197x Smith Corona Electra 120 #6ELL 248469W

Status: Sightings
Hunter: Michael Hoehne (mhoehne)
Created: 03-30-2016 at 09:07PM
Last Edit: 10-12-2021 at 07:55AM

Description Hunter 8 Photos 1 Like  Find on Ebay #AD  Find on Etsy #AD

Description:

As you get more familiar with typewriters, clues are more noticeable. Looking this over in the antique store, I noticed the ribbon color selector was not labeled and moreover had only two settings Oh, yeah; this is what you see on a machine with a script typestyle. Quick check and sure enough--script.

Also noticed the ribbon cover didn’t fit well on one side--a big gap. What I did not notice was the sellers note on the price tag: “Needs some repair”. At the checkout counter, the spacebar mechanism worked only intermittently--mostly not. Oh well, at least it’s something definite and Smith-Coronas are well made; it’s probably fixable.

On the workbench, it all became clear. A heavy steel bracket was rattling around inside. It looked familiar. Yeah, there’s another one on the side where the ribbon cover doesn’t fit. Here’s the thing--the shipping brackets had never been removed and one of them had worked loose. Removing both of them fixed everything.

Interesting fact about these script machines: they have only four lines per inch linespacing. This is to allow room for the funky descenders on some upper case letters. It sure makes for an airy page. OTOH, this has elite pitch so that kinda makes up for it.

No date code.

Typeface Specimen:

Photos:

ribbon color selector is the control at the upper right

That copper-colored piece near the red label ("Use single color ribbon only", but you can't read it) is one of the shipping braces. It had been there for forty years

"RP" is for "removable platen"? or "replaceable platen"? The substantial level just in front of RP is the carriage lock.

love these Smith-Corona cases

Hunter: Michael Hoehne (mhoehne)

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While I find all of mankind's inventions interesting, I am most enchanted by the human-scale arts and devices, the ones that can be created (and repaired) in a home workshop or studio; the ones that can be understood by looking at them; the ones that do something useful or stir admiration. Typewriters work for me.