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1965 Underwood 18 Serial # U-617831-105 1965 Underwood 18 typewriter, Serial # U-617831-105 Elisa Makoon-Singh's 1965 Underwood 18 typewriter. 2025-07-07 From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Elisa Makoon-Singh: 1965 Underwood 18 Serial # U-617831-105 This sleek machine was produced by "Underwood Italiana S.p.A." in 1965, some years after Underwood merged with Olivetti. It resembles the Antares Parva Compact and the Olivetti Lettera 22.

This machine did not come with its case and has a few scuff marks, but I was drawn to it because of the AZERTY layout. Since I am accustomed to QWERTY, there is a bit of a learning curve. But for writing in French it is the most intuitive layout, with the number keys requiring the Shift key to be pressed, and the unshifted positions used for accented characters: é, è, ç, à, as well as the frequently used apostrophe. For me, it's easier to have to shift lock to write out numbers especially since this layout, like many others, does not have a dedicated zero. On QWERTY machines with no zero key, I sometimes forget to shift the "o", but on the French layout that mistake is avoided.

The AZERTY layout lives on today in modern French computer keyboards. The hyphen is even referred to as "tiret du 6" and the underscore is "tiret du 8."

1965 Underwood 18 #U-617831-105

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Elisa Makoon-Singh (escribiramaquina)
Created: 07-07-2025 at 06:40AM
Last Edit: 07-07-2025 at 06:55AM

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Description:

This sleek machine was produced by "Underwood Italiana S.p.A." in 1965, some years after Underwood merged with Olivetti. It resembles the Antares Parva Compact and the Olivetti Lettera 22.

This machine did not come with its case and has a few scuff marks, but I was drawn to it because of the AZERTY layout. Since I am accustomed to QWERTY, there is a bit of a learning curve. But for writing in French it is the most intuitive layout, with the number keys requiring the Shift key to be pressed, and the unshifted positions used for accented characters: é, è, ç, à, as well as the frequently used apostrophe. For me, it's easier to have to shift lock to write out numbers especially since this layout, like many others, does not have a dedicated zero. On QWERTY machines with no zero key, I sometimes forget to shift the "o", but on the French layout that mistake is avoided.

The AZERTY layout lives on today in modern French computer keyboards. The hyphen is even referred to as "tiret du 6" and the underscore is "tiret du 8."

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Hunter: Elisa Makoon-Singh (escribiramaquina)

Elisa Makoon-Singh's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]

Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 431

I love to write and found that writing on a typewriter is the most enjoyable and distraction-free way of doing it. I started with an Alphasmart, then moved to a Royalite, then to an Olympia SM5. The Olympia kept me fully satisfied for a good seven years until I got the bit by the collecting bug. Now I am slowly amassing my own personal typewriter museum. Typewriters are like personal printing presses. My partner is an engineer who can fix and clean any typewriter, so we make a great team.


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