This year for International Typewriter Day I thought it would be fitting to make an internationally-themed blog post in celebration. Happy 147th birthday, first patent of Sholes!
I've chosen 43 of the most important and well-known typewriter factories around the world corresponding to typewriters I've owned (with the exception of 5) and found in my road map collection a map of the area around each of the factories from the same era as the typewriter.
Now, you won't be able to pick out the exact locations of the factories (I don't even think we know the street addresses of several of these) but you'll be able to get an idea of the landscape the factory is set in. As you may have noticed before, a surprising number of typewriter factories were located in small towns a fair distance away from main roads. (of course, rail access would have been most important).
I've placed the map and city name first, then followed by a photo of the typewriter built there around the time of the map's printing so you can play a guessing game if you like.*
Note that I am not 100% sure on a couple of these, but I have made my best guess.
Frankfurt
Adler
Kaufbeuren
Alpina
Nagoya
Brother
Brno
Consul
Chemnitz
Continental
West Bromwich
Empire
Dresden
Erika
Milano
Everest
Åtvidaberg
Facit
Markersdorf
Groma
Svängsta
Halda
Yverdon
Hermes
Leicester
Imperial
Hull
Imperial
Beaucourt
Japy
Syracuse
L C Smith
Radom
Łucznik
Plovdiv
Maritsa
Zella-Mehlis
Mercedes
Moskva
Moskva
Woodstock
Oliver
Ivrea
Olivetti
Barcelona
Olivetti (Spain)
Glasgow
Olivetti (UK)
Ciudad de Mexico
Olivetti (Mexico)
Wilhelmshaven
Olympia
Erfurt
Optima
Augsburg
Princess
Ilion
Remington
Sömmerda
Rheinmetall
Cuijk
Royal (Diana)
Leiden
Royal (Royalite)
Hartford
Royal
Groton, Cortland
Smith-Corona
Toronto
Smith-Corona (Canada)
Murgenthal
Swissa
Frankfurt
Torpedo
Nürnberg
Triumph
Hartford
Underwood
Toronto
Underwood (Canada)
UNIS
Wuppertal
Voss
Happy International Typewriter Day 2015!
Sources of the photos not in my collection:
http://typewriterdatabase.com/198x-olivetti-lettera-15.3779.typewriter
http://typewriterdatabase.com/195x-olivetti-lettera-22.3617.typewriter
http://typewriterdatabase.com/late-1960searly-1970-maritsa-11.2945.typewriter
http://typewriterdatabase.com/1963-eatons-smithcorona-prestige.3965.typewriter
http://oztypewriter.blogspot.com/2012/02/yugoslavian-typewriter.html
*of course, they're in alphabetical order by brand name...
Epic! What a great idea. Happy T-Day.
ReplyDeleteAmazing! It's pretty cool to see the areas these machines came from. Happy Typewriter day!
ReplyDeleteJust a little correction: "UNIS" was made in Bugojno (also former Yugoslavia), not in Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, the article is excellent.
Thanks for correcting it, I knew I wasn't completely right on at least one of these.
DeleteWas there ever a typewriter factory at Sarajevo, though?
Great to see almost no connection at all between the contemporary graphic styles used in the maps and the bold articulations of shape and function of the typewriters. And yet, at a hundred paces, a typewriter is a typewriter and a map is a map. The Voss is spectacular but the photo of the Royal could sell it a thousand times over. Belated Happy Typewriter Day!
ReplyDeleteEspecially interesting (to me at least) is how the Nordics, known for their simple and effective design, produced some of the most ancient-looking maps up into the 1960s compared to their other European counterparts.
DeleteI love the architectural look of the Model P. (and the color, too!)
Great idea,and what fun! How cool to bring two of your hobbies together. Now we just need a detailed street map of Dresden, and find the Seidel & Naumann factory. I hear that the post war rebuilt one is still standing, but adaptively reused. Thanks
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful world!!!
ReplyDelete