Vintage typewriter brands
Use the maker as a starting point, then narrow by model family, body generation, keyboard, serial range, and mechanism.
Underwood
Underwood helped establish the familiar front-strike visible-writing standard, but its long history includes many standards, portables, and later corporate changes.
Remington
Remington’s name reaches back to the first commercially successful typewriter era, but the badge appears across very different mechanisms and corporate periods.
Royal
Royal produced both heavy office standards and enduring portable families. Body shape, key style, and control layout help separate generations.
Smith-Corona
Smith-Corona history includes early folding Coronas, prewar portables, postwar writer favorites, and later electric machines.
Olympia
Olympia’s SM-series portables are widely sought by active typists, but generation, carriage supports, body details, and service state matter.
Olivetti
Olivetti combined industrial design with practical office and portable machines. Lettera models attract both writers and design collectors.
Hermes
Hermes portables command strong attention, especially the 3000, but cosmetic generation and mechanical state need more than a famous badge.
IBM
IBM’s Selectric replaced the conventional typebar basket with a moving type element, creating a distinct buying and service category.
Brother
Brother produced accessible postwar portables that often appear under store and distributor names, making body-based identification especially useful.