 | |
| Company type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Typewriters |
| Founded | 1904 [1] |
| Founder | Edward B. Hess [2] |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | See Typewriters section |
The Royal Typewriter Company is a manufacturer of typewriters founded in January 1904. [3] It was headquartered in New York City with its factory in Hartford, Connecticut.
 | This section needs additional citations for verification .(December 2018) |
The Royal Typewriter Company was founded by Edward B. Hess and Lewis C. Myers in January 1904 in a machine shop in Brooklyn, New York. [3] The next year, Hess and Myers turned to Thomas Fortune Ryan, to whom they demonstrated a prototype typewriter. Their machine had numerous innovations including a friction-free, ball-bearing, one-track rail to support the weight of the carriage, a new paper feed, a lighter and faster typebar action, and complete visibility of the words as they are typed. Ryan put up $220,000 in exchange for financial control.
In March 1906 the first Royal typewriter, the Royal Standard, was sold. The Royal Standard was set apart from its competition by its 'flatbed' design.
With demand increasing, Royal purchased 5¼ acres in Hartford, Connecticut, as the new site for its manufacturing facility. Original plans called for the Royal Typewriter Company Building to have a floor capacity of 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) and cost $350,000 to build. In 1908, Royal began manufacturing there and in time, Royal and cross town competitor, Underwood Typewriter Company, would make Hartford the “Typewriter Capitol of the World”.
In 1911, Royal introduced the Royal 5 typewriter, which also utilized the "flatbed" design.
Royal's first model utilizing the "upright" design was the Royal 10, which came out in 1914. Original models had two beveled glass panes on each side.
In 1926 Royal introduced the "Roytype" brand name for its line of typewriter ribbons and carbon paper.
In order to promote the new portable Royal president G. E. Smith secured the exclusive sponsorship of the September 23, 1926, Dempsey–Tunney championship fight for $35,000. [4] This boxing match was the first nationwide radio hook-up.
"The Daily News" of New York estimated that 20 million fans from coast to coast listened to the broadcast.
Royal's introduction of its portable line of typewriters was an immediate success and launched the company to become the world's #1 selling typewriter brand.
On October 9, 1926, the "Hartford Daily Courant" reported that Royal had just produced its one millionth typewriter.
To promote the ruggedness of its typewriters, George Edward Smith, president of Royal, bought a Ford-Stout tri-motor airplane in August 1927. This plane, commonly called the Royal Airtruck, dropped over 200 typewriters in crates with parachutes to dealers over the eastern seaboard of the USA on its maiden flight. Royal eventually delivered over 11,000 typewriters this way with only ten being damaged.
In January 1941, Edward B. Hess, one of Royal's founders and vice presidents, died in Orlando, Florida. Hess was a prolific inventor and held over 140 patents relating to the typewriter.
World War II brought tremendous change to Royal. In order to aid the war effort, Royal converted its manufacturing to war work exclusively. Royal manufactured machine guns, rifles, bullets, propellers, and spare parts for airplane engines. It wouldn't be until September 1945 that Royal started typewriter production full-time again and not until December 1948 that it caught up on its pre-war backlog.
Royal's most popular models were in the Quiet Deluxe series of portable typewriters, produced from 1939 until 1959 (with a gap during WWII). [5]
In 1947, Royal produced, in limited quantity, a gold-plated version of its popular Quiet Deluxe model. Ian Fleming, the British novelist who wrote the James Bond novels, used a gold-plated Quiet Deluxe. [6] [7] [8] [9] Many other writers used a Quiet Deluxe, including Ernest Hemingway, [5] or other models of Royal typewriter, including John Steinbeck.
Other typewriter manufacturers utilized Royal's innovations in their typewriters. In 1947, Royal won patent suits against Remington and LC Smith Corona.
In February 1950, Royal introduced its first electric typewriter.
Lewis C. Myers, the surviving founder of the Royal Typewriter Company, died in Freeport, New York at the age of 84.
Worldwide demand caused Royal to open a new factory in Leiden, the Netherlands, to produce typewriters in 1953.
