Typewriter Talk / 1920's NCR Typewriter/accounting/bookkeeping Machine

**Posted by ecvia1** 24-9-2016 14:57:42

I tripped over this treasure in an old warehouse. I knew I had to have it. I went to my boss - "Hey boss there's an old typewriter thing in the wareh...."
"You want it take it" he said. (SCORE!)
It took an act of congress to get it home, it weighs a metric ton. I thought you might enjoy seeing it. It's a 1920s National Cash Register NCR 3000 Accounting Bookkeeping Machine

Eric

**Posted by TypewriterKing** 24-9-2016 16:24:59

Man, you don't just trip over a behemoth like this, you fall off the edge of it, or climb down the fire escape. You got you one big mo-cruncher, there. Hope you'll be able to fix it. Let us know how you come out.

**Posted by ecvia1** 24-9-2016 18:47:24

Oh man TK you should've seen me trying to get that thing out of that warehouse and into my car. I'm strong as a country ox, but I could just barely lift it up to the trunk of my car.

It's since been sitting in my garage - all I really do is admire it I did get brave and plug her in once, not a thing happened - and that's probably a good thing, really.

This is the one I was hoping to be able to "read" the ribbon on it. I'm estimating it's from around 1925, but in this lil town we live in here in Montana it was probably used up to the '70's. :-)

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Eric

**Posted by TypewriterKing** 24-9-2016 19:02:36

Well, so far, I'm alive to tell the tale, and that's a good enough weekend for me. My weekends are Mondays and Tuesdays. A weird work schedule, but at least I don't have to battle town crowds. Anyway, I am thinking that when nothing happens when you plug something made that early in, it would probably be that something in the linkage system is locked up, or the motor itself went bad--which frequently happened, as these motors were of the universal brush variety, and they weren't long lived--especially in the realm of office machinery. These were more suited to sewing machines and mixers--which didn't require them to be on for long periods of time. I do suspect that the duty on this motor wasn't continuous, working only in short spurts like adding machines did. Oh well, you got you something interesting there. I would look over the electrical circuitry real good before you plug it in again. I could tell you stories about some older International and Elecrtomatic typewriters, and the fires they used to set.

**Posted by ecvia1** 24-9-2016 23:09:16

I'm lucky in that after years, I finally have a job with a "real" weekend (Sat/Sun) - I'm loving it

Thanks again for the info. Yeah I do believe the part of this thing that weighs the most is the motor on the bottom of it I'd love to have the wheeled stand it originally sat on. I searched for it, but it's gone out of the warehouse

Could also be a fuse?

**Posted by TypewriterKing** 25-9-2016 16:26:04

It could be a fuse. With a motor that age, it could be any number of things. We're talking about something that's almost 90 years old, and usually electric motors of this vintage are quite primitive. Check to see if it has a set of 2 brushes in the back of it. If it does, check the commutator below the brushes. Then pull out the brushes and check their condition, plus how much brush is left on each. If the commutator is worn or pitted, there may be a short circuit. Or, if you do finally get the motor itself going, make sure there is no really bright arcing from the brush area. You should get a small blue arc from each of them. But, don't run the motor too long, since it may not be a continuous duty motor. It may just work in short spurts, like they did with adding machines. Good luck. Let me know how you come out.