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| "the site for collectors of portable typewriters" |
| Online since March 2000, and backed up by more than five years of research and two hundred and thirty machines. Contributions from collectors around the world. Machines from every continent and of all ages and kinds. Exclusive material presented here for the first time in all-original content. If you are interested in portable typewriters, this is your new home! |
| These websites were launched by Will Davis in March 2000. |
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| Click on the Blickensderfer 8 at left to reach my pages concerning antique typewriters. Including my Smith Premier #2, Sun #2 (standard), Monarch Visible, Blick Universal and more. |
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| The articles produced for Will Davis' websites are the result of both years of research and the acquisition of an enormous collection of typewriters and information. Each of the things seen on his sites is unique; many of them were first mentioned on the internet, or even in print of any kind, here. More discovery has gone on at these sites, historically, than on any other. The articles have been viewed many thousands of times, and have withstood critical investigation. The author would like to thank the many collectors who have helped in this endeavor. |
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| The original articles from my original website. |
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| How to identify your portable typewriter. |
| Why collect portable typewriters? |
| About my site; history and development. |
| "Collecting Portable Typewriters" including the 1950's Smith-Corona feature breakdown |
| John Cameron Swayze's COLE-STEEL portable typewriter |
| Typewriters as educational tools for stimulating the imagination and mechanical skill |
| Links to other typewriter sites |
| the Portable Typewriter Forum and more links to other sites |
| the Final designs of the big US Typewriter Manufacturers to be produced |
| Shanghai Golden Bay Typewriters and the ROVER family |
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| The pages above contain the whole content of my original website, "Portable Typewriters by Will Davis." |
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| Click on the Argyle P201 at right to reach The Portable Typewriter Forum; free to join, with lots of portable talk and 380 members. |
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| ALPINA The ultimate portable typewriter in terms of engineering; made in West Germany. |
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| BARR Eight pages about the Barr portable typewriters, the companies that built them, and the model variations. |
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| BULGARIA Machines built by Typewriters Works, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Maritsa, Omega and more. |
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| COLE-STEEL Details on this late 1950's machine, as well as the related ABC from West Germany, plus Messa of Portugal. |
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| COMMODORE Both imported and relabeled machines, as well as license-built Consul machines from this Canadian company. |
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| CONSUL A look at portables made by Zbrojovka Brno, Prague, Czechoslovakia. |
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| CORONA & SMITH-CORONA A guide to body styles and identification, 1913-1970's |
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| ELECTRIC PORTABLES The "genesis" Smith-Corona 5TE plus the next few mechanical developments in electric portables |
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| FK MALA Polish-made portable with an extremely short production run. |
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| GERMANY A look at the various machines from the former West Germany, and the former East Germany. |
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| HALBERG, DEL MAR A research article about the extremely rare Halberg from the Netherlands, and its Nippo and Royal relatives. |
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| Brief coverage of both HERMES and FACIT |
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| ITALY Coverage of Olivetti, Antares, Montana and IMC machines. Includes Olivetti gallery. |
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| JAPAN Coverage of all Japanese-made portables, with special pages on several brands. If it's Japanese, it's here. |
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| KOREA Machines made by K-Mek, Inc. with its own brand name CLOVER, and others |
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| MODEL 100 Research article about the (formerly mysterious) Chinese Model 100, and what it's developed from. |
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| OLIVER Early and later Oliver portables, and the Euro-Portable family which was license-built all over Europe. |
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| REISESCHREIBMASCHINEN Three pages on small, flat travelling typewriters, chronologically displayed. |
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| REMINGTON Guide to post-World War 2 Remington-Rand and Sperry-Rand manual portable typewriters. |
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| ROYAL Follow the Royal brand name in portables from the very beginning to the very end, skipping extremely few, if any. |
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| ROOY The "Holy Grail" of portables, featuring design, history and production. |
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| Teardown of a portable: See the actual mechanics of a Consul machine, and the final mechanical concept in portables. |
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| Toy typewriters: Keys, type bars, ribbons, yes - but durability, equality no. Typewriters for kids from "back then!" |
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| UNIS Made in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. |
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| VOSS Several pages on this company's history and machines, and a special feature on the ultra-late Voss Privat. |
| Pages linked below are more general in nature, and serve as further reference and research tools. |
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| Cross-Reference Page Discover many unusual brand names and models, all of which are NOT the original manufacturer's label for a machine, and reference them to the original brand and model. |
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| Portables NOW Information on machines being built new right now, and those still available from on-hand stocks. |
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| Relabeling of Portable Typewriters. An article explaining how one design made in one place shows up with so many different names, and also showing how one design can come from more than one place. Must-see for new collectors!!! |
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| TIPPA The original Gossen Tippa, and later Tippa machines. Part of the Reiseschreibmaschinen article. |
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| BROSETTE Very hard to find West German portable; article in conjunction with Historischesbuero. |
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| BROTHER Special page on one of the most successful modern typewriter manufacturers. |
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| Machines which I consider the best for actual typing and daily use, in several brackets. Also, one of the worst. |
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| Swiss Zephyr An oddly marked machine to say the least -- and a mysterious one |
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| A look at some patent drawings for key lever / type bar mechanisms; why machines type so differently, and some information on technical terms I use fairly often on my sites. |
| THE PORTABLE TYPEWRITER REFERENCE SITE by Will Davis |
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| Will's Typewriter Annex A multi-page internet resource for those who collect and use typewriters. Articles and pictures of interest, with the main focus being support for those who actually purchase typewriters to use. Resources include operational tips, maintenance tips, an article on internet purchases, and links to actual supplies and manuals. Finally, an online one-stop support source for typists using portables. Launched September 2005. |
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| UNDERWOOD Portables variously 1919-1980's, focusing on the 1950's |
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| Portables 101 / 201 / 301 Your complete course in collecting modern portable typewriters, beginning to advanced. |
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| CALANDA Rare Swiss-made portables from the 1940's/1950's |
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| SOVIET PORTABLES Machines made in the former Soviet Union (USSR). |
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| ONLINE TYPEWRITER MANUAL Learn how to operate ANY typewriter here. NEW ! |
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| DIANA portable |
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| AUSTRALIA A world apart!! new |