Consuls Continue

When looking back at having had typewriter-related pages on the internet for 18 years this month I'm reminded of the early days of going out to second hand shops, antique stores and antique malls, consignment shops, garage sales and flea markets looking for typewriters.  One brand that we had in bunches here in Ohio that seems harder to find elsewhere is the Czech-made Consul.  These sold quite well here; perhaps it's not as big a mystery why as one might think, considering the very wide Czech-origin immigrant background we have here.  (They've provided us not just with great typewriters to collect, but great food as well!)

First off we see a machine labeled President - a name surely applied to give the machine better appeal here in the states - and which is dated to 1958 by the case label sometimes but not always found stuck either in the center of the lid or centered on the base under the typewriter.  This early series of Consul portables was a straight development from the Zeta portable, which probably explains the ZP prefix that the serial numbers of such machines have.  This example is serial ZP-111888. 

These segment-shifted machines were pretty well made, but these early ones just are not as tight and refined as major makes their size from their day.  Still, they're good machines and it's pretty clear that just like Japan would do with automobiles the Czech firm of Zbrojovka Brno, who made the Consul machines, was taking feedback and improving design and assembly all the time.

The machine above is of the same lineage, but is missing its front label.  It's a safe bet that the machine at one time said "Consul" on the front as we'll see on others later but there's also the chance it had some American-sounding name for sale here.  This example is serial ZP-121555, is dated to 1959 by its case label and actually came with tools and its instruction book. The machine also had its rubber carriage knob caps that serve as the carriage immobilization - one can be seen on the left of the machine in the case base.  Interestingly, neither the cover illustration nor the interior diagram in this machine's manual matches this typewriter.  We'll briefly see those below. 

Here we see two illustrations found on the instruction book for ZP-121555 from 1959.  The upper illustration is close to the machine but has two fewer character keys, while the interior diagram illustration is the more deluxe model with rounded lines.  Clearly, the product lineup was in a state of change and development. 

What's known officially as the Consul 1511 comes next in our stroll through the Consuls.

Consul 1511 serial ZP-157225 is seen here; this machine has a case label dating it to 1959.  This design has a lever-set tabulator and automatic margin setting like many Royals and others.  Compared to the previous machines, these are deluxe models and are good running machines.

Consul 1511 serial ZP-164862 (label date also 1959) is not different from the previous machine. Note that the "Consul" name label on both of these deluxe models is chromed.

This machine is a Consul Silent, with serial number ZP-185678.  There's no case label, but this machine might be from 1960.  There's nothing special or different about this machine to make it any quieter than any other; the model name is thus probably simple marketing.  What is unusual is that this is the only machine I've got in the old, square body style that has smooth enamel paint on it, which is a sort of strange beige.  The others are all crinkled. 

These models above were all found locally; the local supply also yielded a much later Consul portable, seen below.

The Consul 221.1 seen here is an excellent typewriter, and any real typist encountering one of these in any kind of good shape should buy it.  These are solid, well made and pretty fast.  This machine is serial number 0 221 115301.

The portables seen above - sometimes thought of or referred to as "upright" or "desk model" portables - were not the only portables ZB manufactured.  The company also introduced an extremely widely sold and successful line of flat portables, some of which we'll see below.

This is a Consul 1531, the earliest of the flat Consul portables which was introduced around 1959 or 1960.  This machine is serial 031133364.  The "031" on the front of the serial refers to the model.  

A similar machine stripped of its mask components reveals the simplicity of the flat Consul machines.  Key levers are mounted on four dowels that themselves are held in a 'dowel plate' at the front of the machine, and act simply as cranks pulling the intermediate link (a wire) and then the type bar itself.  Simple stampings make up the frame.  This basic construction feature was shifted over to more and more by manufacturers around the world in an attempt to get manufacturing costs down. All Silver-Seiko flat machines, all Nakajima manual machines, the Olivetti Lettera 32 and all derivatives thereof use a form of this design of key lever mounting - as do a number of others.

A variety of machines was developed from the flat 1531 including those seen here, which we'll briefly take a look at individually.  

Consul model 232, serial 5 232 291108

Consul model 232, serial 5 232 298786

Consul model 233, serial 3 233 009437

The Consul 1531 was directly replaced, it appears, by the 232, but the 233 was added later.  This machine, as we can see, had a different body, two more keys, a lever set tabulator and different keytops.  However, the mechanical concept of the machine was essentially the same. 

Above we see a relabeled Consul 233.  This machine carries the name "Baldwin," and is serial number 6 233 040454.  It's suspected but not confirmed that this machine was sold by Bundy Typewriter in Philadelphia, who was known to sell and service both the Czech Consul line and the Bulgarian-made Maritsa line.  

Concerning the flat machines and identification - it seems that the single digit out in front of the serial is a year reference; the next three digits are the model number, followed then by a serial.  This holds true for other subvariants of the flat line, not shown here.  

On the rear of the Consul 233 we can see the distinctive Zbrojovka Brno emblem - a capital Z in the center of a rifled gun barrel.  This is because the firm was originally an arms manufacturer; it got involved with making Remington machines before the Second World War under license.  However, the segment shifted big portables and flat portables seen on this page were developed independent of Remington and are unlike any of that company's designs.  In fact, it seems likely that the Czech large portable was the first segment-shifted big portable to be sold in numbers that was made in Europe.

Zbrojovka Brno sold the rights and tooling for typewriters to a company known as RVHP in 1977 at the time when nationalized industry was privatized; that company lasted making Consul machines until about 1988.  My records show that a new firm, REMAGG, relaunched Consul production in 1992 but, as might be expected, that company quit typewriters (and office equipment) in 1998.

So much for our little walk down Consul memory lane.  You used to be able to find lots of these here in Ohio - I passed on quite a number back in the old days.  I could have had double or more of these, but I left them for the next person.  Who knows where they all went ... but for sure, there are many more out there, somewhere, waiting to appear from attics, basements and barns.  Even today!

