Those who are well acquainted with a typewriter know how it imparts an aesthetic feel and takes you to the real vintage era and its beauty. A typewriter is not just a machine to print words but is considered a chest of emotions.
It is a mechanical device used to print letters or characters on paper pieces with different keys’ help. The vintage typewriter was mostly used in the late nineteenth century when commercialization was growing its roots deeper, and businesses were sprawling nations.
History of Typewriters
The typewriters used earlier back in the 19th century were wholly mechanical, which means controlled manually by using springs and levers. This required quite an effort to be put in while using a mechanical model. Each key had to be pressed firmly, and the carriage had to be moved to its original place after the end of every line.
They also made a noise when the keys were struck, which was quite loud, and hundreds of people used to work together on different typewriters.
These minor issues of inconvenience found a new solution when electric ones came into use. They have reduced extra strain and effort, which was required before.
The noise was reduced, the carriage moved automatically, and the hand strain caused by typing the keys firmly was also reduced to a far extent. Electronic typewriters were introduced in the early 1900s and were ubiquitous by the 1930s.
Many people might think that typewriters’ usage is near to or almost zero, but the fact is there are still people who love to rely on this antique equipment and give life to their thoughts.
Top 6 Popular Typewriters in 2023
So without dragging it further, let us get to the main business of top mechanical typewriter machines and let the vintage souls fulfill their nostalgic desire.
Royal 79101t classic manual typewriter
This product from the Royal store provides a classic retro-looking portable manual typewriter that comes in a metal design. It comes with a wide 11 inches carriage and a nylon ribbon of black and red. It includes 88 characters and is ideal for anyone. This manual wireless device can be advantageous in many unique ways and comes with a storage holder, user manual, and a pre-installed ribbon. This vintage device can give you the quality writing that many processors today lack. It is one of the best vintage typewriters.
Features:
- This vintage and retro look manual typewriter offers a width provision with a maximum print width of 12 inches.
- There are a total of 44 keys and 88 characters.
- It also comes with a space bar repeater key and pica font 87.
- Options like line spacing variables and selection of typewriter ribbon are also available.
- The tabulator key, margin stop feature, impression control, and typing width of 11 inches are all-inclusive.
Royal Epoch portable manual typewriter
This product from the ROYAL store provides a portable manual typewriter for enthusiastic writers. This royal epoch typewriter comes with an 11-inch carriage, which helps in typing its 88 characters on the nylon ribbon of black and red. The product also includes a strong case for carrying the typewriter. The product weight is 16.63 pounds and is comfortable and perfect for carrying. The dimensions of this manual portable typewriter are 18.4 x 7.3 x 18.3 inches.
Features:
- It comes with a perfect 12.5-inch carriage.
- The width provision comes with a maximum print width of 11.6 inches.
- The width for typing comes in 11 inches.
- There are a total of 44 keys and 88 characters.
- It also comes with a space bar repeater key.
- It comes in black with black ink.
Brother SX-4000 electronic typewriter
The Brother store’s product provides a portable mid-level daisy wheel typewriter, which comes with an LCD of 16- characters. It also comes with a unique design professional touch keyboard and a 70,000-word dictionary. It consists of a correction memory of ”line-out” and ”word-out”, which is automatic. This typewriter also includes auto bold print, underline, margin flush, and view mode.
Features:
- The product has an inclusive feature of pitch typing selector of variables 10/12/15.
- The typewriter also comes with auto paper insertion.
- The view mode of the typewriter provides the view of the typing line with ease.
- It includes an interchangeable cassette ribbon.
- It has an auto carriage return option.
- It avails forward and reverses the indexing feature.
- The self demo feature helps in the auto demonstration of functions and different components.
We R memory keepers typecast retro typewriter
This product from We are memory keepers provides one of the greatest retro-style typewriters which comes with modern features. This typewriter comes with a high-quality interior. It weighs 13.6 pounds. This typewriter’s ribbon quality is perfect and highly durable. It comes with various adjustable imprint options. It also helps in typing speed provision. The ribbons of black and white are included. This retro look modern typewriter offers a highly compatible and genuine quality ink ribbon. This typewriter royal features different options and settings and is one of the best versatile new electric typewriters.
Features:
- It can operate both upper and lower-class alphabets.
