| Smith Premier Typewriters / a gallery featuring Tilman Elster's collection |
| The story of the Smith Premier was one of success directly from the start, so that in a short time the Smith Premier was judged among the best typewriters in the world -- and one that was fully competitive with the Remington. The brand itself had a long history, albeit a convoluted one. Click here to read about the Smith Brothers' career and companies. |
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| SMITH PREMIER No. 1 s/n 9063 (approx. 1889) |
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| SMITH-PREMIER No. 1 LINOTYPE KEYBOARD s/n 12701 (approx 1889) |
| Above sometimes referred to as "Lino-Writer" or "Lino-Typewriter." |
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| SMITH PREMIER No. 2 s/n 95206 (approx. 1895) |
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| SMITH PREMIER No. 3 s/n 13827 |
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| SMITH PREMIER No. 4 s/n 7168 |
| In 1908, the first fundamental change in the Smith Premier machines came about as the design was changed to a "visible writing" front strike. |
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| SMITH PREMIER No. 10 s/n 50026 (1911) |
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| SMITH PREMIER No. 10 ACCOUNTING s/n 138625 (1914) |
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| SMITH PREMIER No. 10 SIMPLEX s/n CS50308 (1915) |
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| SMITH PREMIER No. 10 SPECIAL s/n SS91380 |
| In 1921, the Smith Premier machines changed again; they were dropped from production! The following standard typewriters which carried the Smith Premier name were generally only for export outside the United States, and were actually versions of the Monarch Visible. The "Monarch" brand was dropped at this time. |
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| SMITH PREMIER 30 s/n MK20410 (1922) |
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| SMITH PREMIER 40 s/n XD60448 (1926) |
| SP 30 and SP 40 both introduced in 1921, with the SP 30 being dropped in October 1926. Note that the SP 30 above retains the original Monarch pattern with individually hung type bars, but that the SP 40 at left is late enough that it incorporates the new slotted segment. This forced a revision to the type-bar mechanism. SP 60 introduced June, 1923. |
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| SMITH PREMIER 60 |
| The Smith Premier brand was dropped from continuous use by Remington-Rand in 1939, although it appears as if it was employed occasionally on portables therafter. |
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| 1903 Smith Premier factory, Syracuse, New York. This is the "new" Smith Premier factory, constructed just at the time the four Smith brothers left the company to form a new one. This plant opened to build the Smith Premier upstrike machines, which it did through the end of their production; the manufacture of all Smith Premier No. 10 "visible" machines also took place here from inception in 1908 to the end in about 1921. During this time the REMINGTON JUNIOR was also built here. In 1921, the tooling for the Monarch-pattern machine was removed from Remington's Ilion, New York plant and was shipped to this Smith Premier plant where the machine was placed back in production carrying the Smith Premier name. |
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| Illustrations by Will Davis, David B. Davis, Peter Weil. |
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| SMITH PREMIER 60 s/n XC40352 / mfd. 1924 Here is our latest addition to this whole Smith Premier / Monarch / Remington family, which we've been researching quite a bit lately. This machine is the one thing that indicates production of this design having been re-relocated from Remington's Ilion plant to Smith Premier's Syracuse plant; its rear label unquestionably says "Smith Premier / Made in Syracuse, N.Y. USA." You can see the detail of the rear below. Also note the interesting "new" SP or Smith Premier round logos that first appeared in the early 1920's. |
| SMITH PREMIER - pattern machines include all of the upstrike Smith Premiers, and the front-strike Smith Premier 10. The mechanical designs of the two machines share a few similarities, but the SP10 was in essence wholly new. MONARCH - pattern machines include Monarch Visibles Nos. 1 through 3 and the Smith Premier 30, 40 and 60. The change in design to incorporate slotted segment happened while the machine was being produced at the Smith Premier plant; see above examples. The small REMINGTON JUNIOR and perhaps the modified following CENTURY 10 were built at the Smith Premier plant but had nothing to do with Smith Premier's own product line. The Century 10 was marketed as a product of the American Writing Machine Company, which had formerly marketed the CALIGRAPH and whose plant had been turned over to rebuilding typewriters exclusively. |