New Shoes for an Underwood No. 5

One of the original feet and one missing.

Both feet on the right side were very squashed.

Parts from McMaster-Carr

The one on the right matched the foot shown in the first image.

Better view of the bar that connects the back space key and the back space mechanism.

Not sure if this was original.  I was able to get exact replacements.

Comparing the new with the old. The old is just a bit shorter and thicker by .065" It may have been the same as what I installed and over years of holding the typewriter it squashed a bit.

Four new shoes (feet)

I wanted to check for level because I did try 1 long bumpers on the left and 2 short on the right, but the typewriter sat visibly tilted to the right.

Close enough for a match. Difference between left and right may be about 1/32"

My goal was to get new feet on this typewriter before the Type-In. Mission Accomplished.  I thought about the expensive ones on Ebay, but they'd be more than I paid for the typewriter and not add anything to it like a recovered platen.
When I get to the Royal 10 I will be ordering from Steve Dade for those and may add some Underwood feet as well as another set for my other Corona 3.

Here is the link to the rubber bumpers part number 9540K781

I did a bit of searching on line to see if I could find an original photo of an Underwood No. 5.  No luck.  I did find several advertisements though and they all show the taller feet like the one original tall one and the ones I just installed.
My thinking was I could put a small spacer between the shorter ones I got and the typewriter and create just enough space for the back space bar to not touch the table surface.  Since it looks like these typewriters sat a bit high and used the taller feet, I'll leave this No. 5 as it is.

After the Type-In this typewriter will be getting a recovered platen from J.J. Short and it should be good for another 100 years.

100 Years Old and Still Going Strong, Underwood No.5

Workbench was full with H3k machines so I used the table saw to clean the No. 5

I did a quick and dirty edit in GIMP to remove the original text (body of the letter) from the letterhead and printed it so I could at least use an Underwood letterhead. I need to work on this one and a Remington to make blank letterhead. My proof reading skill leaves a LOT to be desired. Notice the unmarked typos?

Working Underwood No. 5.

The Underwood No. 5 was ok to use when it first arrived if one could tolerate sticking type bars, a very sluggish carriage, and carriage shift that would not always return to lower case.

It did not take much work to get this working, and had I not been short on time I may have even swapped the platen with a better one that I have for a spare.  The spare still needs recovered, but it is not as hard as this one.