1920 Underwood Western Union Special #WU12628
Status: My Collection
Hunter: James Grooms (jgrooms)
Created: 01-16-2026 at 02:30PM
Last Edit: 02-07-2026 at 01:08PM
Find on Ebay #AD
Find on Etsy #AD
Description:
This machine, as you'd expect, saw some use. At some point, it received a brush paint job and a 'rebuild.' The rollers and feet are in good shape. The legend is very nice. The platen knobs are a later type. The margin release was messed up and challenging to sort out. Eventually, I figured out the front slider rod was bent ever so slightly. By the looks of all the buggered up screw heads, someone was trying to sort it out before me. They parked it and started taking parts off it. The left release lever and parts from the tab rack were MIA. So some parts harvesting, including a big upgrade for the paper table.
The good thing is that there was almost no rust; check out that undercarriage. It types. The line lock needs further sorting and was probably all buggered up when they were trying to get the margin release to work. Maybe I will tackle the type alignment?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The earliest press report states the machines went into service in Feb 1912 with a total of 10,000 units. Some of this is press, and some is actual Underwood ads running into 1913. One example states 10k and 1k per month for delivery. The Feb 1912 mentions field testing of Underwoods and others prior to this for 8 months. So there were machines out in 1911. Were they part of the WU SN sequence?
There are several machines here on the DB within the first 10k SN sequence that have the shift lock change made in Feb 1915. Maybe during service, these were retrofitted? I'd go with that. Western Union had a lot of need, and 10k machines would be distributed quickly.
**********************************
However, 1807485 is the foot number. If the WUs are in the same frame foot sequence, based on other examples, this falls in the 1920 range. This calls into question all the 1913 press about 10k machines at 1,000 per month. Here we have 12628 delivered 7 years later.
We need more foot numbers, WUS owners.
Typeface Specimen:
Links:
Photos:
Hunter: James Grooms (jgrooms)
James Grooms's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]
Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 21353
Typewriters are the perfect blend of using one's technical skills, history and functional purpose. My goal is type tested machines. My interests are not isolated to anyone area. For example, I am a big fan of Smith Corona electrics, mid century electrics and all things Royal.
RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Underwood Western Union Special on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Underwood Serial Number page and the Underwood Western Union Special By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.
