The Corona 3: A Revolutionary Typewriter from the Early 20th Century

In 1909 and 1910, dozens of patents were applied for by the Corona company. It wasn't until 1912 that the corona number three was ready to be launched. The advertising and marketing team at Corona was tasked with selling a very unorthodox typewriter in their advertisements. They made sure that customers knew that while the device was very light and very portable, it was also very productive with all the functionality that they would come to expect from a full-size office typewriter. The model 3 was marketed in really fun colors like red and blue and green. This unorthodox approach paid off, as the model 3 was so successful that from its first year of sales in 1912 through its entire production, Corona sold over 700,000 of these machines.

How it Works

Now you may be wondering why this is called a laptop from 1916 and the simple answer is because it actually folds down the top bar where you actually type folds down on top of the keyboard so that it can fit in its neat little carrying case. It's a revolutionary design that continued to be used for decades now. The design is actually very clever. The typing wheel rests on top of two nickel-plated arms that are on two little pole things, and the arms fold over and carry the whole top with it, adding to the portability. This diminutive machine is only about a foot by 6 inches in size, and its frame is entirely made out of aluminum, which means it's basically a MacBook Pro.

The Inside Mechanics

If we take a look inside the original instruction manual, you'll find all sorts of diagrams that point to crazy things and tons and tons of different switches and levers. We're not very interested in going into depth about every single one of these, so let's just look at the highlights. Because this is a portable typewriter, each key has three functions: letter, capital letter, and symbol. To make use of all three of these layers on the actual keys themselves, the number 3 actually uses two different shift keys in its resting position. The lowercase letters strike the type face if you press the caps lock button. The entire assembly moves up to allow the capital letters to strike the type face. If you press the Fig button (which stands for figures), the whole assembly moves up even more to allow the symbols or numbers to strike the type face. It's actually quite entertaining when you're typing to see this whole big assembly moving up and down every time you do a capital letter or a number or a punctuation mark.

Additional Features

Even next to the figure key, you'll notice a little rocker that actually serves three purposes. The first is actually the caps lock button; if you depress the capital letter shift key and then rock it up into place, it'll lock the assembly in that position, essentially acting as a caps lock button. The same thing applies for the figure button; it can lock it in punctuation and number mode. The third use is quite important because if you push the rocker into place without depressing either of the shift keys, it locks the assembly in place, which means when you go to fold it up, it's not going to lift off. You don't want your typing assembly to go flying away tucked away behind the assembly on top are two little stands that fold out; these are to support your paper and make the whole thing look super cute.

The Carrying Case

The carrying case for the Corona is actually very clever in itself. There are actually two little mounting plates inside the case that latch onto the typewriter when you put it in, and then when those are in place, the case actually folds down so you don't even have to take the typewriter out of the case at all if you want to use it. This typewriter was absolutely revolutionary and versions of it continued to be made all the way until 1940, just for the model 3. Think about it this way: this typewriter was basically produced from 1912 all the way to 1940, that's 28 years; it really is incredible that something like this could be relevant for 28 years.

