Antique Torpedo Typewriter Model 6. Germany, Circa 1925

  
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Antique Torpedo Typewriter Model 6. Germany, Circa 1925

Antique Torpedo typewriter model 6, made in Germany circa 1925 and in good working order. It mounts a German keyboard and works really fine, marking perfectly the letters and the symbols in the well-known typography of these machines. The black-enameled metal body looks sober and simple, with just a rear opening which lets us see part of the mechanism. The keys are black, with white symbols and nickel-plated reinforcement rings; they are in very good condition. At the top of the keyboard, the keys with the tens, hundreds etc. stand out for the bright-red bakelite rings. On the carriage and the back side of the typewriter we can see the printed brand name TORPEDO in big lettering, quite well preserved. Over the keyboard and in front of the typebars we see an embossed inscription with the brand name and the number 6, which identifies the model.

This antique Torpedo typewriter model 6 is an old-time piece with a high decorative power, and fully functional too.

Torpedo Typewriters – History

The origins of the Torpedo BüromaschinenWerke AG (Torpedo Typewriter Factory) date back to the establishment of the Peter Weil & Co in 1896. The company was founded by Peter and Heinrich Weil to manufacture two models of bycicles: the Weil-Räder and the Torpedo-Räder. Production started with nine employees in a building located in Frankfurt Am Main, Germany. In 1907 the Weil brothers decided to start making typewriters and took over Hermann Wasem’s business, who had been making the Hassia typewriter for three years. The first standard-size Torpedo typewriters were exported under the Regent brand name. Torpedo would maintain this brand and would use it again in the 1930s, when they started to export their firs portable machines. Just then, they also made portable typewriters for export under the Blue Bird name. Just as Underwood had expanded into Germany by taking over Mercedes in 1927, Remington Rand took over Torpedo’s typewriter arm in 1931. The company’s name was changed to Remington Buromaschinen GmbH, but the firm kept on manufacturing typewriters under the same brand name.