In April 1954, the Royal typewriter Company announced its plan to merge with McBee, a leading manufacturer of accounting and statistical machines and supplies. By July, Royal stockholders had approved the plan and Royal McBee was formed.
From 1954 to 1964 sales soared from $84.7 million to over $113 million. Royal McBee was consistently listed as a Fortune 500 company.
In December 1957, Royal announced it had just produced its 10 millionth typewriter. Congratulations were received from U.S. Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks and the Governor of Connecticut, Abe Ribicoff.
In December 1964, Litton Industries' stockholders approved the acquisition of Royal McBee. The deal became final in March 1965. Litton would change the name of Royal McBee back to Royal Typewriter and reorganize the company into five divisions: Royal Typewriter, Roytype Consumer Products, Roytype Supplies, McBee Systems, and RMB.
October 1966 saw Litton announce plans to acquire the English typewriter producer Imperial, through its Royal Typewriter division.
In January 1969, Litton Industries further cemented its hold on the typewriter market by purchasing the German typewriter manufacturer, Triumph-Adler. Almost immediately, the U.S. government filed an anti-trust suit against Litton accusing it of creating a monopoly. The FTC ruled in March 1973 that Litton had to divest itself of Triumph-Adler. Litton appealed and, in a rare reversal, the FTC issued a ruling in April 1975 stating that Litton could keep Triumph-Adler.
In March 1979, Volkswagen, seeking to diversify, announced its intention to acquire a 55% stake in Triumph-Adler. Included in the deal was Royal Typewriter.
Sales continued to climb and by 1982 sales in North America of Royal and Triumph-Adler totaled over $600 million.
In April 1986, Olivetti, the Italian typewriter/computer manufacturer, announced plans to purchase Triumph-Adler and Royal from Volkswagen. For nearly two decades Royal was a part of the Olivetti family.
By the 1970s and 1980s, the typewriter market matured under the market dominance of large companies from Britain, Europe and the United States. Before the advent of daisywheel and electronic machines — Royal as well as the other major manufacturers faced strong competition from typewriters from Asia, including Brother Industries and Silver Seiko Ltd. of Japan.
In September 2004, Royal became a private American company again.
Now known as Royal Consumer Information Products Inc., Royal’s product line has evolved to include cash registers, shredders, personal digital assistants (PDAs)/electronic organizers, postal scales, weather stations, and a wide range of original and compatible/remanufactured imaging supplies supporting today’s most popular printers, faxes, and copiers.
As of 2019, Royal is still introducing new typewriters under the Royal brand name. [10]
On 1 November 2021, Royal Consumer Information Products, Inc. [11] (for the Americas) and the Czechia-based Moravia Consulting spol. s r.o. [12] (for all other markets) became the licensees of HP Development Company, L.P. to continue the development, production, distribution, marketing and support of HP-branded calculators.