ZP-121555 and ZP-111888

A Royal Safari at Eighteen Years on the Net

Folks, I put up my very first typewriter-related web page eighteen years ago this month.  The purpose of that early site - which started on AOL Hometown and then was supplemented by GeoCities - was to identify the myriad of portable typewriters found out in the wild which had no source for identification.  There were no sites, no lists; no databases. No books of use.  Nothing. No "serious" collectors had any interest in any modern portables at all. I was essentially alone, but after I got started and people in the collecting world became certain I was serious, a number jumped on board.  Eventually those original sites expanded to cover not just world-wide portables (many shown and identified there for the first time anywhere) on the Portable Typewriter Reference Site, but also early visible standards and hundreds of European machines of all sorts.  The original set of sites, with some Bravehost pages added, was well over 220 separate pages on various subsections at the peak.  Many collectors eventually helped out; many are still friends today.  Sadly, a number of critical people from those early days are no longer with us - but are well remembered.

Looking back on those early days when every portable interested me isn't too different from now - they still do.  Since it's been 18 years of this hobby and thus 18 years of friendships, co-authoring, contention, work, and fun all wrapped up I thought I might put up a few posts that hark back to the early days, showing some of the sorts of things that initially intrigued me.  Here's one such sort of thing - the relative zoo of Royal portables labeled "Safari."

A ROYAL SAFARI - of sorts

The Royal Safari was introduced about 1962 - at least, the version seen here which is likely to be that variant most frequently brought to mind when the model name is mentioned.  This variant was produced at Royal's still-new plant for manufacturing portable typewriters in Springfield, Missouri.  These machines (that is to say, this basic mechanical design no matter the small changes or model name) were well made and very widely sold, keeping Royal at the forefront of the field.

Royal itself, however, was not to continue for very long in its original form.  The company, which properly had been merged into the new Royal-McBee Corporation in 1954, was bought and merged by Litton Industries - a giant conglomerate corporation.  The merger took place on February 28, 1965, marking the beginning of what would become a huge office machine organization.

An interesting change took place almost immediately; the company began bringing Silver-Seiko manual portables into the US and selling them under its name.  The next year, 1966, Litton bought Imperial Typewriter Co. in England; in 1968 it bought Triumph-Adler (which already owned Grundig, who was producing the Tippa portable.)  The firm has also bought adding machine manufacturer Monroe in 1967.

Rationalization of production was not long in coming, and in 1969 Royal closed its Springfield portable typewriter plant.  Imperial's plant closed in 1974.

During this time the trend of selling imported typewriters was growing in every market, and typewriters were becoming more and more international than they'd ever been before.  The first "Safari" that Royal sold which wasn't really a Royal came from Portugal - where it had transferred the machinery to make the original "1962" Royal Safari. 

At left we see one of those Portuguese-made Royal Safari machines, in a nostalgic shot from my old website.  These machines were very heavily encased in plastic, with a fair amount of space between the body shell (mask, officially) and the machine itself.  What this machine actually was had no relation to the former-US made Royals, but in fact was the last development of the old West German ABC machine from the mid-1950's whose production had also been transferred to Portugal - specifically, to MESSA S.A.R.L.

The Royal Safari was a fairly close copy of the abc2000s which is seen below in a very recent shot.  This was also sold as the Imperial Safari; the Litton versions are all-plastic but the abc version has considerably more metal used in the body and lid.  Rarely, the Safari can be found in green.

Following the years of Litton ownership (which ended in 1979 when Volkswagen bought TA-Royal) a few other machines were brought in and sold as the "Safari" - but with Roman numerals added.  These are seen and briefly discussed below.

The typewriter above is a Royal Safari II.  This machine, it will be noted, does not bear the Litton Industries "Li" emblem anywhere and postdates that firm's involvement with Royal.  The Safari II was manufactured by Nakajima in Japan, and is a late model whose primary key lever mount is completely enshrouded, preventing fouling.  The rounded, downward curved margin set tabs are always a giveaway for a Nakajima (although there are some Nakajimas out there that don't use this design, mostly electrics.)  This carriage shifted machine is a pretty solid runner, and capable of decent speed.  

Above we see the Royal Safari III.  This machine was manufactured in South Korea by Dong Ah Precision, the second of two Korean typewriter manufacturers (the other being K-Mek, which made the Clover.)  Interestingly both Korean makers were building clones of Silver-Seiko machines; the Clover was a copy of the very common small Silver-Seiko, while this Safari III was a version of the much larger and different Silver-Seiko machine that is also much less commonly seen.  So far as this writer is concerned this is a very good to excellent typewriter; the response is smooth and solid, and the machine could be used comfortably by people with a wide range of typing competence and style.

This slightly improbable machine, the Royal Safari IV, is by far the hardest to find of the bunch and, frankly, the worst.  This is another version of the small Silver-Seiko machine, but this time manufactured in Bulgaria by Typewriters Works Plovdiv.  This machine is analogous to the Maritsa 30 (original name) and the Omega 30 (the name commonly used for export to the US.)  The Safari IV and an Omega 30 are seen below.  All examples of the 30-series Bulgarian machine suffer from poor gluing of the label plates, and these have often been found to be missing on these machines.  As an aside, the same machine can be found with a TA-Royal label.

In 1986, Olivetti bought TA-Royal, ending any further potential variations like those above and seeing the Royal name instead applied to other designs.  

What you're seeing me calmly go through above, rattling off models and makers took years to develop, research and prove.  The internet wasn't what it is now in those days, and there was precious little help.  (Those who DID help know who they are!)  Advertisements, trademarks, patents and, most importantly, international collectors who could provide pieces to the many puzzles were all necessary to properly write the history of so many varied brands.  And we're still discovering things, still finding new information and updating old - it likely will never end.  And that, my friends, gives me hope for another 18 years or more in this wonderful hobby!  

Typewriter Type - Making Type Slugs

Some recent questions have come up in online communities surrounding the manufacture of type for typewriters.  We have a few answers.

First, I'd suggest reading this piece that covers typewriter type terminology.  That's a mouthful, but it's important to have everyone understand and use the same terms in order to communicate.

Now, a bit of history....

Type slug from Harris Visible No. 4.

TYPEWRITER TYPE SOURCES

For much of the history of manufacturing typewriters in the United States, it appears as if all the big manufacturers actually made their own type in either their own plants or plants captive to them.  The companies began to employ special designers as time went on to develop more and more interesting kinds of type styles to be offered, but still kept all of the manufacturing in house.

