100 Typewriters for Exhibition

I have spent the last three days putting together a detailed inventory of the 100 typewriters from my collection (actually, 107 counting those for public use) which will go into the exhibition at the Canberra Museum and Gallery from July 14 to September 16.
This is by no means a selection of my 100 best typewriters. By necessity, the exhibition is divided into 10 sections of 10 typewriters. One of these is devoted to the centenary of Corona, another to toy typewriters, another to examples of models used by well-known writers (in one case, the actual typewriter used by a great author).
Ten categories needed to be somehow cobbled together, and taken into consideration in the criteria for selection were the need for wide public appeal, including whatever Australian connections I could muster, a range of colours to offset the predominant black (hence, for example, the yellow Adler Tippa S over the superior earlier Adler Tippa, which came mainly in grey), and a range of brands.
At the top of the list is a replica typewriter, made by a local craftsman. I cannot afford a real Sholes & Glidden, and this is here to show the public what the first machine to be called a typewriter looked like, and how it compares for size etc. Of course, no claim is made as to it being the real thing.
I am still "toying" with a couple of changes. I have left out a Dial Marx toy typewriter, and wonder whether the Tom Thumb and Lilliput are too alike to justify including both. Nonetheless, I have a preference for full keyboard toy typewriters. Also, I have included a nice burgundy Corona Silent over a lovely black same-vintage Canadian-made Corona Sterling with a bright red frontspiece and a silver crown.
For many of the details contained in this list, I am deeply indebted to the websites of Georg Sommeregger (typewriters.ch), Richard Polt (The Classic Typewriter Page), Alan Seaver (Machines of Loving Grace), Will Davis (Portable Typewriter Reference Site), Paul Robert (Virtual Typewriter Museum) and Wim Van Rompuy (typewriter.be).
Any corrections or other suggestions regarding this list below would be welcomed. The list is (typewriters in each section are placed in no particular order):

 1 - EVOLUTION OF THE TYPEWRITER:

THE START

(These are all late 19^th century designs: from 1873 to 1893)

1. Sholes & Glidden prototype replica

First year of production: 1874

Produced by: E.Remington & Sons, Ilion, New York

Inventor: Team led by Christopher Latham Sholes and including Carlos Glidden, Samuel Willard Soulé, James Densmore, Walter Jay Barron and Matthias Schwalbach.

Note: This same-size replica was made by Canberra craftsman Dr Keith Houston, using original patents.

2. Remington 2

First year of production: 1878

Produced by: Remington Standard Typewriter Manufacturing Company of Ilion, New York, for Wyckoff, Seamans and Benedict

Inventors: William McKendree Jenne, Jefferson Moody Clough and Bryon Alden Brooks, from the Sholes original.

Note: This was the typewriter which introduced upper and lower case type with a carriage shift device. It is sometimes called the “first real typewriter”.

3. New Yost

First year of line’s production: 1889

Produced by: Yost Writing Machine Company, Bridgeport, Connecticut

Inventors: Alexander Davidson, Andrew Wilton Steiger and Jacob Felbel.

Note: Developed by George Washington Newton Yöst

4. Caligraph

First year of line’s production: 1881

Produced by: American Writing Machine Company, New York

Inventors: George Washington Newton Yöst and Franz Xaver Wagner

Note: This was the first machine to offer competition to the Remington typewriters, and from this emerged speed typing contests and touch typing

5. Hammond No 2 (Ideal - round keyboard)

First year of line’s production: 1881

Produced by: Hammond Typewriter Company, New York

Inventor: James Bartlett Hammond and Edward J.Manning

Note: Along with the Crandall, introduced the single type element, in this case a type shuttle.

6. Hammond No 2 (later model – square keyboard)

First year of line’s production: 1881

Produced by: Hammond Typewriter Company, New York

Inventor: James Bartlett Hammond and Edward J.Manning

Note: Later developed into the Varityper, a right-margin proportional spacing machine used to typeset newspaper and magazines

7. Oliver No 5

First year of line’s production: 1893

Produced by: Oliver Typewriter Company, Woodstock, Illinois, and later Chicago.

Inventor: Thomas Oliver

Note: Arguably the first “visible” writing machine.