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| Model | Year Introduced | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Royal 1 (Standard) | 1906 | First model, flatbed design |
| Royal 5 | 1911 | Flatbed, 11" carriage |
| Royal 6 | 1911 | Flatbed, 15" carriage |
| Royal 8 | 1911 | Flatbed, 19" carriage |
| Royal 10 | 1914 | Upright design, Beveled glass sides |
| Royal Portable | 1926 | First portable model |
| Royal Portable (2nd Model) | 1931 | Second portable model |
| Royal Signet | 1932-3 | Depression-era, low-cost portable |
| Royal H | 1934 | |
| Royal KHM | 1935-7 | Round raised cover over ribbons |
| Royal Junior | 1935 | Depression-Era, low-cost portable |
| Royal 'O' Portable Standard | 1935 | Similar to the Royal 'A' Deluxe but with no automatic paper lock or tabulator. Only sold in black. |
| Royal 'A' Deluxe | 1935 | Touch control, finger comfort keys, automatic paper lock, tabulator. Multiple colors available for purchase. |
| Royal Aristocrat (1st Model) | 1939 | Large portable. Tabs were set manually. |
| Royal KMM | 1939 | Hinged top, touch control, Introduced "Magic Margin" system |
| Royal Quiet Deluxe Portable | 1939 | |
| Royal Companion (1st model) | 1941 | A Royal Varsity, with a two-color ribbon. |
| Royal Varsity | 1941 | Replaced the Royal Junior and Signet—a low-cost portable typewriter. |
| Royal Quiet Deluxe (2nd model) | 1948 | Designed by Henry Dreyfuss |
| Royal Arrow | 1948 (?) | For military use during World War II |
| Royal KMG | 1949 | Extra long carriage |
| Royal Companion (2nd Model) | 1950 | Designed by Henry Dreyfuss |
| Royal | 1950 | Royal's first electric typewriter |
| Royal Diana | 1953 | Made in Mannheim, Germany. Made until 1959. |
| Royal HH | 1954 | Hinged Top, Touch Control, Portable |
| Royal Royalite | 1955 | Made in Leiden. Small portable. |
| Royal Senior Companion | 1955 | Low-cost, full-size portable typewriter. |
| Royal Companion (3rd model) | 1955 | Lower-cost version of the Senior Companion. |
| Royal Quiet Deluxe (3rd model) | 1955 | Came in a choice of six colors |
| Royal Futura (1st Model) | 1958 | First Royal portable with keyboard-level tab clear/set. |
| Royal Heritage, Heritage Deluxe, Heritage III | 1959 | Essentially a Royal Futura but sold exclusively at Montgomery Ward. |
| Royal All-American | 1961 | Royal Futura body with no "Magic Margins" or "Touch Control". Same as "Tab-O-Matic" but different color and different luggage case. |
| Royal Aristocrat (2nd Model) | 1961 | Tri-Tone Royal Futura body with no "Magic Margins." Similar to "Tab-O-Matic" and "All American" but with keys like the Heritage line. |
| Royal Tab-O-Matic (1st Model) | 1961 | Royal Futura body with no "Magic Margins" or "Touch Control". Same as "All-American" but different color and different luggage case. |
| Royal Eldorado | 1962 | Royalite painted black and gold. |
| Royal Dart | 1962 | A special Royalite made for Montgomery Ward, with a raised ribbon cover. |
| Royal Lark | 1962 | A special Royalite, with a raised ribbon cover. |
| Royal Empress | 1962 | Large, futuristic office typewriter |
| Royalite '64 | 1963 | Royal Royalite, with a two-color ribbon. Offered in either light yellow, or gray. |
| Royal 5000SDW | 1964 | |
| Royal Safari | 1964 | Full-featured portable typewriter. |
| Royal Custom II | 1965 | A full-sized portable typewriter, available in either red or charcoal. One of the last Royal portables to be produced in the United States. |
| Royalite '65 | 1964 | Royalite, with new design, based on the Royal Futura. |
| Royal Skylark | 1965 | A small, plastic-bodied Royalite. |
| Royalite (Model 2) | 1966 | Small plastic typewriter, with snap-on lid. |
| Royal '890' | 1966 | Came in either white, beige, or gray |
| Royal Telstar | 1966 | Basically a Royal Safari, with fewer features, and sold at a lower price. |
| Royal 550 | 1967 | |
| Royal Aristocrat (3rd Model) | 1968 | Similar to Royal Safari. Doesn't have a "1" key but does have a "+" key. |
| Royal Mercury | 1968 | Metal-bodied ultra-portable, a badge engineered variant of the Silver Reed Silverette (et al) made by Silver Seiko Ltd. of Japan. Early models are painted ivory. [13] |
| Royal Century | 1968 | Like the Royal Mercury, except painted two-tone blue, with a raised ribbon cover. |
| Royal Signet | 1968 | Like the Royal Mercury; lacks touch control and two-color ribbon. Came in gray |
