Brought in for refurbishment, this wonderful machine is missing a key, missing ribbon spools and covers and generally been in storage for quite some time. The Oliver no. 5 was manufactured by the Oliver Typewriter Company of Chicago, USA and was introduced in 1906. It is a lateral down stroke design, patented in 1894 by Reverend Thomas Oliver, in which type bars of inverted U-shape are arranged on either side of the platen. Each type bar has three characters controlled by the “CAP” and “FIG” keys.
Serial number of the machine is 387797 indicating date of manufacture between 1911 and 1914. The typewriter has a green crackle finish metal frame. Inverted U-shaped type bars arranged in banks on either side of platen. Ribbon reels are on vertical axes. Three-row QWERTY keyboard with 28 keys plus “CAP”, “FIG”, “TAB”, “RIGHT” and “LEFT” keys.