.
1937 (Smith-) Corona Flattop Standard --
in Chrome & Gold with Sage Turboplaten
-- with clean, serviceable case --
Because the flattop design is so antiquey, it's easy to think its ability to perform has been exceeded, indeed superseded, by the moderns. But the thing to understand is that typewriter manufacturers of the '20s and '30s held aims to continue making machines into the '40s and '50s and beyond. They had to come up with new looks and new features to render the old "obsolete" and begging replacement. That which we know and have learned about modern marketing was keenly established in the highly competitive typewriter industry nearly a century ago when *change* was redefined -- and reinterpreted by the market -- as *improvement.*
Now on the other side of that entire movement, able to recognize in this post-modern era of the resurgence of typewriter usage its actual and essential application, simply writing, the true criterion for the use of any machine is whether or not it works. Does it stroke letters onto a sheet of paper reliably? It's either yes or no, a binary equation. Beyond that, the issue is reduced to style.
The "style" of this old flattop was foremost utilitarian, the basic words-on-paper thing. Its functionality may have been sidelined for awhile due to lack of use (with that the proclivity of all things to "return to the soil," so to speak). Unlike flesh and bone, metal can be brought back to the children and grand- and great-grandchildren of the generation of original owners. Such a one is this old flattop typewriter.This machine and millions of others like it came without a paper bale, but with paper fingers. (A paper bale obstructs the lines of text above the one you're writing.) It was a much later generation who opted for the bale. The ability to read every line thus far written on the sheet without pausing in the current thought -- as facilitated by paper fingers *outside and beyond* the text -- was a basic uncelebrated and unacknowledged mechanism for continuity of prose and thought. It is a literary style that changed gradually post-war with the advent of the one-sentence or even single-word paragraph... with the advent of the paper bale. Better? Worse? Certainly different.
We humans shape our tools, we think. Consider computers for a minute and it becomes clear: It is tools that shape our expression.re. TurboPlaten...
...represents what I believe platens might have evolved to had the manufacture of typewriters continued in strength. It's fairly simple to understand (if not so easy to make):
1) The original black rubber is removed; 2) the inner steel core is cleaned and polished or painted (this one in turquoise to match the lower main chassis components); then 3) sheathed in flexible, tight-fitting PVC tubing (not to be confused with PVC pipe); and finally 4) lathe sanded -- a) to obtain a smooth, uniform surface; and b) to apply low-level heat by which the tubing bonds to the core for overall cylindricality.
The most important contributor to the speed of a typewriter, beyond the operator's faculty, is *typebar retraction* -- that is, the rapidity with which the typebar recoils after it strikes the ribbon and page. The quicker the typebar clears the typeguide, the quicker the next typebar can launch.
Turboplaten is more pliant and resilient than rubber. That increases its life and the speed of typebar retraction. It also generates cleaner finished copy now and over the long term. It doesn't decompose like rubber. The result is a more responsive typewriter. Turboplaten subtly but effectively supercharges the functionality of the entire machine. Beyond that...
re. Gold chrome --
I am a notorious Smith-dandier, and this one's no exception. The seven-piece upper chassis-set of this machine comprises gold chrome parts, the gold color achieved by the additive of actual gold -- about one-tenth of an ounce of pure 24K gold -- demonstrating at least one amazing property of this most ductile of metals. It is the real deal. The finish is as a mirror.Electroplated white or gold chrome finish, the original long-lasting chrome plating method, as applied to this machine entails first the chemical removal of the stock (kinda drab) matte finish. All chassis parts are stripped to the metal, buffed and polished, then chemically underplated in nickel then copper, to which the (gold) chrome chemically bonds -- "becomes one" -- with the metal. There have been other chrome attempts in other forms on other typewriters over the years, none however sustainable at a warrantable level of production. True chrome, you see, whether white or gold, is neither cheap nor easy.
//
Specs--
Year: 1958
Make: L.C. Smith & Corona Typewriter CompanyModel: Clipper
Serial#: 5C 430 708
Type: 10-pitch Pica
Segment (type basket) Shift
Ribbon: 1/2" standard (NEW, All-black, Medium Heavy, installed)
Factory (Usage) Documentation: Clean scan
Shipping: Packed, with Case (~23.8 lbs.)
Domestic Carrier: FedEx or UPS
International Carrier: USPS Priority International
Insurance: Included
Handling Charges: Get outta here.
//
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED:
Forget this "as is" bull stuff.
Whatever makes you happy -- repair, replace, refund, re-whatever -- it's on my account.
Despite the prepay structure, it shouldn't (ultimately) cost you even a nickel to check it out.
This is a typewriter, a personal tool you'll have for years to come.
If, for whatever reason, you don't like it, you're not stuck with it.
It's how machines were sold in their first hundred years. It's how I sell 'em today.
You're the buyer. You're the boss. Really.
