I acquired a rusted out SM3 with No. 64 Italic Elite for free, so I’m transplanting the keys on this 1959 SM3 with Elite font with the cleaned up Italic keys. I’m about 25% done. Between the cleaning and the careful install, each key takes about 6 minutes-3.4 hours to go…
I’ve only started working on one of these old Corona #3 folders, so I thought I would let them hang out for the evening, so they could reminisce together about the last 110 years. The decals on the two at either end are in remarkable shape.
The 1915 model on the left was likely sold as military surplus after WWI and belonged to some junior officer in Headquarters Training Company, 85th Division in Michigan.
If you Google this unit, you will see a lot of typed documents from various officers in 1917 (the surveys about Native Americans who had joined are especially fascinating, given these Native Americans were not citizens yet and had all volunteered and served in France).
My goal is to examine the typeface on these surviving documents and compare it to the typeface on this typewriter to try to tie this machine to a particular individual officer.
I imagine that it would have belonged to a company grade officer, because field grade officers probably had staff that used a standard size typewriters. This tiny folding model was the perfect size to throw in a ruck and take to the field to write up any sick, lame or lazy Soldiers.
The unit markings shown on the the outside of the case are on both sides and were painted over in black (probably before it was sold), but I was able to carefully remove the black paint that was covering the lettering with lacquer remover and q-tips.
This machine also has an advertisement on the back plate, which is usually blank, showing that it was sold by the Grand Rapids Typewriter, Company, further tying this machine to Michigan during WWI.