Got my issue of ETCetera “The early Coronas” and noted that the earliest Corona with a stamped frame number was 20,844… so I dug out my formally “Yellow” Corona… and sure enough it’s number is 20,007. (The carriage may be off another machine… looks like 15,020)
Just got my issue, too. Yours looks reconditioned? Rebuilt?
Mark:
It was all yellow where I received… I did not know about the two serial numbers until yesterday… so I never looked for the carriage (hand scratched one) before. Up until I saw the wide gap in the numbers I had assumed it was just badly used and not rebuilt or reconditioned.
Good observation.
I often wonder about the serial numbers on many machines as much of the manufacturer’s information has been lost.
Cool! Please be sure to let Ed Neuert know. At ETCetera, we love and crave reader feedback.
Hi Richard, I bought a 2015 serial number 71515 on eBay because my grandfather was just named plant manager in Groton before he traveled to NYC, contracted the flu and died. I have a page from the Corona Bulletin describing him. Willian Wallace Gilbert.
Gilbert Ciocci
What a really interesting typewriter!
Yes, that’s a way low serial number on the frame. But it does look like an “improved” carriage assembly was added, as your machine has a fan-shaped ribbon color switch that dates from after the August 12, 1912 patent filing of U.S. Patent 1,121,044 (the original straight ribbon switch, which rode on the body of the machine instead of the carriage, was covered by U.S. Patent 1,121,042, filed on Feb. 6, 1912 — this patent also shows a “cut out” ribbon vibrator arm that was present on the two earliest machines I have, the ones with the straight switch).
Plus, your machine has a solid segment, instead of pivot-bars, so that’s a much later piece, and the actual key tops look like they came from later in the run (note the black-on-white shift keys, as opposed to the white-on-black shift keys of other early Coronas) .
It looks like someone inserted the carriage and guts of a newer Corona into the old frame of your machine. It is certainly possible to do this. I did an experiment one day to see if the solid segment as it first existed from January to December of 1915 could be removed and installed in an earlier machine — it worked perfectly. (Don’t worry, I reversed the process and put the two machines back in proper chronologic shape afterwards.) I call that early solid segment that was used for just a year the “batwing” segment, since its overall outline is similar to the signal Commissioner Gordon used to project in the sky to call for the Caped Crusader’s assistance. You could still buy a batwing segment from the Corona parts catalog for years thereafter, so there’d be no impediment to “updating” an early model. I’d love to see, if it is possible, side shots of your machine and an underside view too, to determine if it has all the same screw and other component locations as other early machines. Also helpful would be a shot of the machine from the top when folded, and a shot of the underside of the carriage with the protective cover removed. Also, does the back of the left folding arm (the part that is attached to the shifting post) have the curved profile and notch for the bar latch that is pictured on page 9 of the ETCetera article?
So many questions brought forth by such a little gem! And to think somebody thought it would look better with yellow paint slathered on! You’ve done an heroic job carefully removing that.