It was not until after the Second World War that US manufacturers began heavily to purchase type manufactured elsewhere for application to typewriters otherwise wholly built in the United States.  The earliest known example of this was when, in 1955, R. C. Allen began to apply type imported from Germany which had been made by Ransmayer and Rodrian, Berlin.   From that time on, other US makers began to employ foreign made type in some or other quantity; of course, many also began to import to the US portable (and later standard) typewriters made overseas which were themselves, naturally, fitted with foreign-made type.

MANUFACTURING OF TYPE

PRINT - The Magazine of the Graphic Arts - included in its Typewriter Type issue (June, 1952) a description of the manufacture of type slugs at the Remington-Rand plant in Elmira, New York.  In order to avoid plagiarism we will simply describe the process in our own words.

According to PRINT, typewriter type was originally cast (or 'moulded') as had been done with the type used in printing presses.  However, this process by itself didn't produce a type face that could withstand years of hard use.  We don't have a good handle on the exact date that it occurred but according to PRINT, makers changed over to die forging soft slugs which were then hardened to withstand the abuse of hard service. 

The material used for the slugs in the example given in PRINT was "soft, low carbon steel" which was received at the plant in 20 foot lengths and then cut into slugs.  Actually, the slugs were cut and stamped at the same time with "wings" or tabs that were then folded to form the slot on the back of the slug that would match up with the type bar after the slug was fully complete.

Next, the slug was placed into a press which contained a die that had sunk into its face the desired type style.  Pressing the die against the slug with 11 tons of force caused the slug to conform to the die and produced the raised "type face" or lettering that would eventually make the impression on a completed typewriter; the actual mechanical action of this special machine was not just direct pressure but also a rolling or, as described, a "kneading" action in order to ensure complete formation of the raised characters.  Flash or excess from the die molding process was trimmed at this time. 

At this point the type slug looks complete but is far too soft for actual service.  Use of a soft material allowed easier cutting and forming, but a series of hardening steps was now required to prepare the type slugs for millions of impacts in actual service.  The first step was immersion in a bath of cyanide at 1600 F; following removal from this bath the slugs were quenched.  These steps hardened the slugs.  Next, when cool, the slugs were lowered into a cadmium plating bath that was intended to provide the proper hardening specifically on the type face (the characters, that is) itself.  Each was inspected after having been removed from the plating.

Of course, the final destination for type slugs is application to the type bars of a machine, and this was normally accomplished by soldering the pin and slot type connection formed by the slot on the type slug and the end of the type bar.  However, there were other types of connections on some machines, such as pin and loop. 

Alignment of the type slug was critical in every direction and dimension, and companies developed various jigs and procedures to ensure the type slugs were applied properly.  Some sort of alignment check was of course also required after the machine was assembled, and at that point the manufacturing life of the type slug is completed when the adjuster/inspector signs off on the machine and a signed or stamped type proof sheet is produced.  (These can sometimes be found with a typewriter; they were often shipped with the machine new.) 

It should be added that some rebuilders applied new type to machines as a matter of habit, in order to restore the machine to fully like-new characteristics.  These companies then had to at least have the ability to get slugs from the OEM and then also the ability to properly apply, align and inspect the slugs / machine thereafter.

Type slugs can be removed and resoldered; the most common reason for that these days is looseness or breakage but an increasing interest is being seen in converting QWERTY machines to QWERTZ or back, particularly for enthusiasts acquiring machines not regularly sold in their home countries.  For example, an American collector might acquire a QWERTZ Princess portable if he or she was fairly confident a local shop could swap two type slugs and two keytops to convert the machine to English QWERTY layout.  Naturally, other conversions are possible such as AZERTY, and so forth.

We hope this brief description has been of some assistance to collectors, historians and even those vaguely contemplating making new parts or machines.  The type (and type bars) are of course a critical part of a typewriter and require a very high degree of precision.  According to Beeching:

"There are approximately forty-two operations in the manufacture of each type bar alone.  From this it can be deduced that typewriter production is a manufacturing nightmare.  It is quite true to say that today, with any given quantity of capital, manufacturing capacity and skill, almost anything is more profitable to manufacture than a typewriter."  (Wilfred A. Beeching, "Century of the Typewriter.")

When Beeching originally wrote that in 1973 (in the first edition) he certainly was correct, although it must be pointed out that people did still need typewriters and that good ones would sell.  Today, we might consider 3D printing as a possible or less expensive way to manufacture type slugs but the questions of accuracy and hardness would need serious investigation with this new method.  In fact, the type slugs might be the most questionable part of all if 3D printing were considered for new use.

Brother's Full Size Portable: The JP-3

(This series of machine first appeared on Will's portable typewriter websites over fifteen years ago, and a detailed article on the large Brother portables appeared under both of our names in the December 2012 issue - Issue #100 - of ETCetera, which is available here.  This article puts the large Brother machine in perspective, and describes variants likely to be found in the field.)

THE SHORT-LIVED BROTHER "FULL SIZE" PORTABLE

Although Brother (a sewing machine manufacturer located in Nagoya, Japan) began investigating the manufacture of portable typewriters as early as 1954, it was not until 1961 that the company brought its first model to market.  This was a fairly small carriage shifted model, well made and sold at a very competitive price.

This initial entry into the typewriter market was brought about through inquiry by Western Auto, whose Western Auto Department Stores were already selling sewing machines manufactured by Brother.  Western Auto began selling these machines under its "Wizard" brand name; two are shown here for interest.

Wizard Truetype, manufactured 1963 (JP-1)

Wizard Tru-Tab, manufactured 1968 (JP-1)

While sales of this model, known internally as the JP-1, provided the basis for Brother's entry, the company broadened its range by adding two further models to the market in 1965 which were related to each other.  These were the electro-mechanical JP-2 and the fully manual JP-3 models.  While the electric model did not sell well (as judged by surviving numbers and advertisements) the manual machine did somewhat better... although it still did not last more than perhaps seven or eight years in production.

