By 1896, many components, combinations, and designs had been tested across various typewriters, and the winner was emerging, a typewriter with a remarkably quick and smooth typing action, one that would usher in the new century, conquer the world, and bring an end to this period of rich diversity in typewriter design. The Underwood had arrived.
The Underwood typewriter was the first widely successful modern typewriter. It brought together the three key design elements that would define the standard for the 20th century: a four-row straight keyboard, a single shift key, and, importantly, front-striking typebars that provided visible typing. While the Daugherty had already introduced these essential features in 1893, the Underwood was by far the better-engineered machine.
Another, less obvious feature that contributed to the Underwood’s success was the smooth and responsive feel of its keys. This was achieved through the use of a cam action between two of the three typebar linkages, which accelerated the typebar’s speed as it approached the platen, giving it a quick, snappy action. This was the typewriter that would eventually hold the all-time manual typing speed record, set by Albert Tangora in 1941 at 142 words per minute over a one-hour period.
Franz Wagner, a brilliant engineer who had been involved with the Caligraph and other pioneering typewriters, sold his invention to John Underwood & Co., a major supplier of typewriter ribbons (see the last letterhead below). The first model, shown here, still bore Wagner’s name stencilled on the back of the frame.
Over the next decade, nearly all under-strike (blind-writer) and index typewriters would vanish from the market. The ‘Wild West’ of typewriters was over.
The Underwood Model 5 would remain in production from 1900 into the early 1930s, becoming the Model T of typewriters, with millions manufactured.
The following prophetic words (first letterhead shown below) were written to a prospective Underwood client in 1897:
“…The Underwood Typewriter, which you will find, we think, a very interesting one, from the standpoint of what a writing machine should be.”
