Some steps to revive a leathercloth typewriter case

The carrying case of the Corona Four typewriter was still sound and relatively undamaged. It had of course accumulated 91 years worth of dust, dirt, scuffs and corrosion. A few simple steps can make the case much more presentable again and help prepare it for its next 91 years.

The first thing I do is to clean it with a very little water and soap. Some lukewarm water with a strong degreasing detergent is good. I'll use washing up liquid or general household cleaner, the strong liquid stuff. (These shouldn't contain any alcohols, many hand-soaps do!) As a first quick action, wipe all surfaces gently with a damp cloth (not wet!) to get off the superficial dirt. Then there'll still be lots of dirt however.

With a soft (!) toothbrush some soapy water is brushed onto the dirty surface. Making small rotary motions the dirt is worked loose, then a rag or paper towel is used to pat it dry and take off the dirt. In this picture of the case lid the left side has been cleaned, the right-hand side still shows the dirt of decades clinging to the case.

When doing this, take care not to use too much water; that's bad for the wooden case and may cause the leathercloth to warp and lift. Also don't rub hard or use a hard brush as that might well scratch the surface.

The inside of the case is treated the same way - especially the case bottom was very dirty and needed several goings-over. The bit in the back has been mostly cleaned, the rectangular area in the front-left only wiped off - there is a difference :)

After the case has been cleaned and left to dry (though it should not have gotten really wet from this), small repairs are made. That is mostly glueing down lifted edges of the leathercloth and sealing the edges of scuffs with PVA glue (known trans-Atlantically as 'Elmer's Glue' I believe). As always and everywhere with gluing, it's best to use very sparing amounts.

When all the loose bits are firmly attached again, the case is given a polish. It is 'Leatherette' of course and not leather, but regular black shoe-polish works well. It adds some extra black to even out the colour and the wax does help to protect and soften a bit the dried out leathercloth. Apply with a cloth (press in when needed) and polish up to a bit of a shine with a soft (!) shoe-polishing brush. The case lining was green, so that's polished with some natural wax (furniture) or Carnauba. (For coloured cases, e.g. a gramophone case, I'll sometimes shop for a shoe polish of the right colour.)

Before doing anything else, it's probably a good plan to let the case stand for a few days. It'll have a strong odour of concentrated shoe-shop for a few days. With any remaining solvents evaporating it also gives the wax some time to form a proper protective layer. (The whole polishing thing is best done outdoors anyways, with all the solvents in a polish...)

Then the metal case fittings - these can be said to have 'patina', but in this Corona Four case I think it's just dirt and rust.

With the power of Brasso metal-polish and a cotton rag, that case lock can look much cleaner again. Polishing the metal fittings by the way I'll do only after giving the case a first protective polish. Any spills or rubbing of metal-polish can then be wiped off clean again and won't stain in the leathercloth. (When fittings are just too far gone and only pitted, dark metal remains, I'll paint the fittings black. A gloss or satin smooth finish generally looks fine and definitely is cleaner.)

When polishing the inside fittings to bring back some of their shine, a sheet of thick paper or cardboard is held next to them to protect the case lining next to the fitting.

With some more Brasso even the plain metal handle latches look better again.

Much cleaner!

Again fit for 'home-use' instead of being something that needs to be 'kept in the shed' :)

Meccano update...

Again it is proven that in the internet age, every niche interest has its niche. Also Meccano. There is an extensive and helpful 'Meccanosphere' that is perhaps not explicitly labeled as such, yet just as extensive as the Typosphere. The site of the Christchurch Meccano Club of New Zealand is a vast trove of information, its parts library and galleries are for the metal construction toy much of what The Database is for typewriters.

Any needs for current or vintage parts and spares are addressed by a range of online sellers of parts - some with very complete webshop. The two wheels to complete the 1950-ies Outfit 3 were then easily sourced and these duly arrived for quite reasonable expense by post. Like platens also old Meccano rubber goes hard and brittle; for the rubber parts (motor tyres, drive belts) new reproduction parts can be easily purchased.

Building with the set, the instruction book has a very different approach to what the modern-day Lego builder is used to. Instead of the step-by-step instructions to build a model (or perhaps 3 from one set), one image of the finished model is provided for many different models. For some models a list of parts is given, but otherwise it is left to the ingenuity of the builder to figure it out.

Now with the large wheels also in the set, some of the larger models could be made. These can become more challenging and definitely exceed the attention span of the 7 year old. They are even taxing for the older siblings trained on the Danish construction toy.

Such finished models can be surprisingly large - are quite substantial models, being all metal.

This Meccano is surprisingly enjoyable to tinker with for the mechanically inclined, even (or perhaps especially) in this internet age :-)

Spotted! Hey that's the one that I made...

