We stare in amazement at the beauty of a typewriter, an engineering creation that marks one of the most intriguing beginnings of writing technology. Usually, when we look at a laptop or phone, we do not feel transmuted in the past and curious about a technology that no longer exists today. Maybe with current devices, we feel magnetized due to the information we can access. But, with a typewriter, we have a mysterious air of the past that we, those who still type in them, can evoke. When we look at an old typewriter, we see a real "Howl's Moving Castle" and we think of paper and ink, as well as the sound of keys. Thus, a journey into the long-forgotten times opens before us. Want to know more about those times? Click the button below to find a brief history of typewriters.
When we need inspiration in our work, we can always go back to a table with an old lamp and a typewriter. Thus, in front of the typewriter, we put our thoughts fluently on paper, disconnecting from our often stressful routine. It will be nothing more than the word printed on paper, a dim light and the robust and unbridled sound of the moving typewriter's mechanisms. All this taking place in an intimate and enchanting atmosphere in the light of the lamp. From there, we can start our work in a timeless and relaxing way, making our work turn into an unexpected masterpiece.
When we spend a lot of time in the company of our typewriters, we feel that we have a transcendental connection with each of them. As time goes on, we feel that our comrades seem like good friends who never let us down. The typewriters are very faithful in times of need and have an almost eternal durability in good storage conditions. They help us to get rid of all the accumulated psychological tension. "Our friends" are of many kinds, big, small, thin, massive, and we love each one equally.
No matter what field we work in, we love to type. We like the sound of the keys of a typewriter, because it relaxes us and takes us somewhere far from our century. It's good to escape sometimes, isn't it?
A typewriter can be the element that makes the difference in how we feel when we do our work. Either we use it to write, as a decoration, or to give it as a gift to a loved one.
Entering a fantastic area, we present you the huge Underwood Master typewriter. Seeing the picture for the first time, we thought about how ingenious the idea of an advertisement with a giant typewriter was, thinking it was a very successful collage. On closer inspection, we realize that it is NOT a collage, but a huge model of a typewriter. After much research, we were completely shocked to learn that this typewriter, which appeared at the 1940 exhibition organized by Underwood Elliott Fisher (originally Underwood Typewriter Company), is an AUTHENTIC and perfectly FUNCTIONAL typewriter. The huge typewriter weighed 14 tons and was 1,728 times larger than the normal Underwood Master typewriter. Only the carriage weighed 1587 kg and each key weighed about 18 kg. It took 3 years to build. Propaganda at the time said it offered "an exact reproduction of the typewriter you might buy." At the time, the press said it was unlikely that an exhibition featuring mainly banking, office equipment and life insurance companies would attract too many visitors, but the giant typewriter was the main attraction. In the context of World War II, according to speculation on the Internet, the fate of the Underwood Master took a more tragic turn than its sister Underwood 5. According to vague information, the Giant Underwood Master was sold for scrap metal to the US army. It is not known if this information is accurate, unfortunately, the truth will remain far in the mists of the past. More interesting information and pictures can be found HERE and HERE.
The gigantic Underwood 5 typewriter, unveiled at San Francisco’s Pan Pacific International Expo in 1915, is a complete splendor. Indeed, a 14-ton "tank". Who could have thinked that they had the means, imagination and time to implement the manufacture of a typewriter of this size? They simply had all the means because that times allowed cheap and mass production. With a width of about 6 meters and a height of 5 and a half meters, this Underwood 5 typewriter was a real engineering show given by the visible mechanisms, an appreciable feature that we can find in the design of Underwood 5. An adult could very good sit on one of its keys. It took a whole year to develop the design plans and then another year until the actual construction. The paper they used on such a typewriter measured 2.7 x 3.6 m, and the ink ribbon was 30 meters long. We thought how incredible it would be to have and use such a typewriter. Only to see it would be something unique, but unfortunately these typewriters are no longer available to the public today. When the exhibition ended on December 4, 1915, many of the exhibits were sold at public auctions, including the Underwood 5 typewriter. The buyer of the machine exhibited it for some 20 years in Atlantic City to write news and scores from baseball games ”. Rumors on the internet say that there were also hired dancers who typed messages for passers-by in dance steps. More interesting information and pictures can be found HERE and HERE.
In this video, we can see how to use a typewriter correctly, according to the experts of that time. Enjoy!
Meet an old world of writing that some of the most prominent personalities in history lived every day. Here we present 20 Authors with their typewriters.
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