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Manual Typewriter Users?

Legion

Staff member
I just went for a walk down to the shops. On the way was a church charity sale, so I had to go in.

I found this Smith Corona for $10. Seems in pretty good shape. :001_smile

Does anyone have an idea where I could download a users manual for this thing? It is a Smith Corona model 88, from the early-mid 50's.

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I have a Royal that is from about 1950. It was my mother's typewriter when she went through college. Gave it to me when I went through college. Still have the carrying case and instructions for it and it still works. We do have local shop that deals in typewriters and repairs them.
 
I just went for a walk down to the shops. On the way was a church charity sale, so I had to go in.

I found this Smith Corona for $10. Seems in pretty good shape. :001_smile

Does anyone have an idea where I could download a users manual for this thing? It is a Smith Corona model 88, from the early-mid 50's.

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I don't know about model 88 but to me that looks like Smith Corona Super or Silent Super typewriter. They're workhorses. Try searching for Smith Corona Super/Silent manual online. Good luck.
 
I just went for a walk down to the shops. On the way was a church charity sale, so I had to go in.

I found this Smith Corona for $10. Seems in pretty good shape. :001_smile

Does anyone have an idea where I could download a users manual for this thing? It is a Smith Corona model 88, from the early-mid 50's.

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Awesome! Very nice score. Have you tried it out yet? I'm interested to hear what that wide top bar is for.


I have a Royal that is from about 1950. It was my mother's typewriter when she went through college. Gave it to me when I went through college. Still have the carrying case and instructions for it and it still works. We do have local shop that deals in typewriters and repairs them.


Pics!
 

Legion

Staff member
Awesome! Very nice score. Have you tried it out yet? I'm interested to hear what that wide top bar is for.

Yep, I wrote a four page letter to a friend on it last night. Great fun! Love all the noise it makes. Offices in the 50's must have been very noisy places.

I guess the wide platen (I believe that is the correct word) is so you can type on great big paper, or turn the paper sideways and type on it that way. You can set up the margins all different ways. I was just using A4 photocopy paper, so I just used about half the playing field.

It is actually a very complicated machine, when you get into it. And well made, since it is still doing the job almost 60 years later.

Now I just have to find somewhere to keep it! :confused1

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There is another typewriter thread hereabouts. Could one of the mods please combine the two?
 
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Yep, I wrote a four page letter to a friend on it last night. Great fun! Love all the noise it makes. Offices in the 50's must have been very noisy places.

I guess the wide platen (I believe that is the correct word) is so you can type on great big paper, or turn the paper sideways and type on it that way. You can set up the margins all different ways. I was just using A4 photocopy paper, so I just used about half the playing field.

It is actually a very complicated machine, when you get into it. And well made, since it is still doing the job almost 60 years later.

Now I just have to find somewhere to keep it! :confused1

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There is another typewriter thread hereabouts. Could one of the mods please combine the two?

Oh sorry, I meant the one directly above they keys, under where it says 'smith corona". Tab maybe?

But, awesome! 4 pages? How long did it take? When I first got mine it took me a good 45 minutes to type one page!

We never really use our dining room table, so I've been keeping mine there for now. Need to get a desk though!

Also, how are we ever going to get a typewriter section if our thread-count gets cut in half!
 
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Legion

Staff member
Mine is on the dining room table for now as well. :lol:

The key is a pre set tab key. Apparently you can set up tabs on each side and that bar resets it, or something. It is the only thing that does not seem to be working on this unit. I'll live.

The letter took a while, and there are a lot of typos. But that's ok. My mate won't notice. When he writes it is just like he has flailed the keyboard with his eyes closed. I just put on some records and hammered away in time to the music. It was really fun.

Felt a bit like Bukowski.
 

Legion

Staff member
What paper do you guys use in yours? I have just been using regular photocopy paper, but IIRC the paper my mother used in her typewriter when I was a kid was thinner, and it came on a pad. You tore it off, one sheet at a time.

My mother worked as a secretary in the early 60's. She had some crazy typing skills on those old mechanical machines. I can't even do more than two finger typing on a computer keyboard, let alone a mechanical where you have to pound on the keys.

I also need to find an inexpensive source of ribbon so I can practice more. I went into about 20 shops today, every one looked at me like I was crazy. I can order them from overseas via the internet, but the price is still high, especially when you add postage.
 
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Isaac

B&B Tease-in-Residence
I have bought my ribbon from Mytypewriter.com. I just received a Royal Portable circa 1936. Very nice machine. It takes a bit of practice on this one to use the space button correctly. It is a thing of beauty though.
 
Pictures or it never happened!

+1!

I get my ribbon from the local big-box office supply place (Staples) but Mytypewriter.com comes highly (solely) recommended.

Staples only carries the size to fit my Underwood 5, so when I run out of ink on my Remington, I'll either be hand wrapping onto my current reels, or "taking the plunge" and ordering from Mytypewriter.com

What size reel does your Aussie Smith Corona take?

For paper, I've been using regular computer paper as well, but yeah, it seems a little thick.
Been looking for some thinner stuff, but no luck yet!
 

Legion

Staff member
Aussie Smith Corona :w00t: It is, too. It only has a pound key, no $ one. Still made in the USA though.

The reel in it is a little over 2" diameter and 1/2" red/black ribbon. I ordered a universal ribbon off ebay, that looks like it should do the job. How may pages can one expect to do with a new ribbon, do you think?
 
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I'm still using the ribbon that came with my Remington. Who knows how long it's been since it was changed, especially considering they've stopped making that size. I've typed a good 20 pages on there with no sign of fading.

The Underwood has a brand new ribbon on it and has done about the same.


The Hermes 3000 looks pretty great!

My new must-have is an Olivetti Studio 42!

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Legion

Staff member
My "universal " ribbon showed up in the mail yesterday. Surprise surprise, it didn't fit. I had to wind the new ribbon onto the old spools by hand. It works, but it took me ages to wash the ink off my hands.
 
I'm still using the ribbon that came with my Remington. Who knows how long it's been since it was changed, especially considering they've stopped making that size. I've typed a good 20 pages on there with no sign of fading.

The Underwood has a brand new ribbon on it and has done about the same.


The Hermes 3000 looks pretty great!

My new must-have is an Olivetti Studio 42!

Wow, what a beauty! It reminds me of my Remington No. 5 Streamline that I need to clean up and get it in working/showing order.
 
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It's funny how in life one things leads to another and then another until you wind up in an unexpected, yet better place.

My MacBook Pro died after just under 4 years. After 15 years of exclusivity I'm finished with Apple, but that's another story.

I was dropping off donations to the local mens shelter and saw an old manual typewriter on one of the shelves. I played around with the keys and the guy running it said to just take the thing, since no one had looked at it in 4 years and it was taking up space.

So now I send actual mail, typed on the old Brother Wizard Portable instead of email.

I found this site http://www.babeler.com/ and found out I wasn't alone in rediscovering the best word processing invention to date.
 
I personally have a love hate relationship with typewriters, love for the vintage nature of them, hatred because I am a fast typist but with errors. Typically I can get away with about 80wpm with 99% accuracy, but usually I touch type up to about 110-115wpm, usually having to jot back a few times over some words, usually when I am thinking about something else mid-sentence and write a completely different word to what I was supposed to be jotting down.

The fastest I've ever been about to type on a typewriter was 45wpm and that was with a fair few errors. Probably lack of experience is a major key.

What I would love though is a computer for typing, steam-punked with a typewriter, similar to that remington typewriter that was featured all over the net recently.
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Would go suitably in a nice study IMHO.
 
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