The Collection: Continental 100

The Collection: Continental 100 In the series "The Collection", we present the type- writers on the shelves of maschinengeschrieben. This Friday, it's the Continental l00. In the early 1930s, the Wanderer—Werke started to produce a series of portable typewriters. the Conti« nental Kleinschreibmaschine. Several different models with more or less features, but all with the same design were produced in that decade. With only two exceptions: The Continental 200, an ultra-flat type- writer (Georg owns one}, of which very few facts are known, and the luxurios Continental 100, the top-of- the-line model with a boxy design and an entirely unioue way of setting tabs and margins. The Continental 100 was probably introduced in 1938 and cost 440 Fr. in Switzerland, which is about 3350 Fr. or 3425 USD. The Continental 100 clearly wasn't a cheap machine, therefore. only few models are known in the present day. And that's a shame, because the Continental 100 is a solid machine, has a nice design and the very clever tab-and-margin-in—one feature I discussed in an earlier post. The typing feel of the Continental 100 didn't appeal me at first, but after % page I've now typed, I think I might get used to it. It is like a Hermes 2000 minus the strong snap, which I didn't like there. A clear drawback is the carriage shift, which one definitely wouldn't expect from a "Luxusmodell". To make things worse, the key for the shifting needs to be pressed quite far down, about 9.5 cm. After all, this machine is better oualified for English typing with far less capital letters than German. One thing I need to add about the typing feel is that it's probably the slighty unusual noise, it seems nuite a bit damped and the typical clack is less distinct than I'm used to. Four out of Five stars for the typing feel, I'd say. Five for history. maschinengeschrieben.blogsnot.com Continental 100 This awesome post was brought to you by the mighty Typosphere