Freitag, 30. März 2012

intercontinental.



intercontinental. On a few days of March, I had three Continental typewriters in my collection; a Continental "Tab" with the serial number R048852, which is now with Adwoa of Retro Tech Geneva, a Continental it? 100, a pretty rare luxury model introduced in 1938 and my Continental 340, the first typewriter I bought. With that possibility, I compared the three machines. And found some interesting technical solutions. the three typewriters were probably produced in the following order: 1. Continental Tab 2. Continental 100 (R325385) 3. Continental 340 (R408753) let's first compare the "Tab" and the 340. After their first portable was released in the early 1930s, the Continental engineers continued to develop new models. But were they really new? Let's take a look: We see what they did there... The early Continental's Tab function basically consists of a bar of tabs added behind the main frame. The late, possibly around 1942 340, which doesn't have a tab, seems to be basically the same. Indeed, except for the tabulator attachement, there aren't many big differences, the most striking change is the much bigger carriage return lever, also, its function is slightly changed. The Continental 100, on the other hand, the top- of—the-line model, introduced in 1938, which would cost over 2800 Fr. today, has a totally different design. Its straight, aesthetical lines have a certain resemblance of the flat Corona 4 model. But is the luxury model such a big change from the other two Continentals? It actually isn't. Knowing where the Tab-Functions are on the Continental "Tab", we also understand why the Continental 100 has such an enormous carri- age: To hide the "Kolonnenreiter", as the Continental marketing branch call the Tabs. A view from below onto the innards of the Continental 340 (left) and the Continental 100 show that there aren't major changes except for the Tab- Functions and a replaced functions and a re-located bell. The folks at Continental in Siegmar-Schonau near Chemnitz definitely knew how to re-use their designs. Pity that Continental ceased to exist after the trobules of the second World War. They made great typewriters. maschinengeschrieben.blogspot.com Typed on the Continental 340 This awesome post was brought to you by the mighty Typosphere

10 Kommentare:

Bill M hat gesagt…

Nice typewriters.

Rob Bowker hat gesagt…

Great photo-exposition. You got some good light in those photos and the green is working well with the black.

Richard P hat gesagt…

Thank you for this comparison and the excellent pictures. I have a Continental from 1938 which I think is a very fine typewriter.

notagain hat gesagt…

very thorough and interesting. A Continental came up on shopgoodwill once but I was outbid for it.

Ton S. hat gesagt…

Excellent post, Florian. And such handsome Continentals, all of them seem to be in perfect shape!

Miguel Chávez hat gesagt…

Very nice machines, and a very good idea to compare them side by side and discover the different features and the many similarities! I liked the design of the Tab machine; very neat and orderly. Functionally it must be similar to, say, the Olivetti Lettera 32, but this one definitely looks sturdier. Guess I'll have to see if that brand ever reached this side of the pond.

Dwayne F. hat gesagt…

This is a nice comparison. Continentals don't show up in the U.S. too often. These look well designed. If they are built as well as the Olympias of the same era, I'm sure they are fun to type on as well.

Cameron hat gesagt…

Very interesting typewriters, and great presentation with that green fabric as background!

Adwoa hat gesagt…

Excellent photo essay, Florian! Very nice to see my Continental up there with yours, makes me appreciate it even more knowing it's the oldest of the bunch. Thanks again for bringing it to Basel for me!

shordzi hat gesagt…

Just to say that I love all your posts on the Conti 100. Just got one myself, # R325522.

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