1 of 1- Guess I'll Try
- Platen Punisher
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1945 Underwood noiseless 77, portable
I was given an Underwood Noiseless portable , and while it types well, the type is quite light on the paper. It is a sturdy machine and one can tell that a lot of thought engeneering went into it. The platen is quite hard, but I have some other brands with similar hard platens, and I can get clear dark letters. Does any one know about this type of machine? Is this characteristic normal with them? I have put three to four sheets of paper in the machine but that does not alter the clarity of type. What to do? Would a new platen fix the problem?
- M. Höhne
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Re: 1945 Underwood noiseless 77, portable
No, light type is not a characteristic of noiseless typewriters; their output should be just as dark and crisp as from a more usual machine. (If it weren't, they would not have sold so well for so many decades.) Although a soft platen is desireable, my first attempt for darker type would be a fresh ribbon.
That said, they do have a different mechanism that requires a different touch. The Noiseless relies more on inertia. They actually have a weight in the linkage that is engineeered to carry the type slug forward to kiss the paper and to get that moving effectively, you have to use a sharper jab at the keytop than other designs need. Try that: quick, sharp jabs at the keys and then get your finger off the key very quickly so you don't damp the hit. They are "noiseless" because they sort of press the ink onto the paper rather than hit it onto the paper.
Of course, you won't see much difference if the ribbon doesn't have enough life in it.
As an aside, you can't get a new platen; you can only get your present one recovered. Same effect but a different search term on the internet.
HTH and Have Fun!
- thetypewriterman
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Re: 1945 Underwood noiseless 77, portable
A hard platen isn't the problem that it might be on conventional typewriters because the impact pressure is much less. A 'normal' ribbon should work OK, but back in the day, you could buy special heavily-inked ribbons specifically for noiseless typewriters. The nearest modern equivalent is the ribbon intended for a printing calculator. It might be worth buying one of these and rewinding the fabric onto your machine to see if the print gets any darker.
- Guess I'll Try
- Platen Punisher
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Re: 1945 Underwood noiseless 77, portable
I took the ribbon off and put it on an other typewriter, and it printed like a new ribbon; so I assume it had plenty of ink. I then reinked the old ribbon with stamp pad ink and put it on the noiseless. It printed dark, but blotchy. I reinked it again and will report how that went.
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Thread Starter- Guess I'll Try
- Platen Punisher
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Re: 1945 Underwood noiseless 77, portable
The reinking did not come out well. I notice that the platen is hard as a rock, I suspect that is the major problem.
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Thread Starter- Uwe
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Re: 1945 Underwood noiseless 77, portable
Guess I'll Try wrote:
I notice that the platen is hard as a rock, I suspect that is the major problem.
I've never had a hard platen cause faint type. Generally speaking, a hard platen places more wear and tear on a ribbon and will cause the slugs to punch small holes through the paper. But don't take my word for it; try loading the machine with two or three sheets of paper to soften the impact and simulate a softer platen and see what happens.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Guess I'll Try
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Re: 1945 Underwood noiseless 77, portable
Yes, I have done that, up to four sheets. Granted, the ribbon I used may be off prime, I put it on another standard machine--a Remington--and while it was clear, I saw some letters a little fainter than others. But...much darker than the Noiseless.
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Thread Starter- Guess I'll Try
- Platen Punisher
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- Registered: 09-5-2014
- Posts: 76
Re: 1945 Underwood noiseless 77, portable
The clear printing issue. As I had written about this Noiseless Underwood, the print was too light. Some tips were given to me and I re-inked the ribbon with a stamp pad inker--messy. In the end, the machine was typing clearly, so much relieved. Now I created an issue with a spring in the left cap of the carriage, which I will bring up in "repairs."
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Thread Starter