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| The second, later family of portables common throughout Europe had, as its base, the Patria of Switzerland. This machine's basic design was eventually produced in England, France, Germany and Spain -- in the latter country, twice. The full details of the Oliver variant, and of other variants from other countries can be found by clicking here. The German variant is tied with the British; details of this version can be found by clicking here and following through the article. On this page, we will present examples from the Tilman Elster collection which properly belong in this family, most of which have not been shown on websites previously. |
| PATRIA Tilman Elster collection The Patria, built by a company whose name translates to 'Factory for Typewriters, Perles, Switzerland" is the root machine of the whole family, although it is not clear whether this design was entirely original to that company. It is conceivable that it is a further modification of the previously-licensed Europa. Serial number 18230, manufactured 1937. |
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| PATRIA Tilman Elster collection This Patria, serial number 65351, dates to 1947 -- ten years later than that above. The body style of the first Patria continued with the Oliver only, as licensees are concerned. The body seen here was reproduced widely. It is thought that this machine's body tooling was sent to Spain for the first Spanish-made incarnation of the machine in the 1950's. |
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| SWISSA PICCOLA Tilman Elster collection In the early 1950's, the Swiss firm making these machines changed hands and became Aug. Birchmeier & Son. The name was changed to SWISSA, and production of Patria machines began for the first time in Spain. The machine at left is a Swissa Piccola, serial 104368, built 1954. |
| SWISSA JUNIOR Tilman Elster collection The machine and body were slightly reengineered following the buyout. Note that the margin release key is now integrated with the keyboard. Ribbon selector lever is no longer on the segment, but on the right side of the keyboard; an indicator remains on the segment. Serial 6203083. |
| SWISSA JUNIOR Tilman Elster collection Swissa Junior no. 6506495 shows some changes. Manufactured 1956. |
| SWISSA JEUNESSE Tilman Elster collection This Swissa Jeunesse displays further redesign, in that an new body style has been adopted. Serial 6609003. |
| SWISSA JUNIOR 4 Tilman Elster collection Later version of the Swissa, serial number 6808374. |
| OLIVER PORTABLE Tilman Elster collection The machine seen here is the post-war Oliver Portable, based perfectly on the old Patria design. This was the third Oliver portable typewriter design -- the first was the Europa, the next the similar Italian-made SIM. This machine is seen in the less-common gray paint. Serial number 54-43161, manufactured 1954. |
| JAPY PORTABLE Tilman Elster collection. The Japy appears to be the first license-built copy of the Patria mechanically, although it appeared initially in the very different body seen here in the late 1930's. Serial number F43535LW. |
| JAPY PORTABLE Tilman Elster collection This machine represents the most common Japy portable body style, which is like that of the Swissa Piccola and Oliver Courier. Serial 256928. |
| JAPY SCRIPT Tilman Elster collection A later restyling, if only in the change to two-tone flat enamel paint, as opposed to single-color crinkle finish paint. From the 1960's. Serial 428140. |