This item is the F.K. model C 48 double-register typewriter with a type bar mechanism, designed for office work. The device was manufactured by the Carbine Factory (Fabryka Karabinów – “FK”), which started manufacturing typewriters in 1925 using a license owned by the French Etablissements Continsouza company (its own brand of devices: Contin). In 1922, the latter obtained the rights and design solutions from Seidel & Naumann to produce the Ideal D model. Acquiring the patent rights from German enterprises was made easier thanks to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty. Next, the company from Dresden acquired the patents given to the French by the American company Barney & Tanner in 1900.
The Fabryka Karabinów was established on July 15, 1898, as Towarzystwo Akcyjne Fabryki Maszyn Gerlach i Pulst. During the Polish-Bolshevik war, in around 1920, the company was nationalised. In 1927 the factory became part of the military industry group – Państwowe Wytwórnie Uzbrojenia (PWU). The holding structure also included three other factories: Fabryka Sprawdzianów (FS) (Eng. measurement equipment factory) in Warsaw, Fabryka Amunicji (FA) (Eng.: ammunition factory) in Skarżysko, and Fabryka Broni (FB) (Eng.: weapons factory) in Radom. Around 1935, Państwowa Wytwórnia Uzbrojenia moved production of typewriters to the latter. This involved a change to the logo – the diamond shape placed on typewriters up to 1935 was replaced by the figure of a Tatra mountain highwayman shooting a bow. Due to the recognisability of the previous brand, the acronym “F.K” or its phonetic form “EFKA” were added to the full name of the consortium and used until 1939. The unit presented here bears the inscription of the repair workshop and specialist shop of S. Aksman in Kraków, but that was added at a later time (it was probably applied after World War II). As production of typewriters was discontinued in Poland after 1945 for almost a quarter century, users could either purchase imported models or use pre-war devices.
The C 48 is one of the three models of the typewriter (the others being C 28 and C 34), and the largest of them. The number in the name specifies the length of the platen in centimetres. The platen is placed on a moving carriage. From 1928 the FK typewriters were assembled from imported parts, and from 1932 they were manufactured in Warsaw using patent-protected solutions that included several enhancements contributing to the quality of device operation. Mechanisms damping the carriage travel were implemented in the design of the FK typewriters, the pressure of paper against the platen was added, row change was made easier, a tabulator as well as springs adjusting the pressure of type bars were added, and the platen rotation mechanism, as well as that for setting the line spacing, were improved.

Author: Filip Wróblewski