8. Smith Premier No 10 (double keyboard)

First year of line’s production: 1890

First produced by: Smith Premier Typewriter Company, Syracuse, New York

Inventor: Alexander Timothy Brown

Value: This last model Smith Premier produced under the umbrella of the trust, the Union Writing Machine Company, incorporated both a double keyboard and a frontstrike type action.

9. Royal Bar-Lock

First year of line’s production: 1888

First produced by: Columbia Typewriter Manufacturing Company, New York, for The Type Writer Company Limited, London

Inventor: Charles Spiro

Note: Early attempt to produce “visible” writing from one of the greatest of typewriter inventors.

10. Empire

First year of line’s production:  1895.

First produced by: Williams Manufacturing Company, Plattsburg, New York, and Imperial Writing Machine Company, Montreal, Canada

Inventor: Wellington Parker Kidder

Note: First thrust-action typewriter, introduced a hugely successful line, notably by Adler

2 – TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES

 INTO THE 20^TH CENTURY

(1893-1993)

1. Sun Standard No 2

First year of production: 1901

Produced by: Sun Typewriter Company, New York

Inventor: Lee Spear Burridge

Note: Experimental inking device, one of the outstanding examples of the work of this great inventor.

2. Mignon

First year of line’s production: 1904

First produced by: Allgemeine Electrizitäts Gesellschaft

Inventors: Louis Sell and Friedrich Heinrich Philipp Franz von Hefner-Alteneck

Note: Most successful full-sized index typewriter

3. Imperial Model B

First year of production: 1915

Produced by:  Imperial Typewriter Company, Leicester, England

Inventor: Hidalgo Moya

Note: Later work by another of the great inventors. Early British portable. This has a detachable typebasket and keyboard.

4. Underwood 5

First year of line’s production: 1893

Produced by: Underwood Typewriter Company, New York and Hartford, Connecticut.

Inventors: Franz Xaver Wagner and Herman Lewis Wagner

Note: Most popular standard-size typewriter ever, high point of the most successful line of frontstrike typewriters.

5. Royal 10

First year of production: 1910

Produced by: Royal Typewriter Company, New York

Inventors: Edward Bernard Hess and Lewis Cary Myers

Note: The major 20^th century challenger to the Underwood 5 among standard-size typewriters

6. Fox No 24

First year of line’s production: 1906

Produced by: Fox Typewriter Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Inventors: William R. Fox and Glenn J.Barrett

Note: One of the fastest typing machines ever made.

7. Klein Adler 2

First year of line’s production: 1900

Produced by: Adlerwerke, Frankfurt (formerly Henry Kleyer AG)

Inventor: Wellington Parker Kidder

Note: One of Europe’s first portables.

8. Royal Standard 1

First year of production: 1906

Produced by: Royal Typewriter Company, New York

Inventors: Edward Bernard Hess and Lewis Cary Myers

Note: A brilliant “flatbed” design came before its time

9. Blickensderfer 8

First year of line’s production: 1893

Produced by: Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company, Stamford, Connecticut

Inventor: George Canfield Blickensderfer

Note: The ultimate achievement among Blickensderfer’s small, radical portables

10. Canon Typemate 10

First year of line’s production: 1991

Produced by: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo.

Inventor: Hidero Matsumoto

Note: Marketed as “redefining the word ‘portable’” and as “space age”.

3 - RARE, BEAUTIFUL  AND UNUSUAL TYPEWRITERS

1. Rooy

First year of production: 1950

First produced by: Etablissement Rooy Société Anonyme, Paris, France

Inventor: Joseph Louis Adhémar Borel

Note: The “Holy Grail” of typewriters, a portable which fitted into a briefcase

2. Royal Quiet De Luxe (gold-plated)

First year of production: 1952

Produced by: Royal Typewriter Company, New York

Designer: Henry Dreyfuss

Note: The “James Bond Goldfinger” typewriter, same model used by Ian Fleming; special limited edition for Royal’s 50^th anniversary Golden Jubilee.

