Typewriter Woodstock circa 1920's

    For sentimental reasons I jumped at a chance to buy an old typewriter and table for twenty bucks.  Basically I love the looks of it and maybe it is due to the fact the my father had a similar one that I remember as a child.  I am writing this on Veterans Day and I am remembering my father's service in World War II.  He was in France but I guess he was in a rather safe zone and worked as a secretary typist.  I find this to be a surprising way to participate in a war.  

     Although all through my education I was successful there was one subject that I was absolutely horrible in and that was typing.  As I look back I think I had a few problems with coordination.  I am also right-handed and left-eyed so I believe my brain circuitry is a bit off.  I took dance lessons and had trouble knowing my right and left.  When driving and someone says "turn right", I hesitate because it does not come automatically for me.  In order to pass typing one needed to get more than 36 words a minute and for two years I was unable to get beyond that goal.  So I am unable to say that I took after my dad in this respect.  I hated typing and bookkeeping.  In high school, I took half business courses and half college prep.  I don't know if they allow such programs in high school now. But in any case I was far more successful in biology and chemistry. Eventually I found myself in college and it turned out to be a wise decision.

    I am also getting sentimental about machines.  Especially those that you can actually see the mechanism on which the machine is based. On this old typewriter you can see that you press on the key and the lever causes a couple of actions that end in a metal wand striking the inked ribbon and making a letter on the paper. What an effort it was to make duplicates with that messy carbon paper.  I do not even remember how we used to correct mistakes before they invented the product white-out.  (I know a woman invented it.)  The ability to see the mechanics of old machines is contrasted today when viewing the internal workings of a computer.   Such a wonderful machine.  Can you call it a machine?  You look inside and you hear some sounds but not much movement except for the fan.

    Another reason I liked this typewriter is due to the enameled black finish on the heavy iron frame with the golden decal with the maker's name emblazoned on the machine.  It reminds me of the old Singer sewing machines with fancy scroll designs and a golden medallion attached to the old machines.

  

  I am also remembering my neighbor's Heidelberg printing press which made me ooo-oo and ah.  It was so historical that it was fit to be a museum piece.  I remember the day he sold it and they came to pick up the extremely heavy press.  I hope it will be well cared for.  I was sorry to see it go.  Since we have a new high school near us, I thought that the little printing shop would be worth a few classes taking a tour each term.   The one my neighbor had was more beautiful than the one seen in the photo below.  Here is a bit of a description of that machine:

     It is tremendously sturdy and gives perfectly even pressure with its 2,000-pound impression cylinder. It accepts a large enough sheet that we can print several pages of a book at once. It has automatic paper feeding and inking. It is a Heidelberg, which means amazingly precise registration and systematic control over even the most erratic aspects of printing...Now, for the first time, nothing stands between us and a lifetime of books to come. Heidelberg KSBs are generally considered to be the Rolls Royce of cylinder presses.

 

 

   This Woodstock typewriter has keys that strike well but the space bar was split and that mechanism was faulty.  I was able to restore the spacebar by putting a rubberband around it and I used super glue to make the bar rather strong but I probably will never be able to restore it to working order.  I used acetone to clean the keys which were probably were covered with the early form of plastic called celluloid. I saw similar working models on Ebay for about $400. It probably belonged to Nelson Holloway from the Lower Bank area along the Mullica River in New Jersey who passed away not long ago at around 94 years of age.  Along with this typewriter I bought a boat guest log.  It probably belonged to Nelson as well.  The boat and the entries begin on June 21, 1942.  There were not that many entries but it does note that the recreational boat, a Chris Craft was not allowed to be used during the war.

Above I used a bamboo stick to get into the edges of the key with the acetone and then used a cotton swab to remove the grime.  Also I used a leaf blower on the machine outside and I followed up with a can of air cleaner.

See the rubberband repair method below.  It was popping up so I then placed a bottle of liquid on it to weight it down: