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| My "new" Smith-Corona Corsair portable typewriter, at home on my bar |
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| Officially joining the Typosphere with my first typecast |
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| Sitting pretty on my computer stand. |
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| Corsair diagram oztypewriter.blogspot.com |
When I taught typing in the 1970s, changing ribbons was a routine task. The Corsair's ribbon spools are a small size that are no longer manufactured, so I had to buy a ribbon on larger spools and wind it onto the smaller. I had forgotten just how messy typewriter ribbons are. (Note to self: Buy gloves.)
I also found a spring that had come loose at one end, so I had to search my toolbox for a tiny screwdriver and make my first typewriter repair in 40 years. Some things you never forget.
And the actual typing? Amazingly, it was like riding a bicycle. I expected to have trouble making the switch from a computer keyboard back to a manual typewriter, but my fingers remembered exactly what to do. (Thanks, Verna Powers.)
If you see an old typewriter at an estate sale or thrift store, try it out, by all means. It's like time travel.
LOVE old typewriters....and touch typing is probably the most useful thing I ever learnt in school.
ReplyDeleteI agree about learning touch typing. The Verna Powers reference in my post was to my high school typing teacher. If you don't already own an old typewriter, I really recommend buying one. It's so much fun to use those old skills.
DeleteOh what a nice idea to post. We have an old type writer from the grandfather of my husband too.
ReplyDeleteSo many people are becoming fascinated with typewriters these days. I was very lucky to become blog friends with Ton S., who encouraged me to buy a typewriter when he found out I had been a typing teacher in the past.
Deleteoh its a beauty Dana...so sleek and that colour is the bomb!. I have two now and they are on the hall table...not many can walk past without tapping away!...the kids of course love to smash all the keys down at once! xx
ReplyDeleteThe boys love mine already too. Every time they come in, they want to type their names. The 2-year-old only knows his first initial, but the 3-year-old can actually type his. :)
DeleteI had two typewriters in the past but sold them as I just couldn't find the right spot for them but I think they are so cool. Yours looks to be in great shape.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe what great shape it's in. There's not a blemish on it, and everything on it works perfectly.
DeleteYay, that's a very nice typecast, Dana! I noted immediately how neat your typing is, no surprise from a pro. I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying your time travel with the Corsair. I'll definitely share your maiden typecast on my next post. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ton! It was great fun to do. I need to do a few exercises to strengthen my g and m strokes, as they're consistently a little light. But, overall, I was amazed at how easy it was to pick up my old skills right where I left off. I was sure that 30+ years of electric typewriters and computer keyboarding had ruined my technique, but not so. My speed was even fairly good. I certainly never expected that. :)
DeleteWow. What a sweet little typewriter. It's obviously found a good home.
ReplyDeleteIt's a tiny thing, but it's easy to type on. Whoever owned it took very, very good care of it.
DeleteLove love love it - I have one in green and an electric in blue - they may be different models but they are Smith Coronas. I think people took care of them because 1)a personal typewriter was kind of the personal computer of it's day :) they weren't cheap - even in the 70s when my mom got me one for college it was like a BIG gift.
ReplyDeleteI got one for college too.. We did take good care of them back then, but once I got my first electric, I tossed the manual and could kick myself for it now. I typed many a 20-page paper on mine. I even took it on my honeymoon, because I had a paper due the day I returned to school...but that's a funny story for another time. :)
DeleteOh, I love it! You taught typing? Now that's an interesting fact! You need to tell us more about that Dana. I learned to type in the 60's also, and at one time owned a little portable typewriter that zipped in a case. Ah, sweet memories.
ReplyDeleteI took typing in my junior year in high school. You can read a little more about my teaching experience here:
Deletehttp://mid2mod.blogspot.com/2013/07/on-joining-typosphere.html
How could you resist the siren song for so long, especially with your history? :D
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, it was difficult. Ton had suggested a Hermes 3000 for me, and several months ago I found one locally on Craigslist, but Ton said the seller was asking too much, and he wouldn't budge, so I put the search on the back burner for a while. Then I started a major construction project at my house, and I simply didn't have the time to look, even though I wanted to. I ran across the Corsair by accident and bought it on a whim. I'm sure it's just my gateway machine.
DeleteWelcome to the fantastic world of the Typosphere.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your first typecast.
That sure is a fine looking Corsair.
Thanks, Bill. Finding one in such beautiful condition, bargaining with the seller and getting it cheap, waiting for it to arrive, ordering a new ribbon and getting my fingers all inky...It was all so much fun. I think there will be many more typecasts from me. In fact, even though that's not what my blog is about, I've already thought of a way to make typecasts (and more typewriters) a regular feature. :)
DeleteGreat machine! You know it starts out with just one and before you know it you are scouring that stores, garage sales, and eBay looking for one more typewriter fix. I love it!
ReplyDeleteI feel a serious addiction coming on. In fact, I've already been searching for a Typewriters Anonymous group in my area, just in case.
