In 1915 the
Underwood Typewriter Company built the world's largest operational typewriter, a hugely enlarged scaled up version of its Underwood No. 5, for a display at the
Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, California. Called "the first truly modern typewriter," regular examples of the Underwood No. 5 became the world's best-selling typewriter.
After World War 1 the huge typewriter was on display at
Garden Pier in
Atlantic City, New Jersey, for several years and attracted large crowds. Often, Underwood would have a young woman sitting on each of the large keys. The company remodeled the design for display at the 1939 World's Fair in New York. However, when the U.S. became involved in World War II the enormous typewriter was scrapped for metal.
Jeremy Norman Collection of Images - Creative Commons
The Giant Typewriter was so big that individual women operated individual letter keys.
Jeremy Norman Collection of Images - Creative Commons
The Underwood Typewriter Company modernized the giant working typewriter For the 1939 World's Fair in New York.
Jeremy Norman Collection of Images - Public Domain
Specifications of the Giant Underwood Master Typewriter operating daily at the New York World's Fair.
