18. Mignon

In Germany, a number of companies were involved in the manufacture of typewriters at the same time. Companies such as AEG and Adler dominated this industry for decades. The Berlin-based AEG began in 1904 by manufacturing the Mignon. The company was founded in 1883 as the Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für Elektrizität, or German Edison electricity company.
It developed the very popular pointer typewriter by the engineer Friedrich von Hefner-Alteneck. This had a type cylinder with 84 characters, selected by moving a pointer onto the keyboard and then printed on the roller by simply pressing a key. A major advantage of this machine was not only its ease of operation suitable in particular for those who had problems with the ten finger system. No, the benefit was also that the type cylinder provided 49 different, interchangeable scripts. The proportionately lower price compared to the type basket machines was also a decisive factor for its huge popularity.

The production plant in Berlin soon became too small and manufacturing of the Mignon started in Erfurt in 1924. Together with Deutsche Werke, which later became Optima, the AEG typewriter company was founded. 350,000 of these typewriters were built between 1904 and 1933. The Mignon was definitely one of the most popular typewriters in Germany and was also exported to various countries. However, it did not break into all markets, such as in America where it was sold under the name “Yu Ess” in a market brimming with cheap typewriters. The red Mignon on display here is very rare.