Excellent post Ted. Now I’m curious about the Empire Aristocrat on one of those catalog pages, could that also have been a ‘Sears’ exclusive re-brand of the Hermes Baby?
not that I know of. Empire was a non-related typewriter brand in the UK and sold a lot of Aristocrats in England, so this was more like Sears having Royal QDLs in the catalog (which they also did).
fyi, I have a Tower Voyager a.k.a. Skyriter and a Sears-Roebuck Tower ‘Oliver Courier’. I will post details and photos of on these two typewriters to the TWDB next.
I have a 1956 Tower Commander, S/N 4AT37398. It’s a 4 series Smith Corona with 1949 keys except the space bar is 1948 or before, no paper bail, tabulator and 1948 or before carriage. The return arm looks like a 1940s Clipper arm. Probably a Sterling equivalent (or maybe SC changed Clipper to Silent?). Inside it’s the reliable SC typewriter.
It looks like Sears sold the Silent Super as a Tower President in 1957-58.
I just found my first Tower (an RC Allen rebrand) .. a Standard and you made it easy to research and date. Thank you and your Tower Team for all the new information. TWDB continues to grow!
Nice work, Ted! I’ve always thought the Tower brand went into the 60s. Ya learn something new every day :)
Excellent research!
That relabeled Patria will be hard to research, given how many countries produced Patria clones. I suspect it came from France or Spain.
Great work Ted.
Excellent post Ted. Now I’m curious about the Empire Aristocrat on one of those catalog pages, could that also have been a ‘Sears’ exclusive re-brand of the Hermes Baby?
not that I know of. Empire was a non-related typewriter brand in the UK and sold a lot of Aristocrats in England, so this was more like Sears having Royal QDLs in the catalog (which they also did).
Empire Aristocrats are identical to the Hermes Baby.
I have a “Tower” Single Lens Reflex 35mm camera purchased from Sears around 1964. I think a lot of the photographic gear had the Tower brand.
Just discovered this site. Found a TOWER QUITE TABULATOR, serial number 5ST557607 at a Goodwill for &8.
Opps, should be $8.
Hi Ted,
Interesting stuff.
fyi, I have a Tower Voyager a.k.a. Skyriter and a Sears-Roebuck Tower ‘Oliver Courier’. I will post details and photos of on these two typewriters to the TWDB next.
I have a 1956 Tower Commander, S/N 4AT37398. It’s a 4 series Smith Corona with 1949 keys except the space bar is 1948 or before, no paper bail, tabulator and 1948 or before carriage. The return arm looks like a 1940s Clipper arm. Probably a Sterling equivalent (or maybe SC changed Clipper to Silent?). Inside it’s the reliable SC typewriter.
It looks like Sears sold the Silent Super as a Tower President in 1957-58.
Hello Ted,
I just found my first Tower (an RC Allen rebrand) .. a Standard and you made it easy to research and date. Thank you and your Tower Team for all the new information. TWDB continues to grow!
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Thank you for this info. I have a 1956 Tower Quiet Tabulator in great condition. Love the sand and green colors.