As someone new to typewriters I am immensely grateful that someone has produced such an opus of a series covering a wide range of topics related to typewriters! This series is such an incredible repository of knowledge for us youngsters getting to understand the joys of writing with a mechanical machine instead of exclusively working with computers. At the moment I have a Royal 890 in great condition and a Royal KMM in desperate need of fixing. Thank you JVC for the great TWVS.
Growing up as the child of a well liked, live in, building service employee in A VERY tony NYC suburb, my DAD was ALWAYS being gifted wonderful things which HE would NEVER have bought for himself or his family; including FURNITURE of all sorts. One such was a remarkably designed, and for it's time amazingly practical, "FLIP TOP CONVERTIBLE DESK". When closed? A normal looking desk with a "crease" or slight "gap" running along its interior to its edge. Hinting at what lay beneath in the LARGE, upside down, triangular extrusion which crowded the normal "legroom" beneath it... A FULL SIZED, CAST IRON, 1930's era REMINGTON PROFESSIONAL OFFICE TYPEWRITER! It was mounted on a lockable (By throwing two latches below it.) perfectly balanced, "hinge"mechanism. Even a young boy of ten years of age could EASILY manage it, alone. My DAD, fearing that I might accidentally "guillotine" some of my fingers off eventually mounted brackets to keep the thing permanently OPEN. I DID lose some "FLAT" writing space but it compensated for this with its slide out, book or notes holding platform. A remarkable and practical now "antique" desk which I'm so sorry was discarded long ago after a move to a smaller apartment. Lots of memories left forever with that sadly discarded desk. I REALLY miss it! I've NEVER owned such a good one since. If I could find it or something similar again I'd take out a loan to buy it! They do make something similar to hold today's preferred desk tools, the "PC" and its monitors but NOTHING like that great, old, massive, solid oak, convertible "TYPEWRITER" desk. Not to mention the REMINGTON machine mounted to it. A tool from the 1930's, unserviced except for an occasional fresh ribbon which was still performing its intended function, under heavy abuse over forty (40) years after leaving the factory! A GREAT example of AMERICAN ingenuity, practicality and durability in a now long bygone era.
I love my Halda Portable, my Olympia SM3, my 1936 Royal Deluxe Portable, and finally my Underwood Olivetti Studio 44 (which comes with a case and claims to be portable, but is closer to a full sized office machine). I think you have sold me on a "grand piano" portable." I have a Smith Corona Sterling, which looks exactly like your "silent." To me it felt like typing on "remote control," but I have gradually grown to appreciate it more over time.
(I noticed in a couple of your videos that YOU too seemed to enjoy "working" outside. Either in your backyard or, like me, in a park somewhere in your beautifully scenic city in the Rockies.) There's just something VERY special about that environment outside of my home "office" which tends to inspire me and seems to bring more quality to my text. Also? Living in a large apartment building, by working in the park I'm NOT disturbing my neighbors who might be be resting. The resident birds in the park DON'T seem to mind.
The only advantage of laptop computers vs. typewriters is where you can use them. On mass transit (bus, subways, commuter railways and airliners) the computer laptops win! They're quieter. You don't need to worry about paper pages flying away from you, etc. Your work is safely stored in the machine memory itself or on a "stick" or "floppy disk". The problem here of course is the batteries. Specifically their "charge" life. You are limited to how long the batteries power it. Electronic portable typewriters have the same issue. This is where manual typewriters have a huge advantage... "NO BATTERIES REQUIRED" is the sweetest phrase in the English language to me as a writer. Now, don't get me wrong. Being a "messy" thinker and writer myself in every way I REALLY appreciate the abilities that a word processor machine or program gives for "cleaning up" and neatly editing copy. It's truly a huge benefit of the DIGITAL AGE. Hiwever?... Nothing beats the experience of writing on any typewriter! The feel, the sounds even the smells of it are unique to these machines and their individual histories. Very much like automobiles. It's FUN to "ride" and "drive" in each one discovering their quirks and differences as you go. Eventually you will probably develop a "taste" for one machine or brand just like with an automobile. Go ahead and take a few out for test drives until you find YOUR ideal match. Then, together, you'll roll along the road of life forever together, clickety clacking happily all the way! Enjoy.
My favorites? DON'T own an "ULTRA" as far as "MEDIUM" sized ones go?... The two I own. My own self purchased 70's era "ROYAL" and the one I inherited from my late Mother, ie. her fabulous 1950's era "OLYMPIA". Truth be told I'd LOVE to add one of those "HERMES" machines ANDY ROONEY always touted as being the best he EVER had and used heavily in the field under ALL conditions.
