This typewriter, bought by my Dad Noel Turner in 1971, was in my shed for many years
This is an incredible piece of family history! Your Imperial 200 portable typewriter looks remarkably well-preserved, especially considering it spent years stored away in a shed.
Finding a vintage typewriter complete with its original hard shell case, the instruction booklet, and the original hand-written guarantee document is quite rare. Looking through the paperwork, there are some truly wonderful details:
- A Christmas Eve Purchase: Your dad bought it on December 24, 1971—perhaps it was a special Christmas gift to himself or the family!
- Local History: It was purchased right here in Norwich from Martins & Cricks at 70 Thorpe Road.
- The Care Log: The handwritten notes show it was lovingly maintained over the decades, getting serviced in April 1990 and receiving a fresh ribbon in January 1994.
The keys look remarkably clean, and the powder-blue casing holds up that classic 1970s aesthetic perfectly.
What are your plans for your dad's typewriter? I can help you with:
- Cleaning and restoration steps to get the keys and carriage moving smoothly again if they are sticky.
- Finding replacement ribbons so you can type on it today.
- Historical context about the Imperial Typewriter Company and its Litton Industries era.
Let me know what you'd like to explore next!
This look like a laptop computer, well old type ? in many ways, latops and computers replace the typewriter ? In many ways, the skill of a secretary , or staff of the typing pool ? offices, I mean, seem to always be ignore by many people, and now it seem so easy, but them skills make any work look better, so companies still need them skills.
I found some "Tipp-Ex" for typewriters, something a company might not use, unless it was just used for notes, of course, as it stand out so well, and look bad, on any official letter
You hit the nail on the head. In a high-end corporate setting, using standard correction fluid or "white-out" on official letters was considered an absolute taboo. It left a thick, chalky patch on the page that screamed "mistake," completely ruining the crisp, executive presentation of the document. If a professional typist made a glaring error on a formal letter to a client or executive, the standard protocol was usually to rip the page out and re-type the whole thing from scratch. [1, 2, 3]
However, there is a fascinating distinction depending on the type of Tipp-Ex you found:
The Secret Weapon: Tipp-Ex Correction Paper
If what you found looks like little chalky white strips or tabs of paper rather than a bottle of liquid, you have found the typist’s secret weapon. Tipp-Ex Typewriter Correction Paper was actually invented before the liquid fluid specifically to solve the problem of ugly corrections. [1, 2, 3]
It worked like magic:
- You backspaced to the wrong letter.
- You held the little white Tipp-Ex slip directly over the error.
- You typed the exact same wrong letter again. [1]
The mechanical impact of the key struck the slip, transferring a powdery white silhouette perfectly over the black ink mistake to mask it. Then, you backspaced again and typed the correct letter over the newly whitened spot. Because it only masked the exact shape of the character rather than painting a big white blob, it was significantly less noticeable on official stationery! [1, 2, 3]
The Infamous Liquid Fluid
The liquid bottle of Tipp-Ex—which is what most people remember—was indeed a bit of a nightmare for formal documents. As you rightly noted, it was messy, took time to dry, and made the texture of the paper look uneven. In a typing pool, liquid white-out was generally reserved for internal memos, personal notes, or drafts. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Eventually, technology tried to fix this. By the late 1970s and 1980s, high-end electric typewriters introduced integrated "correcting ribbons"—sticky lift-off tapes built right into the machine that could physically pull the ink off the page so perfectly you couldn't even tell a mistake had happened. [1, 2]
Your observation highlights exactly why those professional secretaries were so highly valued: managing errors seamlessly without making the final work look sloppy was a true art form.
Is the Tipp-Ex you found the little paper strips or the liquid bottle? Knowing which one you have can tell us exactly how a typist would have used it with your dad's Imperial 200.
paper strips, for the typewriter, I see not cheap, lol
Ah, you found the classic paper tabs! They definitely aren't cheap anymore because they are considered a specialty vintage item now—especially original Tipp-Ex Typewriter Correction Paper. Since they aren't manufactured in massive quantities like they were in the 1970s and 1980s, collectors and vintage typewriter enthusiasts have driven the price up quite a bit.
Finding those paper strips alongside your dad's machine is like finding a complete time capsule. It means the setup is exactly how a typist would have used it back in the day, keeping those little tabs close at hand to correct mistakes on the fly without making a mess.
If you ever want to test the typewriter out, you can actually still use those original strips! Even if they are decades old, the dry white powder on the paper usually still transfers perfectly when struck by a typebar key.
Would you like to try typing a test line on your dad's machine to see if the keys still strike and the ribbon still has ink, or would you prefer some tips on how to safely dust down the mechanisms first? Let me know what you'd like to do next!
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