Ode aan de schrijfmachine: The Giant Underwood Master Typewriter
De schrijfmachine is al bijna uit ons collectief geheugen verdwenen, maar het was natuurlijk een schitterende uitvinding. Om hun product te promoten bouwde schrijfmachinefabrikant Underwood deze enorme, werkende (!) typewriter, naar hun model No. 5. Het apparaat stond opgesteld op de wereldtentoonstelling in New York.
Dawn of a New Day – The 1939-40 New York World’s Fair was hosted in the Flushing Meadows Park in Queens. It was the first to be based on the future with the slogan “Dawn of a New Day.†An estimated 44 million people attended. At the Underwood Elliott Fisher exhibit in the Business Systems Building an unusual item was on display – a typewriter. However, it was not any ordinary typewriter but rather it was The Giant Underwood Master Typewriter.
In feite was dit een verbouwde versie van de schrijfmachine die al in ca. 1910 was gebouwd als rondreizend reclameobject. Hij was ondermeer te zien op de Pan American Exhibition 1915 in San Francisco.
“The largest in the world is one of the wonders of Atlantic City. This huge machine, weighing 14 tons, costing $100,000, required 3 years to build. Each typebar weighs 45 pounds and the carrier alone weighs 3,500 pounds. The dimensions of the machine in action are 21 feet wide by 18 feet high. The Underwood letterhead shown in the illustration was written on the giant typewriter and measures 9 feet wide by 12 1/2 feet high.”
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