*Corona*

Just for a minute, forget the virus, the beer, the ring around the moon, and everything else but this: *Corona* the typewriter. There are a multitude of pages about the Corona typewriter, which was a sensation in its day. Now I understand why.

Corona 3 – 1916 – front view

folded position

case with manual (reprint)

The above scans are from the first test pages I typed just as soon as I could get the thing ready. Pretty impressive for 104 years old. I had to hunt around to discover where some of the symbols were, since they were not clear from the keys. The = sign is on the K, but it is indicated with a -. As noted above, the comma is indicated by the “.”, and where they show “,” is actually “-“. I straightened out the off kilter key symbols by pushing the paper discs from the underside of the keys. Several rings just came off, and I pushed them back on. The typebar cushion rest was made of cork and had been damaged, so I removed that and slipped in a piece of heavy wool piano felt. The feet are there, but no longer soft, so I might dig out the hard old rubber and slip in some new grommets that should fit nicely. Aside from that, the front panel of the case needs some repairs to the hinge of leather, and that’s it. Lastly, thanks to Richard Polt again for making all those manuals available. I downloaded the Corona manual, which was extremely useful! I might never have figured out how the ribbon winding system worked without the manual to explain it. I printed a small version to keep in the case where it originally fit, too.