! Ship it to me and I'll Anglicize it for you!:)