“The Corona #3 is the only psychiatrist I would ever submit to”
Ernest Hemingway
In 1868, a patent was issued to Christopher Sholes, Carlos Glidden and Samuel Soule for their invention of a typewriter, a machine that was to revolutionise office work and also do much to undermine handwriting as a craft. It was suggested to the inventors that they arrange the keyboard in such a way that the most commonly used keys were widely separated on the keyboard. This was purely for mechanical reasons.
The layout minimised the likelihood that the metal arms bearing the type letters would jam. The QWERTY layout that has been used ever since, and this layout is now used on computer keyboards.
The first commercial typewriters were introduced in 1874, but did not become common in offices until after the mid-1880s. Thereafter it was not long before other entrepreneurs joined the race to supply typewriters.
In 1905, L.C. Smith & Brothers sold its first typewriter to the New York Times for the newspaper’s news room. Smith was to be the biggest producer of typewriters for many years to come. Also during this time, another typewriter company was achieving considerable success. In 1906, the Corona Typewriter Company introduced its Corona model, a light-weight, portable typewriter. By 1914, Corona was the leading manufacturer of portable typewriters and with the outbreak of World War One (1914-1918) it soon became a favourite of the military and the journalists at the front.
The famous author Ernest Hemingway was very fond of his corona typewriter. He received a corona #3 typewriter for his birthday and said that this typewriter changed his life. The corona #3 was lightweight and portable and Hemingway carried it everywhere with him during his international travels.
After the stock market crashed in 1929, the sales of typewriters declined sharply and suffered some setbacks in the wake of the Great Depression. However, one of the more successful mergers of the time resulted in the formation of the L.C. Smith & Corona Typewriter Company in 1926. L.C. Smith & Bros. made office typewriters and Corona Typewriter manufactured portables.
The National Museum has three L.C. Smith & Corona Typewriters in the History collection. One of them dating from the 1930s, a model #8 with a 10 inch carriage and a closed-frame design. The keys are nickel with white face and blank numbers.
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