page_title: Friden Flexowriter
section_title: End of product line
hierarchical_section_title: Friden Flexowriter / History / End of product line
caption_attribution_description: English: A Singer/Friden Flexowriter model 2201 Programatic, built circa 1968, serial number 209003. This model can read and punch either paper tape or edge-punched cards using an 8-bit code. A plugboard under the rear cover controls the interpretation of the 13 programmable function keys to the right of the main keyboard.
context_page_description: The Friden Flexowriter was a teleprinter, a heavy-duty electric typewriter capable of being driven not only by a human typing, but also automatically by several methods, including direct attachment to a computer and by use of paper tape.
  Elements of the design date to the 1920s, and variants of the machine were produced until the early 1970s; the machines found a variety of uses during the evolution of office equipment in the 20th century, including being among the first electric typewriters, computer input and output devices, forerunners of modern word processing, and also having roles in the machine tool and printing industries.
context_section_description: Edward (Edwin?) Blodgett, Chief Engineer of Friden R&D was replaced in 1964 while ill. It's unclear what effect this had on development, especially as Blodgett was apparently biased against electronics, favoring electromechnical solutions to design problems.
  Friden was acquired by the Singer Corporation in 1965. Singer had little or no understanding of the computer industry, and there was a clash of corporate culture with Friden employees.
  There was a major redesign of the Flexowriter in the mid 1960s.  The Model 2201 Programatic, introduced in 1965, had a sleek modern styling and 13 programmable function keys.  This was the first major change in appearance of Flexowriters in nearly forty years.  Programming was done using a 320-contact plugboard, and all of the logic was implemented using relays.  The case, although modern looking, was entirely metal, giving the machine a shipping weight of 132 pounds (60 kg).  The selling price was £2900 (British pounds).  Although primarily sold as a stand-alone word processor (a term not yet in use at the time), Friden also sold it with a communications option allowing it to be used as a computer terminal.  Members of the 2200 family operated at 135 words per minute (11.3 characters per second).  The family also included the 2210 and 2211, on which the function keys were replaced with a numeric keypad, and the 2261, using ASCII instead of the proprietary eight-bit code used by other members of the 2200 family.
  The 2300 series were cosmetically similar to the 2200 series, although without the function keys or numeric keypad, with a simplified plugboard, and operating at 145 words per minute (12 characters per second).  In addition to the basic 2301, the 2302 supported the auxiliary tape readers and punches from the 2200 family.  The 2304 offered proportional spacing and a carbon ribbon mechanism, making it suitable for preparing camera-ready copy.  The base price for the 2300 family was £1400 (British pounds).  This would be the last hurrah for the line, with production halting in the early 1970s.
  Sales and innovation declined.  In the late 1960s, the market for word processing equipment was shifting to magnetic media.  IBM introduced the Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter (MT/ST) in 1964.  In October, 1968, Information Control Systems introduced the Astrotype word processing system.  Both of these used magnetic tape and Selectric print mechanisms.  With its fixed type font and paper-tape recording medium, the Flexowriter had difficulty competing with these machines, although some Flexowriter documentation emphasized the fact that, unlike IBM's MT/ST tapes, Flexowriter users could cut and splice paper tapes, particularly if they could recognize some of the common codes such as carriage return.  The Diablo daisy wheel printer, introduced in 1969, offered comparable print quality at twice the speed.  Larger manufacturers such as IBM and DEC made their own console equipment, and video terminals began to appear, displacing paper-based systems.  Eventually, even the CNC machine tool industry abandoned paper tape, although this was significantly slower because of the long working life of machine tools.
caption: The Model 2201 Programatic
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