1940's German Torpedo Typewriter dad's lifeline.

This is a Torpedo typewriter. It was dad's communication lifeline, allowing him to write letters and notes. Due of his wartime injuries he could not easily write with a pen anymore.

I don't know its history but the German letters are on the keys so maybe a wartime thing? Trust the Germans to name a typewriter Torpedo, those crazy cats!

When I was younger, I still used it to apply for jobs. It worked perfectly but I seem to remember a spring or cable went pop, considering its age and use, it did very well.

I never got around to fixing it but can't bring myself to part with it, this and his Voigtlander camera are the 2 physical things that remind me of him. So it's staying!

For younger viewers this is what people used before word processors came on the scene in about the late 1970's early 1980's and then of course Micro computers and Personal computers made them obsolete almost overnight.

No doubt there are still some hipsters who use typewriters even today and God bless them.

There is something enjoyable about typewriters, not least the punch noise ready to annoy anyone within 10 feet of you.

During the early 80's I purchased a more modern machine Silver- Reed below.

I recently purchased a new ribbon for it (amazing what you can still buy off Fleabay) and used it to show my daughter. Of course it's gathering dust now but for the purpose of this blog, it was cleaned and woken up.

Considering most of my life I have worked with modern technology and computing I have a strong appreciation of the analogue world. I still use a Parker fountain pen, we have an old GPO bakelite phone in the house fully functioning, thankfully a bell switch to ignore the spam calls!

The typewriter has a certain period charm you just don't get with WORD!! Yes WORD is infinitely more useful today but sitting there typing out a letter (trying not to make a mistake) clomping away at the keys with that distinctive tone is fun. Don't forget the carriage return of course! Carbon paper behind if you need 2 copies, yes times were more involved before computers came along.

I am grateful to this old typewriter because a lot of dad's letters and memories of his war days were typed not hand written. He could still write numbers when he did his measurements for woodwork, furniture and so on, but not write long text it was too much for him. Fortunately this means I have some chance to decipher his letters and hopefully one day publish his wartime experiences on this site.

The old tank weighs quite a bit not really portable, my funky blue Silver-Reed is much smaller and lighter but still compared to a laptop, you need to do weight lifting on a regular basis.

So there you go the old typewriter, mentioned so we don't forget what they look like in the brave world of AI and self driving cars (God help us all!!)

Where is my Tippex?