3. Underwood 4 (USB typewriter)

First year of production:  1926

First produced by: Underwood Typewriter Company, Hartford, Connecticut

Inventor: Alfred Gustav Franz Kurowski

Note: Converting old typewriters to be used as computer keyboards through a USB connection developed by Jack Zylkin  

4. Olivetti Valentine

First year of production: 1969 (launched on Valentine’s Day)

First produced by: Hispano Olivetti SpA, Barcelona

Designer: Ettore Sottsass and Perry A. King

Note: Most sought-after portable typewriter today. On permanent display at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Finest typewriter example of “Pop Art”.

5. Barr

First year of production: 1926

First produced by: Barr-Morse Corporation, Ithaca, New York

Inventor: John Henry Barr

Note: Technically one of the more advanced portables ever made, from a small, independent company

6. Olivetti ICO MP1

First year of production: 1933

First produced by: Ingegneria Camillo Olivetti, Ivrea, Turin, Italy

Designers: Riccardo Levi and Aldo Magnelli

Note: Arguably the most beautiful typewriter ever made

7. Schmitt Express

First year of production: 1951

First produced by: Schmitt KG, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Designer: Unknown

Note: Rare Bakelite typewriter

8. Smith Premier (“Croc Dundee”)

First year of line’s production: 1921

First produced by: Remington Typewriter Company, New York

Inventor: John Henry Barr

Note:  Very rare rebranded Remington portable in unusual “crocodile skin” paintwork

9. Underwood Deluxe Quiet Tab

First year of production: 1956

Produced by: Underwood Typewriter Company, Hartford, Connecticut

Designer: Paul Artem Braginetz

Note: Design speaks for itself. This model was used by Australian writer Ruth Park

10. Royal Eldorado

First year of line’s production: 1954

First produced by: Royal-McBee Nederlands NV, Holland

Designers: Van Halder and van den Berg?

Note: Design originally for Halberg Machinefabriek of Holland, which was taken over by Royal.

4 - WORLD'S SMALLEST TYPEWRITERS

1. Bennett

First year of production: 1910

Produced by: Bennett Typewriter Company, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Inventor: Charles Almon Bennett

Note: Smallest full keyboard typewriter (with the Junior, below)

2. Junior

First year of production: 1907

First produced by: Junior Typewriter Company, New York

Inventor: Charles Almon Bennett

Note: Predecessor of the Bennett

3. Winsor Special De Luxe (Junior Model 56)

First year of production: 1956

Produced by: Industrias Mecanográficas, Valencia, Spain

Inventor: Jorge Francés García

Note: Rare independently-produced typewriter

4. Groma Kolibri

First year of production: 1955

Produced by: Volkseigenen Betrieb Mechanik Groma, Markersdorf, Chemnitz, Germany

Inventors: Leopold Ferdinand Pascher and Karl Ronneberger

Note: Star of the award-winning German language movie, Lives of Others

5. Gossen Tippa

First year of production: 1950

First produced by: Paul Gossen & Co K-G Fabrik Elektrischer Messgeräte, Erlangen, Germany

Inventor: Erwin Pfaffenberger

Note: The “office in a briefcase”.

6. Bijou

First year of production: 1910

Produced by: Seidel & Naumann, Dresden, Germany

Inventors: Franklin (Frank) Sebastian Rose, Otto Petermann and Marshman Williams Hazen

Note: An illegal German duplicate of the Standard Folding-Corona 3. Bijou was an export version of the Erika.

7. Perkeo

First year of production: 1914

First produced by: Maschinenfabrik Carl Engler GmbH, Vienna, Austria; then Clemens Müller AG, Dresden, Germany

Inventors: Franklin (Frank) Sebastian Rose, Otto Petermann and Marshman Williams Hazen

Note: This is another German ‘take’ on the Standard Folding-Corona 3

8. Diamant

First year of production: 1919

First produced by: Diamant Schreibmaschinenfabrik, Frankfurt, Germany

Inventor: Jakob Heil

Note: A classic example of the work of a great Austrian-German design and mechanical engineer.

9. Stoewer Elite

First year of production: 1912

First produced by: Nähmaschinen-und Fahrräder-Fabrik Bernhard Stoewer AG, Stettin, Germany

Inventor: Paul Grützmann

Note: Innovative design by another of Germany’s great typewriter inventors.

