This Kee Lox ribbon tester came to my collection from New Hampshire in early 2021

The ribbon tester in this collection is very hard to find, there was multiple variations made over time. This is one of the earliest still retaining the Oliver decal on the paper table, pre Kee lox branding their machines. The carriage of the machine is a shorted Oliver carriage, which at the time of production had a very healthy supply available. The machine would have a section of ribbon stretched between the 2 ends of the carriage attached to the spike strips. One would crank the handle and the type bars would strike writing a line of letters and advancing the “carriage” to the next line with each revolution of the crank. This would continue till the ribbon failed, to determine its life span.