Page 551 - Demo

Post-Pandemic545things I gleaned was that the Underwood No. 5 was one of the most popular typewriters ever produced, and it was being manufactured until the early 1930s. Because 5 million of them were made, it was still relatively easy to find one, and I was able to watch several videos of people dismantling and repairing them. I also downloaded a number of old service manuals. After perusing eBay, I bought one for $50, plus another $50 for shipping. It looked to be in decent shape, although it was missing one key.When the carton arrived, and I unpacked it, I immediately saw that the front of the cast-iron frame had gotten broken into two pieces during shipping. I quickly sent a message and a picture of the damage to the seller. He was very professional, and together we agreed that a $50 refund would be acceptable and I could keep the damaged machine for parts. A broken frame is a pretty big deal, but on close examination, I realized I could repair it. Which I did. Then, using the online videos as guides, I started dismantling and cleaning. During the process, I found the missing key lying underneath the others. I also saw that the ratchet that advanced the ribbon was disconnected, and part of the tab mechanism was bent, so neither worked. With the videos and manuals, and some trialand-error, I learned how to get both functioning again. But I was stumped when I tried to make the shift mechanism work smoothly. It simply wouldn%u2019t switch between lower-case and upper-case letters without binding up. I spent several hours examining all the pieces, levers, and connections, but just couldn%u2019t get the shift to operate properly. And none of the videos, nor the manuals I%u2019d found, provided an answer. So I stated watching other videos, but they weren%u2019t any help either. I eventually did get my answer, when I located an online manual titled Underwood Typewriter Maintenance and Repair that was produced by the Army in 1955. It had excellent exploded drawings of the typewriter%u2019s various subassemblies, and I soon realized my machine was missing a small link which connected two parts of the carriage to make them move smoothly and parallel to each other. Because it was also missing a small rubber roller, it was pretty obvious that someone in that past had started working on my old Underwood and had abandoned it in an unrepaired state.