Corona Typewriter Company, Inc.
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You will receive the exact certificate pictured
Over 100 years old
First preferred stock
July 2, 1920
Issued, canceled
Franklin-Lee Division, American Bank Note Company
Hand signed
11 1/4" (w) by 7 3/4" (h)
NA
Historical Context
This company originated in 1886, when the Smith Premier Typewriter Company was established by Lyman C. Smith and his brothers Wilbert, Monroe, and Hurlbut. The typewriter was the first to use a double keyboard, but it was not the first typewriter that typed both upper and lower case characters; that honor belonged to the Remington #2 that was introduced in 1877–78, a decade before the first model of the Smith Premier was placed on the market. Company advertisements boasted that there was "a key for every character!"
In 1889, the Smith-Premier, the first typewriter to bear the Smith name, was manufactured in Lyman C. Smith's gun factory on South Clinton Street in Syracuse, New York. Alexander T. Brown, an employee, invented the machine, and Wilbert Smith financed the construction of the prototype.
During 1893, Smith joined with the Union Typewriter Company, a trust in Syracuse which included rival firms Remington, Caligraph, Densmore and Yost.
Not long after, Union took action and blocked the Smith Premier Typewriter Company from using the new front strike design, which allowed typists to see the paper as they typed. As a result, the Smith brothers quit in 1903 and founded L. C. Smith & Bros. Typewriter Company. The new company soon released the "L.C. Smith & Bros. Model No. 2", which was an odd beginning because, a full year later, they released the "L.C. Smith & Bros. Model No. 1." Carl Gabrielson invented both models.
In 1906, the Rose Typewriter Company of New York City marketed the first successful portable typewriter. They were bought out by Smith in 1909, renamed Standard Typewriter Company, and moved upstate to Groton, New York.
To promote usage of the typewriter, the company began by offering typing services at the company headquarters located at the corner of East Genesee and Washington streets in Syracuse. An advertisement on December 27, 1904, for Smith Premier typewriters, touted the Employee Department which offered services such as finding a "competent stenographer (male or female) to operate any make of machine." The company advertised they could provide the services promptly, saving clients time and trouble and "examining" all applicants. Operators could perform duties such as stenographer, typewriter, telegrapher and bookkeeper.
With the success of their Corona model in 1914, Standard Typewriter Company was renamed again and became the Corona Typewriter Company. Smith Corona was created when L. C. Smith & Bros. united with Corona Typewriter in 1926, with L. C. Smith & Bros. making office typewriters and Corona Typewriter making portables.
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Additional Information
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