10. Noiseless

First year of production: 1921

First produced by: Noiseless Typewriter Company, Middletown, Connecticut

Inventor: Wellington Parker Kidder

Note: The ultimate production achievement of arguably the greatest typewriter inventor of them all

5  - TOY TYPEWRITERS

1. Simplex

First year of production: 1893

First produced by: Simplex Typewriter Company, Manhattan, New York

Inventor: Analdo Myrtle English

Note: One of the most enduring and yet basic of all typewriters, a leader among index machines.

2. Simplex No 5

First year of production: 1897

First produced by: Simplex Typewriter Company, Manhattan, New York

Inventors: Philip Becker and William Thompson, based on English’s original

Note: The tiny Simplex begins to grow,

3. Simplex No 1

First year of production: 1902

First produced by: Simplex Typewriter Company, Manhattan, New York

Inventors: Phillip Becker and William Thompson (and later Samuel Alexander Thompson)

Note: This typewriter was a Christmas present for Raymond Koessler, aged nine, in 1913. Raymond died of the Spanish flu in 1917. The exhibit includes Raymond’s letters and stories. As toys, Simplex typewriters were made for more than 40 years.

4. Tom Thumb

First year of production: 1936

First produced by: Western Stamping Company, Jackson, Michigan

Inventor: James E.Thomson

Note: Tom Thumb typewriters were made in various guises over a period of 40 years,

5. Kamkap (aka Revere)

First year of production: 1957?

First produced by: Petite Typewriters, Nottingham, England

Inventor: Edward Victor Byers

Note: A scaled down version of the Byron standard-sized typewriter

6. Lilliput

First year of production: early 1950s?

First produced by: Petite Typewriters, Nottingham, England

Inventor: James E.Thomson

Note: In the 1950s, Petite Typewriters, as one of the few surviving makers of toy typewriters, entered into an agreement with the Western Stamping Company to make Tom Thumb typewriters for the American market and used the design for its own machines.

7. GSN Junior

First year of production: 1929

First produced by: Schmid Brothers, Stein-Nuremberg, Germany.

Inventor: Max Schmid

Note: One of the sought-after toy typewriters

8. Unique Portable

First year of production: 1946

First produced by: Unique Art Manufacturing Company, Newark, New Jersey

Inventor: Samuel Irving Berger

9. Petite Excel

First year of production: 1995

First produced by: Made in China for Britains Petite Ltd, Nottingham, England

Inventor: Martin J, Richard

Note: An outstanding example of modern-day toy typewriters

10.  American Flyer

First year of production: 1934

First produced by: American Flyer Manufacturing Company, Chicago.

Inventor: Thomas Raymond Arden

Note: At age 16, Arden was in 1906 described in Australian newspapers as a boy genius and a “Rival to Edison”.

6 – DEPRESSION ERA and STUDENT TYPEWRITERS

1. Gundka Frolio 5

First year of production: 1924

First produced by: Gundka (Greppert & Chalice) Werke GmbH, Brandenburg, Germany

Inventor: Paul Muchajer

Note: The rights to this successful, if unusual, design were later taken over by Optima, which made the Bambino in Bakelite.

2. Petite Talking Typewriter

First year of production: 1981

First produced by: Dobson Park Industries Ltd for Byron International, Nottingham, England.

Inventors: Edward Victor Byers, Robert Denby and Anthony Elliott

Note: It types! It talks!

3. Alba A4

First year of production: 1955?

First produced by: Antares SPA, Milan, Italy

Inventor: Carlo Grassi?

Note: The toy that grew into a real typewriter!

4. Remie Scout

First year of production: 1932

First produced by: Remington-Rand Typewriter Company

Inventor: John Henry Barr

Note: Cut-down Remington portable that uses an elegant san-serif typeface called Art Gothic.

5. Bing No 2

First year of production: 1927

First produced by: Bing-Werke, Vorm. Gebrüder Bing AG,  Nuremberg

Inventor: Ludwig Reischl

Note: Described as "teaching aid typewriter", it was produced especially for export to North America. The Bing Brothers company, founded by Ignaz and Adolf Bing, was world famous for making toys. It also made the Orga Privat typewriter.

