Is There a Typewriter Revival?

#typewriter #writing
In Episode 422 of the Typewriter Video Series, Joe discusses the recent film photography revival with the rise of newly manufactured film cameras, and ponders the question of a typewriter revival.
Lucas Dul's repair of a newly manufactured manual typewriter: • The 2023 Rover Typewri...
Get your new Nakajima typewriters here: typewriters.com/typewriters/n...
or here: shorturl.at/unS3b
Links to newly manufactured film cameras (no affiliation):
Lomography: www.lomography.com
The Pentax 17: us.ricoh-imaging.com/product/...
The Mint Rollei 35AF: rollei35af.com
Leica film cameras: leica-camera.com/en-US/photog...

[@user-wt4jd3dm6d]

Having a great collection of different typewriters is the most rewarding part about using them and learning to type them again is fun

[@jamessalomon9343]

Back in the day I had a daisy wheel typewriter that could be used as a computer printer. It had a serial port on the back and attached to the serial port on your computer.

[@aphexteknol]

I love that this was ostensibly a typewriter video, but you managed to talk about the new film camera releases for at least half of it. I’m here for all of it. :)

[@Joe_VanCleave]

I was thinking about the new film cameras but didn’t think a video solely dedicated to that topic would fly, and then the connection with the typewriter revival hit me this morning!

[@AArtVarkVark]

​@@Joe_VanCleaveI think there's a big crossover with a lot of us between typewriters, film cameras and analog audio...

[@ChrisAldrich1]

If only there were a bigger market for the use of the old card indexes as well, but this is _even_ smaller than the typewriter revolution that's going on... #AnalogForever

[@AtelierDBurgoyne]

​@@ChrisAldrich1😊

[@g-r-a-e-m-e-]

​@@ChrisAldrich1 I am a fan of card indexes. Is there an online place or community devoted to this niche?

[@jeffcurry1280]

One of the reasons for the resurgence of film cameras, outside of the nostalgia and breaking free from smart devices, is the realization that digital images are not owned by the person who took them. Rather, just as anything created on a digital tool, the ownership goes to the software and hardware companies. Physical media is also trying to pry itself from the clutches of the digital streaming services so that those who buy a piece of cinematic art actually own that copy rather than just borrowing it until a streaming company decides to drop it from its library. I think the typewriter revival, the true revival, will come out of necessity and not out of nostalgia. There will be a point where people will want to ensure they own their own words, do not wish those words to be scraped for AI training consumption, and are free from immediate (or delayed) censorship by the digital powers that be. Once this realization sets in, typewriters will become extremely important tools for generating ideas and communicating them to the world. I own seven daisy wheel electric typewriters and I absolutely love writing on them despite the lack of mechanical symphony offered by my manual typewriters. As they say, "the revolution will be typewritten!"

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Fantastic!

[@mikequinlan9585]

As for a revival, they made millions of manual typewriters so what we need is a way to fix and maintain those existing machines.

[@VirtualGuth]

Thanks for this one Joe. You've inspired me to post to my blog The Typewritemosphere for the first time in nearly 10 months! I didn't expand on it over on my blog, but I feel a big part of the appeal of a new film camera is that it comes with a warranty. Older film cameras often still work just fine, but fewer and fewer people are around to fix them (which typically requires many specialized tools). Meanwhile it is not uncommon to resolve a problem with a typewriter with a bit of cleaning. Beyond that, a curious person can often fix a number of typewriter-related problems with nothing more than a few hand tools.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

I’ll look for it!

[@ChrisAldrich1]

Good to see you back to posting there Bill. I hope things are turning around for you in 2024 and that we'll see more from your site. :)

[@VirtualGuth]

@@ChrisAldrich1 Thanks Chris, much appreciated.

[@user-zt5xz5fz4q]

Amen.❤.

[@jasonwojcik]

It would be awesome if the typewriter community got a crowdfunded manual typewriter company. But my fear is the final product would take years of designing. My big fear is that the machine would cost $6k+! As Tom Hanks basically said in "California Typewriter", "Nobody will ever make a manual typewriter ever again". I wish he was proven wrong, but he is right. 😢

[@AtelierDBurgoyne]

There is no need to waste time and money designing a new typewriter. Cloning the best models from the past would be good enough, but the critical components (e.g. type slugs) are no longer manufactured.

[@jasonwojcik]

@@AtelierDBurgoyne There is the time and money for building the jigs, CNC programming, materials, and general factory setups. Then labor costs... The first generation copy will be quirky and several iterations needed to iron things out. Nobody is willing to go through all that for a super niche product.

