About this machine
A working replica of an Underwood No. 5, the typewriter that set the shape of the office machine for half a century. Every key, typebar and lever on screen moves, and what you type lands on the page as it would on paper.
The Underwood No. 5
Franz Wagner designed the Underwood in the 1890s around one idea: the typist should see the words as they were written. Earlier machines struck the paper from below or behind, out of sight. The Underwood's typebars, arranged in a half circle, swing up and strike the front of the platen, so the line is in view the moment it is typed.
The No. 5 arrived in 1900 and stayed in production, little changed, into the 1930s. Millions were made. It became the standard other machines were measured against, and within a couple of decades nearly every maker had copied its front-strike, visible-writing design.
This one
The model follows a real No. 5 sold in Italy in the 1920s. Its keyboard is the Italian QZERTY layout, with Maiuscole for shift and Fissa for the shift lock, and, like the original, it has no key for the figure 1: typists used a lowercase l. Its rear band lists patents from 1909 to 1924. The dealer's plate on the front is invented.
How it works
Everything is built in the browser with three.js: the casting, the 84-character type basket, the carriage and the paper path. The key and carriage sounds are recordings of a real typewriter, mixed in the page with synthesised ones for the bell, the shift, the margin lock and the paper.
Disclaimer
This is an independent, non-commercial tribute. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any owner of the Underwood name.