The Underwood Typewriter Company was an American manufacturer of

typewriter A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...

s headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, with manufacturing facilities in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

. Underwood produced what is considered the first widely successful, modern typewriter. By 1939, Underwood had produced five million machines.

History

From 1874, the Underwood family made typewriter ribbon and carbon paper, and were among a number of firms who produced these goods for Remington. When Remington decided to start producing ribbons themselves, the Underwoods opted to manufacture typewriters. The original Underwood typewriter was invented by German-American Franz Xaver Wagner, who showed it to entrepreneur

John Thomas Underwood John Thomas Underwood (April 12, 1857, in London, England – July 2, 1937, in Osterville, Massachusetts) was an American entrepreneur and investor who founded the Underwood Typewriter Company. Biography He was the elder brother of missionary Ho ...

. Underwood supported Wagner and bought the company, recognizing the importance of the machine. The Underwood Number 5 launched in 1900 has been described as "the first truly modern typewriter." Two million of these typewriters had been sold by the early 1920s, and its sales “were equal in quantity to all of the other firms in the typewriter industry combined.” When the company was in its heyday as the world's largest typewriter manufacturer, its factory in

was turning out typewriters at the rate of one each minute and, along with

Royal Typewriter Company The Royal Typewriter Company is a manufacturer of typewriters founded in January 1904. It was headquartered in New York City with its factory in Hartford, Connecticut. History The Royal Typewriter Company was founded by Edward B. Hess and Lew ...

, made Hartford the “Typewriter Capitol of the World”. Philip Dakin Wagoner was appointed president of the Elliott-Fisher Company after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

(1914-1918). Elliott-Fisher became the parent of the Underwood Typewriter Company and the Sundstrand Adding Machine Co. In 1927 Wagoner reorganized the company into Underwood-Elliott-Fisher, which later became the Underwood Corporation. The reorganization was completed in December 1927. John Thomas Underwood was elected chairman and Wagoner president of Underwood Elliott-Fisher. In the years before World War II, Underwood built the worlds' largest typewriter in an attempt to promote itself. The typewriter was on display at Garden Pier in

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

, for several years and attracted large crowds. Often, Underwood would have a young woman sitting on each of the large keys. The enormous typewriter was scrapped for metal when the war started. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Underwood produced M1 carbines. Approximately 540,000 M1 carbines were produced from late 1942 to May 1944. Underwood also produced M1 carbine barrels for the U.S. government. Under the Free Issue Barrel Program, barrels were sent to other prime manufacturers who did not possess the machines to make barrels. In 1945 Wagoner was elected chairman of the board of Underwood, and Leon C. Stowell was elected president. Wagoner remained chief executive.

Olivetti Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been par ...

bought a controlling interest in Underwood in 1959, and completed the merger in October 1963, becoming known in the U.S. as Olivetti-Underwood with headquarters in

, and entering the electromechanical

calculator An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics. The first solid-state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s. Pocket-sized ...

business. The Underwood brand appears in 2021 on some cash registers produced by

Notable users

Some writers who had endorsed with Underwood typewriters such as

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...

, F. Scott Fitzgerald,

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

and Robert E. Howard.

Gallery

Image:TheFaulknerPortable.jpg,

's Underwood Universal Portable in his office at

Rowan Oak Rowan Oak is William Faulkner's former home in Oxford, Mississippi. It is a primitive Greek Revival house built in the 1840s by Colonel Robert Sheegog, an Irish immigrant planter from Tennessee. Faulkner purchased the house when it was in disrepai ...

, which is now maintained by the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

as a museum. Image:Underwood_255.jpg, A student's portable underwood 255 manufactured circa 1977 in Japan Image:Underwoodfive.jpg, The Underwood Touch-Master 5 was among the last desktop models produced at the Underwood factory in the early 60s Image:The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis - Typewriter.jpg, Underwood No. 5, in the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis Image:M1_Carbine.jpg, During

Underwood produced M1 Carbines for the War Department Image:Հայերեն գրամեքենա.JPG, An Underwood typewriter with Armenian letters. Image:Underwood standard pub jorf.jpg, "Underwood standard n° 6" advertisement in France File:Underwood typewriter advertisement. Russia 1900.jpg, Underwood typewriter advertisement in Russia (1900) MEK II-371.jpg, typewriter Underwood Portable at the Museum Europäischer Kulturen File:Ernest Hemingway typewriter.jpg,

's portable Underwood typewriter File:Underwood 450.jpg, Underwood 450, Italian version, detail

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1895 establishments in New York City American companies established in 1895 Manufacturing companies established in 1895 1959 mergers and acquisitions 1963 disestablishments in New York (state) American companies disestablished in 1963 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1963 Typewriters Olivetti S.p.A. Defunct manufacturing companies based in New York City