The Majestic-400
The Majestic-400 or otherwise known as a JP-1 generation typewriter, is a product of Brother Industries Limited. When you first encounter this typewriter, it takes its form in a slightly rusted yet humble teal box, complete with a handle at the top. To the unassuming eye, you could mistake it for a lunchbox, or for the more ambitious-minded, a suitcase. And indeed, does it hold treasures the same way a lunchbox or suitcase would, however, from a much different time.
If you’re much like me and can’t resist the temptation to open Pandora's box, or the typewriter, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that the Majestic-400 is indeed all majestic and operational. It matches the case with the same proud teal colour and pearly white keys to complement its hue. The body is scattered with all types of little scratches, labels, and an edge of rust. While the label has shifted and faded, it beams at you from the center of the machine, Majestic 400. And along the chipped paint, you can find a worn sticker reading “Commended by Parents Magazine, as advertised therein.” Clearly, this machine held weight- both physically (it's heavier than it looks) and historically. What ever happened to the machine which once held its prized title in the Parents Magazine?
Typing sample
A typing sample of all the available characters to use on the Majestic 400
A production line for typewriters. Image courtesy of the Brother museum.
A History on Brother
The story begins in Nagoya, Japan, 1908, where a local sewing repair business, “Yasui Sewing Machine Co,” was established. Kanekichi Yasui, the founder of this company, would eventually pass on this title to his two sons, Masayoshi and Jitsuichi. The brothers did quite well in their new role, eventually surpassing both the technology and achievements of their father’s time. Aside from just sewing machines, the company had also made washing machines, refrigerators, electric fans, and motorbikes. Eventually the company had outgrown their original name and decided to rebrand as “Brother Industries Limited.”
The brothers Jitsuichi (left) and Masayoshi (right) Yasui, the founders of Brother Industries, Ltd.
By the 1950s, Brother’s technology had reached the homes of Americans, and soon after that, a request for a typewriter followed. A simple thing really, yet it took Brother from 1958 to 1961 to finish perfecting their first line of JP-1 typewriters. While I won’t go over the details of every typewriter they’ve made, there was one thing that made the Brothers typewriter so successful: it was for the people. By the 1960s, typewriters were an everyday object, used for school, business, work, and leisure. The Brother’s typewriter was not only portable, given its suitcase like appearance and relatively unbulky build, but affordable, being 30% cheaper than most American typewriters. Despite the ingenuity of Brother’s typewriters, their significance has largely been overshadowed by the company’s success with their newer cutting-edge products. Today, Brother manufactures computer printers, and almost 11% of the market are Brother machines, chugging away in homes and offices across the globe.
The Majestic 400 Today
One thing you can truly enjoy about a typewriter over the modern electronic and white-shelled printer, is that the machine feels alive. When you first open that Pandora’s box, it bares its teeth at you. In this case, all 50 of its shiny metal teeth, tightly packaged into a semi-circle. Yet these typebars are what makes the typewriter work. Like the ribs of a lung, you watch as the typewriter breathes your letters into words, and those words into meaning. It does this by stamping the inked ribbon nested in front of the type-guide. Each typebar contains 2 characters, which can be adjusted using the keyboard. Not only does the act of pressing down a key shift the ribbon high enough to be stamped, but it also selects which character on the typebar is used. While the keyboard, typebars, and ribbon work as a stamp system, the upper half of the typewriter has the important task of keeping the paper in place. The part which holds the paper is known as a carriage. With its wind-up mechanism, it adjusts to every click of the machine. A little to the left, a little to the right… No- up. Down?
At the end of the day, when the machine finally spits your paper back at you, curled and ink-stained, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to receive a wonderful little paper that is truly yours. Rather than the perfect #FFFFFF white of a Word or Google Document, you’d find words stamped with x’s, misalignments, missing letters, and a few typos too many. Yet it’s undeniably yours, complete with the hiccups of a clumsy hand and whatnot. The Majestic-400 embraces these imperfections, turning them into the very charm that makes typewriters so captivating today.
If you'd like to try out the Majestic-400, you can find it in our Computer Museum located in DC 1316, open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10:30 am to 5:00 pm, and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
About the Author
Annabel is a Psychology student at the University of Waterloo and is the Computer Museum’s Winter 2025 co-op student. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, guitar, and baking.