Make/model info is always important. Some typewriters need specific spools for the ribbon transport system to properly work. To test this you could try removing the two spools from your machine and see if the spindles that they sit on are turning while you type. Otherwise there are myriad reasons why the system might not be working. I would start by making sure all the associated moving parts are free of grime and congealed oil. 

M. Höhne wrote:

This sounds like a problem that has been coming up a lot recently and it's due to people putting the ribbon in backwards, so that it feeds and takes up in the opposite rotational direction from the way the machine was designed.

If I understand your description correctly, one of the spools sorta pushes the ribbon towards the printing point and the other does not take it up? If so, the spools are in upside down. You'll see, if you flip them over, that then the ribbon will come off the spools in the opposite direction so that, where it used to push, now it pulls.

Now, you can't just flip the spools over; you'll have to remove them, unthread the ribbon from the positioner in the middle (called the "vibrator"), exchange the right and left spools, and reinstall. Note that then the ribbon will come off the spools opposite the direction it did at first and there will be no twist in the ribbon. Be sure the ribbon is threaded correctly not just at the vibrator but also at any guides, posts, or brackets that it should go around near the spool mount areas.

When you're done, the spools will still turn the same direction they did before, but now one will pull the ribbon off the other. When it pulls to the end of the ribbon, it should automatically reverse and pull the ribbon back the other way; if it doesn't, there's a different problem and you can write again. They don't really "work together"; one pulls and the other just rides along.

Now, there's an additional complication if you're using a back-red or other two-color ribbon---the red might end up in the top position, opposite the usual set-up. If that bothers you, you'll have to unspool the ribbon, rewind it in the opposite direction, and then re-install according to the description above.

Have Fun!

Hm.....I'll give it a try. I'm new at typewriters. Mainly about putting ribbons in and such.

How should i reel up the ribbon on the reels? I have to take the ribbon from a plastic reel. I have the original metal reels to my tyoer. My typewriter is a woodstock no.5