Yes you can swap the long return lever from a Corsair for the vestigal return arm of your early Skyriter!

My 1956 Smith Corona Skyriter with vestigal return lever…

First remove the carriage cover of the 6Y machine – you need to do it to access the one screw that holds the carriage return assembly in the machine.

Yep, that long screw at the top of the assembly is all you need to unscrew once you have all the cruft off. This screw is directly accessible on your older metal-body Skyriter.

Sadly, the vestigal arm doesn’t clear the added plastic bodywork on Cougar 6Y. Guess you’re a parts machine now, you poor victim of 1960’s excessive bodywork bloat.

These are the tools needed.

Weapon of Choice, with phat new chrome shifter. Vroom, vroom!

Exploded view of the 6Y Carriage and linespace mechanisms, from the Smith Corona 6YC Series Typewriter Repair Manual. Printed & Coil-Bound, PDF

Updated: November 29, 2020 — 4:43 pm

12 Comments

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  1. You’ve solved the mystery! I often wondered the same, and I often wondered if I put a longer arm on such a small typewriter would the typewriter shift to the side with each carriage return. My Sears Attache is a skyriter with the long arm and does move with carriage returns even on one of my grippy rubber pads.

  2. Nicely done!

  3. Nice. It looks like it belongs ;)

  4. “Vestigal arm” really does make me laugh.

    Working this evening on my own Smith-Corona return lever that’s sitting a bit too low and scraping a ribbon cover.

  5. What about its prehensile tail?

  6. Maybe that swap will help me like the two Skywriters I own and never use. That tiny arm looks deformed, as out of proportion as a T-Rex’s forearms. 😄

  7. I had done the same with my skyriter months ago. I bought another skyriter with the long net carriage arm and swapped it with my already-perfectly-tuned skyriter. Then sold the other with the new-to-it shorter arm for the same price I bought it for. Came out even!

    Question though, for anyone who has a skyriter with the longer arm and a skyriter with the old metal case: Is it possible for the metal lid to close over the longer carriage arm as it rotates down and tight to the side of the machine?

    1. I doubt it. The longer arm extends laterally about a half inch longer than the short arm – doubt it would fit in the form-fitting shell. That’s probably why they were only an option on the ones in the zipper case.

  8. Same machine… new question!
    My Corsair is missing whatever locks/unlocks the carriage ratchet. The lever is there, but it doesn’t do anything. 🙄. Any chance you could send me a pic of yours or of a parts diagram?
    Thanks!!!

    1. Allright, I added an exploded view of the carriage and linespace parts of the 6Y to the end of this post. Good luck! (:

  9. I was working on damaged return lever assembly on a SCM Super-G (7YP Series) and really happy to find answers in the 6YC Series Typewriter Repair Manual. Your manuals have proved to be invaluable resources.

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