Superseded
by Cheri Randolph
Title
Superseded
Artist
Cheri Randolph
Medium
Photograph
Description
A vintage Bell telephone and Underwood typewriter, once the latest in communication devices, now sit idle at the railroad depot in Jackson, Tennessee. One wonders . . . how many telegrams passed this way?
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. By 1939, Underwood had produced five million machines.
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 original Underwood typewriter was invented by German-American Franz Xaver Wagner, who showed it to entrepreneur John Thomas 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.
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.
Underwood started adding addition and subtraction devices to their typewriters in about 1910.
In the years before World War II, Underwood built the world's largest type writer in an attempt to promote itself. The typewriter was on display at Garden Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey 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. In December 1927 the Underwood Typewriter Co. merged with the Elliott-Fischer Co. to Underwood-Elliott-Fischer Co.
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.
Uploaded
August 2nd, 2012
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Viewed 184 Times - Last Visitor from White Plains, NY on 03/16/2024 at 5:13 PM
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Comments (30)
Jack Zulli
I can still hear the bell off of each device...now where's my I-Phone;) well done, informative sidebar. v
Cheri Randolph replied:
Jack, I hadn't thought of that little "ding" when you get to the end of the line on the typewriter - but I remember that too. Glad that you found it informative and I really appreciate your vote!
Cheri Randolph
Barbara, Thanks so much for featuring "Superseded" in the M O U S E Group, and for giving it your personal support as well. I am very appreciative!
Barbara St Jean
Fabulous image with great meanings!! Thanks for your submissions to MOUSE! Featured! F/V
Nadine and Bob Johnston
V and F as Ive been doing as we feature images in groups... Cant make many comments due to disabled fingers, but this one caught me. Have been using Underwood's since 1937, by 1945 had my own in the Army as a cryptographer we had to be VERY accurate. The typewriters we used came with ONLY capital letters and numbers and no punctuation was used. For whatever reason, they were called a "Mill" in the army, maybe something to do with only having CAPS..... Typed only five letter code groups, ten groups to a line. Making one typo, could mean a message could not be decoded, so accuracy was more important than speed, but we still were required to type more than 35 words per minute... Brings back a lot of memories . . . these are only a few, others were typing captions on a strip of paper, the Who, What, When, Why, and Where for photos and sticking them to the edge of photos with rubber cement when submitting them to Boston Papers for publication...
Cheri Randolph replied:
Nadine & Bob, I am delighted that my photo could spark a memory from the past for you, and appreciate you taking the time for such an informative comment and compliment. Many thanks for your support and featuring my photo in the Artist's News Group!
Kym Backland
Cheri, I followed your lead today! I voted for about 20 of your images, and comments and fav'd ......all that, but I just wanted you to know I picked this as the image in the group for the post display photo. Not sure what the technical words are for that! Gorgeous image... good title for this too!
Kym Backland
Cheri, Not sure how I would have missed this one! I love old phones and typewriters! Wouldn't this make a great poster or greeting card for a writer or journalist! Voted and fav'd
Cheri Randolph replied:
Kym, Thanks so much for your generous support and comments! Yes, that's a great idea regarding the writer or journalist!
Jane Brack
Great image! Love those old vintage typewriters and that telephone! My grandparents had one just like it.
Cheri Randolph
Jouko, I appreciate your feature of my image, "Superseded" in the Art from the Past Group.
Kristin Elmquist
Wow, does this bring back some memories. My second husband was still actually using one of these old Underwoods back in the early 80's. He was a writer and an entertainment critic who had his own radio and TV show. I remember him clicking away on his typewriter and was amazed at the speed he had on the keys. Great shot. Vote.
Cheri Randolph replied:
Hi Kristin, thanks for your comment and story. I learned to type on one of these myself. My dad found one in an abandoned office and brought it home for me to practice. I could get about 50/wpm. I appreciate your visit