Ideal Typewriters / the Tilman Elster Typewriter Gallery

European Typewriters / Germany / IDEAL / Gallery by Tilman Elster

Sewing machine and bicycle manufacturer Seidel & Naumann of Dresden, Germany began manufacture of typewriters in 1900 with its IDEAL, a standard machine of unusual profile and design, but of high quality. This machine's place in the market ensured that Seidel & Naumann could survive in it, and was supplanted in 1912-1913 by a conventional frontstrike "visible." The company survived both World Wars, but after the second found itself in the GDR. The standard machine was dropped by the early 1960's, but it was the firm's ERIKA portable that was selected by those in charge for the priority production out of all portable typewriter designs then available.

IDEAL A2 s/n 9965 (1904)

IDEAL A3 s/n 53367 (1908)

IDEAL A4 POLYGLOTT s/n 86491 (1911)

IDEAL A4 s/n 98029 (1913)

IDEAL A5 s/n 1320 (1913)

IDEAL B s/n 3051 (1913)

The Ideal A5 was quickly redesignated as the Ideal B; they are the same.

IDEAL C s/n 33861 (1917)

U. S. MIRSA IDEAL 8 (IDEAL D) s/n 640867 (1937)

IDEAL 10 s/n 380937 (1958)

{~~ Variants ~~}

IDEAL ACCOUNTING s/n 1001225

IDEAL D PROPORTIONAL s/n 614806 (1937)

IDEAL BLITZ s/n 994784B (1941)

{~~ Portable ~~}

U.S. MIRSA IDEAL PORTABLE s/n 958119s (1941)

Ideal Standard machines in "wartime finish" - contributions by Tilman Elster, Thomas Fuertig, Mike Fritch.

In the Second World War, as in the first, the firm of Seidel & Naumann converted a large part of its capacity over to production of armaments but continued manufacturing standard typewriters in small numbers. According to Wilfred Beeching ("Century of the Typewriter") the S&N factory was heavily bombed in April 1945, which severely affected its ability to produce anything. (Indeed, the entire city of Dresden, in which S&N was located, was devastated by Allied heavy bombers throughout this late-war period.) As a result, production became sparse, with some machines of the very late-war period receiving 'non-standard' parts which by specification would have been chromed metal, but instead were simply burnished metal; on some machines, bakelite segments were used in place of metal since it was more easily available.

The company apparently (at least temporarily) dropped production of Ideal Standard typewriters following 1945 or perhaps very early 1946. The 1958 Ideal 10 seen earlier on this page post-dates the complete takeover of industry in East Germany, and may or may not in fact internally be related to the older Ideal machines. Whatever the case, a very small number of Ideal Standard machines built in this 1945-6 time period have survived. Below we will see two of them; it should be noted that the official serial number listing for Ideal Standard machines ends at 1,060,000 in 1945, and that both machines seen below are actually ABOVE this number.

IDEAL STANDARD D serial no. 1062537

David B. Davis collection

Here is our first example, which is just above the serial number cutoff and which features disparate parts. For example, although the various levers on the carriage are quite shiny in this photo, they are not chromed but simply burnished. Also, the rear enclosure for the tab stop set-clear mechanism is in gray crinkle paint, while the rest of the machine is glossy flat-surfaced black. Below we see the emblem from the front, which (like the one on the paper table) has the name "Naumann" intercepting the "I" of "Ideal," and also the rear emblem which is on the tab stop set-clear assembly enclosure.

IDEAL STANDARD D serial no. 1129830

Tilman Elster collection

This machine may be the highest-known Ideal D machine in serial, being well above the known cutoff but dated by experienced German collectors still in the 1945-1946 period. Note that the emblem has been modified on front and paper table to remove the name "Naumann." Both examples seen here feature a five-key decimal tabulator whose keys are flanked by tab stop set and clear keys.

Thomas Fuertig relates that very late Ideal D machines came in three ranges -- those seen here, a model with simple tabulator and one without tabulator at all.