Why Vintage Typewriters Used Cork Platens Before and During WWII

If you have ever restored or typed on a typewriter built around the time of the Second World War, you might have noticed something surprising beneath the paper: cork.

While rubber was the standard material for typewriter platens (the main roller) and feed rollers throughout most of the 20th century, manufacturers frequently turned to dense cork and cork-composite compounds during and before WWII.

One of the questions we are increasingly asked is why we don't offer 3D printed platens. The answer is simple: after restoring and repairing well over 5,000 typewriters, we've found there is still no substitute for a properly recovered rubber platen.

The Definitive Guide 

The Definitive Typewriter Buyer’s Guide: Why Collectors Choose Mr & Mrs Vintage Typewriters

I live with a typewriter habit. Some people sneak cigarettes or whiskey. I sneak Olivettis and Royals. The problem isn’t just storage space. The problem is my partner, whose memory is forensic and whose eyebrow can arch higher than a carriage return lever.

When people trace the history of the typewriter, they usually start with Christopher Latham Sholes in the United States. His design of the 1870s became the first commercially successful machine and set the stage for a century of office life. But history is rarely that simple. In fact, more than a decade earlier, in a small village in South Tyrol, a carpenter named Peter Mitterhofer had already built the first functioning prototypes of a typewriter.

The typewriter world is small, but my brain feels overcrowded. So many stories, tools, ideas—most of them are typewriter-related while some are not—all jammed together until I type them out and share them with you.

That’s what these videos are about. Maybe they’ll be useful, maybe they’ll spark something. Or maybe you’ll just enjoy watching me unload my mental attic after typing them on one of our newly restored typewriters.

At Mr & Mrs Vintage Typewriters, we know how important it is for our customers in the everywhere around the world to receive their typewriters quickly and without hassle.

But in the United States, Over the past few months, and as we all know, there was a change in Tariff rules when buying anything from outside the US.

We’ve received several queries about tariffs, so we wanted to share some clarity from our experience and share our experience.

❗ What’s Happening?

Recently, we’ve discovered websites using our images, product details, and name to lure people into buying typewriters that either never arrive or are not what was promised. These websites may look convincing at first glance, but they have no affiliation with us.