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02-10-2016 17:06:09  #1


The Other Cause of a Sluggish Carriage.

Okay, you've done just about everything you could for that old typewriter to try to free up a carriage that goes just fine--provided you're typing speed is about ten words every five days.  A snail could have won the race faster.  You've cleaned and lubed the tracks and spring drum, seen if the body shell is pinching anywhere, and you've seen that everything is out of the way in the tabulator and the rest of the interior mechanism.  Ah, but there's one thing else that might be causing the slowdown--especially when you're typing:  The Escapement Wheel.  Those things, like the rest of the machine, can be gunked-up or rusted in.  Sometimes you can find old coagulated grease in the mechanism.  Cleaning a just a little oil where necessary will free things up there, but be careful--especially with the little springs here and there.  The mechanism there on the whole is a little like an old-fashioned ticky-tock clock.  I remember a typewriter friend of mine had a machine he gave me after trying to find what it was about it that was making the carriage slow.  I took it and waited until I could find a spare parts typewriter, thinking I might need to change out a part (I thought it might have been the spring drum).  I got the parts machine, and about the time I got it home, I thought to try cleaning and lubing the escapement wheel.  Sure enough, that's what it was!  I didn't need to change out anything.  I checked over the rest of the machine, and it was fine, so I then sold it to a lady who used it to type church bulletins (I used to have quite a clientele of church secretaries, as I outfitted a number of them with typewriters back in the l990s).


Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
 

02-10-2016 20:20:36  #2


Re: The Other Cause of a Sluggish Carriage.

I found this to be true when servicing my Smith-Corona Silent Super. I could move a little lever underneath, that would permit the carriage to move with everything else disconnected except the escapement gear itself still meshed with the carriage rack gear. And sure enough, the carriage was sluggish in motion, especially toward the right side where the spring motor is weakest. Degreasing and oiling that escapement gear fixed the problem.

This is a tricky problem to find, because normally when you use  the carriage release button it disconnects the escapement from the carriage rack, masking the problem, and the carriage feels fine when manually moving it back and forth. It's when you're typing and the escapement is meshed that the problem reveals itself.

 

02-10-2016 20:57:22  #3


Re: The Other Cause of a Sluggish Carriage.

This can also happen on Royals, Underwoods, and any typewriter whose escapement wheels do not stay in constant mesh with a rack frame.  Remington and Smith-Corona portables are not constant-mesh typewriters whereas their upright counterparts are.  I'm not too sure about Olympia SM-series machines, but the SG and SGE-series Olympia upright and upright electric typewriters are constant-mesh machines.  That Remington electric portable I talked about earlier, which is a Brother typewriter in disguise, was a constant-mesh typewriter.  Sometimes, it's actually easier to diagnose one that isn't constant mesh:  When you press the carriage release, and the machine slides freely, and when you go to the end of the line, let go of the carriage releases, and it's really sluggish, it's a safe bet the escapement mechanism needs attention.


Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
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