Memorial Day

Today many of us will be enjoying get-togethers with friends and families.

Remember those who gave us these freedoms.

Arlington National Cemetery. Image source Wikimedia Commons.

Grand Rapids Type-In --- Part 3

Two visitors stopped by and really took to the typewriters

The young lady being introduced to the typewriter was so enthralled with typing and typewriters, that after she started typing her friends had a difficult time getting her to leave.  Before leaving she asked about how and where to find a typewriter of her own.  Sadly, I had already given my spares away.

The Underwood getting more attention

Another lady stopped by to look, and took to typing.

Like those who tried the Underwood she really liked it.

This Classic 12 went to Read & Write Kalamazoo. I did not have a case for it so I found a nice suitcase at the local Salvation Army store that worked great. It may not hold the typewriter from sliding sideways if dropped on the left or right side,but it did hold it firmly enough to keep it from moving in the case under most conditions. I got the idea from some of my General Radio test equipment housed in Samsonite cases that were very similar to the one I purchased.

On Tuesday I took a trip to Berrien Springs, MI to pick up this neat old Underwood No. 3

And celebrating National Typewriter Day, next month we've go another Type-In at  Landmark Books in Traverse City.

We finally got our internet service back sometime about 23:00 hours. By then I was too tired to post anything.

I did not have any images of my Adler J5 or the Olympia Socialite that I passed on at the Type-In.  However the past week one has been on Joe Van Cleave's and again on La Vie Graphite.  I think my Socialite has been trying to tell me something.  I seldom used mine even though it is a neat tiny travel typewriter.

Tuesday I could not resist the trip to Berrien Springs to check out a Craigslist find for less cost than shipping a similar typewriter from any near-by state.  The Underwood No. 3 is not in the worst shape I've ever seen, nor is it pristine.  Most of the keys and functions worked, and all the gold leaf and decals are in good shape, so it jumped into the car and took a ride home with me.

I gave the segment a quick cleaning with carb cleaner and all the keys now work, the tabs work, and backspace works.  Now I have to repair the seized ribbon color selector and find out why the ribbon vibrator will not work (unless there is a stencil setting that I cannot find).  Then it is on to cleaning and polishing.

This is a newer No. 3 than I really wanted.  I'd like an early one with the Underwood Standard Typewriter decal on the top front of the carriage instead of below the space bar on the frame front.  If you read my older post you can read a bit more about this typewriter and the serial numbering.

Underwod No. 3 with a Serial Number Not to be Found

Styling like the later models, and my No. 5 and similar to my No. 6

Check it out. A number not of file that I can determine.

 I used some lumber chalk to fill in the numerals to be sure I did not miss anything. This number is not found until the Underwood No. 4 and No.5, and the number states 1916 a full 11 years before the 11 inch No. 3 was released.  This No. 3 also has the newer mainspring with the thumb knob tension adjustment like my No. 6 rather than the crank like my No. 5.

I'll be posting more on this when I get to cleaning and repairing it.   My first task is to read on how to remove the carriage to get the vibrator working and free the stuck ribbon selector.  Then I may take the front and margin bar apart to fix the bell.  The margin release works on this typewriter, but the bell does not.

Seems a bit of PB Blaster and a cleaning with carb cleaner has gotten all the keys working, and a bit of Liquid Wrench on the margin rail and some lube on the carriage rail has all of that working ok.

For now though I'm more curious when this was made since the number is 115894 higher than the last number made.  Looks like 14000 were made in the final year of production if the chart shows the final year of production.

It could be made in 1929, but that would then be a wide carriage.

Will Davis has a nice review of the differences in the No. 4 and 5 with one picture showing a No3 variant of the No. 5 but only with a 12 inch to 18 inch carriage, but with Underwood Standard Typewriter on the carriage which is different than my carriage and the Underwood Standard Typewriter below the space bar.

Does anyone know the URL for the mirror of Wills site that used to be on Alan Seaver's site because Will's link does not work and there is nothing on Alan's site.  I searched the Wayback Machine, but nothing was found there either.