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Underwood No. 5

Photo via Wikimedia Commons (Seelackenmuseum collection)

One example. Colors, sub-models, and production years vary; the machine you find may differ.

Underwood No. 5

1900–30 · United States · Standard · 15 kg

Desk anchorAmerican interwar
The keystroke
Effortfirm
Smoothnessnormal
Snapbalanced
Precisionmoderate
Landinghard stop
Volumeloud

The Underwood No. 5, introduced in 1900, became the model that standardized the modern typewriter layout, with visible-typing frontstroke action that almost every machine after it copied. Heavy, ringing, decisive. The sound of American journalism from the early 20th century. Faulkner endorsed Underwood; Fitzgerald, Cather, and Hemingway among others used them. A demanding machine that pays back commitment.

Worth knowing

Used by

William Faulkner wrote most of his major novels on Underwoods; the machine is preserved at Rowan Oak (1930s–1940s)
F. Scott Fitzgerald drafts including The Great Gatsby (1920s)
Robert Frost later correspondence and poems (1940s)

See & hear it for yourself

Manuals & repair

All sources

External, in their original form. The people who know these machines best — click through to read and watch.

Where to find one

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Specifications

Manufacturer
Underwood
Origin
United States
Years
1900–1930
Form
Standard
Mass
15 kg
Shift
carriage
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