Underwood Standard No.5
I fell in love with lines of this machine.
Yes, it is a very common machine in US - but not in Sweden. It is a real classic - skeleton machine as I think of these.
It came to me via Tradera from Swedish North. To protect her from improper handling we agreed with the Seller that I wait a week so his relative will be going from North to Uppsala where I can pick her up. It worked out very well.
The machine had all problems common to most old typewriters:
dusty and sprayed with WD-40 (or similar) which hardened into yellow goo, stalling the mechanism almost completely
rubber parts got very hard or disintegrated
Other than that all seemed to be in place and in proper order.
As always I started renovation with manufacturing new rubber feet. Old ones were gone, luckily original screws were in place.
Carefully to keep the structure I peeled off rubber remainings to see how the original feet were formed. They were in fact simply hollow on the inside - the hole slightly smaller than the screw head. Upon compression the rubber was filling the slot between rectangular sections of the screw, keeping the foot in place and enabling unscrewing them without tools. Neat!
I used the same rubber-like mooring dampers, cut them to size with guillotine (sailor’s knife and rubber mallet).
Sanding took care of cutting marks. I punched out the centre holes for mounting screws.
Due to rubber compression the centre hole is not even in diameter - middle part is smaller than the top and bottom sections. That helps to fill the slot in these screws.
With new feet in place I could move to more exciting parts - internals!
Paper table, platen and paper feed rollers with paper deflector came out easily - pretty standard way of removing them as on most other machines. Unlike Olympia Splendid and her clones where one needs to force the platen out!
Usually this is enough to clean the machine but this Underwood, due to its “rail-type” carriage (my naming, I don’t know how this construction is really called) did not allow me to get everywhere with the carriage on. Besides - the escapement and carriage mechanism was so dirty with yellow goo that I decided to remove it for proper cleaning. And, most of all, to closely inspect how it is built!
Not as straightforward as in Oliver or Adler mod.7 but still pretty easy procedure.
Back rail is connected to the frame with two screws, with positive positioning in rectangular grooves.
The other point of contact is up front: pointer which runs on the front scale has guiding pin sliding on the underside of the scale. Two more screws to remove and the carriage assembly was free to lift up!
I noticed with joy that the machine managed to avoid hands of non-skilled mechanics: almost all screw heads are intact, no butchered slots due to improper screwdrivers! Either it was serviced by a proper mechanic or not serviced at all. Perfect! I keep it this way - no screw I removed bears any mark on its head!
Now I gained access to the escapement and all internals. Brushed them a bit from dust, to be able to see anything.
Before removing old spools I take note on how the ribbon is guided towards the vibrator. Spool holders move around on springs, to ease access to ribbon slots on the back.
Standard ribbon guide at the vibrator.
I turned my attention to the platen. It was, of course, rock-hard and dirty but luckily not cracked. Smooth as baby’s bum which certainly would cause paper to slip.
It would be enough to just clean it and sand, maybe with rubber reconditioner, but I felt adventurous that day so I decided to re-cover it with a layer of fresh rubber. Well, to do that really well I would send it somewhere for re-covering (JJ Short being one such company in US). I wanted to try home DIY method and put bicycle inner tube onto the platen.
I had bad experience when doing it for the first time on Continental Silenta: worn out, old innertube broke after a few hours. It might have also been due to oil I used to slip it onto place.
This time I used brand new innertube (yes, I invested all this money!) and used a dry process, with talc, to protect the rubber.
That went pretty smooth but unlike the wet process, when the soap or oil dries out, talc keeps the tube still movable and gliding after placement. To mitigate that it needs to be removed.
I rolled ends of the tube back, exposing again the platen, and wiped the talc with rag wetted with denaturated spirit. Isopropanol would be better but I happened to run out of it.
I did that couple of times, on both ends, until unrolled rubber was no longer moving on the platen. Then came sanding session on “poor man’s lathe”.
I used 120 and 180 grid paper. The aim is to remove bumps caused by rubber seems on the innertube. Also - due to heat while sanding the rubber gets more sticky, attaching itself better to the platen.
The result is uniform surface with still visible seams but now they are levelled, no bumps. Maybe not a quality for a museum or fussy collector but it works very well for someone who wants to use the machine to type!
Besides - this is 100% reversible process - just by cutting the innertube one gets back the original platen with no marks or damages. Can be handy if I happen to be in US with this Underwood in a car trunk, close to JJ Short company.
Before taking all for cleaning I admire “patina” and tons of dirt in the mechanism. I notice very cool mechanism enabling manual winding of ribbon - for re-spooling etc.
Another cool thing is type-bars resting arc: unlike modern machines where this is made from glued rubber here it is made of fabric, screwed to the arc. Handy if replacement is needed.
I remove the whole subassembly for proper cleaning and inspection.
Ribbon colour selector lever rides in this opening.
Surprisingly the typebar rest bears a date of its manufacturing (I think):
We move outside for chemical cleaning. I use my standard “typewriter soup”: mineral spirit with a bit of engine oil.
Bar rest pillow dry-cleaned with nylon brush. Fabric is in perfect shape. The pillow is very heavy - as if it was filled with lead. Or sand?
Anyone reading this - please comment if you happen to know what is inside this pillow?
For safety (if it is lead) I wash hands before moving further.
Before putting things together I oil the carriage assembly. Just a few spots: rollers mostly.
Another cool feature: leather tabulator brake. If it was not replaced at some point this piece of leather has more than 100 years! I oiled it with camellia oil.
Carriage assembly back in place, draw cord connected. Initial type and space-bar tests show that the machine works smoothly and all moves fast and instantly.
Serial numbers on the carriage and the frame do not match. Maybe they do not need to? Anyway, worthwhile to notice that - Adler had these matching.
Paper deflector had only two rubber bands still in place. Upon touching they turned to dust.
I substituted them with silicone tubing: it will last much longer. The function of these is to support paper table from the back - eliminating any possible rattling sound and keeping paper path undisturbed under the platen.
Last but not least are paper-feed rollers. They became flat in many places, rubber is hard as stone and brittle. In such state the machine will not function properly.
Old rubber removed with sharp blade.
Brass core exposed.
Fresh, spongy rubber rollers, sanded for better grip, mounted in place.
Front rollers, smaller in diameter, were only partially disassembled. I was afraid that I will not be able to press fit back the constraint rings so only external rollers were taken out from the shaft. Here I will use transparent, silicone tubing so I polish brass cores as they will be visible.
Back in the carriage, ready for mounting the platen.
I put back the platen and remaining covers. Mounting a new ribbon is an adventure in this machine but after a while I figured how to do it.
The machine is back in shape, time for a test type. All works smoothly and sound of type slugs hitting the paper on soft-rubber platen is very pleasing: silent “thumb” instead of plastic “clack”.
I can type very fast on this machine. Carriage shift, thanks to properly adjusted support spring, is very light - almost like in basket-shift machines. It is a pure joy to use this machine!