Old Familiar Memories - Photo 99

Underwood Typewriter

My Mother made sure each on of her three boys had their own Underwood typewriters. She told us we could get a better grade in school by typing our homework papers. And that was true.

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 decided to get into the business of manufacturing typewriters. The Underwood No. 5 launched in 1900 has been described as "the first truly modern typewriter." Two million 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 at Hartford, Connecticut was turning out typewriters at the rate of one each minute.