Conclusion

The Corona 3 is an incredible little device, and even though over 700,000 of them exist, almost any collector would be happy to have one of these in their collection. I know for me personally, it's the perfect kind of typewriter because it's so light and portable that it can almost be a display item on your shelf. Heck, you could use this thing just texting my friends; ll omg a there's no Emojis where are the Emojis now!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enmost typewriters in the early 1900s were huge cast iron behemoths but this one isn't in 1912 Corona typewriter Company Inc released what would become one of the most famous typewriters in history now the story for the corona 3 actually begins way back in 1903 with the precursor to this model which is the standard folding typewriter now the original standard folding typewriter was created by a man named Frank Rose and his revolutionary design did not go unnoticed in fact his business was so great that in 1909 a man named Ben coner would buy it and begin to work on a second generation in 1909 and 1910 after the second generation was already released a man named utto Peterman was named as the head designer for what was going to be the Next Generation the number three he redesigned the aluminum frame and made it more curvy and smaller and in 1909 and 1910 applied for dozens and dozens of patents until in 1912 the corona number three was ready to be launched the advertising and marketing team at Corona was was then tasked with selling a very unorthodox typewriter in their advertisements they made sure that customers knew that while the device was very light and very portable it was also very productive with all the functionality that they would come to expect from a full-size office typewriter they even marketed it in really fun colors like red and blue and green the model 3 was so successful that from the 6,000 sales of the first year of 1912 through its entire production they had sold over 700,000 of these machines so let's look at how this thing actually works now you may be wondering why this is called a laptop from 1916 and the simple answer is because it actually folds down the top bar where you actually type folds down on top of the keyboard so that it can fit in its neat little carrying case it's a revolutionary design that continued to be used for decades now the design is actually very clever the typing wheel rests on top of two nickel plated arms that are on two little pole things and the arms fold over and carry the whole top with it adding to the portability was the very diminutive size of this machine it's only about a foot by 6 in and the frame is entirely made out of aluminum which means it's basically a MacBook Pro now let's talk about how this thing works if we take a look inside the original instruction manual you'll find all sorts of diagrams that point to crazy things and tons and tons of different switches and levers and quite frankly we're not very interested in going in depth into every single one of those so let's just look at the highlights now because this is a portable typewriter each key has three functions you have a letter a capital letter and symbol in order to make use of all three of these layers on the actual Keys themselves the number three actually uses two different shift keys in its resting position the lowercase letters strike the type face if you press the caps lock button the entire assembly actually moves up to allow the capital letters to strike the type face if you press the Fig button which stands for figures the whole assembly moves up even more to allow the symbols or numbers to strike the type face it's actually quite entertaining when you're typing to see this whole big assembly moving up and down every time you do a capital letter or a number or a punctuation mark even next to the figure key you'll notice a little rocker that actually serves three purposes the first is actually the caps lock button if you depress the capital letter shift key and then rock it up into place it'll lock the assembly in that position basically a caps lock button the same thing applies for the figure button it can lock it in punctuation and number mode for some reason the third use is actually quite important because if you push the rocker into place without depressing either of the shift Keys it locks the assembly in place which means when you go to fold it up it's not going to lift off you don't want your uh typing assembly to go flying away tucked away behind the assembly on top are two little stands that fold out these are to support your paper and it really just makes this whole thing look super cute they have little antenna now the carrying case for the corona is actually very clever in itself there are actually two little mounting uh plates inside the case that uh latch onto the typewriter when you put it in and then when those are in place the case actually folds down so you don't even have to take the typewriter out of the case at all if you want to use it this typewriter was absolutely revolutionary and versions of it continued to be made all the way until 1940 and that's just for the model 3 so think about it this way this typewriter was basically produced from 1912 all the way to 1940 that's 28 years it really just is incredible that something like this could be relevant for 28 years I mean look at a computer from 28 years ago you never see people using computers from 19 88 ever so I find it amazing that that this typewriter continued to be in use for 28 years before they finally stopped producing it overall the corona 3 is an incredible little device and even though over 700,000 of them exist almost any collector would be happy to have one of these in their collection I know for me personally it's the perfect kind of typewriter because it's so light and portable that it it can almost be a display item in in your shelf heck you could use this thing just texting my friends l l o mg a there's no Emojis where are the Emojis now I know what they need to work on for the next modelmost typewriters in the early 1900s were huge cast iron behemoths but this one isn't in 1912 Corona typewriter Company Inc released what would become one of the most famous typewriters in history now the story for the corona 3 actually begins way back in 1903 with the precursor to this model which is the standard folding typewriter now the original standard folding typewriter was created by a man named Frank Rose and his revolutionary design did not go unnoticed in fact his business was so great that in 1909 a man named Ben coner would buy it and begin to work on a second generation in 1909 and 1910 after the second generation was already released a man named utto Peterman was named as the head designer for what was going to be the Next Generation the number three he redesigned the aluminum frame and made it more curvy and smaller and in 1909 and 1910 applied for dozens and dozens of patents until in 1912 the corona number three was ready to be launched the advertising and marketing team at Corona was was then tasked with selling a very unorthodox typewriter in their advertisements they made sure that customers knew that while the device was very light and very portable it was also very productive with all the functionality that they would come to expect from a full-size office typewriter they even marketed it in really fun colors like red and blue and green the model 3 was so successful that from the 6,000 sales of the first year of 1912 through its entire production they had sold over 700,000 of these machines so let's look at how this thing actually works now you may be wondering why this is called a laptop from 1916 and the simple answer is because it actually folds down the top bar where you actually type folds down on top of the keyboard so that it can fit in its neat little carrying case it's a revolutionary design that continued to be used for decades now the design is actually very clever the typing wheel rests on top of two nickel plated arms that are on two little pole things and the arms fold over and carry the whole top with it adding to the portability was the very diminutive size of this machine it's only about a foot by 6 in and the frame is entirely made out of aluminum which means it's basically a MacBook Pro now let's talk about how this thing works if we take a look inside the original instruction manual you'll find all sorts of diagrams that point to crazy things and tons and tons of different switches and levers and quite frankly we're not very interested in going in depth into every single one of those so let's just look at the highlights now because this is a portable typewriter each key has three functions you have a letter a capital letter and symbol in order to make use of all three of these layers on the actual Keys themselves the number three actually uses two different shift keys in its resting position the lowercase letters strike the type face if you press the caps lock button the entire assembly actually moves up to allow the capital letters to strike the type face if you press the Fig button which stands for figures the whole assembly moves up even more to allow the symbols or numbers to strike the type face it's actually quite entertaining when you're typing to see this whole big assembly moving up and down every time you do a capital letter or a number or a punctuation mark even next to the figure key you'll notice a little rocker that actually serves three purposes the first is actually the caps lock button if you depress the capital letter shift key and then rock it up into place it'll lock the assembly in that position basically a caps lock button the same thing applies for the figure button it can lock it in punctuation and number mode for some reason the third use is actually quite important because if you push the rocker into place without depressing either of the shift Keys it locks the assembly in place which means when you go to fold it up it's not going to lift off you don't want your uh typing assembly to go flying away tucked away behind the assembly on top are two little stands that fold out these are to support your paper and it really just makes this whole thing look super cute they have little antenna now the carrying case for the corona is actually very clever in itself there are actually two little mounting uh plates inside the case that uh latch onto the typewriter when you put it in and then when those are in place the case actually folds down so you don't even have to take the typewriter out of the case at all if you want to use it this typewriter was absolutely revolutionary and versions of it continued to be made all the way until 1940 and that's just for the model 3 so think about it this way this typewriter was basically produced from 1912 all the way to 1940 that's 28 years it really just is incredible that something like this could be relevant for 28 years I mean look at a computer from 28 years ago you never see people using computers from 19 88 ever so I find it amazing that that this typewriter continued to be in use for 28 years before they finally stopped producing it overall the corona 3 is an incredible little device and even though over 700,000 of them exist almost any collector would be happy to have one of these in their collection I know for me personally it's the perfect kind of typewriter because it's so light and portable that it it can almost be a display item in in your shelf heck you could use this thing just texting my friends l l o mg a there's no Emojis where are the Emojis now I know what they need to work on for the next model\n"