Smith Corona Skywriter
http://munk.org/typecast/2010/11/12/boswell-the-1956-smith-corona-skyriter/

I linked this photo from the Right Reverend Munk's website and I hope he would not be offended as I give full attribution. I don't see anything to be gained by a photo of my more beat looking one taken in my beat looking work area. The basic model and color is the same but mine has light cream keys and Smith Corona logo and a space bar matching the shell, as well as the "big, shiny return lever" the reverend coveted, showing mine was once carried in a soft case, now lost.  My example is missing the vestigial paper rest with the Skywriter name, has a dimple in the front bar, a bright mark on the dust cover where the carriage return/line-space lever hit it when a former user pushed the wrong way and a bright metal spot on the space bar just where my thumb goes, so I do not have to wear in my own.  The machine has been used.  It also came with a detached dust cover which I was able to pop back into place after realizing it attaches, you will excuse the analogy, like a toilet seat cover - they are always being knocked out of place. And it is dirty.

Thus for the external appearance. I am sure protest groups will spring up demanding an apology for my insult, but the machine is not beautiful. It is, in fact, bordering on u... let's say "utilitarian". The heavy use of stamped metal reminds me of the Tom Thumb children's typewriter, and new condition would only have helped it so much.

The big surprise came after I rewound the ribbon spools which had popped off during transportation and dubiously sat down at the keyboard. It is no children's typewriter on the inside!  It is quiet, has a wonderful nimble touch which is a pleasure to use and returning the carriage evokes the smooth feel of precision machinery. It effortlessly types even rows of pica incongruous with its small size. The inside of the machine turned out to be amazingly clean, with shiny metal parts without a trace of dirt or even dust. So it was well used but well taken care of, and it recalls a description which has stayed in my mind a long time of the motorbike used by a Mossad agent undercover in a hostile town: a very old looking frame with a very new motor.

I mentioned it is quiet and though I have been wrong at least once before in assuming an old machine had a hard platen (squeezing it between your fingers does no good since the tactile feedback is going to tell you what you expect it to tell you) but in this case I am not mistaken: the platen is as hard as a slate board.  This is a data point supporting my general contention that while platen hardness is a factor in noise and paper cutting it need not be the deciding factor depending on the design and tolerances of the rest of the machine. The machine does not emboss paper either, which shows the type is being stopped by the anvil and not the platen, like a man who pretends to punch you and stops his fist a millimeter from your face. When this is true a hard platen may allow the paper to slip but does not have much other ill effect.

Good things sometimes come in small utilitarian packages. Go out and drive up that market price!  I have mine.