You remind me of my dad in all the right ways, such a pleasant and informative presentation. That and you have my favorite, the Smith Corona (My favorite specifically is the Smith Corona Sterling)
Read your comment and thought I would share that I have Smith Corona Silent typewriter which I found in Salvation Army years ago... It's in dark green color, almost black with black stripes. Round keys which I think it means it was built before WW2...
I had forgotten about my Corona 3 folding portable. It belonged to my father, and harkens back to the WWI US Army standard issue for Company Clerks. Might be classified as an ultra-portable, other than it weighs more than my portable electric from the mid-1960's. Enjoyed seeing your favorites. Thank you.
When I still had my own car (I no longer own one. Too expensive to maintain plus the insurance costs in NYS are INSANE! Even for drivers like me with PERFECT records: ie.No claims. No "moving violations" or ANY other kind of ticket!) I used to LOVE taking my portable ROYAL on the road with me. "We" used to go to a park near here in New Rochelle, on the shore of Long Island Sound, early in the morning, munch our "Mac" Breakfast and either sit and work in the car if the place was "crowded" or... Venture out and snag a bench or picnic table if it wasn't. Many times, in the "off" season, my only companions would be waterfowl of all sorts. We have a large, resident population of: Mallard Ducks; CANADA GEESE; HUGE EMPEROR SWANS, the occasional "Diving" birds like Merganzers, and of course the ever present ubiquitous SEA GULLS. They're noisy but usually behave themselves and DON'T "BOMB" me if I feed them some scraps of bread BEFORE I start typing. They all make for good company as I gather then capture my "bird brained" thoughts onto paper.
My three manuals ranked: 1) Kmart 200--rebranded Brother Deluxe 1510 (JP-1 v2). Pretty much checks with your Webster, but with fully adjustable tabs. Other than the typical Brother heavy action which I'm not crazy about, it's just about perfect and my go-to machine. 2) Optima Elite 3--excellent machine overall, especially the silky key action, but I rarely use it since it's screwed onto the hardshell case base. Also the unlabeled tab set and release keys are not very intuitive and the rear-mounted margin setters are not ideal. 3) Cole Vanguard--rebranded Royal Safari. I love this design, sleek and ergonomic, but the clunky old Royal mechanism, especially the woefully imprecise escapement, ruins the typing experience for me. It could just be that my particular specimen needs service, I don't know. Mine is also Elite pitch (very crowded and uneven due to escapement issue); I much prefer Pica.
As typewriter collectors, you and I are a little alike and a little different. One way we are alike is that we value solidity in our machines. We are different because you seem to dig portables more than you do uprights. Real estate has a lot to do with that. I am an upright person because I like the solidity and reliability of the big monsters. There are even uprights that have turned me off for one reason or another, and that’s been because I don’t like the way they feel (bland, mushy, yucky). But here’s my favorites so far: Ultra Light: Brother; Smith-Corona Sky Writer Mid-Size: Smith Corona Silent Super; Most Royal models; Remington Upright: Royal; Underwood; Remington; Smith Corona; L.C. Smith; Woodstock; Olympia; Adler; Everest Electric: Most Smith Coronas; Royal; Underwood Typewriters I will not have: IBM; Any German machine with a swastika or double sigrune type bar; Remington electrics Typewriters I am looking for: Underwood TypeMaster; Underwood 702; Imperial My Desert Island Typewriter: My 1952 Royal HH upright manual typewriter. This one was at a school I once attended as a boy. It’s built like a tank, drops it’s letter H but still has very good print, and there’s history there. It’s my good luck typewriter.
My Corona standard (1937) has “Floating Shift” printed on the shift keys but not below the type guide like yours. It’s the only typewriter I have. I don’t want an electric. It’s been decades so I’m still restoring the touch to my fingers.
Your candelabra made my day. If I ever get a Corona Grand flattop with a shine like this, I'm going to do exactly this. (Oooh... I wonder if they ever made a music typewriter in this model. That would be perfect).
I found a Hermes Rocket at an antique store and wanted so badly to buy it until I found it had the same problem you have talked about. I went home after looking at it at the store and searched Hermes Rocket on RU-vid and that's how I found your channel! Yesterday I just bought an Olivetti Underwood Studio 44 from a thrift store! It works perfectly and I am so so excited to have my own typewriter!! I had been using my grandma's Olympia DeLuxe before finding my own.
