ztyper wrote:

TypewriterKing wrote:

Oliver three-bankers have something sort of like this too.

 ​Yes, I had forgotten about that! It seems like Underwood I still in that awkward phase of typewriter development before most of the features were standardized and they were throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. The lever proved to be functional (as it frees up more from constant use...) but it wasn't quite as good as a button so they switched over to that. I think that's what may have happened, but I don't have any books or logs that would support this theory...

Ironically, it was Underwood that came out with the first "Visible Writer" in 1895.  It was a "front-stroke" machine that enabled the typist, or as they were called then, a "typewriter," to actually see the typing as it was being done.  Before then, Remington had the predominant "up-stroke" machines where you had to lift the carriage to see what you had already typed.  You made an error, it was too late.  You put it down there without even knowing it.  With Underwood, you boo-boo, and it's right there and you see it the instant you did it.  How's that for modern?
 

Was that like the Sholes and Glidden machine and Remington?

The Daugherty, which was fully and completely visible and front striking beat the Underwood onto the market by a year or two.  That's really the machine that started the whole thing; what Franz Xavier Wagner did was develop a truly "high grade" (in the terms of the day that means $100, standard) typewriter that was visible and front striking.  The Daugherty isn't the same size or sturdiness as the high grade machines of the day.  It's significant to remember that Wagner had once been inside the Remington / Densmore / Yost universe assisting with design and manufacture of some of these machines.  He knew high grade typewriters.  

In the 1923 Typewriter Topics history of typewriters (up to that point of course) the Underwood section begins with the statement that the brilliant achievement of the Underwood was not visible writing, but instead the accelerating type bar action.  The unnamed expert in typewriters who gave that statement to the editors is not named, but my guess would attribute it to E.B. Hess of the Royal Typewriter Company who himself was somewhat obsessed with mechanical type bar actions for typewriters and knew as much as anyone anywhere about them.  I bring this up to simply point out that even at that time at least one expert didn't attribute visible writing wholly to the Underwood.  

Final note - even when the machine was being made by Wagner Typewriter Company, the brand name was Underwood and that's what appears on the original machines' decal on the paper table while the rear decal shows the Wagner Typewriter Company name.  Underwood had an interest in the machine and then later bought the whole company out.  

Uwe wrote:

TypewriterKing wrote:

Ironically, it was Underwood that came out with the first "Visible Writer" in 1895.  

First "completely" visible perhaps as there were models that had partially visible type. And I'd argue that it was the Wagner Typewriter Manufacturing Company that came up with the design; Underwood was invited to the party for its resources and took advantage of Wagner's engineering prowess..

Well, found some definite proof that the backspace lever on my #4 is a legitimate feature:

https://www.google.com/patents/US921598

Apparently, it's an actual patent that didn't really get used very much, probably because the usual Underwood backspace was a better design and it came out only a few months later. So the backspace on my #4 is most likely some sort of extra feature that was a special order before they were a more standard feature on the #5 and on some #4's. Why this is? I'm not sure. Hopefully, others will surface so the mystery can be somewhat resolved.