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18-1-2021 13:55:15  #11


Re: Olivetti-Underwood 21

Guth wrote:

M. Höhne wrote:

Guth, maybe, but where's your "local"? These things were never evenly distributed. If you want an Olivetti, be glad you live wherever you do; there are precious few Olivettis in northern New England, compared with Royal, Smith-Corona, and Olympia, and even Underwood and Remington.

I'm located in Portland, Oregon. That's an interesting observation as I've never contemplated the possibility that some brands would sell better in just certain parts of the country. That said, aside from the 21's that appear around here regularly, I don't see that many other Olivetti models for sale in this neck of the woods with the possible exception of the Studio 44. By comparison, I've almost never seen a Lettera 22 or 32 for sale locally. Do keep in mind that I've really only been paying close attention to the typewriter market around here for the last half year or so so my sample size is definitely on the small side.
.... snip ....

It's not just a matter of selling well---you need a dealer who carries the brand, to make it available in the area. And the dealer has to be a bit aggressive, too, compared to his competitors. Now, we don't know (yet) but it might easily be that the Portland Olivetti dealer liked 21s and pushed them and maybe no dealer in my area carried Olivetti at all. It's not enough to say that 21s were so popular without knowing what options the buyers had available. (I used to sell cameras and pushed a certain Ricoh point-n-shoot because the factory gave me a 10-buck spiff for every one I sold. I don't feel bad about this because it was as good a camera as anything else in its class, but my colleagues and I definitely biased the the numbers for this model.)

It always bothered me back when The Typewriter Database used to have a listing of "The Most Popular Typewriter Models" because I seemed to me that popularity wasn't the measure of which models showed up in the database---availability was. People weren't buying this or that model because they preferred it---they bought it because it was available. The listing should have been called The Most Common Typewriter Models.

Just offering a historical perspective on today's circumstances....

 

01-5-2021 14:18:34  #12


Re: Olivetti-Underwood 21

Hi Sky (William).

A similar discussion about crossed links occurred in the FaceBook Group for Antique Tpewriters.

A member there found reference to a British Paten No. 10.302 from May 17,1901 for this exact fix to jamming adjacent key-levers that were used frequently.

https://books.google.com/books?id=BmQD7W6LerQC&pg=PA74&lpg=PA74&dq=crossed%20typebar%20links&source=bl&ots=pDDBirP_0u&sig=ACfU3U08YahJCo2sdQ6lKkLM5mOt-aNTag&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4l93ywKfwAhWBFjQIHYZxA-AQ6AEwEHoECBMQAw&fbclid=IwAR2UvdCng-Z-VRqCU8sgsKgI-XmHiLbX5n5Pb4_9ttRQxqSzTkV8zkRLFlU#v=onepage&q=crossed%20typebar%20links&f=false

     Thread Starter
 

21-2-2022 21:08:26  #13


Re: Olivetti-Underwood 21

OMG y'all -- I scored an Olivetti-Underwood 21 last week and am here trying to figure out what to do with the super janky action.  Like push as hard as you want you still get a really faint impression, and the leftmost 2 or 3 rarely touch at all.

I am a gut beginner at mechanics, have gotten by with only deep cleaning and working and coaxing to get nearly all my vintage stuff working well. What a testament to the engineering of these machines, that just a little delayed maintenance and so many of them work as well as they did the year they were bought!

Anyway: YES I have the crossed E and X.  I am quite sure those are the letters; one pair was crossed, on the left side as I inspected it through the underside. I assumed it was a factory error -- and wondered if it was throwing off the tension and would be a factor I needed to address. Sounds like no -- and the "ED" jamming hypothesis makes sense to me.

So I still have the action problem to figure out, and am sure I can find help elsewhere on the forum, but welcome any insights you wiser ones care to share. I really want to get it humming again; the action on my Lettera 32 (Ivrea 1965) is LIKE BUTTER and I want more of that Olivetti love! Thanks all!
 

 

21-2-2022 23:10:22  #14


Re: Olivetti-Underwood 21

UPDATE: I got the bottom off and identified the piston thing underneath that regulates the speed of all the keys, cleaned and put some sewing machine oil in there and the responsiveness got a lot better. I might just not like the action on this machine, or something this big -- I am trying to get the feel of the Lettera 32 which might be impossible, because it's moving like three times as much metal, right? Anyway: qualified success! Progress!

Now if I could just get the carriage return to require less effort. Not squeaking or anything but there's slow resistance to it. and I guess probably just grime (lots of eraser droppings in this one) that I'll be able to clean out once I figure out / get brave enough to take off  the carriage.

 

22-2-2022 08:55:22  #15


Re: Olivetti-Underwood 21

You can accomplish a very good, deep cleaning without removing the carriage.  Good air compressor, your favourite solvent, and some brushes, etc.

Taking a carriage off or removing a platen can just become a can-o-worms for the hobbyist.  And can easily lead to more problems and damage.

     Thread Starter
 

22-2-2022 11:14:10  #16


Re: Olivetti-Underwood 21

Hi Lazy Dog

These Olivetti–Underwood 21's were almost a cross-over between portable and office machines, built with function over form. Take a look at topic (1) Typewriter Talk » Have I killed my Underwood 21? (boardhost.com) back in June last year, gummy oil in the the slider tube seems to be a common issue with these 21's. I still have yet to give mine a deep cleaning and service, maybe I'll get to that once the warm summer days get here. Woke up to -29ºC (-21ºF or 244ºK) this morning - Brrrr! 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)
 

23-2-2022 02:29:30  #17


Re: Olivetti-Underwood 21

Carriage resistance can sometimes be due to a malformed silent return spring


Typewriter Service Tech (and avid nerd)
 

02-4-2022 07:35:02  #18


Re: Olivetti-Underwood 21

Duane Jensen of Phoenix Typewriters has this YouTube video that might give you some ideas/things to look for as well :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNg9OJlCOLE

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