Internally our machine is very dirty and seems to have been stored for many years in an upright position judging by the way all the detritus has accumulated on and inside the machine, however we think that when it was in use it was on top of some other machine or vent, which would seem to have forced dirty air into the 224. Our Soemtron 224 has been dropped at some time in the past, the main card cage is bent and one of the reservoir capacitors has a couple of bad dents from the motor fan which have actually punctured the capacitor case, this will probably need to be replaced. Connections to the digit detector photocell on the printer mechanism are also broken from continued flexing of the wiring.

In picture (#34) you will see a label "VEB SüdThür Fleischkombinat - Kombinatsleitung", we believe this indicates that this machine was used in some form of meat processing industry, and would explain to some extent the very dirty condition of the machine.

The Soemtron 224 was manufactured by V.E.B. Büromaschinenwerk Sömmerda, it is believed that there are only three 224's left in the world.Click an image for a larger version.

This page has Photos of the restoration progress.