Great video, Joe. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and showing the machines. For what it’s worth, 2 typewriters that I really love and are a smidge bigger than ultra portable: 1) my 1939 Royal Quiet (OMG I absolutely adore this machine more than any of my Hermès. It would definitely be my desert island choice hands down; 2) one that you may also like, a Smith-Corona Cougar Deluxe (script font, power spacer, and all the features of the larger S-Cs). Something about the size of these 2 typewriters from different eras is just about perfect. My 1942 Hermès Baby is a little small, and my Hermès 3000 et al are a little too big. By the way...really cool how you removed the cover of your Hermès and mounted it neck’ed to a board.
Great video as usual. Great subject too. Every time I think about what would be my desert island typer or if someone said "ok, we're taking away all but ONE of your machines, choose in the next 5 seconds" (what a stressful thought), it ALWAYS comes down to the Olivetti Letteras for me. I love my 32 but the 22 is in a league of its own. Don't let anybody tell you that they both feel similar. The 22 has THE most amazing touch, the linkages inside are different and so presumably are the springs they've used. It feels tighter than the 32 (which I know you have had). The round glossy black keycaps feel luxurious too. Not only do they epitomise the 50's styling, they are so feature rich yet have steel casings and ribbons covers. The weight is not too heavy, they feel planted and assured. Mine has never ever let me down and you can type lightning fast on them. Yes the escapement is hidden and I had to take off my carriage to clean mine, but if we are taking things very literally, I assume you wouldn't have any tools anyway on your island so I guess being able to access the escapement doesn't matter too much :)
Hmmmm... Very interesting Royal machine Joe. Looks slightly smaller than mine which also has a few more built in features on it than yours. However? I LIKE your alot! Especially because you say it's very light and RELIABLE too. That's EXACTLY what you'd want in a machine to take along if you had to tote it on public transit of any sort. Can you be more specific about the model? Name, or a serial number maybe? Thanks!
love those smith corona's you have in your lovely collection, Oh and that candelabra bit towards the end was a good laugh because i could see myself doing the same thing. I have a 1941 Royal quiet deluxe typewriter I've had it for a few years now, I have always had an affinity for them ever since i was in the 2nd grade. Im considering a smith corona, hermess 3000, or a remington
Thank you for the video! I've noticed that the return lever on my Hermes 3000 is not as elevated as the one on your machine. Your typewriter's lever might be bent slightly upwards...it is for sure a wonderful machine
Well, Mr. Van Cleave...my descent into the rabbit hole is only 10 days after I picked up the Selectric II you commented on in another video. I just purchased a 1955 Smith Corona Silent Super with a 1 key. I'll confirm when I receive it, but I believe it's going to be in excellent if not mint condition. This model, I now understand, is very similar to my very first typewriter experience when I was 8 or 9... my mother's high school graduation present....1964 or 65 SC Sterling.
Thanks for the video Joe; I've had to think about this for a week. Although your choices are commendable, I'm more in the aesthetics camp. I'm also presently obsessed with German made machines. So with that in mind, my choice for the ultra-portable would be a Keller & Knappich Princess, the medium-sized portable a Brosette, and the pre-WWII model would have to be an Erika M, although the Remington 5 Streamlined is a close second. In the event the desert island had a limited paper supply, each of these machines would be nice to look at and in the case of the Erika, there are enough bits a pieces on that thing that it is like a survival tool…although I would not be able to bring myself to dissemble it.
Your "green key" SMITH CORONA looks GREAT! I'd LOVE one except it's action looks much too well calibrated to a classically trained typist. Not a ham handed, self taught, hunt'n packer like ME!
Fun video Joe, enjoyed it greatly! For my own preferences I would have to slip the Groma Kolibri into the ultra portable group, replacing the Silver Seiko Royal. As for the mid-sizes, the Olympia SM9 would be hard to keep out. 100% agreement on the Corona Flattop.
I echo the plaudits for this vid. I haven't many typewriters, so, not a collector, or even that knowledgable on the subject. Joe, my Hermes 3000 has a stifled action and I'm sure it needs cleaning. I do not feel competent to do this and wonder if you could point me in the right direction. She's pristine, so I want to be careful about sending her off. In fact sometimes I just stand before her and contemplate never ending horizons leading to Nirvana. "Ding."
