This was a customer’s recent purchase and was brought in for refurbishment. Typewriters like the Corona 3 were typically used in the field and used often. I really appreciate the simple design of durability that was put into this folding typewriter.
So, here is the list; the draw string was broken, the carriage release spring had been dragged across the carriage stretching it out of proportion, several small screws were missing, one rubber foot was missing and the remaining rubber feet were soooo flaaat, the ribbon was wound incorrectly, the ribbon vibrator was sticking along with many of the type bars. So all said it was a pretty typical Corona that has not seen a loving typewriter repairman for some time (hint, hint). With that list of repairs, the poor customer took an expensive leap of faith and said yes to repairing it all. He wanted to have a working machine his daughter could enjoy for a very long time.
With permission to refurbish my favorite portable, I got into it. Even Mr. Montgomery was excited to have a typewriter from 1919 to make whole again. Everything was going swimmingly and I got to the testing phase. Well, darn it; a couple type bars were sticking even after a good cleaning. So, a little tweak here, a slight bend there and they were slamming that platen like their brethren. One of the items I warned the customer on these Corona 3’s if the ribbon vibrator has been bent too far out of shape, we may not be able to use red/black ribbon. Fortunately, I was able to bend it close enough to the platen that they can now use red or black anytime to change the mood or to create havoc on paper.
During testing both CAP and FIG stopped working. Just…like…that. How odd, it was just working. I had three full lines of typing done perfectly in caps, figures, in red…black, back spacing like a mad man. Damn it, I was on the final stretch almost to my most favorite part of the process – polishing.
Well, Mr. Montgomery had already gone home so I tipped the machine this way and that, got out the magnifiers for closer scrutiny. Well, let me tell you how relieved I was to find that the bar that holds the pins to set the CAP and FIG height had come loose from the screws. Better that than me having screws loose! I aligned the pins, tightened the bar and we were off to polishing. Damn I love this typewriter.
