Naming of parts!

22 September 2019

We're down in Kent, staying for a week at The Nutshell, just outside Pluckley. The reason for the trip is to meet Alex William Atkinson, our new grandson.

On the last day of our visit, a mild but wet day, we decide to visit some local antique shops, one of which being The Antiques Barn, outside Bethersden. Amongst other finds, I am drawn to a tired looking Underwood Typewriter, which after a quick negotiation is loaded into the boot of our car.

26 September 2019

The first task is to find out what age and model we have. The Serial Number is 783342-12, and once the Model type is known this should lead to its age. Investigation online shows a wide range of Underwood designs and features as advances were made over the production life of this hugely successful typewriter - according to Wikipedia, 2 million of the Model 5s alone had been sold by the early 1920s.

The Model 3 is basically the same as a Model 5 but with a wider carriage, such as my 12″. According to The Right Reverend Theodore Munk's online Typewriter Database, my model is a later 1928 Underwood No.3.

A similar model appears in Jett Morton's Typewriter Museum (Model 3, Serial Number 518266). This picture shows the original artwork, little of which remains on mine. This implies that mine was refurbished at some point in the past, a common exercise given the machine's robustness. Hence the original gloss paint is covered by a matt finish and the original decals are hidden (or obliterated!).

1 October 2019

Initial photographs, all elevations:

24 May 2024

It's now well into 2024 and the original mission was to strip down the machine and then clean, renovate and re-assemble it to working condition. So did that happen?

The answer is no, the Underwood just continued to collect dust in a corner of the study. The decision was made to donate the typewriter to the St Margaret's Hospice Furniture & Home Store in Yeovil where it will have more value than staying here …

25 May 2024

However that's not the end of the story, as the project morphed in an unexpected direction following an Internet sensation that emerged in 2021.

It began when Welsh programmer Josh Wardle developed a word game to play with his partner. Once installed online as Wordle, the game became hugely popular. Indeed Wikipedia states that during 2023 Wordle was played 4.8 billion times.

The Underwood typewriter gathering dust in the corner inspired me to create a similar game based on a typewriter theme, and hence Typpo was born. Like Wordle this would be written in Javascript and feature a daily puzzle. Unlike Wordle however, the game is structured as a progressive web application (PWA).

A PWA appears like an app but does not need to be distributed through services such as Google Play or the Apple App store. One feature of PWAs is that they use service workers to create programmable caches that can load images and scripts in advance. This allows pages to be accessible offline - Typpo can run using data stored on the user's device without the need for an internet connection.

The original Wordle game used two internal word lists, one containing potential 5 letter solutions and the other comprising words for checking user input. The solution word list was randomised, and each day the next word in the list would be picked as the solution. When the New York Times acquired the game they introduced a human editor who could ensure that the daily word would not jar with current events they were reporting. This human intervention now prevents cheats from reading the next solution in the javascript word list!

Typpo also uses active and passive word lists but selection is fully automated - solutions are based on a randomised number calculated each day. Typpo also features an in-game hint system, keyboard layout choices, sound effects and options for choosing a start word.

One final word about what these games store on your device. Both Wordle and Typpo use local storage to record your game progress and preferences - as of today Wordle uses 17 such keys and Typpo 7. Unlike Typpo, Wordle also uses cookies - today there are 11, all stored apparently without asking you for permission.