ROYAL TYPEWRITERS

ROYAL No. 5 (Will Davis collection)

The Grand did not last long; the lower profile machine evolved into models No. 1, No. 3 and finally in 1911 into the No. 5 as seen at left. This machine is serial number 169038-5, and was produced in 1913. Although the machine says "New York, USA," it was actually built in the 1908 Hartford, Connecticut plant; Royal moved its factory there from Brooklyn, New York in that year but kept its general offices in New York. The No. 5 cost $75.00 in 1913 "with no extras."

This example has a tabulator, operated by the lever on the right side of the keyboard near the right shift key. Tab stops are manually set, at the rear. It also has a ribbon selector, near the right ribbon spool, which has red-stencil-black positions.

As is often the case, the old style seen above and which is commonly referred to as a "flatbed" Royal continued in production through No. 8 until 1918, but had been supplanted as early as 1914 by a new design roughly based on the Grand. This general design is seen at right in a 1911 patent filed by Edward B. Hess, who had also done most of the design work for the previous models.

This new machine was given the designation No. 10, and is the most common antique Royal you can find today.

ROYAL No. 10

The later No. 10 is illustrated below and at left. This machine, with serial number X-988995, was built in 1926 and represents the later of the two styles of No. 10, with only one, large window on each side.. These No. 10 machines carried on the early success of the flatbed models; two different typewriter dealers and repairmen have told me that they consider the No. 10 Royal the finest mechanical typewriter ever built. Royal's success was more than assured by the No. 10.

The instructions above actually came with the machine seen at right, which is unusual considering the original employment of these machines.

It might also be noted that these machines are somewhat often found with the side window glass missing. All of them originally had the glass, so that a machine without it might be considered incomplete.

ROYAL PORTABLE

Royal entered the growing market for portable typewriters in 1926 with a great machine which required no lengthy development period; it was immediately successful and helped to set a new standard for portables.

At left, my 1927 example of the first style of Royal portable. Note the exposed ribbon spools on top. This machine has a semi-crinkled sort of 'alligator skin' finish in solid blue. Some of these are found in highly colorful two-tone paint.

ROYAL PORTABLE

This 1933 machine represents the next body styling, with minor changes which, most notably, include the turret-style coverings over the ribbon spools. This one is in a fabulous woodgrain paint, which looks very realisitic even in person and up close.

ROYAL SIGNET

Our final antique Royal is this little Signet portable, serial E9775. This is one of two models -- there was this one, and a Signet Senior. This machine types only in capitals and has no shift key or shift mechanism. The "Senior" could type lower and upper case and was carriage-shifted.

These are uncommon today. Produced for only a short period, perhaps 1932-1933, these were "Depression Era Portables" stripped of all but the most basic features in an attempt to produce a machine that could sell even with the incredibly low average income of the day.

These are a stylistic oddity in the whole Royal line; the curved front piece connecting the ribbon spool pedestals is quite unique in Royals, and is a feature not often found on other machines. (The Klein-Urania and the Barr Portable come to mind.)

ROYAL KMM

Royal produced what we might term an intermediate body or appearance style, known as either Model H or Model KHM, from 1935 through 1938, and then introduced the common Model KMM as seen here. This machine incorporates the patented Magic Margin system wherein movement of the carriage to a desired point is followed by depression of the margin key; the margin is then set automatically at that point.

These are rugged and reliable machines which are so common today because they sold so well at the time. They are truly first-class typewriters in every sense of the word. It is interesting to note the number of major design changes in the period displayed until now, and it should also be noted that the KMM includes many small but significant changes over the previous machine. By the end of the 1930's, this approach had helped Royal become the highest selling brand of typewriter in the world.

ROYAL No. 10 (Jim Dax collection)

At left, the earliest variant of the Royal Standard No. 10 is seen in a shot sent to us by Jim Dax. This is the "four window" design, sometimes referred to by collectors as the "double window" design; this refers to the openings in the sides. Note the wonderful decal applied to the paper table, which looks very much like that seen on the No. 5 above.

The flatbed Royals had been successful enough, but it appears that the company decided to change to the more conventional profile seen here. History seems to indicate that the choice was correct. Jim sends us the information that later No. 10 machines begin to include small changes, likely to reduce manufacturing cost, and that in his opinion this early No. 10 is the finest No. 10 of them all. This machine is serial number 182593.

ROYAL TYPEWRITER COMPANY entered the field in about 1906, with two different and apparently internally competitive designs. The first was the Royal Standard, which was the lower priced machine. It was of an abnormally low and flat profile, and used an extremely simplistic method of type-bar motivation which included vertical or "parallel" key action. The higher priced machine, the Royal Grand, was wholly different and was much more upright.

At left, Jim Dax sends a shot of a very early Royal Standard. This model is also often referred to as the Royal No. 1.

The photo above graphically illustrates the differences in profile between a typical "flatbed" Royal and a conventional front-strike upright, which for our examination here happens to be a Monarch No. 2. Note the difference of several inches in height between the platens -- yet, the keyboard of the Royal is so much higher off the table top that the lowest row of keys on the Royal is at about the same altitude as the highest row of the Monarch.

At right, a shot from Tilman Elster. This is another Royal Standard, with serial number 17956. It can be seen here that these machines actually incorporated a slotted type bar segment, as opposed to individually hung type bars.

Note that this machine has a paper bail, with rollers. The first machine seen at top does not have this, but rather has a pair of holders with a roller mounted in each one.

Here are front and rear shots of another, different Royal No. 10 in Jim Dax's collection.

ROYAL No. 10 / SX-series

Will Davis collection

Royal began to make further changes to its standard typewriter beginning with conversion to basket shift. This was performed first on wide-carriage models, and eventually on all sizes. This machine is serial number SX-1616291 and was built in the last half of 1932. Note that it retains the single glass side windows, but has a small paper table that folds forward, instead of a larger one that tilts up and back on hinge arms (as in the earlier machines.) Again, the important thing to note here is that the machine appears like most No. 10 machines but incorporates basket, or segment, shift.

The next variant seems to be identified with a serial number prefix containing the letter "Y." These machines have black painted glass side panels, and an indicator for the touch regulator setting protruding through an arc-shaped slot in the right one. Key-set tab stops were also added during this time. The next machine, the Model H / KHM, was essentially the last No. 10 variant with "Y" prefix but with a new top deck covering the type basket, and covered ribbon spool cups. The main frame (or body) was also slightly different, in that the front frame appears slightly thicker.

ROYAL HH series, mfd. 1955

Although this machine looks quite different from the KMM pictured earlier, it's quite the same internally with a number of small updates. The most important change, we found, was the keytops; just the very nature of the shape of these allowed much more comfortable, and much faster, typing. This machine has the 16-inch carriage for ledger work. Of all the ROYAL machines tested, this was my father's favorite. My favorite actually is the carriage-shifted No. 10 model, but this machine was my second choice. The two have totally different characters in terms of feel and response, not to mention control arrangements, but our general opinion is that this HH is among the very best of all the standard ROYAL machines in either of our collections.