| REMINGTON NOISELESS No. 10 s/n X428409 Remington Rand (Ilion N.Y.) 1938 Tilman Elster collection It can be seen that the various controls on this machine surrounding the keyboard for auxiliary functions more closely match the Remington Noiseless No. 6 than they do the Underwood Noiseless seen above, and while there are some similarities between these roughly contemporary Remington and Underwood machines there are a number of differences as well. This is one fact that makes some collectors think that the Underwood Noiseless machines were actually being built at Underwood's plant and not at Remington's plant - since the detail differences are minor. No merit could have been achieved through making these minor variances at one factory, and in fact this would have been cost ineffective. |
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| "The Secret of Power is Concentration." -EMERSON. When the great thinkers of the past had a momentous decision to make, they sought quiet and concentration - away from the noise and the bustle of the crowds. Executives today need quiet for uninterrupted though in guiding the nation's business. The Underwood Noiseless Typewriter cuts down office noises. Quiet typewriters bring quiet voices. No more harsh, resounding dictation, no more "broadcasting" of telephone conversations. Concentration, less nerve strain and a smooth-running quiet office are the result. The stenographer is especially pleased with the Underwood Noiseless - a visible-writing machine, strong and well-balanced, easily operated, and QUIET. And it's more than a noiseless- it's an UNDERWOOD! |
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| If you must have a typewriter near you - If you do not want to sacrifice the best mechanical features - And yet want a machine that can be operated a few feet away from your desk - And not be heard - Then you will want an Underwood Noiseless typewriter. |
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| Underwood Noiseless advertising folder, printed August 1930. |
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| From 1904 through 1917, the efforts of Wellington Parker Kidder to produce a truly silent typewriter were seemingly thwarted at every turn. The first widely sold, successful model of the Noiseless Typewriter was the No. 4, which appeared in 1917 and which was followed by the No. 5 in about 1922. The year prior, Noiseless Typewriter Company had produced a small portable as well. In January 1924, the Remington Typewriter Company entered an agreement with Noiseless Typewriter Company. The sales and manufacturing of the Noiseless were taken over by a newly-formed Remington-Noiseless Typewriter Corporation at that time, and the brand name applied to the machines became "Remington Noiseless." In mid-1929, Underwood Typewriter Company also entered into an agreement by which Noiseless-pattern machines would be sold with the "Underwood Noiseless" name. It is still not certain 100% whether or not the machines were built by Underwood, but it is certain that various models of Remington and Underwood Noiseless machines show differences between each other. More interesting is the fact that very many patents for improvements and alterations to the Noiseless-pattern machines were held by Underwood and not by Remington / Remington-Rand. The brochure above was printed very near the introduction of Underwood Noiseless typewriters, by its print date. Below, we will show a few Noiseless, Remington Noiseless and Underwood Noiseless machines in order of production. |
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| NOISELESS No. 4 s/n 31665 Noiseless Typewriter Company, Middletown CT. 1918 Tilman Elster collection The first successful machine sold in number by Noiseless. Note the three-bank, double-shift arrangement of the keyboard and, as on practically all standard - size Noiseless or Noiseless-derived machines the distinct fan shape of the top of the machine, required since the thrust-action type bars are fanned out in a semi-circle to allow impact at the print point. Type-face on the type slugs is canted to make up for radial displacement from center on each type slug - thus the cant on each type slug differs. Noiseless, and Remington-Noiseless machines made at Middletown CT will have this location either on the front or the rear; more in the next caption on this topic. |
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| REMINGTON NOISELESS No. 6 s/n X121503 Remington-Rand (Middletown CT) 1929 Tilman Elster collection. The very first Remington-Noiseless machines were essentially the Noiseless No. 5 carried over. However, Remington designed a completely revised key lever / type bar mechanism with two type slugs on each type bar, and incorporated a four-bank single-shift keyboard in the Remington Noiseless No. 6 which was introduced in 1925. Note that the illustration in the August, 1930 brochure for the Underwood Noiseless matches the machine seen here in details. Remington continued to build Noiseless standard machines at the former Noiseless plant in Middletown, CT until 1936 when it was closed and production moved to Ilion, New York. |
| UNDERWOOD NOISELESS s/n 3942070 Underwood-Elliott-Fisher Co. 1935 Tilman Elster collection This machine displays some differences from the earlier variants, including a large paper table and a decimal tabulator. |
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| UNDERWOOD NOISELESS s/n N5021969 Underwood-Elliott-Fisher 1939 Will Davis collection It seems plain here that, while this machine is finished in black crinkle paint instead of smooth enamel, that the design is identical with that of the 1935 Underwood Noiseless seen above. |
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| NOISELESS PORTABLE s/n 2721 Noiseless Typewriter Co., Middletown CT Tilman Elster collection The first Noiseless portable machine, with three-bank double-shift keyboard just like that found on the standard machines of the same make at that time. This is a very early example. |
| UNDERWOOD NOISELESS PORTABLE s/n 883886 Underwood-Elliott-Fisher 1936 Tilman Elster collection As most people are well aware, the design of Noiseless portables under the Remington and Underwood control was so massively altered as to bear no resemblance to the original Noiseless portables at all. However, most have a curved top casing reminiscent of the standard sized machines. |
| As a footnote regarding the standard machines, while the Underwood Noiseless machines were made and sold through 1952, and the Remington Noiseless machines (in much later styling than seen here) were made and sold through 1968 they never played a major role or were a major factor in the grand scheme. Offices acquired these machines essentially for the reasons given in the brochure at the top of this page -- but surely the need for such a machine dictated by environment was small. Production in later years reduced drastically but perhaps we can say that it went on as long as it did because it was, essentially, "all there was" for a truly quiet standard office typewriter. |
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| ...is the Continental Silenta the same typewriter made in Germany? |
| Nope! Different design entirely; type-bar action at left (German Patent Office). Continental Silenta above courtesy TILMAN ELSTER. |