Photo via Wikimedia Commons (1959 with original lid)
One example. Colors, sub-models, and production years vary; the machine you find may differ.
Hermes Rocketthe U.S. Baby
The Rocket is what the Hermes Baby was called in the U.S. market, more or less: same flat profile, same Swiss tolerances, same ultraportable footprint, and they feel like cousins to the typist. There were often subtle differences between the two, but not ones most writers would notice. The post-1959 variant, with its flip-open case-lid ribbon cover, is the iconic one.
Worth knowing
- The Rocket (and the Hermes Baby it's based on) shifts by rocking the whole carriage up on a pivot to raise the platen, rather than moving the type segment the way the larger Hermes 3000 does. It's why a heavy hand can knock the capitals slightly high until the machine is adjusted. Ted Munk ↗
See & hear it for yourself
Manuals & repair
All sources
External, in their original form. The people who know these machines best — click through to read and watch.
Where to find one
Listings come and go. These show whatever Hermes Rocket machines are on the marketplace right now.
See Hermes Rocket listings on eBay marketplace
Some links here are affiliate links. If you find a machine through one I get a small share at no cost to you, and it doesn't change which machines I point to.
Specifications
- Manufacturer
- Hermes (Paillard SA)
- Origin
- Switzerland (Yverdon)
- Years
- 1935–1981
- Form
- Ultraportable
- Mass
- 3.8 kg
- Shift
- carriage