(knob clicking) Perhaps it's the taps (keys clacking) or the caps, or the satisfying clickety-clack.

(bell dings) It appears this throwback is making a comeback.

Yet at Marr Office Equipment in Pawtucket, vintage typewriters were never a thing of the past.

(bells dinging) - When the vacuum came along, they said you'd never need a broom in your house, right?

And if you go in most households, you'll find a broom, right?

Same with typewriters.

- [Pamela] Michael Marr is the third generation of his family able to coax these classic communication pieces into working order.

He says the company makes almost as much revenue on these as it does on his service calls repairing copiers, printers, and shredders.

But it's tinkering with typewriters that strikes a chord.

- [Michael] Now, we should have a typewriter that'll type, (keys clacking) and it does.

- [Pamela] In addition to refurbishing customers' antiques at the shop, there's a variety for sale, all reconditioned.

The manuals on average range in price from $200 to $450.

Electrics can go as high as $1,000.

The supply comes from donations or flea market finds.

The Marrs sales showroom looks like a mini museum, a type of time capsule.

- We've got these black Royals, Underwoods.

These are in the '40s.

You've got an Olympia here.

That's in the '70s.

This is like a Ferrari of typewriters.

I love it.

- How come?

- Just well built.

Never see a problem with them.

All right.

- But it's the problems that have become his passion.

- [Michael] Come on.

There we go.

- Is it something you love?

- I do.

I like figuring things out, you know?

I love troubleshooting.

One night I was here till, I mean, I was stuck on a machine.

It was 2:30 in the morning.

I just, I kept at it, you know, just obsessed with fixing it.

- [Pamela] The fix began nearly three quarters of a century ago.

- My grandfather, who started the business, he was the pioneer.

He was involved in it at a young age, and he passed it along to my father.

- [Pamela] And it continues today for his dad Ray, who, while retired, still types invoices on a snappy old electric.

(typewriter clicking) - I was ready to put the key in the door when the computer come out 'cause things slowed down.

- [Pamela] Then in came his son, Mike.

- [Michael] This Olympia came out nice.

- [Pamela] They sometimes still work side by side in the back shop.

Ray says he's glad to be well versed in service as well as sales.

- It came in handy when the portable typewriter took off with today's generation.

- So there was a ribbon drive issue with this?

- [Pamela] Mike Marr says people under 30 are their most frequent customers.

- They're like, totally like, "Wow, I gotta have one of these.

I gotta try it."

So I think that the mystique of it all, of how it was put together, fascinates people.

- [Pamela] Growing up in an era dominated by digital high-speed technology, many go retro because of what typewriters don't have, no charger, no interruption from the internet, no temptation to scroll.

Marr says it forces the writer to go slow with concentration on spelling, punctuation, and an alphabet soup of imagination.

- The feel, the touch, it puts you in a mind frame of total, you know, focus.

That's the biggest thing we get from writers.

They get in a zone with typing.

You know, everything's blocked out.

There's no electronic devices to disturb them, and it puts them in just an area where they can focus better.

It transcends anything out there, you know.

It's a writer's best friend.

- [Pamela] The first writer to adopt a typewriter in the 1870s was Mark Twain.

He dubbed it "a newfangled writing machine."

Twain's trend continued with authors from Ernest Hemingway to Dr. Seuss, Theodor Geisel.

Actor Tom Hanks collects them.

- The sound of a typewriter is the sound of productivity.

- [Pamela] And superstar Taylor Swift has been known to use them.

Marr says the celebrity cachet may be part of the reason more people are bringing in family heirlooms for him to resurrect.

- We actually bring the typewriter back to life for them.

It comes in here, and it's in shambles, or it's dusty, dirty, and they think there's no hope.

And with us, we look at it and like, "Okay, it's gotta take a bath."

- [Pamela] The first stop is here.

- [Michael] I'm just gonna submerge it like so, and I'll take this brush and just kind of gently go along.

(brush swooshing) (air hissing) Good to go.

- [Pamela] The Marrs have all sorts of typewriter parts on hand, and if they don't, they fabricate them.

Many of the old manual typewriters took a beating in the early days.

Office workers used the hunt-and-peck method because it took some muscle to pound the keys.

At the workbench, mending those keys means making adjustments and giving lots of shots of oil and grease.

Finally, this oldie is... - [Michael] Like a brand-new typewriter.

- [Pamela] With a new ribbon in place, it's the perfect package.

- I mean, it's just absolutely gorgeous.

(keys clacking) The biggest thing is the joy you get, you know, seeing people's expressions.

That alone makes it all worth the while.

- [Pamela] Marr says getting a typewriter as timeless as the classics that have been written on them into mint condition for a customer is when carrying on the family tradition really clicks.

- We got a big surge around Christmastime, you know, and it's funny, I'll be like working right up till Christmas Eve.

- Like one of Santa's elves.

- Yeah, yeah.

And they'll come in like eight, nine o'clock customers to pick up the machine, you know, for their children or whatnot.

And I won't feel complete until I get that last one done.

(keys clacking) (bell dings) (return carriage clicking)