1 of 1- Markmotown
- Touch Typist
Offline - From: Villanova, PA
- Registered: 16-12-2015
- Posts: 183
Upside-down slug?! (And "haunted" slug)
I've been working on refurbishing a beautiful burgundy 1935 Corona Sterling as a gift for my book editor. The typewriter itself is gorgeous, and I've just recently finished-up all of the repairs, cleaning and oiling. Very pleased with myself, I thought I'd take it out for a test run, and only then discovered that the "O" type slug is upside down! (!!!) At first, I thought it was my mistake or delirium, but it's not. Pressing the uppercase "O" produces a small "o" that is off-center and floats high above the baseline; pressing the lowercase "o" produces an uppercase "O" that is also off-center, and looks more like a backwards crescent "C" based on how the slug mis-strikes the platen.
So... help?
Any idea of how it got this way, or what to do about it? Other than perhaps just chalking it up as a "quirk"? Thanks in advance.
Oh, also: over the many nights I've cleaned and worked on this machine (without any ribbon whatsoever), I find it strange that, whenever I come back to it, there is a purple ink (color like carbon- or ditto-paper) that appears only on the "A" type slug. I clean it with methyl alcohol and rags, or sometimes with steel wool, until it is free of debris and shiny as the rest of the slugs. But the next day, I come down and the "A" is purple again.
Any idea what that's all about? Or is it just "haunted"?! 
- Vossytappy
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Re: Upside-down slug?! (And "haunted" slug)
Interesting... Looks like you're on your own, buddy!
- Javi
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Re: Upside-down slug?! (And "haunted" slug)
Just out of curiosity... Could you post a photo of that?
Whatever it may happen, i bet it's something worth seeing.
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- Markmotown
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Re: Upside-down slug?! (And "haunted" slug)
Yeah, this doesn't seem to be getting much attention, so I'll add some pics.
Here's the Corona Sterling (which I just discovered was Unabomber Ted Kaczynski's typewriter. Except his was black. 
Here's the chronically purple "A." I'll clean it nightly with alcohol, and in the morning, it's back to being purple again. 
Here's the typeface specimen. Note the "O"s.
Here's the upside-down "O" slug. It is certainly shinier than the other slugs, but doesn't appear to have been soldered-on, which makes me think that it has been like this since it was manufactured back in 1935. 
Anyway, any thoughts or suggestions would, as always, be greatly appreciated!
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Thread Starter- Javi
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- From: Valladolid (Spain)
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Re: Upside-down slug?! (And "haunted" slug)
Definitely weird. 
I wouldn´t do anything about it, though. That purple typeslug... and the upside-down one... Just in case don´t annoy it.
On a more serious tone, I wouldn´t do anything either. Whatever the reason these things are there (and I swear I have no idea), these little quirks are what make each typewriter different, and as long as they don´t cause any harm or disturbance.
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- Markmotown
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Re: Upside-down slug?! (And "haunted" slug)
Personally, I don't mind it. But I'm giving this as a gift, so I feel weird in potentially passing on a "defective" machine.
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Thread Starter- beak
- Key Master
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- From: Qld Australia
- Registered: 24-3-2013
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Re: Upside-down slug?! (And "haunted" slug)
Not sure about the A, but the O slug is definitely twisted on its type arm. And you could almost expect that to be the case immediately on seeing the typed sample. It really does look the odd man out in that collection of slugs, and I have to guess that it is a repair or replacement which was botched. Soldering a slug to its is, I believe (never tried it myself) a very tricky business.
Given that it is a gift, I would consider having the slug professionally corrected; I see your point. There is no way I can imagine that this is how the manufacturer intended the machine to be, so repair is in order, IMO.
I guess that the A slug is reacting to the ink in the particular ribbon installed, though why it should be this key alone I don't know. Try a different brand of ribbon?
Nice machine, and a great gift.
Sincerely,
beak.
- Uwe
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Re: Upside-down slug?! (And "haunted" slug)
Markmotown wrote:
Here's the upside-down "O" slug. It is certainly shinier than the other slugs, but doesn't appear to have been soldered-on, which makes me think that it has been like this since it was manufactured back in 1935.
Not a chance!
What's a more likely scenario, that such an obvious error slipped past all of the quality control inspectors at the Royal factory unnoticed, or that at some point during the typewriter's 80+ year history an amateur repairman made a complete hash of attempting to correct an alignment issue?
There are many people working on typewriters right now who don't possess the skills or tools to do such work and as a result are causing more damage than good to their machines. This was already a problem during the time your Royal was made (see below).
As beak pointed out, the type bar itself is out of alignment, and my guess is that some previous uninformed owner thought it was an issue with the slug and attempted to resolder it. And once the slug had cooled off and he realized that he'd soldered the slug on upside down, the machine was sold out of frustration. There are many other possible scenarios. For example, perhaps the original solder had cracked and some unqualified owner resoldered the slug upside down and twisted the type bar in the process.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- t24psy
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Re: Upside-down slug?! (And "haunted" slug)
A bit late in responding, but my thoughts are that the 'A' has been re-soldered on to the type bar hence the blue/purple discoloration and the 'O' has been removed, cleaned and fitted back on the type bar ready for soldering, but never finished.