//
On Writing & Typewriters
MY APPROACH in all this typewriter stuff is as a writer, a teacher and a publisher. I work with young writers (young in experience if not always in age) throughout the Greater Louisville, Kentucky region. I've learned, both in my own development and through observation, that writing in type fosters the disciplined thinking valued by, and admired in, the best writers.
I use the manual typewriter strictly for draft. Because I'm casting each letter immediately to posterity, i.e. the printed page, I'm less cavalier with my grammar and word choice, more inclined to take a moment to think through not just what I want to say, but how -- at least to the next point of punctuation.
For finish copy there's nothing better than your word processing application. Writers once used real scissors and tape to rework their manuscripts, the legacy of which remains in your Cut and Paste commands. Drafting on computer seems easy. You stroke a bunch of words, dress 'em out in a nice font and layout, and think you've got a finished piece. A lovely looking sheet of words is not the same as good writing.
The villain, posing as your pal, is Mr. Delete Key. How often on a computer first draft have you overwritten yourself? You know you've done it when you reread the piece and wonder where its power went. The power still exists, but it's buried back there in that first crude draft. Unfortunately that's gone now, commingled with some overly doctored version of your mighty original idea, courtesy of your right-pinky man Mr. Deleter. He's so inviting, so ready to help you clear up any "mistake," that you subject your voice to some tentative sense of what's right when you don't even know what that is. That's why you're writing. Writing is discovery. Mr.Delete-When-In-Doubt lets you believe you can write -- discover -- a perfect first draft.
Mr. Delete Key is wrong. Nobody writes a perfect first draft. The day you accept that is the day you enter the zen of the manual typewriter. It is the most sophisticated *thought* processor created by man. Unlike anything electronic, you completely animate it. It is thought -- released physically, gathered to the sheet, speaking to you, stimulating thought.... It is the extension of the only true self-propelled machine, your mind. What you produce breaks off instantly from you, is independent of you. Nobody gets all that meta-whatever stuff down exactly right on the first go-'round, despite what Mr. Delete's presence might imply.
A writer is two entities -- writer and editor. The writer works uncritically in the glory of brain-to-paper discovery. The editor is always looking for what's wrong. It's important to keep these guys separate to do their jobs (the delete key is the editor's main tool). The computer gives the illusion of efficiency, where writer and editor work together. With the mastery of process that may be true, but they're always separate. In the development stage it's best to keep them separate *and* apart.
Writing in type is risky. First you have to make sure you're getting it right technically -- you know, think "a," hit "a." Then consider what to say. Then how to say it. What scares people new to typing is that every little part of each process is *on record* -- a record we subconsciously believe may be used against us in some court of whatever.
The only thing prosecuting you is the sheet of paper, and you can enter into dialogue with that and come out okay, mitigate (if not litigate) your case. Sure there are risks, but the stakes are low -- the cost of a sheet of paper; the amortized cost of spent ink over the life of the ribbon. You want to add Time to that list, you think. But that's exactly the one thing that is not wasted. Writing is a record of thought. Whether or not the record is preserved has no bearing upon the advances made in thought.
As you've scrolled through , you've probably seen a copy of that old book, "The PC [or Mac] is NOT a Typewriter." How true that is. Different tools for different jobs.
To process words use a computer; to process *thoughts* use a typewriter.
If you're a writer without a typewriter, get one today -- from me or whomever. Make sure it works. If it does -- and if you do -- you will revolutionize your stuff. That's a guarantee.
-- Dean Jones, Louisville, Kentucky
//
On Oct-14-18 at 18:47:13 PDT, seller added the following information:
CORRECTIONS:
-- The eight pieces comprising the flattop chassis-set comprise seven chrome and a single vertical gold panel at the fore (just above the numbers plate below the ribbon cover).
-- The platen core is painted light sage and sheathed in blue-tinted tubing.
On Oct-14-18 at 18:49:34 PDT, seller added the following information:
Machine: Flattop StandardSerial Number: 1C93737
On Oct-17-18 at 10:32:07 PDT, seller added the following information:
After afternote --I got the sale launched at my regular time (Su. 6:33 p.m. PST), but with a few revisions still to make in the written description. I made them, but they didn't take. The machine had fetched offers so quickly it precluded "correction" -- froze info left over from the prior sale -- the text of which I intended to modify... as I usually do. But this time failed.The headline is correct, but the description talking about gold chrome uppers and turquoise turboplaten is wrong. That applied to the last sale.For this sale, the machine is draped in *white chrome,* except for the vertical panel at the fore between the numbers plate and ribbon cover: That is gold.It's a wicked-awesome machine by any name or color. The photos are correct and fair. Most important is the accurate depiction of what you're buying... irrespective of wrong wording.Against this (slightly mangled) sale description, I must insist: Please focus on the photos.I appreciate your understanding. -- Dean Jones, aka writertypes