| Royal Jet | 1968 | Blue version of the Signet. |
| Royal Futura (2nd Model) | 1968 | A gold and white Royal 890 design was sold as the "Futura" in 1968. |
| Royal Apollo | 1969 | Electric portable typewriter. |
| Royal Jetstar | 1970 | Fully-Electric Personal Typewriter. |
| Royal Tab-O-Matic (second design) | 1972 | Royal Mercury with preset tabulator. Painted dark brown. |
| Royal Sabre | 1972 | One of the first Royal portables to be manufactured in Portugal |
| Royal Astronaut | 1972 | Plastic portable typewriter, with a modernistic design. Made in Japan. |
| Royal Custom III | 1973 | A full-sized portable typewriter available in two tone deep red/white or blue/white. |
| Royal Fleetwood | 1972 | Woodgrained plastic portable, based on Royal Sprite. Made by Silver-Reed. Also called Caravan. Had transistor radio in its case. |
| Royal Sprite | 1972 | Plastic typewriter, with a transistor radio mounted in its case. |
| Royal Sahara | 1975 | A rebadged Adler Tippa S, made of bright-blue plastic. |
| Royal Safari (Model 2) | 1979 | Made in Portugal |
| Royal Cavalier | Pre-1990 | |
| Royal Safari III | 1989 | Made in Korea. Manual portable. |
| Royal Scrittore | ca. 2012 | Made in China. Manual portable. |
| Royal Scrittore II | ca. 2012 | Made in China. Manual portable. |
| Royal Epoch | ca. 2015 | Made in China. Manual portable. |
During the 1980s, Royal also produced consumer daisy wheel printers like the Royal LetterMaster and Royal OfficeMaster 2000, the former being a cheaper model. [14]
Royal McBee sold and serviced early computers RPC-4000 and RPC-9000. [15] Royal McBee partnered with General Precision in the Royal Precision Electronic Computer Company, which sold and serviced the LGP-30 (in 1956) and LGP-21 (in 1963) single-user desk computers manufactured by the Librascope division of General Precision. Royal McBee was based in Port Chester, New York. [16]
The RPC-4000 is the computer on which Mel Kaye performed a legendary programming task in machine code, as told by Ed Nather in the hacker epic The Story of Mel .
A Royal typewriter is a large story element in Stephen King's novel Misery .
60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer was known to write all of his scripts on a Royal typewriter. [17]
A Royal typewriter with a Prestige Elite typeface was one of the items found at Zodiac suspect Arthur Leigh Allen's apartment, matching the typewriter the Zodiac killer used to write letters [ broken anchor ] sent to the Riverside Police Department.
Jessica Fletcher used a Royal typewriter to write her novels.
Mason Williams threw a Royal Model X typewriter out of a speeding car driven by Ed Ruscha for their art book Royal Road Test (1967). [18]
In the film No Time for Sergeants (1958), when Will Stockdale (Andy Griffith) visits U.S. Air Force psychiatrist Maj. Royal B. Demming (James Millhollin), a Royal typewriter is prominently displayed in his office.
In the opening title sequence of the television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker , the main character, Carl Kolchak (portrayed by actor Darren McGavin), is seen writing up a news story on a Royal HH model manual typewriter.
Remington Rand, Inc. was an early American business machine manufacturer, originally a typewriter manufacturer and in a later incarnation the manufacturer of the UNIVAC line of mainframe computers. Formed in 1927 following a merger, Remington Rand was a diversified conglomerate making other office equipment, electric shavers, etc. The Remington Rand Building at 315 Park Avenue South in New York City is a 20-floor skyscraper completed in 1911. After 1955, Remington Rand had a long series of mergers and acquisitions that eventually resulted in the formation of Unisys.
Triumph Engineering Co Ltd was a British motorcycle manufacturing company, based originally in Coventry and then in Meriden. A new company, Triumph Motorcycles Ltd, based in Hinckley, gained the name rights after the end of the company in the 1980s and is now one of the world's major motorcycle manufacturers.
Timex Group USA, Inc. is an American global watch manufacturing company founded in 1854 as the Waterbury Clock Company in Waterbury, Connecticut. In 1944, the company became insolvent but was reformed into Timex Corporation. In 2008, the company was acquired by Timex Group B.V. and was renamed Timex Group USA.
