 |
| The US Navy Underwood Universal Radio Mill on the left, and the Western Union Underwood Telegraph Mill on the right. |
 |
| The shift catch on the US Navy Mill to keep the carriage from bobbing in a small ship or plane as the machine is exposed to vibration. |
 |
| The Western Union Telegraph Mill with the useless symbols for shifts. |
 |
| The US Navy Radio Mill with redundant capital letters for shifts. |
 |
| I do have a third mill, a Postal Telegraph Remington Mill, which is non-functioning, very attractive, and types ++++ if you shift it. |
I will check our brass framed Underwood to see if it has those catches. Very interesting, and a nice set of mills!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting topic. I still don't own any mills.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why they even bothered to put + or ~ on the shifted positions of the typebars—why not leave them totally blank?
I've been looking for a MIL or MILL for a while and haven't had any luck. If you ever want to turn the old Remington Postal Telegraph into cash let me know. I'll drive from Maryland to Virginia to collect it! I enjoy your blog very much. How's the fiction writing coming along? Anything your loyal readers can sample?
ReplyDeleteThe Postal was basically a gift, and is quite rare. I like it on display and it is beyond simple restoring, the frame is cracked in two crucial places.
DeleteWorking on a novel, it will be a long process but I am enjoying it.
I missed this one. Good finds on getting both the WU and military Mills. They have been the elusive machines of my collection for decades.
ReplyDeleteI have an Underwood Mill that does not have shift keys at all. It is a bit of a mystery to me. The numerical 0 key does not have a slash through it. It's a strange beast.
ReplyDeleteThat's exciting, you should post it at typewriterdatabase.com so we can see it and discuss it!
DeleteI have a red Western Union Underwood typewriter and am trying to find information about it. I have someone interested in buying it from me and would love for her to know it's history. I found this serial number: WU6303R. Is there a date stamp somewhere? Are there any other resources to discover history? Thanks in advance for any help!
ReplyDeleteI am unaware of any information for even dating these from the serial number. That's a cool machine to have though! I think at best you might be able to find out when Western Union ordered the mills and how many and maybe you could guess based on the serial number from that the age of the machine.
Delete