- This also comes with an option to select numbers and symbols.
- These typewrite settings include tab settings and also margin settings.
- The unique feature is that it comes with spacing options of 4 lines.
- It consists of a bell indicator.
- It can hold a paper feed width of up to 12 inches.
- The footprint size comes in 12 x 14 inches.
Brother GX-6750 daisy wheel electric typewriter
This product from Brother provides a GX-6750 entry-level portable daisywheel electronic typewriter. It comes with a perfect touch keyboard, which is professional. The many exciting features include an auto-correct system that can allow word out and induce a memory of 65 characters to lift off. It also comes with an auto underline option, margin flush option, view mode along with a bold print option. This has an inclusive feature of pitch typing selector of variables 10/12/. This electronic typewriter includes a caps lock key and line indent feature and also comes with a paper insertion feature, which is automatic. It comes along with a power adapter.
Features:
- The product comes with a perfect printing width of 12 inches.
- This electronic typewriter includes print technology that allows technical information to be printed.
- It comes with a daisy wheel wind speed.
- The pitch for printing is 9.
- It consists of a 10 pica font.
- The many other features also include memory characters with line spacing.
- It comes with a total of 96 keys and 65 input storage devices keyboard.
- This electronic typewriter consists of a caps lock key and line indent feature and a paper insertion feature, which is automatic.
Nakajima WPT-150 Electronic Typewriter
Nakajima’s product provides a WPT-150 portable electronic typewriter with a 13-inch carriage and quality keys with a perfect 9-inch width for printing. It is a modern age new electric typewriter with a different variable pitch selection of 10/12/15. The product also includes a 1, 1.5, and 2-inch line spacing and up to 12 cps. The many features also include a correction memory of full-line and an erasing option for words and characters. The typewriter is one of the finest modern typewriters.
Features:
- It comes with a one-line correction memory.
- The impressive feature of this electronic typewriter is that it has the option to erase words and characters.
- The other features include auto centering, auto carriage return to its original position, and auto underlying.
- This typewriter comes with a 13-inch carriage.
- It also includes a perfect print width of 9 inches.
- It comes with a pica of ten font.
Things you need to know before buying a typewriter
- Material
Many typewriters come in abs plastic and are molded, which are not at all wear and tear-resistant and have high chances of breaking and cracking. The best typewriter brands are the ones that have a metallic interior and sturdy structure. So if you are looking for something long-lasting, then a metal body manual portable or electronic typewriter is highly recommendable.
Usually, manual portable typewriters are quite strong. Also, the rubber on the typewriters provided to hold paper while printing should be genuine and of high quality, as it is a natural product and has the chance of degrading.
- Keys
When it comes to keys, the old typewriter brands or typewriters followed it as a common thing to not include 1-keys, 0- keys, and!- keys to save space, money, and weight. If you need your keyboard to have all kinds of keys, you may select the brands or types which can include them. You need to check if they are made of glass and also need to check every key. Even those you think are not used frequently.
- Ribbons
You need to also consider the ribbon types used in your typewriters. Most typewriters accept the universal spool, which fits almost all types and brands of typewriters with a half-inch size.
- Carriage
The carriage is available both in automatic and manual modes. One can choose that, depending on one’s interest. But the automatic one reduces the extra strain and effort of adjusting it now and then.
- Other features
You need to check all the knobs, switches, bells, levers, and whistles if they are popping up or are jammed, and do not compromise in checking every key. Just be super clear with all the work functions and settings and check if they are working well like the margin stops, carriage lever, etc.
Final Words
Everything you need to know to make the best decision when purchasing a manual typewriter is included above. Sometimes all three of these features can be found in one reasonably priced manual typewriter that is both tiny and portable. To name just a few, the above are examples of some of the best manual and electro-mechanical typewriters available today.
One can choose according to their heart’s desire which type they would love to use and feel would make their writing journey more interesting. All the products offer the most recommended typewriters to buy, but the only difference is their features. With a little knowledge about the features and required factors of typewriters that work in a refined way.
Resources:
- A Case Study: Why Write with a Real Typewriter?
- Typewriter: A Case Study In Technological Innovation And Social Change
- The Woman and the Typewriter: A Case Study
Last update on 2023-03-28 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API