The Underwood No.5 was once known as “the most popular typewriter in the world.” It came on the market in 1900, and by the early 1920s had sold over 2 million units worldwide. This number was equal to the sales of all other typewriter firms in production at the time. The factory was located in Hartford, Connecticut, and was producing typewriters at the rate of one per minute at this time. Competitor Royal Typewriter company was also based in Hartford, making the city the typewriter capital of the world.
John Underwood and Co. began around 1874, originally making typewriter ribbon and carbon paper for the Remington company, who were making typewriters at the time. The original design of what became the Underwood typewriter came from inventor Franz Xavier Wagner. There is an ongoing dispute based upon the original patent for the machine, which names Franz’s son Herman as the patent holder and designer. Even a court case to determine the ownership of patent rights was unsuccessful in its decision. You can read all about the tangled affair on ozTypewriter.blogspot.
Regardless of the fact, Wagner sold the company to John T. Underwood. The story goes that Underwood, upon learning that Remington had decided to make their own ribbons and carbon paper, responded by building his own typewriter. The original design was produced from 1896 to 1900 and labeled “Wagner Typewriter Company.” These were labeled as No.1 and No.2. The main difference being that they lacked the color selector ribbon from red to black.
Beginning in 1900, models 3, 4, and 5 were produced. The major differences being that model No.3 features a wide carriage, while No.4 has 76 characters and the No.5 features 84 characters.These workhorse machines were produced until 1931. They became the standard for offices and secretaries the world over, particularly the Underwood #5. It wasn’t until the IBM Selectric came out in 1961, with its golfball style element which allowed the typist to change fonts easily, that technology changed typing from manual to electric.
Several reasons for the Underwoods popularity were the typebar, frontstroke mechanism, QWERTY keyboard, fourbank keyboard with single shift, and ribbon inking. The combination of these features overall won out over other designs due to the simple fact that it enabled faster typing. This is exactly what the business community needed.
Underwood typewriters were so popular that a giant version was built and displayed several times at various exhibitions over the years. Live models were seated on top of the giant keys. The first time it was displayed at the Pan Pacific Exhibition in San Francisco in 1915. It was then moved to Atlantic City and put on permanent display for the National Advertizers Worlds Fair at Garden City, NJ. Finally it was remodeled and moved to New York City for the 1939 /1940 World’s Fair. The demise of the giant typewriter came due to the rationing of metal during WWII when it was dismantled and used to make munitions.
The No.5 Underwood typewriter is still popular today. With the onset of computers and technology displacing the typewriter, most are no longer used, although many are still on display as reminders of the past.
Have you ever used a manual typewriter? The click clack sound of the keys when pressed is quite satisfying. A true bit of nostalgia.
You can watch an episode of the BBC show “The Repair Shop” where an Underwood No.5 typewriter is repaired here.