JP-3 SERIES AND DESIGN

The new machine differed considerably from the earlier model.  It was much larger, incorporated segment shift instead of carriage shift, and incorporated parallel key action like the 5 and 6 series Smith-Corona portables, the East German ERIKA, and the small East German GROMA machine in the flat category.  The price of the machine at retail however was noticeably lower than the big Smith-Corona and Royal portables, giving the machine a niche.  In the United States, the JP-3 was sold most widely by department store / catalog retailer Montgomery-Ward, and it is that store's brand which appears on the very early machine seen next.

The machine seen above is a 1965 Montgomery-Ward Signature 510.  The JP-3 is immediately identifiable by the combination of the blocky, squarish keytops and the three-button ribbon selector to the right of the keyboard.  The tab set-clear rocker to the left of the keyboard is notable, as is the high speed paper feed lever on the right end of the carriage.  This machine does not have a paper bail; Brother considered its new setup on this machine to be its "Advanced Paper Handling System" which did not require a bail.  Probably to meet competitive standard or critique, a bail did appear on many variants soon after production began.

With the top cover removed, another immediately obvious characteristic of the JP-3 series is seen here; the type bar springs connected to a spring rack that runs across the front of the machine, above the multi-link key lever mechanisms and which provides return pressure for the key levers and type bars.  The typing action on these machines is stiffer than on others of the same general size with similar action (Smith-Corona, Erika) but is very pleasant.  These machines are comfortably fast to run with the touch regulator set high.

Above is the serial number plate from the rear of the Signature 510.  Note that in Brother fashion the first digit of the serial is the last digit of the year of manufacture.  However, Montgomery-Ward machines incorporate the year of manufacture reversed in front of the serial.  Look at the labeling "56 - SER. NO." and you will note that the digits for 1965 are there, reversed, as "56."   The actual stock / catalog model number of the machine is also seen - EBK 8130A.

For collectors, typists and historians there are two general variations on this line that may be of interest.  Namely, these machines were available at times with wider than normal carriages, and with interchangeable type elements.  We will examine these separately.

WIDE CARRIAGE JP-3 VARIANT

Wide-carriage JP-3 machines are instantly recognizable because of their wider carrying cases, although it takes some exposure to the two sizes to spot one immediately in the field.  Seen here is a Brother De Luxe 905, which was manufactured in 1966.  Most Brother machines were, at this time, sold in the United States by department stores - and the majority of that was Montgomery-Ward and Western Auto.  In 1965 the company also made a deal with Sperry-Rand Remington to relabel machines for that company, to be sold by it world-wide.  A number of Brother machines were also sold by other means, such as catalogues mailed to homes (the Spiegel catalog was one.)  Very few of its sales during these years were to, or through, office machine dealers. Thus, we at least know that the machine above was one of the relatively smaller subset sold some other way than by department stores.  

Above, the back plate on the Brother De Luxe 905.  Note that this is the earliest style of Brother serial number plate you'll find on a JP-3.

Seen next is a 1966 Montgomery-Ward Signature 513.  This machine had a wider carriage than the 510 seen earlier, and added a paper bail. 

The rear plate for the Signature 513 shows the same overall style as that seen on the 510, with the date encoded (simply reversed) and of course the differing specific data.  At this time Ward's was issuing a common instruction manual labeled "Models 510-513" for these, not shown.

INTERCHANGEABLE TYPE JP-3 VARIANT

Earlier we used the term "element" to describe the interchangeable type on Brother JP-3 machines.  This is because the machines came from the factory with a type slug fitted on a special type bar, which was to be replaced with a cylindrical rotating "type sleeve" style element known by the Brother name of "Dial-A-Type."  We will see two machines here; one in original condition and one with the new element fitted.

Here we see a 1971 Montgomery-Ward Signature 510D.  The "D" in the model calls out the interchangeable type feature and the red keytop is immediately noticeable in the keyboard.

The removable type slug is very easily seen here - as is the spacing of the type bar for this element in the segment, which has a considerable un-machined gap between the farthest right type bar for the replaceable element and the next one.  

The owner's manual for the 510D clearly displays both the originally fitted, removable type slug and the optional Dial-A-Type element.  This element literally is rotated to obtain one of several pairs of symbols or figures, and four optional elements were available as spelled out here.

Above, serial plate on the 1971 Montgomery-Ward Signature 510D.  Note the changes from the earlier plates but also note retention of the curious date code in front of the number, digits reversed.

Now, we see a 1968 Brother Profile 715 which was found with the optional Dial-A-Type cylindrical type element installed.  This is a fairly unusual JP-3 labeling variant.

The Dial-A-Type element installed in the Brother Profile 715 is a Mathematics element.  These elements are relatively difficult to find; normally these JP-3 machines with interchangeable type are found in the field with the original type slug installed and no accompanying Dial-A-Type element - because the elements were sold separately. 

Above, the rear plate on the Brother Profile 715.  The new style "brother" logo seen here was first used in 1968, so this example is also notable for being first-year in that respect.  

Finally, a clip from the Brother Profile 715 instruction book.  Brother referred to this larger manual portable as its "Full Size Portable Typewriter," which it clearly felt it needed in order to offer a fully competitive lineup.  What's also clear is that the JP-3 and its electrified near-twin the JP-2 didn't last too far into the 1970's; Brother came out with other models although the JP-1 soldiered on well into the 1980's.  

Even if the big manual portable wasn't a lasting success, it did take part in a lineup that saw Brother rise from market entry in 1961 to selling over 500,000 portable typewriters per year by 1969.  

Typists today would do well to look for one of these machines.  They are sturdy, with the same feel of precision that the first Brother model had but these add a "small office machine" feel and parallel key action, which some typists prefer for reduction of finger strain.  Their popularity continues to grow among writers which makes it somewhat unfortunate that the model didn't last longer. 

(We have not shown all variants; some are just small variations of those seen here although a very new body style was introduced for JP-3 machines near the end.  Those can still be identified by the JP-3 spotting features easiest to use - which namely is the combination of a three-key ribbon selector on the right with a full keyboard, full featured portable having tallish, blocky keytops.) 

