In Mechanica Antiqua

This lovely white Erika arrived a couple days ago in almost mint condition.  The platen was still squishy, the feed rollers and feet were soft, the only signs of use were some slight scuffs on the rear plastic panel.  I normally wouldn't have purchased the machine, I'm not the largest fan of machines made after the 1960s, though there are some good models.  This is a good model, but the main reason I got it was for the Greek keyboard.  It's kind of cool.  I used to fool around with classical Greek way back in middle school with my friend Timothy Holman, a composition major and typewriter collector. The machine itself needed minimal work.  It needed alignment on the shift lock, which was basically loosening the bracket, and the removal of some cobwebs that had taken hold underneath.  Then it needed a segment flush and some internal cleaning, wrapping things up with a polish on the plastic body panels.  It has a very smooth action with the leve...

This is the 1959 Galaxie.  Widely regarded as one of the most reliable Coronas along with the Silent series and the Classic 12.  This typewriter is one hunk of a machine, and it works fantastic.  It does tend to have a spacebar issue if mistreated, given the nature of the spacing mechanism, but hey...it's a good damn machine.  Let me cut to the chase.  It's Pica, with a cursive typeface.  Yep.  A gorgeous crisp cursive font. Drool Okay, so this machine was another snag from the magnificent Kai Razon, who shipped this poor beast to me in a very large box.  The spacebar didn't work, but the main thing I noticed right away is the sheer amount of times this thing has been dropped.  Not once, likely not twice.  Several times.  The case itself has two very substantial dents in it, and the rear hinge is partly damaged.  It closes with some cuss words and elbow grease alright, but it's not quick.  The machine was also ...

The Corona 3 was introduced into the market in 1912, the same year the Titanic hit the seabed.  It wasn't always called the Corona 3 though.  It began as an aluminum prototype a few years earlier, known then as the Standard Folding Typewriter.  The name was re-branded prior to sale, and called the Corona.  Today it is known as the first successful portable typewriter to hit the market.  The design of the typewriter was brilliant, the folding action allowed it to be the smallest keyboard typewriter after the Bennett, which was introduced in 1907.  Unlike the Bennett, however, the Folding Typewriter gave users the convenience of a more familiar keyboard, backed by much easier mechanics.  The Corona 3 was incredibly popular, and was eventually succeeded by the Underwood 3 bank (which needed no prior "unfolding"), and the Corona 4, a four bank portable typewriter. The Corona 3 is incredibly simple in its construction, using many parts found in standar...

i broke my format Top: Tower Cheiftian, Bottom: Lettera 22, Right: Underwood Olivetti Lettera 22 The Generous Kai Razon sold me three Olivetti 22 typewriters, two parts machines and one nice one.  I scarcely had the blue one for more than a few hours before it sold.  So I set to work with great haste, making this a decently brief article.  I have always wanted two things.  A typewriter in Elite, and a Lettera 22 with a round key American keyboard.  The blue one was American and elite, but with square keys.  Funnily enough, I can never find them, I only ever pick up Pica machines, the ones that I work on that are Elite always belong to someone else.  The one that landed in my hands sold before I even saw the font size.  How sad. The grey parts machine I decided to keep for myself, and I will write about that a little later on.  It needs a return leaver, and a right-hand platen knob, for both of which I turned to the typewriter...