6. Royal Signet

First year of production: 1932

First produced by: Royal Typewriter Company, Hartford Connecticut

Inventors: Edward Bernard Hess and Lewis Cary Myers

Note:  Cut-back back, capitals-only Royal portable

7. (Remington) Bantam

First year of production: 1938

First produced by: Remington-Rand Typewriter Company for its division, General Shaver Corporation

Original inventor: John Henry Barr

Note: The keys are colour-coded to teach touch typing. It types in sans-serif capital letters only, plus fullstop, comma and question mark. This was the cheapest of all Remington portables, selling for $10.95 ($12.45 with carrying case).

8. Monarch Pioneer

First year of line’s production: 1932

First produced by: Monarch Typewriter Company, New York (NOT Remington)

Inventor: John Henry Barr

Note: This is grouped by Richard Polt in his Remington portables history as among the Remie Scout-Depression era typewriters. The designated maker, however, is quite interesting.

9. Corona Silent (Animal Keyboard)

First year of production: 1935

First produced by: L.C.Smith and Corona Typewriter Incorporated, Syracuse, New York

Designers: Henry Allen Avery and Joseph Peter Barkdoll

Note: This extremely rare model, launched at Christmas 1935, came with a box of nine rings (one thumb was ringless), and was a “fun way” for youngsters to learn to type. With the Depression, not many of these expensive gifts sold, hence their rarity today.

10. Brother Super DeLuxe 1450

First year of production: 1984

First produced by: Brother Industries, Horita, Mizuho Ward, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan

Original designer: Akio Kondo

Note: By far the most successful typewriter company in the last half of the 20^th century, even outstripping Olivetti.  Between 1961 and 1980, Brother sold 10 million typewriters!

7 -  PRESENT-DAY and

 GREAT TYPING TYPEWRITERS

      1 Olympia Traveller C

First year of production: 1995

First produced by: Elite Industrial Group, Shenzhen, China

Designer: Vid Bratasevec

Note: The last reputable “internationally recognised brand” typewriter to be made to an independent design.

2 Barbie

First year of line’s production: 1988

This model produced by: Mehano Društvo s Ograničenom Odgovornošću, Izola, Slovenia

Designers of this model: Marko Piasni, Giudo Pezzolato, Andrej Pisani, Joze Brezec, Franc Branko Cerkrenik and Andrej Mahnic

Note: There is a close business relationship between Mehano in Slovenia and Elite in China, resulting in shared designs. In its “adult” form, the Barbie is the Olympia Traveller C.

3. Alpina

First year of line’s production: 1951

First produced by: Alpina Buromaschinenwerke-Vertrieb Bovensiepen AG, Kaufbeuren, Germany

Inventor: Otto Rudolf Bovensiepen

Note: Regarded as the best engineered typewriter ever made, from a precision instrument designer. The company, now run by Rudolf Bovensiepen’s son Burkard, makes BMW Alpina fast cars.

4. Torpedo 18

First year of this model’s production: 1955

First produced by: Torpedo Büromaschinen Werke AG, Rödelheim, Frankfurt am Main.

Designer: Andreas Salzberger

Note: Portable typewriter guru Will Davis once stated, “I can type faster on this particular machine, error-free, than any other in my collection. Beautiful looks and wonderfully snappy key action.” Also marketed as the Bluebird.

5. Voss Series 24

First year of production: 1948

First produced by: Wuppertaler Schreibmaschinenfabrik Voss GmbH, Wuppertal, Germany

Designer: Reinhard Wohlfahrt

Note: Ranks up there near the Alpina for engineering perfection, and the Torpedo for “typeability”. A very popular machine with all serious typists.

6. Brosette

First year of production: 1953

First produced by: Metallwerk Max Brose GmbH, Coburg, Germany

Designers: Berthold Baumann and Fritz Kunze

Note: Another design and engineering masterpiece from the large number of small, independent “boutique” typewriter manufacturers which dotted Germany in the immediate post-World War II years.

7. Rheinmetall Model KsT

First year of production: 1931. This line 1945.

First produced by: Rheinmetall-Borsig Aktiengesellschaft, Sömmerda, Thuringia, Germany

Designer: Leopold Ferdinand Pascher (originally for Stoewer)

Note: Jack Tramiel, a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto and concentration camps (where his father died), joined the US Army, moved to New York and started importing Rheinmetall typewriter parts from Germany. These were assembled in Canada and relabelled Commodores. Tramiel later made the famous Commodore 64 personal computer.