Information in this article comes from the Davis Bros. archives and collection, from the US Federal Trade Commission, and from Wilfred Beeching's "Century of the Typewriter."

Davis Bros. LIVE - One Night Only - Friday Sept. 22 in Ohio!

This coming Friday, September 22, there will be a special one night only showing of Doug Nichols' new film documentary "California Typewriter" at Cleveland's Cedar Lee Theatre.

Following the showing (which starts at 7:15 PM) both of us, and Richard Polt (who is actually in the movie) will take part in a question and answer session at the venue.  This is your chance to get a look at the new movie in its full release phase, AND get to meet and talk to Richard and to both of us.

I'm going to tell you all that we do precious few live typewriter related appearances.  We restrict most of what we do in a public way to our blogs, and our YouTube channel.  However as many of you know we are constantly active in the online typewriter communities - especially Facebook's "Antique Typewriter Collectors" group - we simply just don't regularly go out and about talking typewriters.  So, this is a unique chance to get to see us live at some time other than Herman Price's annual typewriter-related shindig / brouhaha.  That's a wonderful affair but you can't really call it "public," since few of the general public ever would come and deal with a bunch of serious typewriter nuts for several days.

If you're in northern Ohio, or are near there consider coming out!  We'll be happy to see you.

Cedar Lee Theatre, Friday September 22 at 7:15 PM for the movie with Q&A afterward.  Address is 2163 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights. Ohio.

Link to info and movie preview here:  http://clevelandcinemas.com/movie/244275/California-Typewriter-Trailer-and-Info

"On the Margin" - a New Effort, and a New Blog!

Friends,

I'm happy to announce that I've launched a project that has been in the works in one form or another for years.  This is an effort to really explain and show the rebuilt typewriter business as has never been done before.  This significant part of the typewriter universe "in the old days" is ignored almost wholly by the collector books that have been published, and except for my personal efforts on the net over all these years (on my own site, and later on this blog) has really been ignored on the net as well.

The amount of original information I've compiled on the business might astound you.  I've launched a brand new, stand alone blog done in a new style for me in order to bring this to you.  It will take a long time, but hopefully you'll enjoy it.

And don't be put off by the 'rebuilt' theme -- you'll see plenty of wonderful, classic typewriters, many really old and wonderful photos and a horde of ephemera and paperwork.  You will not be disappointed if you really love old typewriters.

Here is the blog - and I hope you enjoy it.  It's still very new so if you follow it now you'll really be on the ground floor.

On the Margin - A Look Back at the Rebuilt Typewriter Business

Feel free to comment and, on that blog, there is an email "contact" form you can use as well.

Oliver in Transition

Although the Oliver is one of the most famous typewriters in history, the period of time during which the original Oliver Typewriter Company in the U.S. failed and during which the Oliver was re-established as a working concern in England has not been well represented in the literature or on the internet of today.  This article will look into that period and the range of machines produced.  

The history of the Oliver, at least so far as the early years are concerned is well documented enough to warrant only the briefest of discussions here, punctuated by vintage images from Oliver's heyday.

OLIVER IN TRANSITION

Will Davis with assistance from Thomas Furtig, Berthold Kerschbaumer, Norbert Schwarz

•Oliver through the 1920's

Oliver envelope detail c. Norbert Schwarz

In its own ca. 1908 sales brochure, the Oliver Typewriter Company indicated the year 1896 as being the one in which the Oliver began to make itself known widely in the field of typewriters.  The company had launched several years prior to that date, and by 1896 its No. 2 model was making some inroads in a field that already had a number of large and well funded competitors.  The virtues of the Oliver typewriter made themselves apparent, and the improved No. 3 appeared in March 1898; it was this model which exponentially took off in popularity and sales and was that which moved Oliver right to the forefront of the world's machines.

Oliver No. 3; Davis Bros. collection

Going from success to success, Oliver introduced its improved and more substantial No. 5 machine in 1907.  (Even numbered machines one higher than the base machine typed more characters.) 

Oliver No. 5; sales brochure, Will Davis collection

Oliver No. 5, Will Davis collection

The 1907 world of the typewriter was quite different from that in which the Oliver had first come to prominence.  While the well known qualities of solid reliability, of indestructible type bars, of unexcelled manifolding power and solid alignment which the Oliver carried still had important sales potential, the "visible" quality of writing had already long since been not just equaled but surpassed by a number of machines on the market.  However, the Oliver continued to sell well even against this heavy competition as the world's appetite for typewriters continued to increase.

The No. 7 Oliver appeared in 1915, followed rapidly by the No. 9 in 1916.  By this time, the competition on the market was exceedingly heavy.  Visible makes on the general market were dominant, as was generally the four bank single shift keyboard. 

Oliver No. 9; Will Davis collection

In 1917, Oliver made a significant shift in its sales policy.  The company dropped its major city branches and commissioned salesmen, and instead shifted over to sales by agents and direct to buyer.  At the same time, the retail price of the No. 9 machine was dropped from $100 to $49, which placed the brand new Oliver into the same price range as the very best rebuilt standard machines.  This change actually reignited sales of the Oliver, which at the time had sold over 750,000 machines, and gave the brand a new lease on life.  

To finish our look at the Oliver Typewriter Company in the U.S. in the years of success, we'll feature a few vintage advertising card illustrations from the collection of Norbert Schwarz which depict the Oliver and some period "typewriters."  

•Oliver 1920-1928 - The End of U.S. Operations

By the time that a brief but serious world-wide recession began in 1920, the Oliver typewriter as a product was already essentially obsolescent. Worse, thousands of customers began to default on their time payments for Oliver machines, forcing the company to repossess a large number of these machines, which then had to be disposed of (ETCetera Issue No. 6, February 1989 as written by Darryl Rehr.)  In this time period Oliver would have had the choice to sell these machines as "second hand" or "rough" machines or else rebuild them itself and then market them as such.  ETCetera No. 6 is not clear on the actual method of disposition of these typewriters although it is stated that they were "sold off at a loss."  Interestingly, advertisements for the Typewriter Distributing Syndicate, which had not been seen in print since the cessation of Oliver's commissioned sales network, reappeared in 1922 offering "new and rebuilt" Oliver machines.  Since it is this author's educated guess that this outfit was the official, controlled resale subsidiary for Oliver Typewriter Company, we may finally have our answer as to the disposition of the repossessed machines.  

