Ooooooo thats a nice typeface!


Great job!

I have virtually the same machine, though less the adventure. After buying it a local swap meet for $25.00 I took it home and liberally doused it in WD-40 and just worked the few sticky keys. After a few tries it all seemed fine and I wiped it down, did a few black enamel touch ups and it worked like a champ. Last week I decided if I was going to type on it I would have to get it serviced. All it required was a clean and away it went. A true testament to these wonderful machines. Over 100 years and still going strong, I did remove one bit of touch up, that which I did to a hollow spot on the right side of the space bar. In doing a little research I found that a typist will use their right thumb to space, and the inch wide hollow spot was obviously the result of much use by a skilled typist, so I decided to undo my repair and leave the spot as is.     

Well it hasn't hurt it other than perhaps attracting more dust to it than I'd prefer. I any case after using it as is for a year or so, I did recently have it serviced just to be sure everything was set up, clean, and in good order. It is happily none the worse for wear and now adjusted, dust free, lightly oiled and ready for go another hundred years. The WD-40 was only used initially to free the mechanism and assist in cleaning the machine which had not felt any love for some time and genuinely looked as if it had been found in a barn. Happily the WD-40 revealed the beauty hidden under the years of dirt and neglect. I have become quite smitten with my No.3 and old typewriters in general. To be fair after the service it does type much better with less effort, though I'm still in the process of finding just the right finger pressure. I tend to bang the keys more than I'd like and probably with more force than the machine really needs. It is interesting to type on it for an hour or so then switch to my desktop keyboard, Lol. 

09Underwood wrote:

I have virtually the same machine, though less the adventure.

Congratulations! I also paid $25 and I rolled the machine home thinking I was getting a great bargain. You seem to have done rather better! Mine appears to have been a victim of corrosion and bad oil - the residue under one of the seized parts was black and looked like carbon - or maybe that was the remains of the penetrating oil I used after I resorted to a torch. If it were not for the clean classic typewriter font which emerges I would still abandon this project! I made a list of significant issues remaining and it stands at six, though I have no doubt more will emerge. 

I've since seen the same model offered locally for $40 on Craigslist in better condition.

If I use ANY typewriter for even a short time and go back to my desktop I immediately notice the shallow touch and the sensation of slamming plastic into plastic. The feeling dissipates. To be fair, more than one person has noted the violence with which I assault computer computer keyboards. Perhaps if I used a lighter touch I would not notice the plastic impact so much - but the plastic must be punished. 

09Underwood wrote:

I am struck by how many variations there exist in even one Underwood model... I guess they simply made changes and improvements as they went along with no reference to model number changes.  

That's not correct. Each model had a one letter suffix that identified its specific feature set. Those letters were used to differentiate the available variations. That aside, any typewriter model that was manufactured for an appreciable length of time and kept the same name underwent many changes through its lifespan, and Underwood 3,4, and 5 models are not unique in this regard.