8. Mercedes Superba

First year of production: 1936

First produced by: Mercedes Schreibmaschinen-und Büromaschinenfabrik, Zella-Mehlis, Thüringen,Germany

Designer: Robert Anschüts

Note: In 1913, Gustav Mez paid car maker Daimler 20,000 marks in a  “delimitation” settlement so he could continue to use the name Mercedes on his typewriters.

9. Olympia Monica

First year of production: 1962

First produced by: Olympia Werke Aktiengesellschaft, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

Designer: Anton Demmel

Note: The Monica is based on the Olympia SM5 (SM=Schreibmaschine Mittelgroß, or medium-sized typewriter). Olympias made at the company’s new West German factory between 1951-66 are consistently ranked among the finest typing machines made at any time, anywhere.

10. Triumph Gabriele

First year of line’s production: 1957

First produced by: Triumph-Werke Nürnberg AG, Nuremberg. Germany

Designer: Martin Hebel?

Note: Yet another example of outstanding German engineering and design. This model is named after company owner Max Grundig's granddaughter, Gabriele. Variations include Perfekt and Norm.

8 -  TYPEWRITERS USED BY FAMOUS AUTHORS

1. Royal Quiet De Luxe (Model A)

Used by: Ernest Hemingway

First year of line’s production:  1935

First produced by: Royal Typewriter Company, Hartford, Connecticut

Designer: Lewis Cary Myers

Note: Hemingway used many typewriters in his journalism and writing careers, starting with a Corona 3, but in later life very much preferred Royals. This model can be seen in his former homes in Havana, Key West, Florida, and Ketchum, Idaho.

2. Corona 3

Owned by: Miles Franklin

First year of production: 1912

First produced by: Corona Typewriter Company, Groton, New York.

Inventors: Franklin (Frank) Sebastian Rose, Otto Petermann and Marshman Williams Hazen

Note: Franklin used this typewriter to write her Brent of Bin Bin stories. It was “rescued” from New York and forensically tested against her original typescripts.

3. Hermes 3000 (Media)

Used by: Larry McMurtry

First year of line’s production: 1958

First produced by: Paillard SA, Yverdon, Sainte-Croix, Switzerland

Inventor: Giuseppe Prezioso

Note: McMurtry thanked his Hermes 3000 upon receiving the Golden Globe for his screenplay of Brokeback Mountain. He said the typewriter was “surely one of the noblest instruments of European genius”. To avoid hassles at airport security, McMurtry has seven of these spread around various parts of the US

4. Royal Safari

Used by: Bob Dylan

First year of production: 1964

First produced by: Royal McBee Corporation, Port
Chester, New York

Designers: Charles J. Jaworski and Edward J. Johnson

Note: A famous series of photographs were taken by Douglas R.Gilbert as Dylan was typing the liner notes for his fourth album, Another Side of Bob Dylan, in his writing studio above the Café Espresso on Tinker Street, Woodstock, New York, in August 1964.

5. Underwood Universal

Used by: Jack Kerouac

First year of line’s production: 1934

First produced by: Underwood-Elliott-Fisher Corporation, Hartford, Connecticut

Inventor: William Albert Dobson

Note: Kerouac wrote On the Road in three weeks in April 1951, at 100 words a minute, on one roll of teletype paper. Truman Capote said of On the Road, “That’s not writing, it’s typing.” Kerouac also typed typescripts for William S.Burroughs.

6. Olivetti Studio 44

Used by: Tennessee Williams

First year of production: 1952

First produced by: Ingegneria Camillo Olivetti, Ivrea, Turin, Italy

Designers: Marcello Nizzoli and Giuseppe Beccio

Note: Like Hemingway, Williams used many different typewriters, many of them not his own, but towards the end of his playwriting career his preferred model was the Studio 44.

7. Olympia SM7

Used by: Paul Auster

First year of production: 1960

First produced by: Olympia Werke Aktiengesellschaft, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

Designers: Peter Sieber and Arnold Schürer

Note: The Story of My Typewriter by Auster, with pictures by painter Sam Messer, is about the author's Olympia SM7, which Auster bought in 1972 from an old college friend who had owned it since 1962. Everything Auster has written since has been typed on it.

