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- Key Master
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- From: Brooklyn
- Registered: 12-10-2015
- Posts: 683
It came from Colorado
It Came from Colorado or Key Choppers' Defeated, a photo essay for typewriter kids.
Once there was a typewriter that lived in Colorado long before Aspen was hip.
She was a little dirty...
and she had a few cobwebs...
but she was comely and still turned heads into office supply stores.
Nobody knows the full story of this typewriter, but the world had changed while it did not change much, since it was a typewriter and typewriters hold on. But this was no time to debate her looks or to send alerts. This was time for rescue! For the key choppers were lurking in the hills and hungry and with a set of chops like this there was no time to waste:
Her keys said antique in a clarion voice while she seemed all innocent of her own charm. So one day she took a long journey back east and she had some stories to tell if only she could remember what she had been typing...
And oh yes, she could still type. With her ragged ribbon of uncertain age and her segmentless typebars that kept truer than some machines with segments she could still type...
Her price was not $5 as it might have been in Colorado, but <gasp> $25 + the wages of UPS, though I think he who sold her paid more for UPS than he bargained for and she arrived intact with nothing more than a broken knob to show for her long journey. Every day typewriters like this are taking walks down dark streets from where there is no return, so be sure to take one in today!
The End
P.S. If somebody could tell me where to find the serial number I would be grateful.
"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton".
- TypewriterKing
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- From: DeepInTheHeartO', Texas
- Registered: 17-2-2016
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Re: It came from Colorado
You might try on the back--either side. They used to put it underneath the type bar rest in the front. If you don't find the number in the back, you might look there, but you'll have to remove the front panel to get at it. By the way, I'm Jealous!! Yours has a degree character!! 
Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
- Repartee
- Key Master
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- From: Brooklyn
- Registered: 12-10-2015
- Posts: 683
Re: It came from Colorado
In the back on the backspace side, 6 digits 1929, suffix "G" - G for Green?
I am disappointed it is that new - only 86 years or so! - but should be happy the body is durable formed steel rather than cast iron. The soft body parts are not in great shape but mechanically it is excellent. I seem to say this about all the kids but it's very nimble and moves smartly - dust, dirt cobwebs and all - and has an interesting double action: the stroke at first meets light resistance then heavy, at which point at normal speeds it whips the key against the paper. A proficient typist could type up a storm on this old-fashioned looking box! And to think I mainly bought it to keep the keys away from psychos.
"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton".
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Thread Starter- TypewriterKing
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- From: DeepInTheHeartO', Texas
- Registered: 17-2-2016
- Posts: 1,011
Re: It came from Colorado
I looked on the typewriter database, and I couldn't get a clue as to what that G stands for. If you find out, we'll both know. 1929 is still fairly old, now, come on!! They don't make 'em like that no more. These new typewriters they're selling in stores perform cruddy to say the least--like typing while you're on Safari or something. Besides, nothing matches the feel and the soul of a machine such as the one you have. And these L. C. Smith typewriters are steady as a rock--no skipping, no piling, just typing. And the touch is very light and bouncy with a snap when the type bar hits the paper. It may need a little cleaning, but it will be a very good typewriter for you once you get it into shape.
Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
- Repartee
- Key Master
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Re: It came from Colorado
Well yes, I was a little tongue in cheek about its age but it at least seems to be on the late end of the open frame aesthetic, and I want to say that the streamlined art deco box design started only a few years later ...
(image borrowed from Oliver Typewriter Shop)
... but I can't back that up right now. LC Smith at any rate seemed to make a sudden leap in the external shell from the 19th century to the 1930's unlike Royal's more gradual transition - but then the Royal 10 had a more forward looking external design to start with.
I agree with you about the mechanics but the rubber will need some help to be usable - there is actual rubber loss on the platen, a short split with some nearby delamination which if I were not tired out from that photo orgy I would show you. My first thought is to fill it in with something suitable and sand it down, but my mental picture of this repair keeps ending with the fill popping out, and maybe it is better I don't look at the feed rollers just now.
"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton".
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