Typewriter :: Blast from the past

In 1976, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak got the idea for the 1976 Apple 1 from a typewriter. These days, everyone seems to be paying homage to this great machine. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter are buzzing with posts of typewriter lovers. Paying tribute to typewriter has became a hot topic. People are also sharing their nostalgic feelings, with experiences with typewriters.

A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces of cast metal type (called sorts) used in movable type letterpress printing.

Typewriter was invented in 1870. Through much of the 20th century, typewriters were indispensable tools for many authors and businessmen. However by the end of the 1980s, however, word processors and personal computers largely displaced typewriters in business world. Some of the famous and notable typewriter manufacturer companies were E. Remington and Sons, IBM, Imperial Typewriters, Oliver Typewriter Company, Olivetti, Royal Typewriter Company, Smith Corona, and Underwood Typewriter Company.

Godrej – the last manufacturer of typewriters in the world – has just 500 machines left for sale. “We stopped production in 2009 and were the last company in the world to manufacture office typewriters. Currently, the company has only 500 machines left. The machines are of Godrej Prima, the last typewriter brand from our company, and will be sold at a maximum retail price of Rs 12,000,” said Milind Dukle, general manager-operations, Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company.

During its golden age for typewriters in the 1990s, this company used to produce 50,000 typewriters every year. However, from the early 2000 onwards, computers started dominating. All the manufacturers of office typewriters stopped production, except Godrej.

Before concluding this article, I would like to say we still have your keyboard, typewrite, we love you.