[@mikequinlan9585]

Wait, never say never. I have watched the turntable community explode over the last 5 years. Today there are so many new TT on the market it hard to keep track of them all. Maybe the same thing can happen in the typewriter world.

[@giacintoboccia9386]

Wouldn't it be more realistic if the people that make the current models keept improving them? They already moved to metal elements after all

[@dadtype2339]

Hi Joe, This is a good one! Sorry I'm late to the party, but as you know I've had a bit of a full plate on some medical and health things, happy to say I'm doing a lot better. Thank you for the prayers and well wishes. As you know I am, much like yourself as we've jokingly stated are a Keeper and Guardians of Historical Artifacts, I'm a mechanical and electromechanical Typewriter enthusiast, I am a unicorn, you are as well, in that I collect mainly mechanical typewriters and I also use them. Machines don't like to just sit. For me, I have a small but good and of great quality well working machines I use to write my first drafts on, they really help to just be Free in the creative process. The only two I have that are fully electronic are the brother EP-20 & EP-43 as you know I have written a 270paved manuscript mostly on the EP-43 but there are pages that were written on a 1964 SCM Galaxie Deluxe, a 1959 Hermes 3000, EP-20, 1972 SCM Electra 110, and a 1968 Royal Aristocrat Special. But I'd say about 190 of those pages are from the EP-43. Now with all that said, it's not that I don't like the wheel Typewriter, I just don't have a need for that, when I have something that will do the same job, as I'm sure you can understand, I really enjoy the EP-43, it is a machine that likes to vanish while using it, meaning it steps back and really allows you to have full and unimpeded use of the blank page, without fear or judgement and no second guessing, you just go. Which is why while stuck in bed I've been able to write a lot of pages on it. And I'm sure we all have reasons as to why we buy a particular Typewriter, one of my major reasons is, can I hear and feel the machine talk to me, does it pull me in to type on it, I sound crazy but they do speak to you. If it doesn't have that appeal To me, I pass, because I'm probably not going to work on it, and I'm sorry to say that's the other reason I have zero desire right now anyway, to pick on of these machines up. In truth I don't believe we will ever truly be done with the Typewriter so long as we are still working on physical paper. When paper finally goes away and I'm sure it will happen, copy stencils are all but gone, just about gone, the n when paper is gone then Typewriters will become sit and look pieces of a bygone era. It will be a super far off in the way way far reaches of the future, for now it's safe, as we humans are historical social junkies who like to relive, remember, and experience and romance old world designs, like sealing wax is making a come back has been hanging on the last 20 years, fountain pens too, ink wells, and so on. People a hundred years from now will want to return in to some form of serious to novelty experience of what we do now, just as we are into repeating and experiencing writing novels on Typewriters. The only one I don't see making any come backs and there's probably a small group of people into reliving what it was like to write on stone tablets, but that's too far back and more work than enjoyment I'd wager. Always a thumbs up on that like button, I suspect there will be a company that will reproduce a good quality mechanical and electric mechanical Typewriter, I humbly disagree with our patron Saint Tom Hanks. I don't think there will be many upon many different Typewriter companies like there once was but certainly I do believe we will see one definitely and maybe two due to competition of sales, by a Typewriter manufacturer company. People said the same thing about vinal records 20 to 30 years ago and I see them having a revival with companies that are remaking good solid working Vinal Players. The Typewriter will come back again. Just as the electric car did. As the music group The Propellerheads song says, "IT'S ALL JUST A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY REPEATING". ❤👍

[@christophermckellar1352]

Interesting. Brilliant, of course! I am also interested in more comments. Will check back later. Yes, that Brother does put out beautiful copy. I use mine so seldom that I always have the manual on the desk nest to me. The delay bothers me. I get around it by setting it to absorb a full line before printing. I hear that if one turns off the dictionary the delay is less. Must try. You are looking good; I’m hoping that shows that you are enjoying retirement. All best to you.

[@hammerandthewrench7924]

I’m 31 and have acquired 8 typewriters after I realized there was nothing better when it comes to writing.

[@akradr]

When I type on an electronic typewriter, I feel as if I should be using a word processor. When I type on a manual typewriter I feel like I’m chiseling each letter onto a stone tablet.

[@danieldeary9344]

Glad I hung on to my old Canon and Rollei cameras...I always liked the full manual controls and how you had to use all your brain cells to get a great image. Never liked auto focus and auto exposure. Same with typewriters...I like the manual non-electric machines best.

[@miahoover9225]

Fountain pens are also making a comeback.

