My Smith Corona Classic 12 Typewriter

My boyfriend bought me this little wonder for Christmas this year.  I'd been chattering nonstop about typewriter features I wanted for about three months -- who knew he was actually listening?  I'm super-thrilled to have this in my home.  It's almost replaced my Royal FP as my primary use machine.

It is a Smith Corona Classic 12, in a beautiful blue.  And, my goodness, it is feature-packed!  I didn't really realize that a portable could be so richly endowed.  I have a lot to learn.

The tabulator is designed parallel to the space-bar family of keys.  It runs along the top, just above the upper bank of keys.  It has typical SET and CLEAR buttons to either side of the (unlabeled) TAB button itself.

The space bar is flanked by features I never even knew existed: the HALF-SPACE (for error-correction) and POWER SPACE (for flying across the page!).  Fortunately, the machine came along with its original documentation, so I was able to learn about how to use the HALF-SPACE from the manual (which, btw, is copyrighted 1976).  As for the POWER SPACE, it still amazes me that it can work -- it feels like something that belongs on an electric, not a manual.

They keyboard has tension control accomplished via a little lever in the upper left corner.  The lever is labeled with H(igh), M(edium), and L(ow) indicators, but seems to actually be a gradient/analog control. That is, I can set it anywhere between any of the marks (the lever doesn't snap to any positions).  The range is not as wide as the Touch Control on my Royal, but I don't have the tools to quantify that claim. :p

Of course it also has a color-selector, for red-black-stencil.

One of the coolest things is that it has two "replaceable keys."  These are the black ones in the upper corners -- currently they are mounted with a numeral 1 and exclamation point in one corner (my only typewriter with either of these characters) and a plus and equals in the other corner.  The type slugs pop on and off with relative ease, as do the key tops, for easy quick switches.  It's unfortunate that I don't have any other keys or types to replace them with!  I wonder if they are still available somewhere?

The margins are set with convenient little sliders behind the paper table.  It has a page gauge like my Royal FP, but this one is more advanced -- it provides actual numbers (in inches) adjusted to the size of the paper being used.  Not super accurate, according to some testing, but handy nonetheless.

One of the most important features for me is having a visible ruler under the typing area.  The lack of this indicator on my "Commodore" is one of the biggest reasons I don't use it much.

The carriage on this Classic is longer -- not long enough to do a legal page in landscape, but long enough to do standard letter pages in landscape.  Neither of my other typewriters have a carriage this long.

The underside is protected with a fully closed panel, which I hadn't seen before.  It's easy to imagine reasons for this, but the actual intended purpose I don't know.  Below, I've taken the panel off to show the insides.

There are two numbers on the underside, and I don't know yet which is the Serial Number and which is something else.  One is stamped in paint on a silver label tab: W 034223.  The other is impressed on the frame, visible through a cut-out in the blue casing: 6LIV 613982W.  There are also two numbers stamped in paint at irregular angles under the erasure table up top, and underlined: Z089 and 8116.  Maybe those reflect maintenance history or something?  Any more information about these numbers would interest me greatly.

The best part is that it is snappy, responsive, and consistent to type on.  A real pleasure!