I’ve been thinking about the old Underwood for a while now… knowing it is sitting there in the basement, waiting for me to rescue it.
So, I finally dragged it upstairs and gave it a little dusting. Feels like a visit from an old treasured friend!
I used to just beat the heck out of this when I was a kid. Like, literally beat on it. When I wasn’t typing out random words and sentences, I used to love smashing my fist into the keyboard and watching all the key arms lock up in a knotted mess. It is a testament to how well-built these things are that it survived me as a child.
It has earned a good dusting and polishing, and a place of honour on my bookshelf.
Maybe I should look into having a bit of restoration done on it. There is some wearing-off of the lettering, and a crack in the front bar of the frame. Patent information that should be on the back is all worn off. It still has a ribbon reel, though, and all the levers and keys work!
The Serial number under the carrigage is 275146.
I’ve looked it up on the Typewriter Database, which has led me to believe it is Model 3 dated 1919.
If anyone has knowledge to share, I’d love to learn more (drop a comment below or shoot me an email).
We figure this came home from work with my grandfather; likely salvaged from the garbage when old machines in the office were replaced with newer models.
Since I’ve opted for a typewriter theme for this website, maybe I should replace the Remington stock photo with this one. I don’t think I’ve ever actually typed on a Remington. I do remember taking typing class in high school on an electric Olivetti that had a rotating ball type head. After that, it was all computer, and unfortunately, I never kept any of those early home computers (circa 1983 or so when we got our first Apple clone with a dot matrix printer, and then I no longer had to worry about my teachers trying to read my handwriting).
