1 - ztyper
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Underwood 4 backspace lever?
I figured that this thread would be a better spot to ask this, but there seems to be a mysterious lever on my 1909 Underwood #4:
When I first saw it, I thought it was a stencil option, kind of what's on the Underwood #5 behind the ribbon color selector. But when I pushed it to the right, it moved the carriage to the right too. So it's obviously a backspace mechanism, but I don't see any other pictures online of this particular feature on the Underwood #4. This typewriter really is more like a #5, since it does have many other features that the #5 also has. But why would Underwood make a typewriter so similar to the #5 but without a few extra characters?
Here's a picture of the mechanism itself: 
As you can see, it's right in front of the mainspring. It works more like a Royal backspace mechanism where a little finger lifts up, makes contact with the teeth of the carriage rack, and then push it back. Why we never see this again, and why it's only on the early #4, is beyond me. If anyone has any information, please share. I'd love to know more about this typewriter in any way possible.
A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
- Uwe
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Re: Underwood 4 backspace lever?
That's very interesting, and I don't recall having seen anything like it before. My guess would be that it was added later on, either by some inventive typewriter mechanic for a frustrated customer or perhaps as a special request/order through Underwood. It looks far too awkward to have been a production design, and as you know Underwood already had a backspace mechanism that was included in more expensive variants.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- ztyper
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Re: Underwood 4 backspace lever?
It looks original to the machine, but I'll take a more in depth look at it. How the mechanism is attached to the machine is a bit awkward, but there is a cut out in the front name plate. Don't know why Underwood wouldn't just attach their normal backspace mechanism if a customer wanted it, for I do know that Underwood made #4's like that. I'll post some more later tonight.
A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
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Thread Starter- Uwe
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Re: Underwood 4 backspace lever?
The cutout in the front plate could easily have been drilled through it well after the fact. Will Davis commented on it in the recent acquisitions thread, and unfortunately not here as it would be nice to keep all discussion about this interesting Underwood all in one place.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- ztyper
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Re: Underwood 4 backspace lever?
Just for those who were wondering, the serial number is: 236929 making it from 1909. Which makes it exactly a year older than my Underwood 5. Strange these two typewriters so close to each other would find their way into my care...
A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
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Thread Starter- ztyper
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Re: Underwood 4 backspace lever?
Took a better look at the backspace mechanism, and here are some better detailed pictures:
A better view of the whole thing:
Where the mechanism screws into the frame:
The screws that go into the frame:
The backspace keeps up by having something on top of the carriage rack which you can see here:
The part of the front plate that's cut out. It look original, as if it was stamped out like that:
I tried getting the whole mechanism out of the machine, but I couldn't get a set screw loose, so this is the best I can do for now. I would like to get a second opinion about this, and really what I should do with it. I'm keeping this one because of the backspace and the pica typeface. It complements my #5 very well with the similarities in age and differences in features. (P.S. I'm sorry for the awkward formatting and the largeness of the pictures. It's my phone and I'm not sure why it's like that)
A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
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Thread Starter- Will Davis
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Re: Underwood 4 backspace lever?
That's about the time when Underwood introduced the backspace on their typewriters overall, so this seems likely to me to be a first attempt or field test. I will check some other materials from the factory, etc. and get back to you on this later. It's very interesting and as I said on the other thread where I first saw your photos, I've never seen one of these before and a look through some things here yesterday for about a half hour produced not one image or cut of an Underwood with such a lever. Well done - and so glad you've held on to it!
ztyper wrote:
Just for those who were wondering, the serial number is: 236929 making it from 1909. Which makes it exactly a year older than my Underwood 5. Strange these two typewriters so close to each other would find their way into my care...
Will Davis
Davis Typewriter Works
- Will Davis
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Re: Underwood 4 backspace lever?
Well, a look at the OMEF serial number guide in my collection says that backspace and bichrome ribbon selector appeared on the No. 5 (and thus the No. 4 too) at "about 245,000." Another source, a Young Typewriter Co. rebuilt typewriter catalog in my collection, says that Underwoods above 247,000 have the "late improvements" such as backspace and ribbon selector.
I recall now having either read, or heard, that Underwood introduced the backspacer before it introduced the ribbon selector, and your machine bears this out. I'll keep looking for more information when I get the chance. Still not one image of an Underwood with this lever on it yet. I do believe it's a factory device.
Will Davis
Davis Typewriter Works
- Uwe
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Re: Underwood 4 backspace lever?
A number of those screw heads are really chewed up; given its potential as being an experimental design I suspect this mechanism needed a lot of adjustment to work properly. From the other images it looked like the cutout for the lever shaft was just a hole, but now with the cover removed you can appreciate that it a more refined opening and therefore less likely to have been a retrofit as I first suggested, but still not refined enough for what you would expect in a production model. What's weird about the cutout is that it's asymmetric; is the odd shaped upper portion cut that way to clear the margin release button?
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- ztyper
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- From: Somewhere in New Jersey
- Registered: 01-10-2014
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Re: Underwood 4 backspace lever?
What's weird about the cutout is that it's asymmetric; is the odd shaped upper portion cut that way to clear the margin release button?
Yes, it appears to be cut out like that to make room for the margin release, as it is rather close to it.
A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
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Thread Starter