REMINGTON post-war portables; a reprint from November 2000, with a few additions. |
After the end of the Second World War, during which the typewriter plants of Remington-Rand had been converted to manufacture of war materials, production of the pre-war Model 5 restarted. In 1948, the new "DeLuxe Model 5" (seen at left) appeared, as the first new Remington portable. This machine was really the pre-war 5 with a large number of small improvements. It was a fine machine, but not competitive with others that had converted to basket shift, and which could be had at the same price, or less. Remington quickly made plans to replace it. |
The "All New Remington Personal Portable" appeared at the very end of 1949, in a two-tone paint, using the body seen at right on the later and much more common Quiet-Riter. Later, other variants in this body were added, such as the Letter-Riter. This basket-shifted machine has a distinctive shape which most collectors will immediately recognize as the "1950's Remington look." |
In the middle 1950's, Remington's subsidiary company, Remington Rand Holland BV, began production of the small Travel-Riter, seen at left. This machine was Remington's competitor in the field of small portables. It had carriage shift, and could most closely be compared with the (basket-shifted) Royal Diana, as far as offerings from US manufacturers are concerned. This machine used a similar styling to the US-made units but was much smaller; see the picture at the top of this page. |
A Remington advertisement for Christmas, 1959 reveals the first styling change on the lineup. This was first given to the Travel-Riter, and is seen here in just that body style. This can easily be called the "1960's style" for Remington portables in the larger sizes. |
By 1961, after having transitioned through models such as the Quiet-Riter Eleven, Remington had introduced the Monarch. The first version is seen on the left, above, and the simplified version (1964) is seen on the right. Small details only, such as use of chrome, were involved in this simplification. This became the largest Remington portable after what had been the Quiet-Riter was killed off. Click here to read about the MONARCH name and history. |
The black and white shot above is from a 1961 Montgomery Ward's catalog, and this catalog also shows that the machine series at right had appeared. This line consisted of very small and cheap portables, also made in Holland, and which used rocking carriage shift. There are numerous variations in these machines' body styles, and the line was made from about 1961-1973 or so, as near as we can figure. The machine at right is the Remington Star Fire. (A later variant would be the "Starfire," in one word.) |
The more interesting machines in this line have black keytops, on which the characters are printed in the same color as the typewriter body. This Envoy II, introduced in 1965, has this feature, and also has the articulated ribbon cover. Most have a simple snap-on cover; be careful the first time you encounter a machine of this line, as force is needed to open the snap-on cover, but will damage an articulated one. |
Toward the end of production of this line, the body seen here appeared. It is much different from the earlier machines; it's severely squared-off, and very likely was cheaper to manufacture. This is a Remington Streamliner II. You'll note that during this time period, the machines have begun to carry the Sperry-Rand label. Some collectors like this added feature and emblem; others avoid it like the plague. |
The Monarch / Quiet Riter 11 series was repackaged in this plastic body as the Remington Ten-Forty. These are always seen with the Sperry-Rand logo, which was first used in 1967. This sort of styling is sensibly the last for true Remington-made machines; in the late 1960's, Remington had begun selling machines which were manufactured by Brother in Japan, only one of which (the Remington Performer) was specially styled for Remington. These, then, mark the end of the oldest US typewriter manufacturer's production. Remington-Rand purchased the Eckert-Mauchly Corporation in 1950, in order to add its fledgling UNIVAC computer technology to the line of business machines already manufactured. Remington-Rand also bought another early computer company, Engineering Research Associates, in 1952. In 1955, Remington-Rand merged with the Sperry Corporation. The new Sperry-Rand corporation began to focus more and more on product lines which would continue into the era of new technology; thus, the office machine business, as related to typewriters, was given a "back seat," and over time, fewer and fewer substantive changes were made to the typewriters. In 1979, Sperry-Rand sold off the office machine business, to a newly-formed Remington Rand Corporation. The subsidiary, Remington-Rand Holland, was also sold off, but to a different group. Problems and lawsuits regarding the new Sperrr-Remington SR-101 electronic typewriter eventually killed off both of these by 1981 or so. Meanwhile, Sperry Corporation continued to flourish, merging with Burroughs Corporation in 1986 to form UNISYS. |