Wapsi Square Forum

A 1924 Underwood! Rusty, beautiful, and heavy as sin. I have no good place for it. But for 12.00? I knew I'd be kicking myself if I left it at the thrift store.
I'm going to obsessively read up on how tos before I attempt to get it working. I'm not mechanical at all, but I'm itching to work on this.

chicgeek wrote:A 1924 Underwood! Rusty, beautiful, and heavy as sin. I have no good place for it. But for 12.00? I knew I'd be kicking myself if I left it at the thrift store.
I'm going to obsessively read up on how tos before I attempt to get it working. I'm not mechanical at all, but I'm itching to work on this.

When you get ready to start painting and touching the old beauty up, ping me. I can likely advise on coatings.

Kudos, there is nothing like the sound of a good typewriter cruising along...

Oh dear universe, quick! Hide this from Dinky or she'll reach critical mass!

Thanks, Al! I'll take you up on that.

Hee, Dinky is a fan of them, I take it? MINE, MINE!
Yeah, there's just something about the clackity-clack....

If it's seriously rusty, I wonder whether the "electrolytic rust conversion" technique would work. From what I've read, this process will de-grease the metal, convert all of the rust to a form which detaches from the underlying good metal and can be wiped or flushed off, and doesn't affect the underlying steel. Plenty of documentation and how-to writeups out there.

Run it through this, use a water spray to remove the loosened rust, dry, and then immediately run it through a light-machine-oil bath to block any further rusting (or, immediately prime and paint, if you do just the outer frame).

This is of course a rather radical process! Spot treatment of rust (e.g. with a phosphate converter) would be a lot more selective.

chicgeek wrote:Thanks, Al! I'll take you up on that.

Hee, Dinky is a fan of them, I take it? MINE, MINE!
Yeah, there's just something about the clackity-clack....

I think she's just fond of stuff like this. It just seems right up her and Al's, uh, alley.

GlytchMeister wrote:I think she's just fond of stuff like this. It just seems right up her and Al's, uh, alley.

Rusted Tin Pan Alley, I suppose?

Dave wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:I think she's just fond of stuff like this. It just seems right up her and Al's, uh, alley.

Rusted Tin Pan Alley, I suppose?

No, my toys are much more run of the mill...

Dave wrote:If it's seriously rusty, I wonder whether the "electrolytic rust conversion" technique would work. From what I've read, this process will de-grease the metal, convert all of the rust to a form which detaches from the underlying good metal and can be wiped or flushed off, and doesn't affect the underlying steel. Plenty of documentation and how-to writeups out there.

It does work, but moving parts aren't going to play really well as it requires intimate electrical contact to work properly. Also, dissimilar metals will cause issues and I have no doubt that thing has brass and various grades of steel in it.

Wewre it me I would be scraping and pushing the rust off it with scrapers and such - an X-Acto is remarkably good for this with flat chisel blades. The outside is easy to treat and refinish - the carriage and other such bits are more problematic (and annoying as Hades - I was a certified IBM Selectric and Teletype repair type long ago).

Damn, that brings back a few memories.

I highly recommend 'BREAK FREE'- you'll find it with the gun lubricants.

chicgeek wrote:

CLASSIC! I am almost tempted to break out the portable Olivetti and go for it.

Hah! Finally managed to dig one of my oldies out of the storage room for photos. I have one other from the 1920's, cannot recall its manufacturer, it is buried under storage stuff.

Blickensderfer 7, made sometime between 1897 and 1916 according to the webz info. Haven't been able to locate a serial number. It has been in the family for a while, somehow it managed to survive several moves and passings.

And the patent plate. Cannot post more than three photos at once.

But, but, but...

WHERE'S THE SCREEN???




It's actually quite impressive. Have you used it, recently? Or ever, for that matter? Does it still work properly?

lake_wrangler wrote:But, but, but...

WHERE'S THE SCREEN???




It's actually quite impressive. Have you used it, recently? Or ever, for that matter? Does it still work properly?

Screen? Shellynx gots yer screen right here!
The works are a bit gummed up at the time, depress a key and the head will rotate and move but not return. Right now it is safe, one day someone will have the pleasure and satisfaction of returning it to working condition.

'the Screen' you ask?

Well, once you turn it on, it's projected right over the device.

Of course, being an older model, it works better with a blank and neutral background behind it...

^^
It's a beauty!

lake_wrangler wrote:But, but, but...

WHERE'S THE SCREEN???

Just above the power switch.

Before I got a computer, I did many of my college papers on an oldish (1930's model) typewriter. I had more than one professor ask me in a puzzled voice just what sort of printer I used.

Then one guy refused to accept any papers that weren't printed on a computer printer, so I had to start using the university's computer labs. The odd thing is that the quality of the type when I used the typewriter was much better than the early-90's dot matrix printers that the school used, so I'm not sure what that professor's problem was.