I have the strange feeling that I seen one of these before…
Oh, yes! This reminds me of my L.C. Smith No. 8 with smoking hot ball bearing action that I brought home in honor of Typewriter Day last June.
This one cleaned up nicely
Moe at the shop had an L.C. Smith No. 8 that had recently arrived. It was in bad shape, so she let me take it home with me for a few days of typewriter spa treatment – draw strap repair, massage, waxing, hot yoga, and more.
I love these ginormous old cast iron standards. I love to watch their weird old innards through the open frames as they type. They are exposed and accessible and super old-timey. They remind me of Prohibition and F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Model T and lead paint and cigars and silent pictures – they bring to mind a simpler time in B&W.
I think Moe’s No. 8 is a 1922 just like mine! My No. 8’s serial number is #460128-8 and the No. 8 from Moe’s has a serial number of #446440-8.
Moe’s No. 8 is in terrible shape.
The draw strap was snapped and mainspring felt stiff and rusty.
Rusty rusty rusty guts. Fortunately, my tetanus shot is up-to-date.
I first blew out cobwebs and dust with the DataVac Duster:
I found the requisite stray object in the machine guts:
It’s part of a paint brush.
Ball bearings at all frictional points
Now this is sad: the letter “F” typebar is broken! I popped it out to examine it more closely. I can see the tiny ball bearings inside the typebar – amazing!
“Ball Bearing – Long Wearing”
I am sad to see that this typebar has broken from its attachment to the segment.
This poor old thing has a lot problems, some serious, some not:
- broken draw strap – that’s OK, I fixed that right off the bat
- broken “F” typebar – that’s NOT OK
- flattened and frozen feed rollers – blug
- rusted ribbon feed mechanism on right side – meh
- no dinging bell and dangling spring in back – meh
- broken ribbon spool – meh
- shifting sluggish and lacking bounce – meh
- ribbon color selector key lever frozen with rust – meh
A seed of a thought began to grow and take shape in my brain. Slowly, slowly the wheels began to turn and gain momentum. In yet another metaphor, my feverish thoughts caught fire!
What if…I make this a project machine? This typewriter is so bad that there is no way, no how that I could do this typewriter justice in just two days. Sure, I could get it to type, but couldn’t it be better?
I could give Moe my functional L.C. Smith No. 8 and I take this poor decrepit hunk of rusty iron and make it mine. I could take it apart and clean it properly. I could go to the blasting cabinet at Tech Shop, strip it, re-paint it, and finally get to play with those wonderful typewriter decals I hear so much about.
I put both typewriters into the trunk of my car and went to Moe’s to pitch the idea.
Moe was all for a typewriter swap – especially since my L.C. Smith looks good and types better. I was trading the looks and performance of one typewriter for the fun and entertainment of the other.
I felt a strange little tug when I left my L.C. Smith at Moe’s. I sent the No. 8 out with care and feeding instructions as well as the cigar cutter I had found inside her.
As soon as I got home I started stripping down the other machine. I removed the side cover plates, front cover plate and key lever comb.
The machine had been badly repainted at some point, and whoever did it had painted over all the screws. I had to soften the paint with paint remover to get the rusty old screws out. It was a struggle.
Enough of this rust porn – time to get that carriage off.
myoldtypewriter 
Good luck, you crazy kid! Exchanging good machines for busted ones just for the challenge? The Force is strong in this one! 😀
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I just have a high midi-chlorian count 🙂
Did I mention I like junkers?
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I can’neigh wait to see you transform Rusto the L.C.Smith into a work of art! Im currious how youll be able to solve the F key problem.
As side note, the more I work on desktops, the more I want a perfect L.C.Smith. They have such a wonderful action to them.
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I doubt it will be a work of art, but it will be cleaner. I am curious to see how I resolve the “f” typebar issue as well. I live next door to a hobbyist knife maker and I was thinking maybe, maybe he can rebuild the piece for me. Also: ball bearings at all frictional points for the win! Old Rusto types pretty darn well despite current disheveled appearance.
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Hi there! Just last month, I picked up my very first “project” machine, a Smith & Corona model 8 like the two you’ve featured on your blog. Like your second machine, mine has a broken draw strap, but unlike you, I’m a bit flummoxed on how to replace it. From your photos, I was able to find the main spring enclosure, but do you have any photos of where the draw strap attaches to the carriage? I’ve searched online, but resources for this model are a bit scarce. Thanks!
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Hi Jasper! Congrats on your LC Smith 8. I believe that the drawband is attached to the main carriage using a screw and a cylindrical washer. I have only a dismantled parts machine LC Smith right now to photograph, but below is a picture of the set-up. You may be missing your drawband screw and washer if your typewriter has been taken apart.
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Hi! I’ve been working on an L.C. Smith No. 8, I’ve cleaned it and gotten rid of the rust on most of the parts. I’m very close to being able to have it all back together but I’ve gotten stuck. I’m wondering if you’d be able to help me out with a picture from the right inside of the No. 8 that shows the ratchet drum/Reducing gear area.
I’ve been reading the Typewriter Maintenance manual from Maritime.org (https://maritime.org/doc/typewriter/), and from what I can tell it is the Line Lock that I’m having a problem with. It’s a part that prevent the Universal Bar from moving when the Sub Lever hits it. I can’t seem to be able to get my head around what mechanism would lift this out of the way when a key is pressed. I also suspect I might have a part that’s bent, a part of the arm that operates the margin release is riding on the gears in the ratchet drum which seems odd.
Sorry for the wordy reply, this has been a tough but rewarding project, and I’m very glad that you’ve made this blog.
Thanks,
Arvin
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Hello Arvin! I don’t currently have a No. 8 in the stable, but I have a partially dismantled parts machine No. 5. Let me take a look at that and also dig through photographs and see if I can find pictures that will be helpful for you. What exactly are the symptoms? Is the line lock permanently engaged or is it not engaging at the end of the line?
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Thanks for your help, any pictures from the inside mechanisms on the left side would be great (I said right side in my original comment, but left is correct).
I think that it is permanently engaged, when I move it out of the way manually, I can see all the mechanisms working. This is why I suspect I must be missing something that moves the lock out of the way before each keystroke. If I just press any key, the corresponding lever rises but stops halfway.
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So I pulled out my LC Smith parts machine and it turns out it’s a No. 8. It’s in a partially dismantled state:
I took a look at the line lock mechanism. It’s rusted stiff, but I *think* this is how the line lock should work. Here are two photos taken from the left of the machine. One shows the line lock engaged and the other shows it disengaged:
Move the line lock with your hands and make sure that it pivots freely – there may be rust. There’s a pivot point on the right side of the machine that should move freely:
Here’s another detail photo on the back side of the machine:
I hope this helps. Let me know if you need different views.
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I apologize if im bothering.if you dont mind can i have other picture of inside the type writter please? I actualy creating this typewritter in 3d for personal project but i can have clear image of inside the typewritter in google.ill be very gratefull if you want to help.thank you
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Sure! I’ll take pictures. The machine is partially dismantled. Is there a specific area that you want me to focus on?
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That’s exactly what I needed, thank you for the pictures.
When I got mine it was in a pretty rough shape and the left ribbon pivot was completely broken off and with it a chunk of the metal casting was broken off. Similarly the enter mechanism pin was sheared off. I think what happened was it was dropped at some point and the shock travelled down the mechanism and ended up bending the piece that engages the linelock. I’ll have to bend it back which isn’t too bad of a fix. Thanks so very much.
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