A couple of months ago, East Toledoan Tom Eckert, a retiree, started the 22nd chapter of his novel, Lethal Twins, which he has been writing for about four years.
Imagine his displeasure when he used up the last ribbon for his ancient Royal typewriter and couldn't find a replacement anywhere within walking distance.
Mr. Eckert's problem was solved by the Goodwill thrift store downtown, which had a lightly used Smith Corona portable electric model for $5.
What a bargain! He is now working on Chapter 24 and plans to wrap up his adventure story, filled with international intrigue, within a month or so.
He is among hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of Toledo-area residents who prefer typewriters over computers.
But it's getting increasingly difficult to find parts for some older models and to locate typewriter-repair shops that will still deal with old equipment, especially manually operated machines.
In every generation, some businesses disappear. A hundred years ago it was makers of wagons, buggies, and iceboxes. In the mid-20th century, it was hat-blockers and door-to-door bakery and milk delivery.
In the late 20th century, reel-to-reel tape-recording machines and 8-mm movie equipment disappeared from retail shelves.
And now in the early years of the 21st century, it's hard to find record shops, photographic-equipment stores, and manual-typewriter repair shops.
Ken Myer, the area's largest typewriter dealer for years, recalled when the typewriter industry was in its heyday. “It was just a wonderful business,” said Mr. Myer, who operated Earl's Inc. - also known as Your Typewriter Doctor - for three decades. “We used to sell 6,000 to 7,000 machines a year.” At the peak, his firm employed at least 15 typewriter repairmen.
And, as recently as the late 1970s, at least a dozen stores sold and repaired manual and electric typewriters in the immediate Toledo area. Now there are just a handful.
Like a lot of others, Mr. Myer pretty much abandoned typewriters a decade ago and moved into computers, founding first the Computer Corner and later Network Solutions Group.
But a few others stayed in the typewriter business. Among them are Taylor Business Machines on Main Street in East Toledo. Owner Bob Taylor still sells and repairs electric and electronic typewriters but gave up on manual models more than a decade ago. “Parts are hard to find,” he said.
A couple of blocks down Main Street is Upper Case Typewriter & Business Equipment Inc., which repaired its last manual typewriter about four years ago, according to Roxanne Damask, president. She keeps a few ancient typewriters on display, just for nostalgia. They're not for sale.
Her firm still has four repair technicians, but they work almost entirely on electric and electronic typewriters. And business is good, she says - from large and small companies, universities, banks, and law firms.
“The mind set is that with computers there's no need for typewriters,” she said. “But typewriters are still used for a lot of things.”
For example: preprinted business forms that require up to five copies, addresses on envelopes (labels just don't have the same class), and business records that are easier to type than to run through a computer system.
Very few shops in the region work on manual typewriters, but AAA Remco Business Products in Sylvania is among them. And there are a few independent repairmen left in the area. “There are still a lot of machines out there,” said a spokesman for AAA Remco. “It's a matter of preference. A lot of people have had them for years, and it's what they're used to.”
How long will typewriter repair survive as a business? “So far we haven't found a complete replacement for typewriters,” said Ms. Damask, of Upper Case. “As long as there are typewriters, there will be typewriter repairmen.”
First Published September 9, 2003, 11:06 a.m.
