Olivetti typewriters


is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers, calculators, and fax machines. It was founded as a typewriter manufacturer by Camillo Olivetti in 1908 in the Turin commune of Ivrea, Italy.
By 1994, Olivetti stopped production of typewriters, as more and more users were transitioning to personal computers.

Mechanical models

M1 (1911)

Until the mid-1960s, the Olivetti typewriters were fully mechanical. Introduced at the World's Fair in Turin in 1911, the first Olivetti typewriter, the M1, was made of about 3000 hand made parts and weighed 17 kg. It was the first Italian typewriter and had a keyboard of 42 keys corresponding to 84 signs, 33-cm paper roll allowing for 110 characters and featured two-colored ribbon, automatic reverse direction, and return key. Heavy and massive, it was intended for professional use in offices.

M20 (1920)

In 1920 the M1 was replaced by a new model, the M20. It featured several innovations, including the trolley running on a fixed guideway. Unlike the M1, which was sold in Italy, the M20 was exported to many European and non-European markets.

M40 (1930)

To update the M20, Olivetti worked on a new model which came out in 1930 and remained in production until 1948, the M40. A second version came out in 1937 and another one in the 1940s. Customers particularly appreciated the fixed-guide carriage, the lightness of touch of the keyboard and the speed of writing.

MP1 (1932)

In 1932, Olivetti presented a portable typewriter shortly after the launch of the M40: the MP1. Conceived by Gino Martinoli and Adriano Olivetti, engineered by Riccardo Levi, and designed by Aldo and Adriano Magnelli, it was intended for both office and domestic use. It weighed only 5.2 kilos, as compared to the M1, which weighed 17 kilos, measured 11.7 centimetres high, half the height of the M1. The mechanism was partly concealed by the body, and the monumental vertical structure of the M1 had been flattened and lightened. In addition to the black colour of the M1 and M20, the MP1 was offered in red, blue, light blue, brown, green, grey, and ivory.

Studio 42 (1935)

Also known as the M2, it was designed in 1935 by Luigi Figini and Gino Pollini, Ottavio Luzzati and Xanti Schawinsky. It is characterized by the various colors available: in addition to the classic black, it was also available in red, gray, brown and light blue.
The keyboard is the QZERTY type, as is usual for Italian machines. In addition to the writing keys, the keyboard includes a space bar, two shift keys, a shift lock, a return key, and a tab key.
The set of writing keys has an obvious lack: there is no key with the number 1, which is obtained by using the lowercase letter l or the capital I ; likewise, there is no zero, which is obtained by typing the capital O. Although this may seem strange today, it was quite common in the old typewriters.
There is also a portable version, with the machine fixed on a wooden base with black imitation leather and a removable protection also covered in wood, a black leather carrying handle and a chrome lock.

Lexikon 80 (1948)

Also known as the M80, the Lexikon 80 was designed by Marcello Nizzoli in 1948, and has been a huge success for Olivetti and Hispano-Olivetti. It's the most sold typewriter in the world, and has a unique style in color, shape, and structural strength.
This machine was first published as M80, featuring a keyboard with round keys that had a thin metal outline to the circunference, appealing notoriously to many older models, like the M40. Despite the M80 series being a standard machine, it only came in the short 10" carriage, that fulfilled common purposes, just like a portable machine.
The M80 was shortly after edited to Lexikon 80. The Olivetti Lexikon 80 was indeed, the most manufactured machine in the world. -M80 is very rare- It came in the first series, with a subtle olive green colour, then came the second series, in grey, and finally, the third series of the machine, which came in blue.
The Lexikon 80 had a few changes in contrast to its previous version M80; it had keys fully made out of plastic, it was slightly bigger in size, it startedmost featuring decimal tabulators, and it had a wide variety of dismountable carriages.
While dismountable carriages are featured in most standard typewriters, -mostly removable with a pair of screws, or the pull of two latches for very easy access like the Olympia-Werke SG1- the M80 had its carriage completely welded to the chassis, and could only be removed with a special key that was only given to authorised servicemen.
Dismountable carriages vary in size, anywhere from 9 or 10 inches up to 30 inches. While they're not actually meant to be dismounted and replaced in the first place, dismountable carriages are just an easy shortcut for servicemen to access the insides of the machine and, if necessary, replace the carriage.
A machine must not get its carriage replaced with another one with a different length.
Carriages that went over 25 inches required the typewriter body to have supports on each size to prevent the machine from tipping over when the carriage is moved to one extreme or another.

