Actually, Brian, it was made in Belgium!Tasty, just you know, not Pi.
what the jings crivens happened here?!
The connections were loose here. fiddlesome but straightforeward to fix.Holding the typebar right up, position the loose part and pry open the connecting end a little with a small tool to slide the two back together. (The tiny bolt is held in place on one side, so a gap will open up.)Space bar not working. At. All. Found the place where it was jammed – and unjammed with sewing machine oil. yes, this thing is still filthy in this picture! More cleaning is needed, but for that I need to remove the body shell. Aurgh. Lots of screws!
I should say that I removed the ribbon cover (easy, four screws) before cleaning the type segment, and that I was very careful not to drip the cleaning fluid onto the painted surfaces.
Yeah – I saw that auction but even the crappy pictures might have suggested that the conversion was done only to the typeslugs and the keytops might have had some sort of stickers on them it was not enough to convince me to buy it. I had one with Pi symbol: http://typewriterdatabase.com/1949-smithcorona-sterling.3519.typewriter
and I saw it being sold further on ebay – so maybe your seller was dumb enough to copy the description from it just because it looked similar on the pictures (especially when you squint a bit 😉 ).
It is a nice machine though, the linkages are straightforward but tricky – I agree.
Anyway – despite £40 with shipping is sort of reasonable – I hope you opened a case of “not as described item” and you’ll get some of your money back?
My options were send it back for a full refund, or keep it! Once I’d had it in my hands, I didn’t want to part with it. Yours is lovely, and has a better colour scheme than this one. I am still going to keep on looking for those elusive Pi and brackets 🙂
I was looking through you blog (it is really good) and read about your search for a scientific
Typewriter, there is an Olivetti Lettera 22 on eBay right now with the pi key, buy it now and
It looks like it is in your neck of the woods. Hope you get it.
Great detail pictures of your fixes – hope you get photos of the un-shelling. Also: I really like the way my 1952 Skyriter types – so solid. I can imagine the Sterling would be even better.
I am now selling my Skyriter, as this one takes its place. I introduced a policy of one in, one goes out. This Sterling is just the ticket for both writing and drawing with its large knobs! They are both from the same year too, so I still will have a ’53 machine 🙂
the name badge was aggressively cleaned of white-out by someone with a q-tip soaked with solvent (alcohol, maybe). That flattens the crinkle paint faster than you can say “scunnert by the mank”. So that’s what happened. (:
Type The Clouds 
Yeah – I saw that auction but even the crappy pictures might have suggested that the conversion was done only to the typeslugs and the keytops might have had some sort of stickers on them it was not enough to convince me to buy it. I had one with Pi symbol:
http://typewriterdatabase.com/1949-smithcorona-sterling.3519.typewriter
and I saw it being sold further on ebay – so maybe your seller was dumb enough to copy the description from it just because it looked similar on the pictures (especially when you squint a bit 😉 ).
It is a nice machine though, the linkages are straightforward but tricky – I agree.
Anyway – despite £40 with shipping is sort of reasonable – I hope you opened a case of “not as described item” and you’ll get some of your money back?
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My options were send it back for a full refund, or keep it! Once I’d had it in my hands, I didn’t want to part with it. Yours is lovely, and has a better colour scheme than this one. I am still going to keep on looking for those elusive Pi and brackets 🙂
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I didn’t read your comment properly. Ach, you sold it! Then it was sold again!
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I was looking through you blog (it is really good) and read about your search for a scientific
Typewriter, there is an Olivetti Lettera 22 on eBay right now with the pi key, buy it now and
It looks like it is in your neck of the woods. Hope you get it.
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thanks so much, robert! unfortunately this one got away while i was away.
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I have to disagree with Brian (even if he is way smarter than I am) I quite like the Cold War colour scheme. 🙂
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Had to get the Science in somehow!
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Ebay sellers are the worst! At least you got a good typewriter out of it. Those series 5 Smith-Coronas are great.
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I love it more every time I type on it. I think it must have been out of action for some time and is waking up!
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Great detail pictures of your fixes – hope you get photos of the un-shelling. Also: I really like the way my 1952 Skyriter types – so solid. I can imagine the Sterling would be even better.
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I am now selling my Skyriter, as this one takes its place. I introduced a policy of one in, one goes out. This Sterling is just the ticket for both writing and drawing with its large knobs! They are both from the same year too, so I still will have a ’53 machine 🙂
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Also: I had to google “scunnert by the mank” to make sure that I could use it in polite company. I’m adding that to my library of handy phrases.
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The Scots do have some excellent words!
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the name badge was aggressively cleaned of white-out by someone with a q-tip soaked with solvent (alcohol, maybe). That flattens the crinkle paint faster than you can say “scunnert by the mank”. So that’s what happened. (:
I actually have one with math keys:
http://typewriterdatabase.com/1956-smithcorona-silent.1079.typewriter
picked it up way back in the 90’s at a thrift, well before I knew jack about typewriters.
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Wait, they made Smith-Coronas in BELGIUM?
Here in the US, they are of course extremely common. But I agree that they’re very good typewriters, one of the best designs ever.
By coincidence, I just posted a picture on my blog of a machine with π as well as other very odd symbols.
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Seriously, Belgium. The hunt goes on. But I am going to take a not-looking approach for a while and see if I stub my toe!
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Ahhhhh Hello, standard British keyboard. Not very scientific indeed.
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