The typewriter gods work in mysterious ways. This Brother CE-70 compact electronic typewriter came with an Anelia PS print wheel …
You may recall I inadvertently gave one away with a Brother WP-1600D word processor in January this year. Serendipitously, I now have a replacement.
The gently concave key-tops on this typewriter reminds me of those on my Silver Reed EX-42 …
While the EX-42 is “simply” more attractive, the Brother CE-70 is the better typewriter, at least on paper.
It should perhaps have been given a mention in my recent post about better-than-average compact electronic typewriters. The downside is, its noisy: (<65 dB/A) according to my 1986-87 Edition 9 of the German Office Equipment catalogue Info-Markt Ratgeber, which also tells us the CE-70 has a top speed of 15 cps, which puts it on a par (speed-wise) with larger Brother (CE 550, CE 650, CE 700) compact electronic typewriters.
The same reference also tells me the CE-70 was first manufactured in 1983 …
I’ve mentioned before the overlap between portable and compact typewriter categories. Sure enough, the lower spec and lower speed (13 cps) Brother CE-50/51 and Brother CE-60/61 machines (1983) are listed as “portable” in Info-Markt Ratgeber Edition 5 of 1984-1985. This despite them having the same maximum writing width and paper width as the Brother CE 68 (1984) and the CE 70 (1983), which are listed as “compact”(in other words, they’re considered “semi-professional”, not quite up to “professional” standard, but still good enough for office as well as home use.
Allowing for a few errors and inconsistencies between the different editions of the Info-Markt catalogs (which are nevertheless an invaluable reference), platen width is clearly not the only factor when determining category.
The lower spec, lower-speed CE-30, for example, is bigger than my AX-10 portable electronic typewriter, yet it does not have the features that would qualify it for “compact” status.
Even though it takes the same larger, higher capacity, ribbon cartridge used in other CE-series machines, it’s just light enough to be classed as a portable (and it has a carrying handle) …
Brother’s tabbed print wheels are the same size in all categories as far as I know. Indeed, it’s the consistency in the design and the quality of Brother electronic typewriters in all three categories that puts them ahead of their competitors. (Look at the portables, compacts, and full size machines produced by Silver Reed, for example, and you’ll see a distinct lack of consistency in terms of both their design and quality.)
No need to explain why Brother (and this 1984 CE-70 typewriter) are still going strong.
No instruction guide as yet, however a Quick Reference “Operating Guide” tucked underneath the front of the keyboard is better than nothing …
E.T.ZONE 
In the case of Brother, Canon and Rank Xerox, I guess they were too busy developing laser printers 😀
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I always wondered why daisywheel makers never really went hog-wild with the typefaces offered on these machines once they all could do proportional spacing. Seems like all I ever see is like 6 monospaced wheels and no more than 4 PS wheels ever offered for any maker.
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