Lettera 22 (1950)

The Olivetti Lettera 22 is a portable mechanical typewriter designed by Marcello Nizzoli in 1949 or, according to the company's current owner Telecom Italia, 1950. This typewriter was very popular in Italy, and it still has many fans. It was awarded the Compasso d'Oro prize in 1954. In 1959 the Illinois Institute of Technology chose the Lettera 22 as the best design product of the previous 100 years.
The typewriter is sized about 27x37x8 cm, making it quite portable at least for the time's standards, even though its weight may limit portability somewhat.
The model was eventually succeeded by the Olivetti Lettera 32.

Studio 44 (1952)

Diaspron 82 (1959)

Lettera 10 (1979)

Lettera 32 (1963)

The Olivetti Lettera 32 is a portable mechanical typewriter designed by Marcello Nizzoli in 1963 as the successor of the popular Olivetti Lettera 22. The Lettera 32 was also very popular amongst writers, journalists and students.
The typewriter is sized about 34x35x10 cm, making it portable at least for the time's standards, even though its 5.9 kg weight may limit portability somewhat.
The Lettera 32 did not come with a manual but with an instruction card.

Mechanics

The Lettera 32 is a downstrike typebar typewriter. The typebars strike a red/black inked ribbon, which is positioned between the typebar and the paper by a lever whenever a key is pressed; a small switch located near the upper right side of the keyboard can be used to control the strike position of the ribbon, in order to print with black, red, or no ink.
Ribbon movement, which also occurs at every keypress, automatically reverses direction when there is no ribbon left on the feed reel; two mechanical sensors, situated next to each wheel, move when the ribbon is put under tension, attaching the appropriate wheel to the ribbon transport mechanism and detaching the other.
Its mechanical components were used as the basis for the Valentine model.

Keyboard

The keyboard uses QWERTY, AZERTY and various other layouts. Apart from the typing keys, the keyboard includes a space bar, two shift keys, a caps lock, a backspace key, margin release key, paragraph indentation key and a tab-stop set/unset key.
As was common in older typewriters, it lacks the number 1, which is supposed to be substituted by the lowercase l.

Popular culture

used an Olivetti Lettera 32 to write nearly all of his fiction, screenplays, and correspondence, totalling by his estimate more than 5 million words. The Lettera 32 that he purchased in 1963 was auctioned at Christie's on December 4, 2009, to an unidentified American collector for $254,500, more than 10 times its high estimate of $20,000. McCarthy paid $11 for a replacement typewriter of the same model, but in newer condition.
Francis Ford Coppola used an Olivetti Lettera 32 to write the screenplay for the 1972 motion picture The Godfather, which he also directed.

Subsequent models

From then on, the technology of the hand-held portables tends to stabilize. The mechanics of the Lettera 32 is therefore maintained at the base of the subsequent models: the Olivetti Dora and Lettera De Luxe, Lettera 25 and 35, Lettera 10 and 12 and 40/41/42 and 50/51/52 differ mainly in design.

Dora (1965)

Lettera DL (1965)

Studio 45 (1967)

Lettera 25 (1972)

Lettera 35 (1972)

The Olivetti Lettera 35 is a portable mechanical typewriter created in 1972 by Mario Bellini and released to the public in 1974.
More than 10 years after the Lettera 32, Olivetti felt the need to renew the design of its portable typewriters. Thus, the Lettera 35 was launched. Unlike the Lettera 22 and 32, which maintain a simple and essential style, the Lettera 35 features a robust design to create the image of a professional machine that recalls the future Lettera 36, an electric typewriter released in 1970.

Mechanics

With the same mechanics as the Lettera 32, the Olivetti Lettera 35 is a typewriter with pressure writing levers. Each time a key is pressed, the corresponding hammer, through the kinematic mechanism, goes to beat on the tape with red or black ink, behind which is the sheet of paper on which is thus imprinted the corresponding symbol.
A lever located at the top right of the keyboard can be used to control the position of the ribbon and select printing in black, red or without ink. The ribbon winds with each key press and automatically changes winding direction when it is finished in one of the two spools in which it is wound. Two mechanical sensors located near each spool move when the ribbon stretches and reverse its winding direction.