Scanning the vast library that is the internet for documentation for my new Corona Four typewriter, stumbled across a seller of reprints. Browsing the other items listed by this Canadian seller, spotted a familiar leaflet amongst his large collection of printed manuals.

That's a gramophone that I have. That's a leaflet that I have. That actually is the leaflet that I made!

Based on photo's of original, worn leaflets I created a reproduction from scratch. For images I used scans from record sleeves and tweaked the whole to look 'right'. The typography of the front page is almost right, with Garamond in different styles.

Some of the small differences with the typeface of the original are that the serifs of the capital 'T' extend over the line, the original is flat, and that the slant of the capitals is less than the slant of lower case italic text (top line).

Another difference with an actual original is the advertisements on the last page. These are correct HMV texts and images that I took from HMV record sleeves. The speed tester image however shows a gramophone with a No. 5 soundbox and arm - that makes it slightly period incorrect. (That's why I cropped it to not show the actual soundbox :)

The printing of the seller is a bit off unfortunately, not nicely centred on the page. Also it should really be printed on an A3-sized sheet and then cut to size. For printing your own, I provide a PDF file with folding and cutting guides.

Posted and shared these files online on this blog a while back. The 'part no.' on the edge of the last page I changed to 2014D, this was the fourth version I made in 2014 :-)

Oh, methinks I also recognise my scan of a Remington Portable instruction booklet amongst the offerings. Printing on A4 works fairly well for this document, though it should really be just a little larger. Pity that the seller didn't print the cover in color. Made quite an effort to properly scan and isolate the text from the background, but now realise I probably haven't posted that page online yet. Printing on greenish-grey thick paper then captures the look and feel of the original very well then.

So I think "spotted"!

Ah well. Would've been nice to see the seller state that these are available digitally as well or provide a link, but it's a service to be able to buy these manuals ready printed. (Maybe will mail him my better color front-page.)

Unexpected. Still - nice to see some of my scans 'proliferate' :-)

Corona Four

That little black wooden case contains an early Corona Four typewriter. The case looks exactly like the Corona 3 case, except it is larger and it does not have the fold-down front-flap.

The Corona Four really is the Corona 3 without the folding and with a 4-row keyboard. Other than these two, admittedly major, changes it is amazingly similar to the venerable '3'.

The spool covers are present, but rusty. Especially where the return-lever will mar the spool cover when you forget to lift it up before trying to return the carriage. This is an early Four, with the old design spool covers (pre '28 ?) and the ribbon selector on the old '3' spot instead of beside the keyboard (pre '27 ?).

Other than that it is really in very decent condition with a good, solid carrying case. All rubber lost its spring of course and probably one paper-bail spring is missing. But apart from these points merely a layer of dust and light tarnishing of the metal bits. The case still has the brush and oil tube held in the clip. Very well preserved typewriter all in all.

As a bit of a surprise (for I'm told a Dutch first owner) this typewriter has a British keyboard layout - i.e. it has an '@' character that's quite useful nowadays and an astounding array of fractions that I'm not sure were ever all that useful. Machine labeled at the back for the London branch of Corona at Aldwych House. An early machine, patents still pending.

The platen was stuck solid to the front feed rollers. After breaking the platen loose with some gentle yet persistent force, the machine still works as it should without any further tweaking. Working fine at 91 years old with probably decades of storage.

Again am amazed how robust these small portables are :)

A small black wooden case

No prizes for guessing what is inside :-)

Instructions on the use of the writing machine

A paperback booklet with extensive instructions on the use of the writing machine with a methodical training in the use of the ten-finger system. Published in 1915 and written by Mr Hardy, teacher at the municipal trade-school in Tilburg. (Tilburg, The Netherlands - book also all in Dutch of course.)

The whole booklet illustrates how technology completely changed the office environment. With amazement it is noted in the introduction that in but a few years the typewriter has become an indispensable tool in any office. "In our modern times, where the saying "time is money" is expressed in every branch of trade and industry there is hardly any office left that does not have the use of one or more typewriters. Without fear of contradiction we dare to state that in but a few years the typewriter has become an indispensable tool for administrative work."

The included ten-finger chart is missing (probably was used next to the machine), the large chart of letter combinations is still present. Part of the training method.

Before starting on the training, first the importance of proper lighting of the keyboard (from the top, not the side) is noted. It's explained what actually is the 'keyboard' with naming of the rows. It was written by a school teacher; as 3rd item the student is admonished to strictly adhere to the exercises.

In a second section of the book a general overview of the advanced technologies in the modern office is given. With amazement it is noted that the modern duplicator works completely automatic; with paper feeding, counting of the number of copies made and can be driven electrically if so desired. "In every field human ingenuity has aimed to replace manual labor with machinery. Thus today many office tasks can be accomplished quickly and neatly with clever machines. The advantages of these machines can be increased further when one knows how to link them up."

Prescient.