[@Surtak]

I got to fountain pens first and now I'm peeking into this space! Absolutely appeals to similar people I'd say.

[@somephotovideos]

I’m definitely swept up in the typewriter revival. I just picked up my 7th (a Hermes Baby), and I absolutely love using it. I’m also a film photographer… This was a great discussion, Joe!

[@hyun-shik7327]

Companies need to get out of the mentality my local typewriter repair shop owner had that these things are still current technology. I'll just sort of recreate the dialogue I had: "Hi I'd was wondering how much it would cost to repair this Selectric. Could you take a look at it?" "Oh yeah I could service that for a couple hundred dollars - but you should know that we have way more advanced machines for sale, like this brand new one with an editor, spellcheck, and an eraser function so you don't even need whiteout - it's also much lighter." (this was for a cheap part that I was simply not brave enough to attempt to replace myself) "Ok thanks. I'll think about it." (proceeds to not only walk out of the store almost immediately after feigning looking around but also drive to the recycling center to drop off my Selectric that I am not smart enough to repair nor willing to pay what the only nearby place wanted) RIP my Selectric 1975 - 2023.

[@miahoover9225]

I like the feel and the sound of manual typewriters. I've just started collecting typewriters on a small scale. I wonder how similar the vintage typewriter community is to the vintage car community.

[@JakoscZarzadzania]

You can still get a used typewriter in pretty good shape for less than 50€ (e.g. recently I bought a Lettera 32). The old Optima SP28 daisy wheels from the 90s, with an 80-character LCD screen and 15 pages of memory, cost 50-70€. No one can compete with these prices. But there can be a market for modern extensions/tools. E.g., a camera with AI pointed at the keyboard that monitors what is being typed and transfers it to a file on a pen drive. This could work for any old typewriter and would speed up our work with text.

[@bletheringfool]

I've been toying for a long time with the idea of getting a new electric typewriter. I have 2 manual ones and wanted to try an electric as it has been probably 30 years since I actually used an electric. The smart thing to do would be buy a nearly new second hand one and buy the bits and bobs (consumables) needed. Loved this look into what's available and it is the same with myself for the cameras. When I was a kid I took my first photos with a mini 110 camera that was free with cereal

[@bubblegumgun3292]

I recommend canon typestar 6 or a brother ep 43, you can't go wrong with these classics

[@kdietz65]

I would love to have a new, classically styled typewriter, either electric or manual, that had all the modern punctuation marks.

[@user-zt5xz5fz4q]

Typewriters always.❤.

[@DavidALovingMPF102]

But I want my pictures NOW!!! very well made video Joe! Rollie looks interesting. What is next? A camera inside of a typewriter? hmmm.

[@petesime]

50th anniversary of the K mount next year. I'm hoping Pentax will release a SLR to mark it

[@RyanKnop-eh2fd]

Thank you Joe, great video. As someone that owns as few manual typewriters and a Personal IBM Selectric I agree that the daisy wheel are not what people are looking for in the typewriter community. I like to writer in my spare time and for that I typically use my IBM or Olympia SM7. If they would bring back any of those I would be 1st in line for one.

[@XoaGray]

The other problem with those daisy wheel cartridge based typewriters is that they’re all doomed from the start to someday run out of ink. At some point the companies that make them will stop making the proprietary ribbon cartridges for them and they’ll be useless. Ribbon typewriters will never face that, at least in the foreseeable future. For example,I have a Sharp ZX300 that is actually pretty nice, but its days are definitely numbered. But my nearly 80 year old Royal will be typing on for decades after my Sharp has run dry.

[@SurgeonSilver]

Your great videos have sparked my interest into the type writing hobby. I got my first typewriter a month ago, a KMG Model of 1949 for 30 bucks off of GoodWill online. Loved it but wanted something much more portable and even older. Which led me to recently purchasing a folding Corona 3 early model off ebay. It needs some work but hopefully I can get it back up and running in the near future. Thank you for your excellent work and look forward to your future content!

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Thank you!

