Grace's Guide To British Industrial History

Registered UK Charity (No. 115342)

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 164,585 pages of information and 246,144 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 147,919 pages of information and 233,587 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

British Typewriters

From Graces Guide
1949. Empire Aristocrat.

of Ecco Works, REDDITCH, England. (1905)

of 77 Queen Victoria Street, London, EC4. Telephone: Central 6263 and 6264. Cables: "Untouched, Cent, London". (1929)

British Typewriters Ltd of Queen Street, West Bromwich. Telephone: West Bromwich 0781. Cables: "Typewriter, West Bromwich". (1947)

The original company

1905 British Typewriters Ltd was incorporated, of Ecco Works[1]. Albert Eadie of Roxbury House, Redditch was managing director.

WWI Production of typewriters was suspended during the War. Thomas Dixon was chairman.

1917 Name changed to the Dictaphone Co Ltd

1918 Columbia Graphophone Co required the company to cease use of the name Dictaphone which was accepted at an EGM of the company. Nevertheless the Dictaphone company did not change its name.


1926 There were 3 firms in Britain that produced typewriters[2] - presumably Imperial Typewriter Co, Salter Typewriter Co and Bar-Lock Typewriters Ltd

A sales company of the same name

1928 The sales manager of British Typewriters Ltd announced that HMSO was ordering British Empire typewriters made at West Bromwich which would be used in place of foreign-made machines[3]

1929 British Typewriters, London, was a Listed Exhibitor at the British Industries Fair. Manufacturers of the British Empire Typewriter for all classes of work with special Patent Tabulator for Invoice Work. No. 1 and No.2 Model Empire Typewriters. (Stand No. R.16) [4]

New manufacturing company

1935 George Salter and Co sold the sales and manufacturing rights to its typewriter business to British Typewriters Ltd, who set up in a former grocery warehouse in Victoria Street (West Bromwich) to produce a new typewriter known as the Baby Empire, with the slogan "No Higher Than A Matchbox".[5]

1935 Production of the Hermes under licence.

1939 Patent - Improvements in duplicating attachments for typewriters. [6]

1940 Patent - Improvements in and relating to ribbon mechanism for typewriting, accounting, billing or like machines. [7]

1947 Listed Exhibitor - British Industries Fair. Manufacturers of "Empire" Typewriters and Accessories. (Olympia, Ground Floor, Stand No. B. 1433) [8]

1958 Acquired by Smith-Corona Marchant Inc of the USA[9]

See Also

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Sources of Information

  1. Daily Mirror 17 May 1905
  2. The Times, Apr 13, 1926
  3. The Times May 2, 1928
  4. 1929 British Industries Fair p29
  5. [1]
  6. [2] Wikipatents
  7. [3] Wikipatents
  8. 1947 British Industries Fair p44
  9. The Times, Aug 28, 1958