Against all odds the house is still standing!!! 
Statuses
Circumstances have totally dictated that I chose the wrong year to try “Dry January.” In fact, it was the dry Southern California January that got us into this mess…
Matthew Weaver (the Guardian)Thorpe is often amused by the objects he finds in the machines. “I’ve found pens, memory sticks, house keys, Lego bricks, little rubber toys, all sorts inside,” he says.
I often find things inside typewriters…
LEGO (multiple), a chicken leg from a Calico Critters playset, a tiny 70s photo of a child, the stub of a pencil, glitter, a pocket knife, a mini clothespin…
And naturally lots and lots of eraser bits, loose screws, loose springs, dust rhinoceroses, dried white out, dirt, cobwebs, even dead spiders, and even love.
What’s the oddest thing you’ve found in a typewriter?
Serial Number: 5A 458864
Pica No. 1 typeface; 6 lines/vertical inch
American No. 20A keyboard
Fifteen minutes of tinkering and this machine is imminently usable. It’ll take about a half day to clean up properly, but this is well on its way to its former glory. I should be able to turn this $25 find into a proper $350 work-a-day typewriter.
A belated Christmas present arrived today!
A curved metal typing ruler for a variety of purposes including:
* curved erasing shield (especially useful for carbon copy packs to prevent carbon transfer)
* elite spacing letter counter
* line counter
* 8 inch ruler
Amidst all the typewriter paraphernalia I come across, the curved typing shield doesn’t get enough of its due. While it has some useful measurement functions, its primary functionality is as an eraser shield for erasing errors in carbon copy packs. You would move the carriage to the far right or left (to keep eraser crumbs out of your segment and machine), place the shield behind the first page and then behind each subsequent page to erase the errors from each one at a time. The smooth, curved aluminum would allow you to erase without causing the carbon papers to transfer smudges to the pages behind the shield.
The curved ruler comes with a convenient tab (here labeled “Elite”) for grabbing with one’s thumb and forefinger for placement into as well as removal from a carbon pack. They obviously came in both Pica and Elite versions to cover various typewriter typefaces.
Our friend Joe Van Cleave cleverly uses one to cleanly tear off paper from his Kerouac-like rolls of typing paper.
The restoration work on my 1941 Corona Standard is coming along nicely so far.
Spent an hour today cleaning up the case of my Corona Standard and removing some rust from the metal fittings. Some of the material is peeling away from the case and I’m debating whether or not I ought to recover the entire thing—a restoration project I’ve not yet done on any of my machines.
Took it with me to the car wash to blow out all the cobwebs using their air guns. (I’m really hoping for that new air compressor for Christmas.)
Serial Number: B-884712
Black crinkle paint, glass keys, with case.
Definitely needs a cleaning, but this may be the second or third most solid typewriter I’ve ever received right out of the box. It will be the third oldest exemplar of an Aristocrat on the Typewriter Database. This will clean up exceptionally well.
S/N: 1C188190
Manufactured between December 1940 and December 1941. Portable typewriter with black wooden case.
This looks to be the latest of the 1C series Corona Standard flattops in the Typewriter Database. Dirty and needs restoration, but looks imminently salvageable. Can’t wait to polish this beauty!
In most cases, the word “CEO” is a lie.
It’s usually a propaganda word for violent money addicts with severe mental illness.
A blue metal portable typewriter with black plastic keys and a black plastic case/cover.
JP-1 model, 3rd Variation.
Serial Number: C03184679 (March 1980).
It needs a serious clean out from the flecks of white out from a prior user’s use of the black and white correction ribbon that originally came with these machines. Generally in good condition given it’s age. It’ll need some work on the ribbon advance set up in both directions and is missing a shift key cap. Other than a few small niggling issues that will get fixed in the clean, oil, and adjustment process, this will be an easy machine to resurrect to like new condition.
It’ll also give me a sample machine so that I know what’s wrong with my other Brother Charger 11’s backspace mechanics, for which I think a piece is physically missing.
When I’m done cleaning it up, either this one or my other will be re-homed to someone who needs to have a typewriter.