[@Channelscruf]

I am, amazingly once again, what is commonly known in some circles, implausibly, as first. 😮

[@irmabecx4758]

Thought about this the other day. Manual typewriters hit their apex around 1960, after that practically nothing happened in terms of the actual technology. No one thought to invent a better shift system or a more efficient keystroke, all they diid was simplify the manufacturing process and use more and more plastic. It's not inconceivable some small boutique brand from like Switzerland could make a brand new 60s style manual, but then only Tom Hanks could afford it. And do we really need more Silver Seikos when you can still pick one up from a garage sale for five dollars? A new one wouldn't be any better than one made in 1972. It just won't happen. I think typewriters, like fountain pens, are not really a revival, they just never went away in the first place. Just ask someone like Woody Allen; they'll say "what revival? I've been using mine for 50 years." There's an interesting parallell with vintage cars; again the most desirable models were made in the 50s and 60s, and you /can/ still find one and get it going if you're willing to put in some elbow grease. Maybe not a Ferrari, but certainly an old Ford or Alfa Romeo. And those 60s cars are sometimes remade, either refurbished like a Singer Porsche, or built completely new from scratch like Jaguar did. That's like the difference between paying 30 bucks for your Lettera 32 a a garage sale and paying 500 dollars on Etsy, no? And again only people like Tom hanks can afford the "new" one. Or Jay Leno, I should perhaps say? :)

[@AdamJ.Wright]

I’m a professional author. I’ve been writing my novels on an Olivetti-Underwood 315 and loving it. To be honest, I don’t think I’d be interested in a brand new machine. There are plenty of old ones that do a fantastic job and look great.

[@ronkelsey1983]

My biggest problem with the digital world is the fact that you don't really own anything. Do you really own a digitally downloaded movie or book? Whether it be the words typed on a page or the image captured on film. If you created it, it is yours.

[@TypewriterASMR23]

Thanks Joe, great video as usual. Question for the typewriter collectors out there: if there was one manual typewriter that could be put back into production and sale which one should it be?

[@brettmanuel3440]

The portable Olivetti’s really were great.

[@AtelierDBurgoyne]

Olympia SM9

[@brettmanuel3440]

@@AtelierDBurgoyne I’ve got one of them too and it’s great

[@c-5541]

Hi Joe. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I enjoyed your comparison between cameras and typewrites. Still, there is an important disanalogy: there is no "Leica" (Royal, Olivetti, Smith Corona, etc.) making typewriters nowadays. I would love to have a brand new designed Erika, for instance. Best for you!

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Yes!

[@theamazinwaffleninja]

would you ever make a whole video about these brand new electric typewriters?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Yes!

[@JosephDickson]

A new quality typewriter, unlike fountain pens has a ton of moving parts. I think there could be some competition in what a manufacturer sees as worth their time in producing. Profit margin, market size, community interest. Today they have to compete with defunct companies that once made quality devices.

[@Frustratedartist2]

If the modern daisywheel typewriters were beautiful and made from quality materials (essentially - same technology with much better design), I believe that people would buy them. Both my hands are problematic when it comes to pain. If a typewriter looked and sounded and felt like a Hermes or an Olympia, but was easy on the fingers and wrists like a Nakajima - I'd be willing to pay ridiculous money for it.

[@Frustratedartist2]

Regarding the revival, I agree with your opinion. It's a revival of interest, not of the typewriter. I don't think that the answer is new production of mechanical typewriters (the classic typewriters were made in big factories. I don't believe you can build them as a small "boutique" manufacturer, make them in the same quality, and sell them for an affordable price). As I said above, I think the answer is in re-inventing the electronic typewriter: better colors, better screens, slick design, rechargeable batteries (even if usable for only an hour). Perhaps they should interface with the existing variety of mechanical keyboard somehow, and have the same sort of versatility. If vinyl records came back (just a decade ago no one touched those), I believe typewriters also can.

[@bubblegumgun3292]

There is something about vintage designs that were just better

[@Henri-pp1nq]

I think that typewriters are in the erra where analoge photography was 10 years ago. In my opinion it's to early for the typewriter revival. Give it 10 years, and there shure will be a typewriter revival. I'm a Y2K kid, I still learned to type on a typewriter in school. The only analog photography that I knew was single use camera's. Now I'm big into analog photography, and a lot of my friends are also analog fans, one even started a local film lab. My generation has the experience of using typewriters, but we never experienced analog slr's or tlr's. The generation after me (5-10 years younger) never had that typewriter experience, that's why I think that the typewriter revival will lag 5-10 years behind the analog photography revival.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Thank you!

[@Backwoods-Bob]

Sort of a berry to pineapple comparison. Cameras are small and can use mostly plastic parts and productions lenses. Manual typewriters are much bigger and would be mostly metal. Some metal parts could be off the shelf; rods, screws, gears, etc. Others could be laser cut and bent in a press. But others like the frame would be limited run custom productions. A production engineer could give a cost estimate.

