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22-8-2020 08:36:14  #1


Smith Corona in the Netherlands



Hello everybody,

1) I finally found a SC Silent-Super. This typewriter is hard to find in the Netherlands. I am under the impression SC had no importer in the Netherlands until at least 1970. This brochure from 1968 about SC typefaces and keyboards contains no Dutch keyboard, neither any Dutch letters. Does anyone know why portables like the Sterling, Silent-Super, Clipper and the Skyriter are so rare overhere?

2) My Silent-Super has a Dutch keyboard, see the images below. I am wondering if the keyboard is customized for Dutch because the layout seems odd to me. Besides that, the symbols for the acute (ˊ) and grave (ˋ) on the key tops look stylistic different from each other. The keyboard is customized, that is for sure, because it contains the therefore sign. Interesting fact: there is no dealer badge on the back of the machine, only the badge of an office supply service. Coincidentally  that service was located on the same street as the Olympia importer. Any thoughts about this keyboard?

Thanks,
Lau









 

22-8-2020 09:46:23  #2


Re: Smith Corona in the Netherlands

That's great stuff, Lau! And what a great find!  

The two plates showing the same street are fantastic talking points for a collection, but I don't think it's surprising to find two typewriter related businesses located close to each other. If the Netherlands is anything like Canada, it's not uncommon for similar retail segments to be clustered; for example, in downtown Toronto there are numerous sneaker stores (don't ask) within a two-block radius of each other. 

What's more interesting to me is the sticker to the left of the plate on the Smith-Corona. It seems that it might be a clue as to why the 'therefore' slug (I've never seen one of these in person before) is on the Super. The sticker looks to be as old as the machine; do you recognize it?

With respect to the Dutch keyboard/characters, I think they're factory original. You can forget about that brochure you linked to: For one, it was meant for the United States market, and two, it's just a listing of the more "popular" keyboards, not a complete catalog of what Smith-Corona had available. 

I'm sure Smith-Corona had a Dutch keyboard, but as you can attest from the difficulty of finding such machines it wasn't a high volume item. Additionally, foreign language keyboards were also sold domestically and purchased by those who needed to be able to type in another language, something that is so easy to do today using ASCII codes.


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

22-8-2020 10:08:45  #3


Re: Smith Corona in the Netherlands

Thanks Uwe for the info about the keyboard layout.

About the sticker, I think you are right, it is as old as the machine. I do not recognize it, but I think it is the logo of an office machine company, depicting a scroll with the + - x : = signs on it.

My theory about the therefore-sign is that this machine was used by someone who was involved with freemasonry. If the therefore-sign was used for mathematical proof, I expect the because-sign (the same symbol but upside down) on the keyboard too. However, the therefore-sign was used by freemasonry as replacement for a period in abbreviations. I am just speculating, but this seems the most logical explanation to me.

     Thread Starter
 

23-8-2020 11:05:51  #4


Re: Smith Corona in the Netherlands

Laurenz van Gaalen wrote:

My theory about the therefore-sign is that this machine was used by someone who was involved with freemasonry. If the therefore-sign was used for mathematical proof, I expect the because-sign (the same symbol but upside down) on the keyboard too.

Hmmmm. Looking at the keyboard again, it seems to be an iteration of an international typeset. You have three currency symbols, and accents for different languages. Rather than a mathematical use, I can see this keyboard being used by someone typing business correspondence, because the ∴ was apparently also used for shorthand. This seems far more likely to me than it being special ordered by a Freemason.
 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

23-8-2020 15:07:30  #5


Re: Smith Corona in the Netherlands

The currency symbols and accents are normal for Dutch keyboards. If we suppose this is a standard Dutch keyboard, the only custom  character is the therefore sign.

What puzzles me the most is why they added the therefore sign without the related because sign. And of all possible positions, they choosed the location that most likely contained the ampersand sign.

     Thread Starter
 

24-8-2020 13:51:59  #6


Re: Smith Corona in the Netherlands

Laurenz van Gaalen wrote:

What puzzles me the most is why they added the therefore sign without the related because sign.

Wouldn't that support the theory that the  ∴  was used for shorthand and not math, especially given there aren't any other math-specific symbols (other than what you would normally find)?
 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

24-8-2020 14:29:56  #7


Re: Smith Corona in the Netherlands

I am not sure, shorthand as I know it (stenography) is a 'language' of it own, with its own glyphs. Why include just one?

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24-8-2020 14:50:57  #8


Re: Smith Corona in the Netherlands

I am pretty sure (as sure as the other explanations) that this three-dot character was ordered by an outdoorsman writer so that he (They are 91% male.) could indicate the locations of cairns in his trail descriptions. Mystery solved.

 

24-8-2020 15:39:35  #9


Re: Smith Corona in the Netherlands



Or perhaps an architect who specialized in building pyramids...
   ∴ 
 ∴ ∴ 
∴ ∴ ∴ 

Lau, I wasn't referring to written shorthand. Lord knows I can't stand Wikipedia, but here's examples from its entry on the symbol that would make sense for a typist.
As u
sed as a syllogism:
All gods are immortal.
Zeus is a god.
∴ Zeus is immortal.

"An asterism, ⁂, is a typographic symbol consisting of three asterisks (or in this case a special order character)  placed in a triangle. Its purpose is to 'indicate minor breaks in text;, to call attention to a passage, or to separate sub-chapters in a book.

It is also used in meteorology to indicate 'moderate snowfall'."

Or as Michael pointed out, there are geographical uses but not likely in relation to a typewriter. Some maps use the sign, albeit with thicker dots, indicate national monuments, historic sites or ruins. It's also used in Japanto indicate a tea plantation. 
I like explanations that fit the most likely scenarios, ∴ I'm sticking to the idea that it was used for typed shorthand that indicates breaks in written content. 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

28-8-2020 02:41:30  #10


Re: Smith Corona in the Netherlands

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