8. Bijou (Erika 10)

Used by: David Malouf

First year of line’s production: 1963

First produced by: VEB Schreibmaschinenwerk, Dresden, Germany (originally Seidel & Naumann, later VEB Kombinat Robotron)

Designer: Unknown

Note: Australian poet and author Malouf transfers his handwritten drafts on to an Erika typewriter just such as this. The name Erika comes from founder Karl Robert Bruno Naumann’s only granddaughter. Bijou is an export brand name.

9.  Optima (Consul Model 231.2)

Used by: Patrick White

First year of production: 1963

First produced by: Zbrojovka Narodni Ppodnik, Brno, Czechoslovakia

Designer: Wolfgang Prade

Note: White’s pale blue Optima (taking an East German brand name) is housed at the Mitchell Library, Sydney, and was this year displayed at the National Library, Canberra.

10. Remington 5

Used by: Agatha Christie

First year of production: 1935

First produced by: Remington-Rand Corporation, New York

Designers: John A. Zellers and Herbert E. Bridgwater

Note: The typewriter’s body is an example of the streamlined industrial design of the later Art Deco, or Art Moderne, period, a tasteful, striking example of typewriter streamlining.

9   - THE TRULY GREAT,  PROGRESSIVE PORTABLES

1. Blickensderfer 5

First year of production: 1893

First produced by: Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company, Stamford, Connecticut

Inventor: George Canfield Blickensderfer

Note: Arguably the greatest typewriter ever made, so far ahead of its time, time never caught up with it. Technically the first portable, although it came in a large oak case.

2. Standard Folding

First year of production: 1907

First produced by: Rose (Standard) Typewriter Company, New York

Inventor: Franklin (Frank) Sebastian Rose

Note: The first designated portable typewriter, made of aluminium and folding into a small case.

3. Underwood 3

First year of production: 1919

First produced by: Underwood Typewriter Company, Hartford, Connecticut

Inventor: Lee Spear Burridge

Note: A work of design genius in miniature engineering.

4. Remington Model 1

First year of production: 1920

First produced by: Remington Typewriter Company, Ilion, New York

Inventor: John Henry Barr

Note: The first portable to offer all standard features, such as a full four-bank keyboard. Folding typebasket.

5. Royal Model 0

First year of production: 1926

First produced by: Royal Typewriter Company, Hartford, Connecticut.

Inventors: Edward Bernard Hess and Lewis Cary Myers

Note: With a very different design to enter an already highly competitive portable marketplace, this led to a complete change of look and size for American portables.

6. Imperial Good Companion

First year of production: 1932

First produced by: Imperial Typewriter Company, Leicester, England

Inventor: Herbert Etheridge (for Torpedo of Germany)

Note: After the death of founder Hidalgo Moya, Imperial acquired the design for a more orthodox portable from Torpedo in Germany. Model named after J.B.Priestley book (Priestley received one of the first machines off the production line). Advertising line: “Buy an Imperial Good Companion and write like Priestley”.

7. Hermes Featherweight

First year of production: 1935

First produced by: Paillard SA, Yverdon, Sainte-Croix, Switzerland

Inventor: Giuseppe Prezioso

Note: Established the breakthrough for all future low-profile, slimline portables with a radical change of type action design. First front-mounted typebar mechanism.

8. Olivetti Lettera 22

First year of production: 1949

First produced by: Ingegneria Camillo Olivetti, Ivrea, Turin, Italy

Inventor: Marcello Nizzoli

Note: The ultimate portable typewriter. Awarded Compasso d’Oro Prize for design in 1954; in 1959 Illinois Institute of Technology named it the best design product of the previous 100 years, based on a survey of the world’s 100 leading design engineers. On permanent display at the New York Museum of Modern Art.

9. Olympia SF

First year of production: 1956

First produced by: Olympia Werke Aktiengesellschaft, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

Inventor: Anton Demmel

Note: SF = Schreibmaschine Flach (flat typewriter). Very small, very stylish, yet highly practical and a great typer: What else could one ask for?

10. Adler Tippa S

First year of line’s production: 1970

First produced by: Litton Industries for Triumph-Adler, Leiden, Holland

Designer: Toshihiko Sakow.

