At 123 years of age this Underwood #5 looks great… but shows it’s age once you type with it… or move it. As a show piece to be put on display it has every thing one could need. To use a typewriter is a different matter. Just proves having several machines is a good thing if you enjoy the type…
Press the key’s and don’t stop… 115 years after being built this 1909 Ideal typewriter is fun. It works better than the person at the keyboard (and I am only in my 60″s). If I used this machine more often I could get better results. If I sent it out to be restored… I would have something so special I would just look at. Sometimes you take something for just what it is and that is enough. Perhaps in 30 years the next owner will fix it up. I will just have fun pressing keys.
After using the 1901 Underwood 5, I went to my 1903 Underwood 4 and found that my inner bias preferred the older machine without rational thought. My mind said the 118 year old looked better and was more fun. My realistic self said the 116 year old typed better and looked fine. And with such a fine 116 year old working typewriter; why did I find excuses to purchase the 118 year old? No good reason at all… except I could!
1901 was when this Underwood #5 was made. It looks great. It types… and is fun to type on. What else does anyone need!
I now can good back to a Underwood that still lists Wagner Typewriter as the manufacturer. Â 1901 is about as old as I want to go.
I keep walking past this 1903 Underwood #4… today I took it off the shelf and was amazed at how well it works. Then after typing a page… I did a little work on it and now want to type another page. For some reason the memory of how it didn’t work at all when I first got it stays with me… even when it types better at 115 than many other machines I use more often.
I have been online 6 years now… I had thought that it this point I would have many great insights; but instead I just have the type. I have words on paper that fill many notebooks. I have pressed and touch the keys of many wonderful machines. I find that 6 years later my fingers still look forward to the words to come, the thoughts to convey and the sounds to be heard as I type away. That’s all I really have to say… its just about the type!!
If you could use your computer like a typewriter would you? After a second post using the “Visual Typewriter” software my answer is “NO”. You get sounds, but not the exercise of lifting an actual typewriter. You miss out on watching the ribbon move across… and if you can apply “spell check” it just feels like you just cheated on your diet.
You can look at “nice paper” but unless you print out on real paper… you do not have the option of creating “paper planes” out of your end product. Or roll it up for basketball. No risk of dropping it on your foot… or smashing it with a hammer. In the end it is a quick fix… but not the “real thing”
The “c” “?” does not work. Having problems with the ribbon advance. The carriage came loose in shipment. But what a “looker”. Even in its current state it reminded me of a “mini royal flatbed” and the action for a 97 year old is neat.
Kentucky Typer had a new old stock (1984) FACIT 1740 for sale. I was looking for a typewriter to do the bulk of my letters to Congress on and the FACIT fit the bill. (The paperwork showed it was tested January 8, 1984 so I use that date).
