Underscore_Inquisitive: Corona 4 (1925)

Ah, buying this one was a completely different experience from what I went through with the Underwood. But first some details on this important model.

The Corona 4 was incredibly popular when it was first introduced in 1924, and it's easy to see why. At a glance, its appealing lines are obvious, but this typewriter's technical virtues are even more impressive. The Corona 4 replaced the (you guessed it) Corona 3. I have my eyes out for a Corona 3, because it's also a really interesting specimen: while the 3 was able to produce 84 characters, it only had 24 keys. This meant that most keys had 3 characters on them. These could be reached by pressing either a shift or double-shift key. This is fascinating, but you can see why it'd also be pretty annoying. The Corona 4, with its 42 keys across 4 banks is an obvious improvement and made typing much more efficient. It's also quite light for a portable of this era, coming in at about 9.5 pounds, which is about 4 pounds lighter than my Underwood (but please don't tell her I said that). This model was so appealing that Corona claims that its introduction led the market for typewriters to grow to fifty times its original size.

Alas, this particular Corona 4 was not quite so awe-inspiring when I first saw it. Unlike my Underwood, which arrived via FedEx and in pristine condition, I picked this one up in person from the seller. When I first opened its battered case I won't say that I gasped in horror, but let's just say that the photos of it had led me to believe it would be in better shape. The paint was marred with dirt, the type levers wore coats of hardened dust and hair, the platen was streaked with white stains, and the typebars were discolored with the beginnings of rust.

This turned out to be a great thing.

I'd been treating my Underwood like a museum piece--it was so beautiful that I was afraid of damaging it. I didn't even like touching it anywhere except for its keys for fear of leaving fingerprints. But, confronted with this dirty Corona, I realized that this was ridiculous. As beautiful as these machines are, they were meant to be used and they had been built to last. These typewriter were as old as my grandparents and they could still dutifully carry out the tasks that they were designed for. I wasn't likely to do anything to them that they couldn't handle.

I began cleaning the Corona as soon as I got home. First, I used a vacuum to pull out the big chunks of dust, then I went to work on the type levers with a toothbrush. There was a ton of filth caked in there, but it wasn't too hard to get out. I used q-tips on the hard-to-reach places, wiped down the metal body with a damp cloth, scrubbed each typebar one-by-one, and used an alcohol dipped cloth on the platen. It took me about two hours, and while I'd still like to use some aluminium polish on the typebars, I think it turned out really well.

The best part is that the type doesn't have any of the alignment issues that I'm experiencing with my Underwood. While typing on this machine isn't quiet as smooth as the Underwood, the results on paper are currently far better. I ordered a new ribbon yesterday, and hope to be typecasting with it soon.