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Martin Kenneth Tytell (December 20, 1913 – September 11, 2008) was an expert in manual typewriters described by ''The New York Times'' as having an "unmatched knowledge of typewriters".〔 The postal service would deliver to his store letters addressed simply to "Mr. Typewriter, New York".〔Hays. Constance L. ("New Yorkers & Co.; 'Mr. Typewriter, New York'" ), ''The New York Times'', June 12, 1994. Accessed September 12, 2008.〕 His customers included many notable authors and reporters, many of whom had clung to their manual typewriters long after personal computers became standard. Tytell was born on December 20, 1913 to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, and grew up in Manhattan's Lower East Side.〔 He worked in a hardware store in his youth and first learned about typewriters at age 15 after disassembling an Underwood 5 typewriter on his gym teacher's desk at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn and watching it being repaired.〔〔 He had obtained a contract to maintain typewriters for Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital before graduating from high school. He received his bachelor's from St. John's University in Queens and earned an MBA from New York University, attending college primarily at night.〔Weber, Bruce. ("Martin K. Tytell, Typewriter Wizard, Dies at 94 " ), ''The New York Times'', September 12, 2008. Accessed September 12, 2008.〕 Tytell met his wife, Pearl, in 1938 after he sold her a typewriter at an office she managed. He died in the Bronx of cancer on September 11, 2008 while also suffering from Alzheimer's disease.〔 ==Tytell Typewriter Company== The Tytell Typewriter Company opened in 1938 at 123 Fulton Street.〔Ferretti, Fred. ("Key Source For Esoteric Typewriters; A Key Source for Esoteric Typewriters" ), ''The New York Times'', September 24, 1980. Accessed September 12, 2008.〕 In 1941, Tytell created a patented process that allowed him to sell Remington and Underwood Noiseless typewriters that listed for as much as $135 and offer them for sale for $24.95 with a one-year guarantee, and aimed to sell 500 of these typewriters each week.〔Staff. ("Advertising News and Notes" ), ''The New York Times'', April 8, 1941. Accessed September 12, 2008.〕 That same year, Tytell developed a coin-operated typewriter that would be available for use in hotel lobbies and train stations for 10 cents per half hour, modeled on a similar device used in Sweden.〔Staff. ("Advertising News and Notes" ), ''The New York Times'', May 7, 1941. Accessed September 12, 2008.〕 Tytell enlisted in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, but was kept out of action due to his flat feet and knowledge of typewriters. In the military he created foreign language typewriters, including French language typewriters for paratroopers who were air-dropped as part of the Invasion of Normandy.〔 He was in the typewriter repair business for some 70 years, most of which was spent in his Tytell Typewriter Company, located on the second-floor store at 116 Fulton Street since 1963, which advertised itself as offering "Psychoanalysis for Your Typewriter." He worked in a white lab coat and handled typewriters that could produce 145 different languages and dialects and claimed that he had 2 million typefaces in stock. He created typewriters that could print hieroglyphics or musical notes and invented models with carriages that operated in reverse for languages such as Arabic and Hebrew that are written right-to-left. An erroneously inverted character he placed on a Burmese language typewriter became the standard in Burma. Customers included David Brinkley, Dorothy Parker and Andy Rooney, as well as both Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai E. Stevenson.〔 In 1980, when David Brinkley needed a Great Primer〔"Great Primer" refers to the typeface size and character spacing. Normally, Great Primer typewriters used 18-point type, 50 percent larger than Pica at 10 characters per inch. Two-line Great Primer machines were also built, using 36-point type. These would have been useful to a radio or television newsreader, as material typed on them would be easier to see.〕 discontinued by Royal a decade earlier, he was able to find two at Tytell. "How many do you want?" was Tytell's response after Brinkley called. Brinkley bought two, what he described as a lifetime supply.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Martin Tytell」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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