Imperial Portable Typewriters 1908-1978: Part II – Good Companions 1, Model T, 3 and 4

Will Davis and the late Tilman Elster say on their European Typewriter Project webpage on Imperial that mechanically the Imperial Good Companion portable typewriter changed very little between the first model of 1932 and the Model 6 of 1961. Will and Tilman say of the Model 4, for example, "[it] displays the fact that little had changed on these machines over some number of years. Most of the alteration is cosmetic." And of the 6T, " ... again [the mask] encloses essentially the same machine."

The first Imperial Good Companion (1932)

What Will and Tilman did NOT look at, however, were the odd-numbered Imperial Good Companions, the Models 3, 5 and 7. These are completely different mechanically, yet their mechanics are enclosed in familiar masks - the 3 in the boxy Model T shape, and the 5 and the 7 in the lower, sleeker styling of the 4 and 6.

The IGC Model T (1938)

While the first Imperial Good Companion, the Model T and Models 4 and 6 are carriage-shifted with identical segment-typebaskets, the Models 3, 5 and 7 are segment-or basket-shifted. The segments and typebaskets on the odd-numbered models are totally different to those on the even-numbered models.

The IGC Model 3 (1951)

It would probably be fair to say the majority of Imperial Good Companions are carriage-shifted and have very much the same mechanics.

The image below, from the late Tilman Elster's Collection, is of an Imperial model called a "Briton", serial number FC709. Ernst Martins says this was a brand name used by Imperial in Argentine.

Like the Briton, another first model IGC in matte black was marketed as a Regent, which was Torpedo's export tradename.
Below, yet another variation from the late Tilman Elster's Collection is decalled an "Imperial Good Companion 1", but it is clearly a boxy Model T with carriage-shift. Serial number JS596. I have seen just a model owned by a young collector here in Canberra. Bear in mind the first Good Companion did not have a model number. 

Yet the more conventional-looking segment and typebasket arrangement, with segment-shift, once more underlines Imperial's close association with Torpedo in Frankfurt, Germany - one which extended to either side of World War II. 

The IGC Model 3, with segment-shift

This segment-shift design was patented in Germany in February 1930 by Englishman Herbert Etheridge, assigned to Torpedo (Etheridge filed an application for a US patent one year later). Etheridge later worked for Imperial in England, but died in 1940, leaving all his worldly goods to fellow Imperial mechanical designer Arthur Pateman. After the War, in 1947, Pateman filed for a British patent for Etheridge's segment-shift design, saying he was acting as a "representative" for the late Etheridge.

The Torpedo Modell 15

Meanwhile, Torpedo had adopted Etheridge's segment design for its portables, starting with the Modell 15 (aka Blue Bird) in 1931 and carrying on through all of its subsequent portable models. The Torpedo Modell 20 and the Imperial Good Companion 5 could, for example, be almost described as close cousins:

So in part two of our series on Imperial portable typewriters, let's look at some of these differences between the first model Good Companion and the Models T, 3 and 4:

From the Typewriter Age Guide (December 1973):

From Wilfred A. Beeching's

Century of the Typewriter (1974):

Some of the Imperial

Good Companions

from my collection:

IMPERIAL GOOD COMPANION

FIRST MODEL

Serial number B0812

Serial number BR121

IMPERIAL GOOD COMPANION

MODEL T

Serial number 2G185

 

Serial number 2B123L

IMPERIAL GOOD COMPANION

MODEL 3

Serial number 3V312

IMPERIAL GOOD COMPANION

MODEL 4

Serial number 4AC640

TOMORROW: The Imperial Good Companion Models 5, 6 and 7 and the Imperial Messenger, the last portable made by Imperial itself.