First manufacturer: Maschinenfabrik Kappel AG, Germany, Chemnitz
Start of production: 1914
Stationery machine designers: Otto Rösler and Bernhard Dost
The German company Maschinenfabrik Kappel AG was founded in 1860, initially it was engaged in the production of machine tools for the textile, woodworking and metallurgical industries.
The factory produced the first typewriter Kappel 1 in 1914. It was developed by designers Otto Rösler and Bernhard Dost. The stationery machine turned out to be the most classic, it contains all the functions known by that time that are really necessary for work. We can say that the best engineering achievements of that time were embodied in it. A distinctive feature of the model is the location of the interval lever, which moves the carriage to a new line. It is not on the left, like most cars, but on the right. The name of the Kappel typewriter is due to the name of the district of the city of Chemnitz - Kappel, where the production was located.
In 1921, the second, improved model of the Kappel 2 machine, also with the right interval lever, rolled off the assembly line of the factory.
Later, in 1937 and 1939, the production of two more stationery machines Kappel 75 (a) and Kappel 75 was launched. A tabulator appeared in the typewriter, which simplifies work with tables, the interval lever is placed in its usual place - on the left side of the carriage. The model number refers to the 75th anniversary of the founding of the company, as evidenced by advertising brochures. However, with the release of the "jubilee" typewriter, they were a little late (the company was founded in 1860).
In 1931, Maschinenfabrik Kappel AG began producing portable typewriters, moreover, according to patterns from other manufacturers. First, it produced Diamant cars, the rights to produce them under this brand were bought from another German manufacturer, Diamant-Schreibmaschinen Frabik, and in 1932 the first portable Kappel rolled off the assembly line - a copy of the Olympia machine, which was produced at Europa Schreibmaschinen AG.
Maschinenfabrik Kappel AG produced portable machines of the "Olympic" family in several versions: Kappel-Knirps, Kappel Fips, Kappel V. A. and Kappel Privat, these analogues are easy to compare with their originals.
After the Second World War, the production of typewriters at Maschinenfabrik Kappel AG was not resumed.