Yeah, those are key covers to give the type action a more cushioned feel. In most cases when you find a machine with them they're usually torn and there's a few missing, but given how well those on your machine have stood the test of time I'd clean them and leave them on the typewriter. Of course once you start using them they might fall apart, but I'm sure you'll be able to tell beforehand if the rubber is still supple and still has its original elasticity.

Uwe wrote:

KatLondon wrote:

I have learned over bitter years - many of them spent teaching poetry - never to expect punctuation...

Or even a basic understanding of (and respect for) grammar. There are days when I'm convinced that most of today's youth are functionally illiterate. 

And now back to the Burroughs typewriter...
 

Functionally illiterate?... as in..."You’ll know you’re there after your long trip as they will have lamps lighted on their house, and they’re out waiting to meet you. It’s visiting relatives at its best."  That sort of functional illiteracy? As in knowing the differance between there, their, and they're... and your and you're... and hear and here... and its and it's?   I suppose my brothers and I should give thanks we attended, and three of us are still attending, an all-boys private school where there was no hint of dumbing-down, and no standards accepted but the highest.

Facetiousness aside, I do sympathize with teachers in the public school systems, who are dealing with fifty years of “dumbing-down.”