Barr bad, Royal good: Typewriters Tested and Rated in 1937

And while you’re at it (see previous post), don’t touch a late 1930s Barr Universal – but do buy a Royal Standard Model 0. John H.Barr would have been rolling in his grave (wherever that might be): the Barr Universal was deemed “unacceptable” because “its design is faulty on many points”, according to the November 1937 issue of Consumers Union Reports. This Consumers Union of the United States magazine ran a three-page “Test results on six brands of Portable Typewriters”: