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Typewriters experience a comeback
upi ^ | Dec. 19, 2011

Posted on 12/20/2011 6:00:06 AM PST by JoeProBono

NEW YORK, - New York typewriter sellers said the low-tech machines are experiencing a comeback among writers who like to avoid distractions.

Paul Schweitzer, 73, whose Gramercy Typewriter Co. was founded by his father Abraham in 1932, said he started working on laser printers when typewriters fell out of fashion in the 1990s, but he has lately had many customers bringing in old typewriters to be restored, the New York Daily News reported Monday.

"They have their computers, they have their blackberries or iPads or whatever it is, but they still would like to have a typewriter. They like the idea of pressing the keys and having the words hit the paper," Schweitzer said.

Donna Brady of Brady & Kowalksi Writing Machines said she and her partner have had a lot of interest in the typewriters they sell at Brooklyn Flea.

"The more disconnected we get from other humans because of electronic devices ... the more we kind of want to get away from those gadgets," she said. "A lot of people still want to be productive, but would like to get away from the screen."


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KEYWORDS: typewriter
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To: JoeProBono

Worth having in the event of a power outage or EMP-

But, if there’s an EMP attack, who are you gonna write to and who’s gonna deliver it?

(and....don’t eat the horses—you’ll need them for transportation in the obamanation...)


41 posted on 12/20/2011 7:56:43 AM PST by Mortrey (Impeach President Soros)
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To: left that other site


42 posted on 12/20/2011 8:04:31 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas gerit)
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To: abb
Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, meant news more than the sound of a AP teletype machine...

Oh you are so right!

43 posted on 12/20/2011 8:12:04 AM PST by Gabz (Democrats for Voldemort.)
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To: Buckhead

I just thought you should get a ping to this for all the obvious reasons.


44 posted on 12/20/2011 8:17:53 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: JoeProBono

45 posted on 12/20/2011 8:28:12 AM PST by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
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To: JoeProBono

46 posted on 12/20/2011 8:28:29 AM PST by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
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To: JoeProBono

I was contracting at Smith Corona when it croaked.
Seems stockholders couldn’t deal with the notion of reduced value, so AFAIK nobody tried the obvious: continue making typewriters, just with downscaled operations focused on what remaining market existed (and as we see it still exists). Instead they tried to compete with full blown computers by loading up their LCD-laden typewriters with databases, spreadsheets, games, and other things which in no way could compete.


47 posted on 12/20/2011 8:28:35 AM PST by ctdonath2 ($1 meals: http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com/)
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To: JoeProBono

LOL!


48 posted on 12/20/2011 8:43:40 AM PST by left that other site
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To: JoeProBono

People are yearning for solid, mechanical things, real things with weight and substance and visible ingenuity.

All the gee-whiz electronic effects and games, and the devices that produce them have ceased to be all that interesting. They’re just appliances now.

The fun stuff shows craftsmanship, clever clockwork, moving parts, metal and wood. I’ve seen limited edition computers done up like very early televisions, wooden iPad enclosures, even a giant carved wooden earphone as an artistic solution to speakers for an iPhone.

Steampunk is an outgrowth of this yearning.


49 posted on 12/20/2011 8:50:29 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: JoeProBono
My dad was an engineer at the Underwood in Hartford, CT for many years. Hartford had TWO typewriter factories... Underwood and Royal. Olivetti bought them both out...and they disappeared.

During World War II Underwood produced M1 Carbines for the War Department.


50 posted on 12/20/2011 8:52:08 AM PST by Daffynition ( *Socialism, has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore it*)
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To: nutmeg

bookmark


51 posted on 12/20/2011 8:52:49 AM PST by nutmeg
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To: Calvin Locke

Was it Dan Rather, by any chance?


52 posted on 12/20/2011 8:53:22 AM PST by left that other site
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

That and carbon paper. :)


53 posted on 12/20/2011 8:53:31 AM PST by Daffynition ( *Socialism, has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore it*)
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To: RegulatorCountry

54 posted on 12/20/2011 8:55:53 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas gerit)
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To: JoeProBono

There’s a great opportunity for the company that makes those. Introduce a subtle steampunk sensibility, battlebots, clockwork, maybe a set with a small solar panel. It would sell very well right now.


55 posted on 12/20/2011 8:57:40 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: Daffynition

56 posted on 12/20/2011 9:01:12 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas gerit)
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To: Daffynition

Rockola Jukebox Company also produced a few pf those ‘carbines’.


57 posted on 12/20/2011 9:05:31 AM PST by MHGinTN (Some, believing they cannot be deceived, it's impossible to convince them when they're deceived.)
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To: Daffynition

Rockola Jukebox Company also produced a few of those ‘carbines’.


58 posted on 12/20/2011 9:06:00 AM PST by MHGinTN (Some, believing they cannot be deceived, it's impossible to convince them when they're deceived.)
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To: MHGinTN

*sigh*

Back when great things were made in The USA..


59 posted on 12/20/2011 9:10:09 AM PST by Daffynition ( *Socialism, has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore it*)
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To: JoeProBono
I don't know how many people these factories employed. Thousands.


60 posted on 12/20/2011 9:12:57 AM PST by Daffynition ( *Socialism, has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore it*)
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