DeleteWe tried that - it's too addictive, worse than The Smack. Trying to talk each other down just made us go out and scour the thrifts for another fix. In fact I struggled mightily today, and lost the fight - brought home the big brother of your Corsair - a Classic 12 with script typeface :D
DeleteI am too quickly understanding just what you mean. I emailed back and forth with Ton last night about one I found on Craigslist, and he gave me suggestions about what I should start to look for. He's a big-time enabler! :)
DeleteHaha, damn straight!
DeleteI can almost feeling the gentle curve in each key where my fingers would rest. I took typing in high school, and I remember my mother thinking I had it easy because the typewriters were electric. The whole room hummed with all those electrified machines!
ReplyDeleteI learned on a manual, and I started teaching in a school that only had manuals. I thought I had hit the big time when my classroom was full of electrics. Then I got a bright red IBM Selectric, and thought I had gone to heaven. I think I was more excited about that electric typewriter than I was my first computer. It's fun now to return to my roots and type on a manual again.
DeleteLike time travel. Haha. Okay, short funny story. In 9th grade during typing class I kept getting D's and F's on the tests. The typing teacher who was my best friend's mother was mystified because I didn't seem like a total idiot. It turns out the test would says "5 minutes begin"... then "4 minutes begin" then "3 minutes begin". I would take the 5 minute test or whatever, type like hell, then when the next increment bell sounded "4 minutes begin" I would stop. Basically doing my 5 minute test in 1 minute. She clued me in. I had done this speed drill for about 3 weeks. By that point I was really fast and got an "A" in the class. She cracked up about the whole thing and made fun of me forever about it. As well she should have. Duh.
ReplyDeleteThat's too funny. I remember a story about my college typing methods class, which was taught by the late Dr. Bill Perkins, the author of many typing textbooks (and an incredibly handsome young man at the time. I might add). He was doing a time-motion study on the amount of time typists spent with their hands moving on the keys as compared to the dead time when their fingers weren't moving during a timed writing. He would hold two stop watches and alternate between the two as some random student in the room typed/didn't type. I'm normally a fast and accurate typist, but it has always made me extremely nervous for someone to stand next to me when I type...and still does. One day we started a timed test, and he chose me to observe. I wasn't supposed to know, and I guess he thought he was standing far enough from me that I couldn't hear the stopwatches click, but I could hear them perfectly, going on and off as I typed and as I paused. I was getting more and more nervous by the second, until finally my fingers weren't even connected to my brain anymore and were flying wildly all over the keyboard, not even hitting one correct key...but I wasn't making any more unnecessary pauses. That was 40 years ago, but I still remember how nervous that made me and how out of control I felt as if it were yesterday.
DeleteAnother interesting thing about Dr. Perkins that will fascinate some of the Typospherians who are reading these comments...He was such an expert on the subject of typing rhythm/speed that he could type on demand at any speed between 20 words per minute up to 140 words per minute. He'd set up a typing lectern and use an overhead projector to show the material he was typing on a screen behind him. Then he'd give a student a stopwatch and have someone tell him what speed to type. It didn't matter how fast or how slow, at the end of a minute, he would have typed precisely the speed he had been asked to demonstrate...and never with any kind of error whatsoever (no typos, raised caps, light strokes, heavy (shadowed) strokes, stacked letters...nothing). We were all awestruck. I've never before or since seen anyone with that kind of control.
DeleteMaster Typing Jedi! I've seen films of typing masters like Albert Tangora doing his thing, and man I tell you it's unbelievable how tightly controlled those guys/gals were. Seeing him spin a finished sheet out of his machine and feed a new one in with barely a second's pause in his furious clickity-clacking (literally, like a momentary pause, as if he'd just skipped a letter or two in his pace) - makes you very quickly realize they were just as much a professional athlete as any pro race driver. They may have been sitting in a chair working a machine, but that was some insane skill and monumental physical exertion.
DeleteAmen! The amount of physical skill and concentration it took to do the things they did was phenomenal. As an author of many typing texts, Perkins did extensive studies on technique. I doubt that many people who remember the old typing drills realize how much legitimate research went into designing them.
DeleteHeh, I have Odell and Stuart's "Principles and Techniques for Directing the Learning of Typewriting" (1935). It's sort of a condensation of all the research that had gone on up to that point, and is *extremely* heavy reading with all of the carefully-explained techniques and the reasoning and research behind each posture suggestion and method. These guys burned more science just figuring out the optimal way to teach typewriting than I think all corporations in the past 10 years ever put into designing user interfaces.
DeleteI agree. A tremendous amount of research went into the methods of teaching typing, including optimal foot position, curvature of fingers, distance from the body to the front edge of the typewriter, position of copy. I doubt that many people realize just what went into learning to teach typing. I certainly don't remember that kind of exactitude in teaching computer keyboarding.
DeleteHow Chic! I have played around with my Grandmothers 1911 Underwood, but it has sadly been resigned to a life on the stage. (You may have seen it in Zombie Prom!) How neat, Your 7 degrees of separation.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do remember your grandmother's typewriter! A life on the stage is quite the glam lifestyle for a lady born in 1911. :)
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