As for the key you’re talking about, you can’t see it on the pic, but on mine it say “M.R.” — Margin Release. (It might be “Magic Release”, but I haven’t seen any bunnies pop out of the basket when I press it.) No superscripting there, so what type of keyboard you have I don’t quite know.

The little lever next to it, however, is the lock. Pull this lever up, then press the carrier release (it’s the little similar looking lever on the right, next to the knob/dial to turn the platen) to center the carrier. It’ll lock in place, along with the keys and hammers. It’s so that when you travel with it, the carrier won’t slide around and the hammers won’t bunch up and get stuck. If you don’t have a case, then this can serve as the equivalent of a password protected screensaver lock on your computer, except this one’s a bit easier to get around by pressing things and eventually getting it right.

As for a case, I’m sure you can find one on eBay. There are certainly enough dead SM-3’s out there that there should be some lonely cases available. As for a manual, well I didn’t get one either. Haven’t felt the need for it, though, so that’s a good sign, I guess.

Keep typing, and yes, expect more typecasts!

Unfortunately, mine didn’t come with a manual or case, but it was a steal at $40. Can you tell me what the key below the plus sign does? Mine looks like a #4 domino or dice — four circles. Most of the SM3s pictured online have “HB” written on that key. I can’t figure out what it does, but with the caps lock key depressed it seems to do superscript. The little lever next to it has also got me perplexed.

I hope you keep typecasting!

@Mike: You know, it’s a nice typewriter to work on, but I gotta be honest, between this and The Beast (the Smith Corona Silent Super), I think I’m liking the Smith Corona better. Probably has to do with my fingers being so fat they hit multiple keys simultaneously on the SM-3, where the keys are spaced closer together than in the Smith Corona. The fact that I don’t yet have a nickname for it, that it hasn’t seemed to give anything up to me is a bit disturbing. i keep wanting to call it “The German”, but I suppose that would only feed into the stereotype, as well as seeming unimaginative because Olympia is a German company.

You won’t regret it.