23 Jun 2015

Roads to the Factories: International Typewriter Day 2015


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


Dresden


Robotron


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)


Bugojno

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...

8 comments:

  1. Epic! What a great idea. Happy T-Day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amazing! It's pretty cool to see the areas these machines came from. Happy Typewriter day!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just a little correction: "UNIS" was made in Bugojno (also former Yugoslavia), not in Sarajevo.

    Other than that, the article is excellent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for correcting it, I knew I wasn't completely right on at least one of these.

      Was there ever a typewriter factory at Sarajevo, though?

      Delete
  4. 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!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Especially 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.

      I love the architectural look of the Model P. (and the color, too!)

      Delete
  5. 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

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a beautiful world!!!

    ReplyDelete