[@aphexteknol]

@@Backwoods-Bob I’ll have to disagree. At first glance the comparison does seem a bit forced. But cameras don’t have to be made from mostly plastic, and typewriters in later years ended up using more plastic than most people imagine. From a manufacturing standpoint, there are many parallels to be drawn. It would take much of the same type of precision assembly to manufacture both in todays world. You aren’t going to find 95% of the components used in most typewriters I’ve seen off the shelf besides possibly a few fasteners. And the new film camera releases are proof it *could* be done with typewriters…. if the market existed to such an extent to warrant it.

[@Backwoods-Bob]

@@aphexteknol I am familiar with modern typewriters and have an interest in thermal and daisy wheel and golf ball type typewriters. Even have a few that use a pen to draw characters on paper. I don't see most manual enthusiast being happy with much plastic. Also, the typebars, types slugs, and associated parts would be custom-made of metal. There were other types of typewriter mechanics, some even simple enough for a handy person to make at home. Maybe a revival of these?

[@intentionally-blank]

Hit me up, I have 2 typewriters. Clack clack.

[@herothebard]

the cost of making a good quality typewriter new would be expensive for manufacturing, the cost there for would be very expensive, so I don’t think a lot of people would want to buy it. that’s why we saw a decline in the sales of the we are memory keepers typewriters over time. the market didn’t want to pay $200-$300 for a new typewriter that had problems with it when you could buy a vintage typewriter at a flea market or thrift shop for $5-$200. Especially when the we are memory keep typewriters were riddled with problems and made of cheap metals as some reviews of the we are memory keepers typewriters said.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Good points!

[@JB-uv4hm]

That’s a rather narrow definition of revival. Things can undergo a revival without anything being made new again. Having said that, you’ve nailed the issue of the “revival” being for some “creative process.” This is mostly fluff, for if it was about disconnecting from the distractions, then those new DWs are perfect. They come without all the distractions of getting and keeping a vintage typewriter running. I’d say based on the skyrocketing price of many typewriters there is a revival. $3000 for a, all be it very nice, segment shift Royal 10?

[@WaskiSquirrel]

I was given a Panasonic typewriter from the 80s or 90s. It had a strange version of the daisy wheel, and I can get ribbon for it. But I would so much rather type on one of my manual typewriters or even one of my more primitive electric typewriters. I have tried the modern mechanical typewriter, and I'll be given it (along with a really nice older mechanical) once I get up north thanks to someone who is moving into a different living situation. I know the modern mechanical will be rarely used. It looks striking, but the quality is very different. I'd like to do a video on the difference, but I also want to respect my benefactor. She used the modern one for scrapbooking. And maybe for a few words it works?

[@christophermckellar1352]

Nice to see you over here!

[@user-zt5xz5fz4q]

Amen.❤.

[@js23-]

I highly doubt there will ever be a high-quality manual typewriter made anymore, it's a manufacturing issue, they are complex and mostly need to be manufactured by hand. Many of the typewriters that we enjoy were very expensive back in the day because of this, IE a Smith Corona Silent cost $100.37 in a 1952 Sears catalog, with inflation calculated, that would be $1,189.55 in 2024, and that's WITH the advantage of mass production. In a way, it makes the modern manuals made in China (made by Shanghai Weilv Mechanism Company) quite impressive for costing about a grand less. I just don't see enough people being willing to spend a couple thousand on a high-quality manual typewriter to make the production viable in today's age, if anything the factory in China might be able to get quality up to acceptable levels.

[@saulysw]

Then there are the typeface foundries, which needed a significant market to make economical to operate. These are specialist parts, like mainsprings in a mechanical watch. The fitting and turning, the quality of the steel, it has largely all gone. The “memory keeper” had plastic slugs, for example. They have upgraded these to pot metal, but still very inferior. The tolerances in vintage machines is a lot tighter than you might first imagine, and it is a big part in how they feel and work. Near enough is not good enough here, and cheap modern Chinese models show this clearly. I am doubtful a newly made quality manual machine will ever be done again, but I could be wrong.

[@js23-]

@@saulysw The design of Chinese made models like the Epoch or Memory Keepers are based off of Nakajima’s tooling, most notably the Japanese made Olympia Carina, which is perfectly acceptable. So the design itself has potential if they can improve the quality, mainly the type slugs as you mentioned and a metal segment block instead of plastic. At least going from plastic to pot metal shows some effort towards improvement. Still doubtful if it will ever be as good, but we can hope.

[@EJ22bakadesu]

Nikon also sold the F6 as new until 2020.

[@BoulderJR]

I just bought a Smith Corona Silent that is missing all of the tab stop slides. Any idea where I can find any?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Try the Facebook Antique Typewriter Maintenance Group.

[@user-zt5xz5fz4q]

Joe Biden.❤.