Underwood Typewriter Company

Infobox Company
company_name = Underwood Typewriter Company
company_
company_type = Private company
genre =
foundation = 1895
founder = John T. Underwood
location_city = flagicon|USA New York City, New York
location_country = USA
location =
origins =
key_people = Franz X. Wagner,
"Front strike" Inventor
John T. Underwood,
Namesake/founder
area_served =
industry = Business machines
products = Typewriters
services =
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees =
parent =
divisions =
subsid =
owner =
company_slogan =
homepage =
dissolved = Acquired by Olivetti (1959) [ [http://home.vicnet.net.au/~wolff/calculators/Olivetti/Olivetti.htm John Wolff's Web Museum - Olivetti Mechanical Calculators] ]
footnotes =

The Underwood Typewriter Company was a manufacturer of typewriters headquartered in New York City, New York. Underwood produced what is considered the first widely successful, modern typewriter. [ [http://www.antiquetypewriters.com/collection/index-underwood.htm Antique Typewriters - Underwood 1] ] By 1939, Underwood had produced five million machines.Fact|date=November 2007

History

From 1874 the Underwood family made typewriter ribbons 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 apparently decided to get into the business of manufacturing typewriters.Fact|date=November 2007

The original Underwood typewriter was invented by German-American Franz X. Wagner, who showed it to entrepreneur John T. Underwood. Underwood supported Wagner and bought the company, recognising the importance of the machine. Underwood No. 1 and No. 2s, made between 1896 and 1900, had "Wagner Typewriter Co." printed on the back.Fact|date=November 2007

Underwood started adding addition and subtraction devices to their typewriters in about 1910.

During World War II Underwood produced M1 carbines for the war effort.

Olivetti bought a controlling interest in Underwood in 1959, and completed the merger in October 1963, becoming known in the US as Olivetti-Underwood with headquarters in New York City, and entering the electromechanical calculator business. The Underwood name last appeared on Olivetti portable typewriters produced in Spain in the 80s.Fact|date=November 2007

Underwood in pop culture

*"Actors? Schmucks. Screenwriters? Schmucks with Underwoods." - attributed to Jack Warner [ [http://www.schmuckswithunderwoods.com/ www.schmuckswithunderwoods.com] ]
*An Underwood typewriter is featured on Fionn Regan's 2006 album "The End of History".
*The poem "Underwood Girls" by Pedro Salinas is a modernist description of the typewriter's letters as an ode to the potential of words and potential of creationism in the language through the work of the symbols.Fact|date=November 2007
*An Underwood typewriter is used by the main character in the 2001 musical film Moulin Rouge!.

Gallery

References