The cost of shipping a typewriter is always to be considered, and you want it packed very well. I've used a UPS store and paid over $100 for an excellent packaging and shipping job. That's one-way. Is there a competent typewriter shop within driving distance? Even a drive requiring an overnight stay in an inexpensive motel might end up being less expensive than paying shipping costs both directions.
Ultra Portable: Nakajima-ALL Topstar originals and rebadges. Completely slept on but utterly fantastic ultra portable typewriters. Portable/luggable: Sears Forecast 12. A classic 12 with a custom body and some extra bits, bobs, and mechanical features over a normal classic 12. Greatly prefer one of these over a normal Classic 12.
Very good, cheats and all, the last machine the Corona or Smith Corona, even before you produced the candelabra, I thought to myself, that looks like a beautiful piano 🎹! I haven’t looked at dates and order, however I saw your video on the Corona 3 and your obvious love affair with its date, size and portability, so I was glad to see that such a history in typewriters was rewarded with the Libarance Award! The Hermes 3000 came out top in the Mr&Mrs site for the Rolls Royce of machines but the upturned bath look, not the later more angular 70s which I have to say wasn’t one of my favourite design periods.
Those floating shift old glass keys are in demand, they ( jewelry craft people) actually butcher them off good restorable old typewriters: to sell them for a few dollars on EBay; ruining perfectly good typewriters. Steam Punk Art! Anyway I now bought a 40's S.C. Clipper cause the EBay ad turned my stomach. Joe your videos information helps so much, thank-you.
That's all I collect. Prewar typewriters from the 1920s & 30s. Partly because I think they're cool and partly to keep them out of the hands of the disgusting jewelry makers
Hi Joe hope this finds you well. In an attempt to make my comments shorts, this is my 3rd time....and yes I wrote a huge Star Wars letter opening only to delete it, and start again saying I can do better. This is the first time I have mentioned this so not off to a great restart. Hahaha. Basically what my thoughts are from someone who has a small collection of just 4, no, wait 5 as I am happy to say I finished cleaning and restoring a 1972 Smith Corona Electra 110, that's the 10" carriage with a manual return. Took nearly 2 months but finally it's Done and not I have my first Vintage Electric typewriter to experience. Oddly it's a direct counterpart to my Galaxie Deluxe from 1964, except for being a different color and electric, it's the same Typewriter, in design I suppose. Anyway my point is in even a small collection it's hard to pick and we may favor one for a while and then switch or it may be what we are doing that plays the biggest role on picking, and maybe how we feel. Some days I want to forcefully poke hard other days I want to glide along like a smoother well oil engine. That need to push buttons you know what I mean. Typewriters are the best fidget and yet distraction free devices EVER. Also mood has a part to play each machine makes me feel differently. But I don't think one machine hold all desires, I don't own a Hermés 3K yet so I can't speak on it's answering the call for all as the finest typewriter of all the land. Let me ask you Joe, and I'm sure having your Type ins is probably the closest thing to this, but ever wish you can go back to experience an entire office floor of mechanical typewriters cracking away at it? What that would be like? I'm talking 100 typewriters all going at it, man I'd pay good money to see and hear that. Also Paper Rollers? When ya have 2, where do you place yours and why? I am finding that truthfully everyone does something different, I always thought they are there to travel in the margins to help provide a visual marker as to where the margins are as the paper bar or bailer needs no help keeping the paper down, and machines with 3 or 4, ...2 on the outsides in the margins and in the middle to help with Centering. What you think over all, if you have time? Thanks again Joe when I'm having a pretty rough time of it, your channel is actually comforting to me, like having a good friend stop by to visit. Thank you for what and all you do Joe!👍
I like to evenly space the paper rollers to keep the paper nice and flat. But not too close to the edge. Also, one of my Hermes 3000s is lacking the margin indicator ribbon and thus the rollers can be used to indicate the margins, the same with the Royals with Magic Margins, they lack a margin indicator, so the rollers come in handy for that. Best wishes to you!
The CORONA STANDARD you showed is beautiful! Look at the shine. Did you polish it up or did it come that way to you? Looks like it was "polished" by one of those guys who used to do shoes at their stands at RR stations. Wow!
I have an SM3 that I rate pretty highly. Here's a comparison between the SM3 and Smith-Corona Silent-Super: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lQtHRhwms-A.html
Your "SWEDISH" typewriter? Your "SAAB" and "VOLVO" analogy is very prescient. Yes... it's very typical of their design philosophy. As you mentioned very elegant, "bullet proof" reliable, practical and easy to service.
