Before The Computers: Looking Back On Typewriters Era

In April 2011 last factory in the world on manufacture of typewriters was closed. The epoch of typewriters has ended…

Secretary and Ramsgate beauty queen, Christine James. (Photo by Peter Powell/Express/Getty Images). March 1965

A model of a commercial typewriter from 1867. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). June 1923

Secretaries type while listening to recording machines in the typing pool. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images). 1960

A disabled woman typing with the help of a device attached to her head, at an exhibition of aids for the Disabled in London. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1951

A woman at work in a chair at the Business Efficiency Exhibition. (Photo by Mike Lawn/Fox Photos/Getty Images). October 1971

A Underwood typewriter. (Photo by Sasha/Getty Images). September 1931

A close-up of a set of keys on an English-language typewriter. Electric typewriters have been in use since 1925. (Photo by Chaloner Woods/Getty Images). Circa 1930

Children of the East London Day Continuation School enjoy their open-air typing lesson at Clacton, a popular destination for evacuees from London during World War II. Despite a recent bomber crash which killed two civilians and injured 156, the area is still considered a safe haven. (Photo by Parker/Fox Photos/Getty Images). 9th May 1940

A Royal typewriter. (Photo by Chaloner Woods/Getty Images). 11th March 1966

US actress Edna May as Lilian Leigh in a production of the musical play “The School Girl”, written by Henry Hamilton and Paul Potter with music by Leslie Stuart. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1903

The Adler range of typewriters on display at the modern headquarters of Typewriter Sundries, Borough High Street, south London. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images). 1960

A typing class at the Licensed Victuallers School in Slough, Buckinghamshire. (Photo by David Savill/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). December 1935

A view of a Remington typewriter made around 1873. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). 16th January 1962

A view of the Remington Standard Model, manufactured in 1922. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). 16th January 1962

A view of the Remington International Model manufactured in 1961. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). 16th January 1962

Two city typists at work in an open air swimming pool during a hot summer. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). Circa 1937

Birdie Reeve, a 16-year old type speed demon. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). Circa 1923

An early example of a typewriter, designed in 1866. It was a forerunner of the first practical, commercial machine, patented in 1868 by C L Sholes. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). June 1923

A room full of workers testing typewriters before they leave the factory. (Photo by London Express/Getty Images). Circa 1937

A blind typist types in Braille, a tactile alphabet that allows blind people to read. (Photo by Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

Pupils practising their skills at typing school. (Photo by George Pickow/Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

Stage actress Leonora Bonda sitting at her typewriter in “The Churchmouse” at the Playhouse Theatre in London. (Photo by Sasha/Getty Images). 28th April 1931

A typist at work in an office. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1953

A woman typing by a window criss-crossed with sticky tape to prevent flying glass. (Photo by London Express/Getty Images). Circa 1940

A secretary in a Skegness fun fair with a chimpanzee called Togo. (Photo by J. Wilds/Fox Photos/Getty Images). 22nd May 1937

A worker at the British Olivetti factory on the Queenslie Industrial Estate, Glasgow, assembling a portable typewriter. The factory is highly modernised and makes machines primarily for export to Australia, New Zealand and Africa. (Photo by Haywood Magee/Picture Post/Getty Images). 20th August 1955

Interior of the Custom House (headquarters of the British Civil Service in Ireland) in Dublin destroyed by the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Republican Army. (Photo by Walshe/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). April 1921

An Underwood Elliott Fisher Sundstrand accounting machine, circa 1935. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Businessman inside office typing, US, circa 1950. (Photo by George Marks/Retrofile/Getty Images)

Hands typing, US, circa 1950. (Photo by George Marks/Retrofile/Getty Images)