In the same time period Oliver's chief engineer developed a four bank, single shift standard typewriter which still incorporated the unique and familiar Oliver U-shaped type bars although moved to a position that essentially made the machine a front strike.  The prototype was delivered, Rehr reported, in 1922 but was not proceeded with.

The fading market position of Oliver's machine, coupled with the losses on machines already placed in the field triggered what would become the final decline of the company.  The Woodstock, Illinois Official Sesquicentennial History tells us that in October 1922 Oliver cut its work force; this is paralleled by Rehr's report in ETCetera No. 6 of a reduction in manufacturing at about this time.  The company did make moves to manufacture other products; it acquired full rights to manufacture the patented Washburne valve for internal combustion engines and put them in production in June 1922, while shortly thereafter the company announced it would begin making roller skates at the plant.  The cut in the work force was undoubtedly a symptom of the company's critical shortage of cash.

Moody's Manual's entry for the Oliver Typewriter Company in 1920 does not show a large amount of debt held by the company, but the company issued $750,000 worth of notes in May, 1921 (Moody's Manual, 1922.)   $50,000 of these notes were due May 1, 1923 and another $50,000 in May, 1924.  The annual notes due totaled $60,000 each May of 1925, 1926 and 1927; $70,000 each for 1928 and 1929.  The notes due May 1930 totaled $80,000 and those due May 1931 a whopping $250,000.  It must be remembered of course that the company issued these notes in the midst of the world-wide recession, which began to ease in most nations after 1921-1922.  However, Oliver's weak market position and buyback / resale of machines had more than likely triggered the Board of Directors to take on this debt in order to acquire working capital.  The gamble was that the company could recover, and pay off the notes.

It should be mentioned that Oliver did introduce a new model in 1922 - the Oliver 11, which was simply a further variation on its long-lived three bank design.  The company oddly appears to have continued manufacturing the No. 9 and the No. 11 side by side for some time, with the No. 9 being sold at a lower price than the No. 11.  Some of the debt may well have been taken on to pay for retooling to make the No. 11, or to attempt to tool up for the four bank machine, or both; the debt acquisition of May 1921 came before the introduction of the No. 11 in 1922 and over a year before the reduction of the work force. 

In March 1923, the periodical "Sales Management" carried a scathing appraisal of Oliver.  The magazine described the company as being "in the throes of reorganization," and noted that several of its directing officials had resigned.  Rumors were said to abound - among them that the banks were taking the company over, or that the company had been bought by Felt and Tarrant, or that the company was going to come out with "a standard basket machine."  The magazine declined to push any of the rumors but wrote that these events in total were "leading to the conclusion that its cut-price policy has failed."  The magazine went on:  "While it would hardly be fair to place all the troubles of this concern at the doorstep of its price-advertising and price-policy, its difficulties serve to emphasize a fundamental in business-building which is too often overlooked -- namely, that even the ablest management cannot make a success of a business where the appeal is to price alone." 

The last advertisements for Oliver typewriters disappear in 1923, meaning that in that time the machine was essentially off the broader market in any model, new or rebuilt from the factory. 

Exact details of this period are not clear; what is clear is that reporting by Darryl Rehr in ETCetera No. 6, which includes information provided by the last actual Oliver plant employee, tells us that the company had laid off all of its plant employees either by, or in, 1926.  According to ETCetera No. 6, the company assembled remaining parts into typewriters and disposed of them; this may explain why Butler Bros. was offering "brand new" Oliver No. 9 machines in its 1927 catalog at a price of $45. 

The Woodstock Sesquicentennial History tells us that in March 1927, the Chamber of Commerce of Woodstock (the city in which the Oliver factory was located) was approached by an unnamed adding machine manufacturer, who wished to acquire the Oliver plant and place the Oliver typewriter back into production; the acquisition would include the Oliver patents.  (This author suspects that the company in question was probably Burroughs.)  Nothing came of this proposal.  By July of that year a local paper described the Oliver plant as "old and vacant," as recounted in the History. 

The same source tells us that in February 1928 the Oliver company asked that the Oliver plant be connected to the municipal electric power supply, in order that the property be more attractive for sale.  Oliver had previously operated its own power plant.  Finally, on February 13, 1928 it was reported by a local paper (again as recounted in the History) that the Oliver plant was sold to Alemite Die Casting and Manufacturing Company of Chicago.

We now know that Oliver was liquidated in its entirety; the 1938 Robert D. Fisher Manual of Worthless and Valuable Securities reported that the company had declared a final liquidating dividend of 35 cents per share, and that stock was to be presented to the Harris Trust & Savings Bank.  This manual does not give the date of liquidation, but the sale of the plant and other information we will see soon tells us that in all likelihood the liquidation of assets occurred in very late 1927 and early 1928.  This then marks the end of the Oliver Typewriter Company in the United States. 

•The British Oliver is Born

The Oliver Typewriter Manufacturing Company Ltd. was registered in Great Britain as a corporation in 1928; it was formed by investors who sought to place the Oliver typewriter, more or less as it had existed in the United States, into production in Europe.  This may seem an odd choice, but some perspective lends clarity.

In the 1920's, the currency exchange rates had more or less made American made typewriters impossibly expensive for most of Europe's buyers.  This situation led to the rapid growth of typewriter industry in Europe, particularly in Germany during this time (where American typewriters were eventually banned for import).  The Oliver had always been popular everywhere, and it certainly could have been argued that the Oliver, manufactured in Europe and sold in Europe, would be a viable commercial product at that time. There is also no doubt that the Oliver name carried weight and had value on the market in and of itself, and rights to it could be valuable.

Records show that the trademark for the name "Oliver" for typewriters and parts was transferred to the new firm, which often referred to itself as "British Oliver," and of course we know that the tooling to make the machines was transferred there as well.  A spare parts catalog in this writer's collection also shows us that the British company either was making or could supply spare parts for the Oliver models back through the No. 9 model -- it had most likely acquired the spare parts stock from the defunct US firm.  All this together means that, in all probability, the entire rights, patents, tools, trademarks and good will for same were sold by the original Oliver Typewriter Company in the US to the new Oliver Typewriter Manufacturing Co. Ltd. as part of the liquidation of the former in 1928.  

