Davis Typewriter Works, continued.
The R.C. Allen Woodstock has been completely welded.  Both frame pieces are in place, in good alignment; a slight amount of bending had to be performed on the right-side space-bar stop attached to the front frame, but all of the external covering went back on in better alignment than it was in originally.  The machine is now totally operational, and will go in the lineup of machines to be taken to Your Typewriter & Computer, where it will be professionally lubricated and adjusted and have a new ribbon installed.  My sister-in-law has a plan to restore the front emblem to its original conditon, too, so you'll see this machine at least one more time on these pages.
August 10, 2006
I've also been throughly cleaning the exterior of the Rex Visible No. 4, and it's now bright and shiny black again!  We are again forced to note that this machine was, at some point, totally repainted but also had the original decals replaced perfectly.  This indicates a factory or dealer job.

As of this afternoon, all the sub-parts were totally clean and ready for re-installation, but before this could happen we had to fabricate two linkages:  backspace and space bar.  The backspace linkage was installed by Dave, while I then created a clamp for the broken link in the space-bar mechanism.  Both of them function properly now.  We also lubricated the entirety of the shift mechanisms / segment guides, and performed a few other small adjustments and repairs.
The space-bar linkage was tough.  Not only are the linkage connections in this machine rather unusual in design, but this one's separable connection was in a really bad place.  There is not a large amount of clearance between the separable link and the variable cam for the ribbon selector.  Here's Dave checking things out.
Sure doesn't look like the same machine we started with, does it?  In this shot, backspace and space-bar are connected and fully functional, as are all four shift keys.  All type-bars now reach the print point and are approximately in alignment; all enter and clear the type alignment fork.  The front, side and rear panels are reapplied, as are the front panel controls (tab and margin release keys and ribbon selector switch.)  The carriage is going to take some more cleaning up, but it's coming along nicely -- Dave is actually getting to some real chrome on this thing.  I've wet-sanded the platen down just a bit to reach good rubber, and it looks good.  Our goal of making this machine decently displayable is going to be exceeded, and we're actually looking now at making it work, at least in good portion.  That's a major upgrade from our opinion just a short while ago!
August 17, 2006
Dave's spent a good deal of time on the Rex carriage, and it's not mint but the gunk is all off, and every mechanism now operates as originally intended.  We've put the paper table back on here, but the support and guidance rails aren't shown, as obviously neither is the platen.
Left and below; our Rex Visible No. 4 is completely reassembled.  There is no drawband applied as yet, but hand tension on the carriage reveals that all mechanical aspects are fully operational with the exception of the (broken off) ribbon vibrator.  Some type alignment is needed, as well, but the machine should work and is now in line for Your Typewriter & Computer.
August 22, 2006
Our next project is this Woodstock Electrite, which when introduced in about 1924 was well ahead of its time.  Most of the world wasn't ready for an electric typewriter yet, and the Electrite sold only very modestly.  This makes the Electrite somewhat hard to find today.

This machine has an interesting back-story; I spotted the machine on e-Bay, listed as "keys from Woodstock typewriter" and looked to see the machine, if pictured.  The keyboard area was pictured, but on the right I could see a projection in the correct place for a motor housing were it to be an Electrite.  Contact with the gracious seller resulted in completely new photos being posted for the auction and the offer of the machine in whole.  The front frame was broken off, though; I asked the seller if the piece was there.  It was, and I won the machine in the end.  Here you see it in the conditon received, exactly as requested; the frame piece taped on to protect the key levers in shipping.  It worked perfectly.
At right, what the front end looked like with the tape removed.  One half hour with various cleaning solutions removed all of the tape residue.
The entire machine was perfectly functional except for the electric motor-driven type bars.  (Note that on this machine, the ONLY electrically powered parts are, in fact, the type bars; everything else is completely manual.)  Attempts to power the motor resulted in no motion or sound, so we took the motor housing apart to see if it were worth fixing (which it is not, as the wiring has been fixed so many times that it's shot and there isn't much left.) 

Here we see the motor, lower center, removed; the motor shaft spins a worm gear drive, whose output shaft runs left to right.  This output shaft mates to a rotary connector flange shown here with a green arrow pointing to it.  Manual operation of this shaft proved out that every single type bar works as designed.  We may have to reconsider fixing the motor after all....
At left, the author reattaching the motor housing following its disassembly and inspection.  The motor housing is attached to the typewriter frame by three screws; rubber spacers are located between the motor mounting plate and the typewriter frame, one at each screw location.  The machine was blown out with compressed air and cleaned overall, and then J-B Weld was applied to the front frame.  On the right, the Woodstock Electrite on its back, with a container used to support the front, following application of the weld material.
---Future plans in the workshop include repairing the foot on an Imperial 50 Standard, attempting broken frame repair on a really late model Underwood Standard, and the probable scrapping out of two portables (Underwood, Consul) to obtain parts, particularly screws.
August 23, 2006
The Woodstock Electrite, serial number E12169E, is back in one piece.  The alignment achieved on the front frame piece is perfect.  You can tell it was repaired, though, so we're now wondering if some touch-up paint or something is called for.  All operative functions which are manual are perfect.  Much thinking was done today about this machine, and we're going to place it in the "maybe" column for continued work.