1 of 1- skywatcher
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Offline - From: The Prairies of Alberta
- Registered: 14-3-2013
- Posts: 712
Torpedoes and Blue Birds
Greetings All
Does anyone here have a definitive answer to the reason why the Torpedo typewriters were named Blue Birds when sold in England. I have a theory, but I wanted to get some other input before floating my theory on the forum. Thanks and all the best,
Sky
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
- Uwe
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- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,408
Re: Torpedoes and Blue Birds
Torpedo models were sold in England under the Regent and Harrod names as well (I believe that Imperial assembled the Regent later on from imported parts - and then made them entirely in house). Given that Torpedo exports to England followed the end of both World Wars, I had always assumed that it was a marketing decision to give the typewriters different names; it's not likely that a German 'Torpedo' would have been very well received during those time periods, especially not compared to the more innocuous-sounding Blue Bird.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- thetypewriterman
- Key Master
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- From: Leiston, England
- Registered: 29-5-2013
- Posts: 892
Re: Torpedoes and Blue Birds
There was quite a tie-up between Imperial and Torpedowerke. The very British Imperial Good Companion was in fact a German Torpedo design. Imperial tested the market by assembling the machine from parts supplied by the Torpedo factory and selling it as the 'Mead' for the first year. When that proved reasonably sucessful, they bought the design and tooling outright and it became the Good Companion. However, Torpedo was owned by Remington ! Their chief designer at the German factory, an Englishman called Herbert Etheridge jumped ship to Imperial just before WW2, taking the plans for the next generation Torpedo portable with him. This became the Imperial GC 3. Ever wondered why a German standard spool fits an Imperial GC 3 - and the Imperial 66 ? Now you know !