The catalog also tells us, interestingly, that the new firm had made the decision to refer to the parts for all 84 character machines as "L series" and 96 character machines as "R" series.  The buyer is warned to carefully select between L prefix and R prefix parts to ensure having the correct part.  Even whole frames for the No. 9 / No. 10 / No. 11 / No. 12 were available from the company.

The Oliver Typewriter Manufacturing Company introduced to the trade its No. 15 and No. 16 machines in 1928, with the higher model typing 96 instead of 84 characters but being otherwise identical.

Above, the front of an advertising folder for The British Oliver, in the Will Davis collection and not previously shown on the net.  The folder covers the No. 15 and No. 16 models.

Three carriage widths are shown in the brochure interior, namely the Foolscap, the Brief, and the Policy.  A number of actual carriage widths was available on either the No. 15 or No. 16.

Further information on the Oliver is found in another part of the folder; click all photos to enlarge.

Above is Oliver No. 15, serial number CL-6613 from the Thomas Furtig collection.  Notable is the paper table, which carries the decal "The British Oliver."  In most respects the machine is not different in any major portion to the No. 11 made previously in the United States.

Oliver No. 16 serial 16 OA 458 is seen above, from the Berthold Kerschbaumer collection.  The model 16 differs from the 15 in typing more characters; this particular example also has its entire keyboard comprised of ringed keytops, whereas the previously seen No. 15 has character keys with solid keytops (as on Olivers of old) but shift and control keys of ringed type. 

Serial number records tell us that the new machines sold fairly poorly; the record for the No. 15 shows only a bracket of 1000 machines per year.  The machines of this original Oliver style were taken off the market in 1933, at the height of the Depression.  What we now know is that by that time, a number of other arrangements had been made for Oliver to distribute different and more modern machines. 

•Oliver Portable Introduced

In late 1931, portable typewriters carrying the name "Oliver" appeared both in Europe and in the United States.  Georg Sommeregger has undertaken some intensive research on these machines; what we present here is written in view of his findings but tailored to the evidence we have at hand. 

Oliver Portable from I-T-E flyer, Will Davis collection

The Oliver portables appear to this writer to have been made in two places at once, at least for some period of time.  The exact origin of the mechanical design is not clear, but no typewriter appears on the market less than several years after it is conceived.  It is thus entirely possible that the Oliver Portable was in the design process by someone, either in the United States or elsewhere, at the time of the liquidation of the Oliver concern in the United States.  This is not to explicitly state that the machine was being designed by, or at, Oliver in the USA prior to the company's failure, but this cannot be ruled out.  

One of the makers of the Oliver machines was Fortuna Buromaschinen GmbH, Berlin, Germany.  This company had emerged from the old Stolzenberg-Fortuna typewriter business wherein the machines had been made by an arms manufacturer in previous years.  Stolzenberg had oddly enough been the distributor for Oliver machines "in the old days." 

Fortuna portable illustration c. Norbert Schwarz

1931 Fortuna ad c. Berthold Kerschbaumer

The other maker of the Oliver portables was located in Italy.  The exact nature of this operation is not yet clear; what is clear is that an Oliver Typewriter (Italy) Ltd. was registered as a corporation in 1930 in that nation, according to the Register of Defunct Companies.  This only lasted until April 1932 when it was voluntarily liquidated.  However, the supply of Oliver portables known to have been made in Italy continued (although in other newer body styles,) so that the logical assumption is that the known maker of those machines, S.I.M. (Societa Industriale Meccanica) grew out of the failure of the Italian Oliver concern.

The Oliver portables seem to have been sold more widely in Europe than in the United States, although they were certainly available here.  We will examine some European examples first from the collections of Thomas Furtig and Berthold Kerschbaumer. 

Oliver Portable serial 3793 Z, c Thomas Furtig

The style of Oliver portable seen above is that first introduced; the labeling on the front "The Oliver" is the earliest, introduced at the beginning but simplified later.  This machine carries on its front frame the decal "Oliver Typewriter Co. (Sales) Ltd.," which is different from the Oliver Typewriter Manufacturing Company.  There is no record of this specific corporation, but in the United States an Oliver Typewriter Sales Co. Inc. was registered in 1922 and was completely out of business by 1933, according to the Robert Fisher Manual of Worthless and Valuable Securities (1938 edition.)  The relation of either of these 'sales' firms to the manufacturing firms is not clear but what is clear is that this particular typewriter carries the 'sales' company name and not a manufacturer name. It seems likely that the 'sales' firms were directly linked but separated in order to reduce investment risk. 

Oliver portable serial 69505 c Thomas Furtig

Fortuna portable serial 69774 c Thomas Furtig

Oliver portable serial 69890 c Berthold Kerschbaumer

The two Oliver portables above are quite close in serial number; however, the black machine pictured second does not have a ribbon selector switch.  The Fortuna machine is between the two depicted Olivers in serial number.  We'll continue in serial number order with our look - the varied paint colors and finishes found on this range of machines is especially noteworthy, as the Oliver portables are not generally discussed when collectors speak of colorful 1920's and 1930's portables. 

Oliver portable serial 82157 c Thomas Furtig

Junior portable serial 82926 c Berthold Kerschbaumer

Oliver portable serial 82974 c Thomas Furtig

Oliver portable serial 83631 c Thomas Furtig

Reviewing the above machines, it's significant to note that the flat black Oliver serial 69890 and the Junior, serial 82926 are perfectly identical other than the name.  These two are unlike the other machines in not having a ribbon selector switch.  The "Junior" name is clearly in the Oliver style - note the broken letter "o" in "Junior."  

Somewhere between the 80,000 and 90,000 serial numbers, new body styles began to appear.  These seem to have been mixed, so that the name Oliver appears after this time on several styles.  The single sheet flyer seen below was found in a cache of 1930's Oliver advertising material; it is undated but it clearly shows one of the new body styles -- probably, the first of the new styles.  The new body style machines are Italian-made. 