Joe, I tend to agree with you about functionality over looks. However? Like a girlfriend or wife it DOESN'T hurt if they come wrapped in a nice looking "body" too. WHOOSH!... YIKES! That was a frying pan narrowly flying past my head just now! (I'm SORRY HONEY!!! REALLY!) Move over "rover" and get off that blanket! We're gonna be bunk mates together tonight... Woof.
My apologies for a second comment but it belongs on its own as it came to me at the end. Joe, (and other fellow collectors) Do you ever feel like we are, as collectors secretly by a silent voice charged with the safe keeping of this historical machines for future others to view and enjoy as well? Like I am sure no one has the exact collection I do, or you do, and each one of these machines are special not only are they from a period in time that will never repeat ever again, Bell Bottoms and disco has a better shot at returning than a company rising up from the ashes in USA and deciding to make the worlds best Typewriter... And they are more importantly Survivors and though they may not have information when we get them, we know someone thought enough of them to keep them working and kept them safe, and so now on and into our hands they are historically entrusted. Anyone??? Thanks for reading All be safe and well.
@@Joe_VanCleave Thank you for the well wishes, and yes, glad I'm not the only one who feels almost a kind of 'Keeper and Guardian of Historical Artifacts' And that very true about magic margins, I didn't think of that, and I should have as I have a '68 Royal Aristocrat Special. I place mine on the most inside of the margin, on the left hugging the edge where a letter in a word can sit and at the end where MR will be needed. Oh, to answer my end of paper issues, I just get carried away, see why I like endless paper ...but I'll take a pen and put a dot in the left margin about 2 ½" until bottom. I see this dot and I know it means I have (Pica) about 4 more lines and then wrap it up. I also place the paper on the keys and have it so the bottom of the paper is at the bottom of the space bar, and the dot marked is top of 'G' key. This way when the dot comes I have a solid visual measurement I can go by. Otherwise if on the brother EP-22 or EP-43, I can avoid making a bold thick black bar lol, oh that's awful, then trying to recreate what just flew out.... 🤔 Hmmm Very good then, Happy Easter 🐰🐣 🥚🍳 and a great typing Weekend for you, All rain here in Eastern NC. Good typing weather. Indoor. They never made a waterproof typewriter, especially Olivetti after Leonard Cohen tossed his Lettera 22 into a tube. Keeper and Guardian of Historical Artifacts needs to be a bumper sticker. Be well my friend.
Hey Joe. Love your work. I consult your videos for help all the time. I have a Corona, presumably '35 or '36, flat-top Silent but it has Czech letters. I have not seen another example of one on the internet. In your experience is it common to find typewriters that are not recorded on any extant database? I have just heard about the Smith Corona "Greek Ten Key" and how, apparently, nobody in the Smith Corona company has any recollection of why it was made. Were Smith Corona notorious for this lack of recording of their own products?
Manufacturing records were often confidential, because of competition from other companies vying for market share. There was the NOMDA organization who published production statistics (National Office Machine Dealers Association), but submitting data to NOMDA was strictly voluntary. It’s likely that production statistics for machines in alternate keyboard configurations were internally kept and not intended for publication. Think 50 years from now, will we know how many phones Apple made with wireless chipsets from Intel and Cyrix? No, because that data is confidential now, and certainly will be unavailable half a century later.
What is the difference between the 1950's era SCM Series 5 Silent Super and the mid 1960's SCM Series 5AX Sterling? The later sterling has the same tab set and clear system and appears to have a very similar if not nearly identical mechanical design.
Your Flat top has ?/ key while earlier ones, including mine, were 3/4 /. Looks like a change right around 38. Then at some point (Speedline?) they swapped back space and tab. Was there some industry consensus they were going for?
That's a good question. Of course, there are various international keyboards that vary from what we think of as the standard "American" style. And people could also order alternate keyboards as well. I don't know if Corona had records of what style keyboards were being sold in what numbers, I suspect those records, if they existed, are lost to time. Have you looked at the galleries in the Typewriter Database?
@@Joe_VanCleave Yes I did cruise through the gallery preview images, which is where I came up with 38 ish going both ways. I’m going to look closer and see when the tab/back space was swapped.
Right you are! I think what he meant to tell me was his dad acquired it in the late '40s to go to school. I didn't personally check the serial number data base. BTW, I've ordered one of your repair bibles. Well done, sir!
