Typewriter Talk / 1914 L.C. Smith model 5

**Posted by Matt129** 06-2-2022 23:35:58

Hello everyone, I have recently finished repairing an old L.C. Smith model 5. What is your opinion on the machine as a “daily driver” so to speak? Thanks for any input.

**Posted by Uwe** 07-2-2022 13:04:13

I would describe almost any standard designed for the rigours of professional typing to make a good daily driver - providing of course that it's in good condition and working correctly.

**Posted by Matt129** 07-2-2022 23:54:01

It is in good working condition (minus the ratchet release which is missing lol) but I was wondering something about the keycaps. They appear to be glass but it doesn’t seem quite right and I can’t determine what material they are. Some sort of plastic maybe? They are yellowed with age and have a little bit of spiderweb cracking in them and the ring around their edges seem to have aged at the same rate as the rest of the machine so I am baffled. They don’t appear to be replacements yet I was under the impression that machines of this era mostly all had glass keycaps. If you have an explanation for that I would greatly appreciate it lol, I’m just baffled.

**Posted by SoucekFan** 08-2-2022 01:58:49

The keytop style used on LC Smiths of that era was a sort of thick laminated card, not legends under glass. This is the type of keytop that would have been the factory style of this machine; although replacing keytops was a very common service back in the day, especially on standards, so there would be no way to say they are the originals even if they were in the factory style.

**Posted by SoucekFan** 08-2-2022 03:02:52

Here is a picture comparing a disassembled pre-30's LC Smith style keytop (left), with a laminated legend and untabbed ring; and a pre-mid-30's Underwood style keytop (right), with a card legend under a glass disc and 3-prong ring.

**Posted by SoucekFan** 08-2-2022 03:17:05

I should note, that in my example, I cannot say that those are factory originals and not replacements, I just want to show the difference between the one-piece legends and the legends under glass.

**Posted by Matt129** 08-2-2022 10:25:45

Ok that makes sense. I will say that the keycaps on my machine look identical to the one you pictured, so I’m just going to call them original lol ( they should be original for the amount of cleaning I had to do on them 😂). Thanks for all of the info!