![]() ![]() ![]() Therefore, we can only guess that this Olivetti L20 was probably made in the late 1980’s or very early 1990’s. After the late 1970’s, Olivetti’s serial numbering system became chaotic to the point where it is no longer possible to identify the year of manufacture of any of their typewriters. To remain competitive, Olivetti spread their wings further afield, and made portable typewriters in the former Yugoslavia and finally Mexico – where the last Olivetti manual office typewriters were also manufactured. They even made a special ‘test head’ for typewriter engineers, to assist with setting up the ‘tilt and rotate’ functions of whichever machine was being worked on! A system like this would be useful for inserting, for instance, a scientific or electrical symbol into normal correspondence.Going forward into the 1970’s, when the IBM Selectric golfball typewriter was becoming common, and three other manufacturers had licenced the IBM golfball head design for their own machines, a third-party company started manufacturing golfball heads with alternative typefaces to the ones that IBM were offering. This was struck from behind by any random typebar, and like one billiard ball transferring motion to another, the impact would push the ‘Typit’ onto the ribbon and the paper. A modified type guide was fitted to the typewriter, which allowed a special attachment to be slid into place containing the desired alternative character. However, there was an alternative system which could be fitted to a variety of makes of office typewriters – the ‘Typit’. As far as I know, no other manufacturer offered this feature – possibly because Smith-Corona held the patent. Later, Royal seemed to lose direction and after investing in newer and newer models with relatively short product life-cycles, finally fell victim to a take-over that led to a severe cheapening of the product.This particular HH model was one of the last made in Holland before the next model took over.Ī matching keytop could be clipped into place on the keyboard. These 1950’s Royals are wonderfully engineered and rugged machines and probably represent something of a golden age for Royal. Demand for the new machine was so great that Royal (by now merged with a company that made accounting machines as Royal McBee) opened a new factory in Holland. Here in Europe, where tastes in office equipment were much more conservative, grey was still the norm for this model. ![]() Whereas previous models had been only available in black or grey, the HH broke new ground in being available in a variety of pastel colour schemes – at least in America. ![]() The first truly all-new model, the HH, wasn’t produced until 1954 and only lasted until 1957 when the similar Royal FP took over. ![]()
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January 2023
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