1 of 1- Mari
- New Member
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- From: England
- Registered: 29-8-2014
- Posts: 21
Imperial 2002
I've had my Imperial 2002 since June, but since then, I've garnered no more information on it than it was manufactured in Portugal in presumably 1967. With my collection set to grow with the addition of a Remington Remette, I'm curious as to what the history of my first owned typewriter is. There seems to be a lot of information on the Remette (the depression-era is fascinating to know about), but hardly any on the 2002. So, I've took a few photographs to post here, to see whether anybody else has any information on this typewriter.
View of the typewriter from the front. Excuse the colourful stickers, learning to touch type utilising all five fingers.
Closeup of the decal.
'Made in Portugal'
There's a number embedded inside the machine, underneath and past the platen. A serial number? '6912539'
Even the slightest bit of information about this machine was wonderful. It's an absolute joy to use, in perfect working order (though not in any kind of showroom condition!), but it would be nice to be able to type on it with knowledge of what its history is!
Last edited by Mari (08-2-2015 09:22:36)
Currently the proud owner of...
Imperial 2002 - Blick Universal - Olivetti Lettera 32 - Hermes Ambassador
Dreaming of...
Hermes 3000 - Royal Quiet De Luxe - Imperial Good Companion - Smith Corona Silent-Super - Royal FP
- KatLondon
- Key Master
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- From: London
- Registered: 11-10-2014
- Posts: 995
Re: Imperial 2002
Hi Mari,
Yes, that is a serial number. According to the Typewriter Database, the 2002 was made in 1978 and 1979; yours was in 1979 - one of the last typewriters ever to be made with the Imperial name on it. Here's a sort of wrap-up of the history of Imperial tyoewriters.
As for what the history of your specific machine might be, it's worth remembering that manual typewriters were sort of going out by that late in the 70s; most people who could afford it were using electrics, or even the new word processors, which were so revolutionary because they would store some text so you could change it before it got printed. A manual at that time would have really been a budget option, either for someone who didn't do much typing or for a student perhaps.
You'll find the Remington much easier to get information on, simply because it is a classic fro the period when typewriters were very important and hundreds and thousands of them were being made, and they've been seriously collected for longer.
I'm sure someone else will be able to give you some more into on the Imperial 2002.
Nice typing colour sticker work, by the way! Good idea. 
Last edited by KatLondon (08-2-2015 12:09:01)
- Uwe
- Moderator
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- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,408
Re: Imperial 2002
Fantastic machine. I have to know if you applied the colour coding to the keys, or if it came that way. If you didn't apply those stickers, colour coding keys is used to teach touch typing. Some machines came with the entire key in the colour, which made for very 'bright' typewriters.
As for the history of your machine, Litton Industries, which owned a number of typewriter manufacturers such as Royal, and later Adler and Triumph, bought Imperial in 1965. The multi conglomerate closed the Imprerial factory in England in 1973, but even before then it had Imperial branded typewriters manufactured in other countries such as Holland, and Portugal.
Your 2002 is non-British design that Imperial created by using the components of other machines manufactured by other Litton companies. It was made by the Portuguese typewriter manufacturer Messa SARI, which itself was originally the German manufacturer Siemag (the factory had been relocated from Germany to Portugal I believe during the late '60s).
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
