Top 10 1920s Portable Typewriters

Georg Sommeregger, celebrating receiving a Neya as a birthday gift, asked yesterday, “Weren't the 1920s a nice time for typewriters?” His observation was reinforced later in the day when Ray Nickson typed with an early model Remington and remarked on its brilliant, snappy action.

The two comments combined to get me thinking about my favourite 1920s portables.

I have listed them here, with the years in which the models were launched. But I have only ranked the ones I have actually used (which ruled out the first Triumph portable, although I have used very similar, albeit later models). The Continental shown here is obviously a post-20s model, but mechanically it is essentially the same as the first Continental kleinschreibmaschine. As well, I have ranked the typewriters in order of their typeability, as I have found it, not their appearance.

The Remington tops the list not just because of its very pleasing and seriously snappy action, but its sheer reliability. It's a very determined little typewriter, and I love that about it.

The early Model 5 Erika (in my case a Bijou) is just one vote behind, as it is a magnificent machine to type with. The Royal also scores highly for reliability, and the Continental is consistently such a nice machine to use. The Barr was significantly advanced for its time, and gives John Henry Barr two machines in the Top 5, which I suppose places him as the top designer of the 1920s. The Torpedo is also decidedly “Remingtonesque”. I think the Underwood and Corona four-banks got better as they progressed into the 30s. I am fond of the almost mid-sized Senta and Stoewer, because of their engineering, sturdiness and reliability. 

1. Remington (US) Model 1 1920

Designer: John Henry Barr

Manufacturer: Remington Typewriter Company, Ilion

2. Erika-Bijou (Germany) Model 5 (1st) 1927

Designer: Heinrich Franz Edmund Baeseler

Manufacturer: Aktiengesellschaft vormals Seidel & Naumann, Dresden

3. Royal (US) 1927

Designers: Edward Bernhard Hess and Lewis Cary Myers

Manufacturer: Royal Typewriter Company, Hartford

4. Continental (Germany) 1929

Designers: Alfred Richard Georg Vogt, Theodor Eugen Büschmann and Richard Stuhlmacher

Manufacturer: Wanderer Werke vormals Winklhofer & Jaenicke, Chemnitz

5. Barr (US) 1926

Designer: John Henry Barr

Manufacturer: Barr-Morse Corporation, Ithaca

6. Torpedo (Germany) Model 14 1928

Designers: Herbert Etheridge and Carl Winterling

Manufacturer:  Weilwerke Aktiengesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main-Rödelheim

7. Underwood (US) Model 4 1926

Designer: Alfred Gustav Franz Kurowski (based on earlier design by Lee Spear Burridge)

Manufacturer: Underwood Typewriter Company, Hartford

8. Corona (US) Model 4 1924

Designers: Otto Petermann, Edwin Leander Harmon, Alonzo Barbour Ely and Henry Allen Avery

Manufacturer: Corona Typewriter Company, Groton

9. Senta (Germany) 1926

Designer: Franz Kraudzun

Manufacturer: Frister & Rossmann Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin 

10. Stoewer Elite (Germany) 1926

Designer: Paul Grützmann

Manufacturer: Nähmaschinen-und Fahrräder-Fabrik Bernhard Stoewer AG, Stettin

Honourable mentions (for looks only):

Rem-Blick (US, designer George Canfield Blickensderfer, manufacturer Remington) 1928; Noiseless (US, designer Wellington Parker Kidder, manufacturer Noiseless Typewriter Company) 1921.