Oliver portable flyer, Will Davis collection

Oliver portable serial 90024 c Berthold Kerschbaumer

Oliver portable serial 104567 c Thomas Furtig

Oliver portable serial 112257 c Thomas Furtig

Oliver portable serial 112554 c Thomas Furtig

Oliver portable serial 119630 c Thomas Furtig

The beautiful finish and unusual color of the example above, serial 119630, should be called out as a particular exception.  Note that all of the typewriters from 90,000 and up shown above differ both either in body styles or in other mechanical details.

Considerable confusion over this line of portables still exists - for example, machines of the earliest form also appear in Europe carrying the name "Europa."  This is almost certainly not a product of Europa Schreibmaschinen, who were selling under the name "Olympia," but rather a renaming of either the Fortuna or the Oliver (Italy) / S.I.M. portable.  Europa Buromaschinen had already brought out its own design of portable in 1931, unlike the machines seen here.  

These portables, by the listings featured at the Typewriter Serial Number Database site, were apparently manufactured straight through the Second World War and to 1947.  In 1948, a new model Oliver Portable, made in England and a different design, appeared to replace these machines. 

•The Oliver Portable in the United States

The Oliver portable machines are not often found in the United States, but we now know thanks to a flyer acquired by this writer that they were sold here only through International Typewriter Exchange, a major typewriter rebuilder that also for a number of years did sell brand new portable typewriters of all makes through its mail order typewriter catalogues.  

I-T-E Oliver flyer, Will Davis collection.

The publication date on this piece is November 1931, and it's clearly stated that International Typewriter Exchange is the sole U.S.A. distributor.  Six colors were offered:  Blue, Olive Green, Mahogany, Black, Maroon and Roman Gold.  The cash price for the machine was $49.90 or the machine could be bought on time for $2.00 down and $4.00 per month until the total term price of $54,90 was paid.  At some point the brochure itself was hand marked to show price reductions down to $44.90 cash and $49.90 on time payments. 

This piece definitely plays on the original Oliver history - noting that there were over a million Oliver machines sold, and that the Oliver name had a thirty year plus reputation in the field.  What is never written once is that the machines were imported; their place of manufacture is never stated.   

The 1932 International Typewriter Exchange catalog did not feature the Oliver portable in its center section along with other new portables, but did include a separate advertisement for them as well as the venerable Corona folding machine on the back of the order blank.  Detail from that separate sheet is seen below. 

1932 I-T-E order blank detail, Will Davis collection

It must be pointed out here that this writer has not seen the "No. 4" model assigned to the Oliver portable anywhere but in this advertisement.  This is certainly a labeling applied for the convenience of the seller (I-T-E) and not something coming from the factory; however, it is certainly possible that persons buying or discussing the machine after having seen this material could have called this machine the Oliver No. 4.  Thus, although the chance of encountering this labeling or any reference to it elsewhere is slight, collectors and researchers should take note of this distinction.

The Oliver portable disappeared from the International Typewriter Exchange catalog and ads prior to 1938.  In all likelihood it disappeared fairly shortly after it appeared, and may have only been sold here for a couple of years.  This writer is aware of no other advertising for the Oliver portables in the United States other than the materials shown above for the first time. 

•The Oliver - Fortuna Mystery

It has been written by Beeching in his "Century of the Typewriter" that when production of the Oliver three bank standard machine ended, the the German made Fortuna was brought in and sold, and that this was a four bank machine idential to the Fortuna IV seen below.  Several are today in the hands of collectors.  

•Oliver No. 20

The evidence seems to show us that the Oliver No. 15 and No. 16 were being sold in small numbers by Oliver alongside both imported Fortuna standard and portable machines made outside Great Britain.  This arrangement only lasted until 1935 when Oliver began manufacturing a licensed version of the Halda-Norden machine which, according to Beeching, had only as recently as 1929 appeared on the market in its then-present form.  Again, when the No. 20 was introduced, the No. 15 and No. 16 of the old style were dropped.

Oliver No. 20 folder, Will Davis collection

Above, front of a sales folder for the Oliver No. 20 in my collection.  At once the appeal to modernity is seen, as the machine is touted as "An ultra modern four bank" typewriter.  The machine is also advertised as "British throughout," as an attempt to erase any notion that the product wasn't domestic.

Will Davis collection

Mechanical details of the Oliver No. 20 (actually, Halda-Norden) are seen in the interior of the advertising piece.  Notable was the segment shift, with rigid arrangement that made alignment of the shift, or the stroke of the shift, impossible to get out of order.  On the right, the accelerating type bar action of the machine is illustrated.  Each of the numbered positions labeled next to the stroke of the keys corresponds to a position of the actual type bar as it moves to the platen.  Degrees of travel marked on the arc of the type bar travel are actually degrees moved since the last position.  Note that in the final 25 percent of key travel the type bar actually moves about half of its total travel. 

The Oliver No. 20 was of course available with wide carriages.  The machine was also available with two different numbers of characters typed, but without changing model as with the previous Oliver machines of the three bank type. 

Oliver No. 20 directions, Will Davis collection

Oliver No. 20 parts diagram, Will Davis collection

Oliver No. 20 serial 321093 c Thomas Furtig

Oliver No. 20 serial 477457 c Thomas Furtig

Collectors should note that the first of the two Oliver No. 20 machines seen here is in a green shade typical of Oliver machines of old; also, the instruction manual cover attempts to duplicate this shade. 

The Spink & Beeching copy of the OMEF serial number guide in this writer's collection shows production of the No. 20 Oliver right straight through until 1949, even with production being carried on during the Second World War.  

FRANZ PEHMER

We close this look at the transition of Oliver from the United States to Europe, and the transition from three bank "original" design to conventional four bank front strike machines with a photo of a beautiful Oliver portable in Franz Pehmer's collection, sent our way by Bert Kerschbaumer.  It's my hope that collectors will begin to seek out these Oliver portables, and recognize that there may be far more things out there carrying the name Oliver than just the original three bank standard machine.  Thanks to my friends, again (Thomas, Bert, Norbert) for the assistance on illustrating this article!  (9/19/2016)  -- Will Davis.