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.

Hmm, the glare here makes it look like the keys are different colors, but in person they're all uniform.

This typewriter's buttery keys go beautifully with its glossy black body

Underwood Portable 4-Bank (1926)

It all started with an Underwood portable.  I can't even remember why I was browsing eBay in the first place; I'd bought a first edition through them years ago, but I rarely went to the site.  And I didn't harbor any particular interest in antiques, so I certainly don't know how I ended up in the vintage typewriter section.  Yet I somehow found myself going through pages of seller postings: spindly Blickensderfers, sleek Coronas, stately Royals.  Then I saw her. Smooth silvered-rimmed glass keys.  The red of a two-tone ribbon stark against her glossy black paint.  What can I say?  It was love at first sight.

I couldn't bear to bid on her (it just felt so tawdry),so I paid the full asking price by clicking on the "buy it now" tab and sealed the deal right then and there.

Impulse control has never been my strong suit, and this isn't exactly the best time in my life to be indulging such things, so buyer's remorse set in pretty quickly.  But that only lasted so long as it took for FedEx to deliver her.  She was even more beautiful in person.  Somehow both sturdy and elegant at the same time.  The faint scent of machine oil follows her wherever she goes.  She's eighty-five years old, but doesn't look a day over twenty-five.  I was incredibly lucky that she was in good condition because I didn't do any of the due diligence that I should have before buying her.  Her typebars need to be slightly adjusted (the lettering is a bit uneven), and she needs a new ribbon, but she's an absolutely gorgeous machine.  I can't wait to get her fixed up and put her to work.

 

Beautiful, shiny, glass keys

Typebars