1 of 1- Shangas
- Speed Champion
Offline - From: Melbourne, Australia
- Registered: 17-3-2013
- Posts: 298
Carriage Not Advancing - Why?
Hey folks.
When out on the town today, I saw a fairly nice Underwood Model 5 standard typewriter. Earlier model.
I seriously considered buying it. But I held back and desisted, for the following reasons:
1. The carriage wouldn't move when the spacebar, or any of the keys were pressed.
2. The spool-cups wouldn't turn when the spacebar, or any of the keys were pressed.
The backspace, shiftlock, bell, carriage-release, mainspring, carriage drawband and everything else seemed to work fine. But the carriage-advance did not.
Why?
Why would this be the case, if everything else works? The mechanism is not, so far as I can tell, damaged. Would simple cleaning, flushing and oiling get the mechanism working?
I didn't want to risk my money on purchasing an uncertainty, despite the generally good condition of the typewriter.
In a situation like that, what would you do? And what can be done to fix such an issue?
"Not Yet Published" - My History Blog
"I just sit at a typewriter and curse a bit" - Sir Pelham Grenville "P.G." Wodehouse
"The biggest obstacle to professional writing is the necessity for changing a typewriter ribbon" - Robert Benchley
- TypewriterKing
- Inactive Account
Offline
- From: DeepInTheHeartO', Texas
- Registered: 17-2-2016
- Posts: 1,011
Re: Carriage Not Advancing - Why?
Something tells me that the ribbon advancing pawls are somehow stuck. They'll do that to an Underwood, and completely freeze one dead in its tracks. I encountered this several times. Pull both pawls on the righthand side away from that ratchet wheel and see if the space bar and/or keys advance the carriage. If they do, your problem is in those pawls.
Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
