UK : Wales/Cymru (N) : Britain's last typewriter produced

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UK : Wales/Cymru (N) : Britain’s last typewriter produced

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November 20, 2012 at 12:32 pm

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General Lighting

@general-lighting

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I didn’t realise they still made them at Wales, I thought all the newer Brother daisywheel typewriters were made in Japan or Malaysia (they are still popular there)

A typewriter, which its makers say is the last to be built in the UK, has been produced at a north Wales factory.

Manufacturer Brother, which says it has made 5.9 million typewriters since its factory in Wrexham opened in 1985, has donated the last machine to London’s Science Museum.

The museum said the piece represented the end of a technology which had been “important to so many lives”.

Edward Bryan, a worker at the factory since 1989, made the last typewriter.

BBC News – UK’s ‘last typewriter’ produced
November 20, 2012 at 1:30 pm

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Garoldeep Singh

@garoldeep-singh

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Cool, that was an interesting read.
November 20, 2012 at 1:46 pm

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Mezz

@mezz

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Seen it on the news and was surprised they still made them, I thought they had gone the way of the dinosaur over a decade ago

Apparently the demand is still 30 per day in the UK alone !!! Id say thats more than enough to support a small production line, but as with so many things it’s not lack of demand putting them out of business, it cheap imports and now the owners and workers will be unemployed.

Personally I think all imports should be taxed to the point where UK manufacturers ( with all our minimum wage, H&S and quality regs that some foreign countries dont have ) can compete, no point us having the rules & regs if they just drive jobs abroad.
November 20, 2012 at 1:57 pm

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General Lighting

@general-lighting

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I think thats why the typewriters were still made here, as the Japanese and Malaysian ones would incur more import duty. Also previous Governments (and maybe even this one) gave tax incentives to Asian companies to make things in Wales for the EU market. Loads of solar panels for Europe are made in Wales…

The UK actually has less pay and health and safety regs than other similar Northern European countries (such as DE or NL or DK) but slightly more than Southern Europe, but the quality of UK manufacturing isn’t as bad as it once was during the “good” days when folk got away with building crap and is better than Southern Europe, as are industrial relations. JP, MY and CN actually invest loads in the UK electronics industry even today as it still is valued for innovation.

The Brother factory is being kept for making other office machinery. irrespective of what country owns the company it makes sense to assemble bigger heavier items closer to where they will be sold..

WOF – Home Page – Wales Opto-Electronics Forum
November 20, 2012 at 2:07 pm

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barrettone

@barrettone

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Old technology is really cool. I got to mess around with a pair of Telex machines a couple of months ago. I used to have a typewriter that was my grandfather’s, I think it was even made by Brother. Don’t know where it is now though =(
November 20, 2012 at 2:32 pm

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Pat McDonald

@pat-mcdonald

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On balance I’m rather pleased. It’s about time typewriters went the way of the stone circle really.

Manual typewriters don’t need a power supply though. There is that to them. Error correction is more fiddly but they tend to waste less paper than electronic printers. They are useful in certain situations.

This may seem a bit harsh, I don’t have anything against stone circles and similar old school tech but I think the UK has enough of them. Likewise, surpluses of misery, discontent, frustration, and extreme bias in decision making.

It’s no wonder this place (Partyvibe) is popular. 🙂
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