Bodemer Typewriter Collection

The fifties were a period of rapid change in the typewriter market. Manufacturers began taking compact portables seriously, especially after seeing the success of Hermes, Olympia, and Olivetti with their compact portables, which were being imported to the United States in growing numbers. Underwood was dying on the vine, while Royal merged with McBee Corporation, and Smith-Corona bought out Marchant Calculator, forming SCM Corporation. Underwood still possessed a nationwide dealer network, and Olivetti, having struggled to gain a foothold in the American market, saw it as a huge asset. They purchased Underwood Corporation, and began to replace Underwood's portables (which had a reputation of being increasingly shoddy) with Olivetti designs. (However, the Underwood standard continued in production through 1970.)  Olivetti-Underwood Lettera 32. Formerly in the Bodemer Typewriter Collection 1963 saw the introduction of the basis of every subsequent Olivetti portable--the Let...

In 1959, Smith-Corona redesigned its popular portable typewriter. A new bodyshell, designed by David O. Chase and Philip Stevens replaced the rounded bodyshell introduced in 1949. Where the styling of the previous generation of portable was soft and rounded, the new model was crisp, angular, and thoroughly modern. The keyboard surround and carriage ends were made of plastic; the keyboard surround was white plastic, and the carriage-ends were body-colored. The rear of the carriage was brushed stainless-steel, with the Smith-Corona logo on the back. Even the name was modern--Galaxie. While the bodyshell was redesigned, the Galaxie's mechanism dated back to 1932, with slight enhancements in 1949 (plastic keytops and new linespace mechanism), and 1954 (keyset tabulator). It was available in Star-Mist Blue, Oasis Green, Jet Black, Apache Tan, Hunter Red, and Driftwood Gray.  1961 Smith-Corona Galaxie Bodemer Typewriter Collection Early Galaxie portables were equipped with an ...

In 1965, Silver-Reed, a Japanese manufacturer of knitting machines, branched into manufacturing portable typewriters. They hired GK Design Group to design their new portable, a simple, metal bodied compact typewriter. Within two years, Litton Industries, parent company of Royal Typewriter, began importing these machines in large numbers, and relabeling them as Royal portables for the American market, and Imperial for the British market. Silver-Reed portable typewriter. Image source: gk-design.co.jp The first of these portables to be introduced was the Royal Mercury, a compact, carriage-shifted portable typewriter, with a 44-key keyboard, touch adjuster, and a two-color ribbon. It was launched in 1966, and began to be heavily advertised in 1968. The Royal Signet, a simple portable, with a single-color ribbon, and a 42-key keyboard, was sold as a cheaper alternative. However, it appears from period advertising in the Seattle Times, that both models could be purchased for the s...

In 1965, Litton Industries took over Royal McBee Corporation. Much has been written about the various effects of this merger, from a labor perspective (Litton closed Royal's Springfield, Missouri factory in 1970, and moved its production to Portugal; they also moved Imperial's production to Portugal), from the perspective of the rise of the relabeled portable typewriter (Litton imported Silver-Reed portables in huge numbers and labeled them as Royals and Imperials). However, not much has been written about the changes to Royal's full size portable line. The Royal Caravan, a frequently-forgotten model gave a good indicator of the future of Royal's product line. 1962 Royal Safari advertisement, courtesy of Darryl Bridson, Royal Consumer Products  In 1962, Royal introduced the Safari as a replacement to their Futura. Although mechanically identical to the Futura, it broke with Royal's design philosophy of tall, upright portable typewriters-—the Safa...

This is a current project of mine. Each blog post will be a print-friendly JPEG--my goal is to create a free, easy to distribute reference guide to mid-century portable typewriters. I recommend putting it into a three-ring binder, so it can be expanded easily.

For years, I had my collection at royaltypewriters.blogspot.com . I decided to start over, to better organize my research. I intend to format this blog differently, along these lines http://www.typeoh.net/ This way, my writing and research can be printed, bound, and used as a free reference guide. My grandfather collected antique medical instruments as the chair of the Biomedical History department of the University of Washington. This is the reason why I am referring to my collection as the "Bodemer Typewriter Collection." (His collection can be viewed here .) Nick Bodemer