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- Typewriter Howard
- New Member
Offline - Registered: 06-11-2020
- Posts: 5
Steps for inserting Springs for Underwood Universal portable??
I submitted a question to the typewriter experts and received no guidance on my dilemma, so I'm trying once more with more description.
I am restoring an 1934 Underwood Universal portable which was missing a spring on the 'H' key. In trying to figure out how a spring is installed for this key, I removed a back panel allowing most of the springs to fly out allowing those keys now missing springs to slide forward looking as if the teeth had just dropped out of some poor fool's mouth.
I have learned that each key is the end of a lever that reaches to a slotted spot of the back, connecting along the way to linkages that cause the typebar to strike the platen. These levers, identified in the literature as keylevers, require the spring to secure the end of the keylever to its slotted spot on that rear element.
It appears that the underside panel which has the tensioning adjustment for each spring needs to be removed to add a spring. I can see no other way to get a spring (or 42 springs) in place. Since this panel has a number of connecting bits for other functions, its removal can be dicey.
So, the question is: what is required to insert one or more keylever springs? Manipulating each keylever back into its proper slot is somewhat difficult but a bit of practice helps. Of course, without its spring, that keylever will easily drop out.
Thanks for any assistance.
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- Platen Punisher
Offline
- From: Perth Western Australia
- Registered: 14-7-2020
- Posts: 99
Re: Steps for inserting Springs for Underwood Universal portable??
Hi Typewriter Howard, and welcome,
I know nothing about the machine of which you speak, however I would like to advise you to post photographs using Flickr (I found this easier than imgur). You are only one more post away from being able top post pics.
A picture clarifies a question, and may provide information of which you are not aware. I hope someone more knowledgeable than I can answer your questions once you illustrate them.
Best regards
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'Paraiso' Gerry Mulligan with Jane Duboc 1993
- Typewriter Howard
- New Member
Offline
- Registered: 06-11-2020
- Posts: 5
Re: Steps for inserting Springs for Underwood Universal portable??
Thank you for your suggestion regarding typewriter photos. I did sign up for Flickr and uploaded a fine photo of my typewriter without the springs in place along with others pointing out the areas of investigation. Perhaps the geniuses who work on these machines will respond.
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Thread Starter- thetypewriterman
- Key Master
Offline
- From: Leiston, England
- Registered: 29-5-2013
- Posts: 925
Re: Steps for inserting Springs for Underwood Universal portable??
You may be on your own with this one, but I can point you in the direction of an online service manual which might help. Go to this page and look at the bottom, past all the user manuals. You will find an Ames supplement which covers Underwood portables. They were pretty similar in construction from the 1920's to the 1950's and the information might prove helpful.
- Typewriter Howard
- New Member
Offline
- Registered: 06-11-2020
- Posts: 5
Re: Steps for inserting Springs for Underwood Universal portable??
I was aware of this site and had pulled the Ames service manual for Underwood. In looking again at the manual for an office machine rather than a portable, I realized that the keylever comb at the back of my machine was what I trying to retain in place because that is what I had removed to cause all my grief. In fact, it was the solution to opening up the spring area. So, I will focus now on installing the springs and mastering the reinstallation of the keylevers without displacing the springs. Thanks so much for your suggestion. It provided the knock on the head to approach the problem from a different angle.
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Thread Starter- skywatcher
- Moderator
Offline
- From: The Prairies of Alberta
- Registered: 14-3-2013
- Posts: 737
Re: Steps for inserting Springs for Underwood Universal portable??
Hi Howard
As Tom says, you may be on your own with this one, looks to me like you've opened a can of worms here. Just took a look at my 1940 Underwood leader which appears to have a similar but not identical set-up. My first guess is the unit may need to be cradled in the inverted position so gravity holds the key levers in the up position. Some careful balancing or a dab of grease may be required on each spring to hold it in place while the support bar is lowered into position and all springs are compressed at once. As I say, this is just a guess, but it may give you some ideas. All the best,
Sky
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
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