Note: The beginning of the end for this once wonderful little portable.

10 - CORONA’S CENTENARY

1. Corona 3 (Red Special)

First produced by: Corona Typewriter Company, Groton, New York

First year of production: 1912

Inventors: Franklin (Frank) Sebastian Rose, Otto Petermann and Marshman Williams Hazen

Note: The on-going popularity of the Corona 3 demanded “special” machines in bright colours.

2. Corona 4

First year of production: 1924

First produced by: Corona Typewriter Company, Groton, New York

Inventors: Otto Peterman, Edwin Leander Harmon, Alonzo B.Ely and Henry Allen Avery

Note: Corona meets the challenge of the Remington Model 1 portable.

3. Corona Silent

First year of production: 1934

First produced by: L.C.Smith and Corona Typewriters Incorporated, Syracuse, New York

Inventor: Henry Allen Avery

Note: In turn, Corona now meets the challenge of Royal’s first portable.

4. Smith-Corona 5TE Electric

First year of production: 1957

First produced by: Smith-Corona Incorporated, Syracuse, New York

Inventor: Joseph Peter Barkdoll

Note: The world’s first electric portable. One of the best typing machines ever made.

5. Smith-Corona Golden Shield Courier

First year of line’s production: 1960

First produced by: Smith-Corona Marchant Incorporated at the British Typewriter Company, West Bromwich, England

Inventor: Joseph Peter Barkdoll

Note: The early high point of SCM typewriters made in Britain between 1960-1981.

6. SCM Super G Ghia design

First year of production: 1970

First produced by: Smith-Corona Marchant Incorporated at the British Typewriter Company, West Bromwich, England

Inventors: Tom Tjaarda and Alejandro de Tomaso

Note: Designers and makers of stylish Italian sports cars turn their hand to typewriters in a bid to match Olivetti’s Valentine

7. Corona Zephyr

First year of production: 1938

First produced by: L.C. Smith and Corona Typewriters Incorporated, Syracuse, New York

Inventors: Henry Allen Avery, Joseph Peter Barkdoll and Lionel F. Evans

Note: America’s answer to the Hermes Featherweight-Baby, war interrupted production and the model was re-introduced more than 10 years later as the Skyriter.

8. Corona Music Keyboard

First year of production: 1941

First produced by: L.C.Smith and Corona Typewriters Incorporated, Syracuse, New York

Inventors: Henry Allen Avery and Joseph Peter Barkdoll

Note: One of more prominent of many attempts to adapt a typewriter for music sheet-writing. This model, like the Animal Keyboard variation, is extremely rare.

9. SCM Corsair

First year of production: 1962

First produced by: Smith-Corona Marchant Incorporated at the British Typewriter Company, West Bromwich, England

Inventors: Robert Metzner, Philip H.Stevens and David O.Chase

Note: This series of models marked the “last throw of the dice” for Corona with manual portable typewriters, with a plastic machine made in England to an American design. It was a long throw: the line lasted until 1981.

10. H.G.Palmer Sterling

First year of line’s production: 1959

Produced by: Smith-Corona Marchant Incorporated, Toronto, Canada

Inventor: Joseph Peter Barkdoll

Note: A late-model Smith-Corona 5 series typewriter produced under licence for a so-called “ubiquitous [Australian] electrical chain store” which collapsed in a financial scandal in 1960. Smith-Corona had similar deals with Sear Roebuck and J.C.Penney in the US. Sears models were marketed mostly as Towers.

EXTRAS (for public use)

Olivetti Lettera 32

First year of production: 1963

First produced by: Ingegneria Camillo Olivetti, Ivrea, Turin, Italy

Designers: Marcello Nizzoli and Adriano Menicali

Note: Very popular successor to the Lettera 22.

IMB Selectric III with Blickensderfer “Scientific” keyboard

First year of production: 1961

First produced by: International Business Machines Corporation at Lexington, Kentucky

Inventors: Horace Smart Beattie, John E. Hickerson, Ralph E. Page and James A. Weldenhammer, body design by Eliot Fette Noyes.

Note: This Selectric has been converted to a Blickensderfer keyboard by Peter Brill, of Perth, Western Australia, a former IBM and typewriter technician who in later life developed a love of Blick typewriters.