Tag: Underwood

Acts Not Words… Part II

Images are stored in different places than documents.  It is easier to get pictures of the 91st Engineers in World War II… than it is to obtain words regarding what they were doing.

I thought I had lost the “official picture” of when the Presidential Unit Citation was awarded (a year plus after the fact and long after most had moved on to other places).  But my scanner stopped scanning and while I was waiting for my computer to complete a check on why the scanner was not working… I found the picture.

Some things were just meant to be…

Thinking and being inspired by history while typing on a l956 Underwood.
Thinking and being inspired by history while typing on a l956 Underwood.

American History Month

Some like to limit this month by referring to it as “Black History Month” I like to think of it as “American History with color”.  My Grandmother was born on Valentine Day, and she will always be my Valentine.  Almost thirty years ago I was applying for a new job and was looking for my birth certificate… my Grandmother asked me what I was looking for?  I told her and she became very upset and worried.  Her fear that if my future employer were to see my birth certificate I would not get hired… because they would know I was “Colored”.  In the world she grew up in this was a true concern…  today only talent will keep someone out of baseball.

We should celebrate the remarkable advancement in a single lifetime that allows talent and skill to reach its full potential without first having to escape the limitations and fictions of skin tone expectations.

Typed on a 1951 Underwood typewriter with black ink on white paper... colors that work well together.
Typed on a 1951 Underwood typewriter with black ink on white paper… colors that work well together.

Also cropped from this picture was the 3rd U.S. Cavalry… John W. Heard, Regimental Quartermaster, was awarded the Medal of Honor as well.

After a closer look at these pictures one can see they are different images…. The Flag is in a different angle and Col. Roosevelt has his hat on in one and off in another.   And no one is directly in front of him.  First impression and close examination often tell different stories.  This one just did.   GEE

Looking at six: Reliance, Woodstock, Remington, Underwood & Royal 5 & 10

When I was in high school a friend of mine bought a brand new 1970’s something Ford Pinto… he opened the hood and explained to me just how little he thought of the components that made up his car.  But it was brand new.  I was driving a decade old (plus some) Thunderbird and loving it.  Another friend had a 64 Mustang that he considered a hand-me-down and really wanted a Firebird.   A 57 Chevy was something your Grandparents owned …   A VW “Thing” was cool… Gremlins were interesting… Bugs were everywhere and the only truly important thing was to drive… anything that moved… was better than the bus or walking.

Time places it own take on the value of a car made 40 years ago. Looking back on typewriters made 90 years ago… I start to think would I buy a fully featured used typewriter or a brand new low-priced one. Where I live someone owns a 1970’s Ford Pinto (not me) and another a Yellow 1959 Caddy… guess which one draws a crowd?   Nothing wrong with that Pinto.  Noting wrong with a Reliance… either (which for some reason I keep wanting to call Reliant).

Six typewriters from the early years...
Six typewriters from the early years…

 

 

 

Press a key words appear… typewriter magic

One year ago… I thought about buying a manual typewriter.  In March of 2012 I finally did.  By the end of March I started Blogging…

Before I sat down behind the keyboard of my Olympia I was unable to write with the same joy or passion I had in High School or College.  Time seemed to have robbed me of that simple pleasure of putting words together.  This changed when I pressed the key of a manual typewriter for the first time in three decades.

I must have broken through my writer block since I am using a computer keypad to augment my typecast… but I will not be silly enough to walk away from the source of my creativity because the stream of verbage flows once more.  There are so many more typewriters waiting to be touched… and words to appear on pages like magic.

So lets begin with my continued affair with the 1923 3-Bank Underwood Portable.

Nothing like siting over the keyboard of a 1923 Underwood 3-Bank Portable Typewriter.
Nothing like siting over the keyboard of a 1923 Underwood 3-Bank Portable Typewriter.

 

Looking under the hood of a 1923 Underwood 3-Bank

     First let me say that it did not occur to me to take pictures while I had the base removed from the Underwood.  It was early in the morning and I was amazed at the amount of dust that was inside of the machine (enough to make a mouse very happy).  I was in a state of panic when I discovered that my first efforts to correct problems made things worse.  

     One good thing about buying from a charity is that the people who profit from the sale deserve to. I have no feelings of being ripped off… (it was a donated item… duh!) the price was cheap… the machine functions… looks good and in time I will learn enough to fix it or have it fixed.  So it is win-win.  (Gerald)

1923 Underwood 3-Bank
1923 Underwood 3-Bank