Kyocera Corporation is a Japanese multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as Kyoto Ceramic Company, Limited in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power generating systems, telecommunications equipment, office document imaging equipment, electronic components, semiconductor packages, cutting tools, and components for medical and dental implant systems.
Litton Industries was a large defense contractor in the United States named after inventor Charles Litton Sr.
Adler was a German automobile and motorcycle manufacturer from 1900 until 1957. The 'Adler' name is German for 'eagle'. Adlerwerke vormals Heinrich Kleyer was a German aircraft manufacturer established by Heinrich Kleyer in Frankfurt am Main in 1934 by buying out Gerner. Adler made no original designs, only continuing production of Gerner designs that were included in the acquisition.
Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines.
The Underwood Typewriter Company was an American manufacturer of typewriters headquartered in New York City, with manufacturing facilities in Hartford, Connecticut. Underwood produced what is considered the first widely successful, modern typewriter. By 1939, Underwood had produced five million machines.
The Story of Mel is an archetypical piece of computer programming folklore. Its subject, Melvin Kaye, is an exemplary "Real Programmer" whose subtle techniques fascinate his colleagues.
The LGP-30, standing for Librascope General Purpose and then Librascope General Precision, is an early off-the-shelf computer. It was manufactured by the Librascope company of Glendale, California, and sold and serviced by the Royal Precision Electronic Computer Company, a joint venture with the Royal McBee division of the Royal Typewriter Company. The LGP-30 was first manufactured in 1956, at a retail price of $47,000, equivalent to $530,000 in 2023.
Pertec Computer Corporation (PCC), formerly Peripheral Equipment Corporation (PEC), was a computer company based in Chatsworth, California which originally designed and manufactured peripherals such as floppy drives, tape drives, instrumentation control and other hardware for computers.
In computer architecture, 31-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 31 bits wide.
GoldStar was a South Korean electronics company established in 1958. The corporate name was changed to LG Electronics and LG Cable on February 28, 1995, after merging with Lucky Chemical. LG Cable was spun off from LG Electronics and changed its name to LS Cable in 2005.
Smith Corona is an American manufacturer of thermal labels, direct thermal labels, and thermal ribbons used in warehouses for primarily barcode labels.
Monroe Systems for Business is a provider of electric calculators, printers, and office accessories such as paper shredders to business clients. Originally known as the Monroe Calculating Machine Company, it was founded in 1912 by Jay Randolph Monroe as a maker of adding machines and calculators based on a machine designed by Frank Stephen Baldwin. It was later known as Monroe THE Calculator Company, and Monroe Division of Litton Industries.
The Imperial Typewriter Company was a British manufacturer of typewriters based in Leicester, England.
Salter is a British housewares brand. Established in 1760, Salter has been developing precision products for over 260 years. Salter develops and sells products that span a wide range of core product categories, including scales, electricals, cookware and countertop. It is a market leader in kitchen and bathroom scales and one of the UK’s oldest consumer brands. It was acquired by Manchester-based consumer goods giant Ultimate Products in 2021, after they had previously licensed the brand for cookware and kitchen electrical goods since 2011.
The Royal Quiet Deluxe was a portable typewriter, made by the Royal Typewriter Company, from 1939 until 1959. The first-generation Quiet Deluxe was the first Royal to feature Magic Margin. The first generation of Royal Quiet Deluxe was manufactured from 1939 until 1948, with a gap in production due to World War II. It was the typewriter of choice for Ernest Hemingway.
TA Triumph-Adler GmbH is a German office equipment manufacturer based in Nuremberg and founded in 1896. The company currently manufactures computer printers and other document management systems. The company is now part of the Japanese conglomerate Kyocera.
Silver Seiko Ltd. is a Japanese company founded in 1952, widely known for its knitting machines and typewriters. The company, last formally headquartered in Shinjuku, Tokyo until its 2011 demise, is unrelated to the Seiko Group.
dempsey tunney radio broadcast new york daily news royal.
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