The manufacture of type for typewriters in Switzerland

Between the 1940s and the 1990s, three companies manufactured type components for typewriters in Switzerland: Caractères SA, Setag, and Novatype. For more than fifty years, they supplied the biggest manufacturers of office machines in Europe and around the world, such as IBM, Remington, Olivetti, Paillard-Hermès, and Triumph-Adler. Having held a leading position worldwide, the three manufacturers played a key role in the design, development, and production of type components and typefaces for typewriters, as well as for all kinds of impact printers. By looking in detail at their production methods, this article observes what influence the manufacturing processes and the mechanical characteristics of the typewriter had on the design of the typefaces. Additionally, it takes an interest in the surprising role played by the criminal police. Specialized in the dating and identification of typewriter typefaces for judicial and criminal purposes, forensic experts developed over the years specific methods and compiled rich documentation on typewriter typefaces. Being in direct contact with the type manufacturers to gain first-hand information, they even interfered in the design of some letter shapes. Based on oral history and archival research, this project sheds light on this little-known part of the industrial and typographic history.