This Royal KHM model typewriter was produced by the Royal Typewriter Company of Hartford, Connecticut in 1934. The Royal KHM was very similar to the Royal 10, but notable differences include plastic instead of glass sides, no scooped center, and covered ribbon spools.
The Royal Typewriter Company was founded in 1906 by Thomas Fortunes Ryan and Edward B. Hess, with Ryan providing the capital and Hess providing the inventiveness. Hess owned over 150 patents, many of which were assigned to the Royal Typewriter Company. Hess’s most noteworthy patents related to increasing the ease of typing, including an accelerating typebar, anti friction roller escapement, Magic Margins, and selective touch control. In 1954 Royal merged with the McBee Corporation, operating as Royal Mcbee until 1964. In 1964 Royal McBee was acquired by Litton Industries, which used Royal as a brand until 1968.
This Electromatic brand typewriter was manufactured by the International Business Machines Corporation beginning in 1935. The Electromatic typewriter was first manufactured in 1924 by the North East Electric Company. The North East Electric Company produced the motor and base, and used a Remington model 12 as the typewriter. The North East Electric Company became the Electromatic Typewriter Company before being purchased by IBM in 1933. In 1935 IBM produced the Electromatic Model 01 for the first time. The Electromatic operated with a motor controlling all aspects of typing, from the type bar to the carriage returns, allowing the user to operate the typewriter without their fingers ever leaving the keyboard.
This typewriter bears a label from the Rossford Ordnance Depot, a depot in Toledo, Ohio that was used to supply the military with jeeps and cars during World War II.
This Corona Standard typewriter was produced by L.C. Smith & Corona Typewriters Incorporated of Syracuse, New York around 1935. This typewriter has an interesting variation on the standard QWERTY keyboard, as each key has an image of an animal, along with the alphabetical character. This special keyboard was available on three different models of Corona’s —the Silent, the Sterling, and the Standard—for a $2.25 charge. The keyboard was designed to help teach children how to type, and came with a set of nine rings, four on each hand and one on the thumb. Each ring had the image of an animal that corresponded with an animal on the key—you hit the bear with the finger that had the bear ring, the rabbit with the finger that bore the rabbit ring, the spacebar with the thumb that bore the elephant ring, etc. This typewriter is rare, as the Great Depression made an extra fee for a child’s keyboard difficult for many families to afford.
The success of the Standard Typewriter Company’s Corona model typewriter prompted the company to change its named to the Corona Typewriting Company in 1914. In 1926 the company joined with the L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriting company to become Smith Corona. Smith Corona manufactured typewriters and typewriter accessories throughout the 20th century, becoming Smith Corona Marchant in 1958. After two bankruptcies, Smith Corona returned to operation in 2010 as a thermal paper manufacturing company.