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1978 Triumph Gabriele 5000 Serial # 6764562 1978 Triumph Gabriele 5000 typewriter, Serial # 6764562 Paolo Dal Chiele's 1978 Triumph Gabriele 5000 typewriter. 2025-01-19 From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Paolo Dal Chiele: 1978 Triumph Gabriele 5000 Serial # 6764562 Produced in January 1978.
Font: Ro 87
The Gabriele 5000 was presented at the Hanover Fair in 1969 and was the first ‘portable’ electric typewriter produced in Germany.
Even if in the Data Base the production is indicated to end in 1977, the production continued until 1981 with a total of around 300,000 units.
The Gabriele 5000 was intended for private individuals who wished to have a typewriter that offered the maximum level of writing comfort guaranteed by all-electric machines but with dimensions and weight compatible with a domestic environment. While weight and dimensions were certainly not small, compared to standard electric machines the Gabriele 5000 had the undeniable advantage of being able to be lifted and moved, and if necessary stored in a case that could be kept upright without taking too much space. The correct definition therefore is not of a “portable” machine but of a “storable” machine, one that can be taken off the work table when not needed and stored without taking up too much space.
For those who really wanted to transport the typewriter, however, a sturdier and more elegant case with additional internal protection to avoid the risk of damage was also available as an option.
In fact, the functionality and robustness of the Gabriele 5000 was comparable with that of office machines. The keyboard has 44 keys with 88 characters, with five continuous typing keys, as well as space, backspace and carriage return keys. In addition, there is the continuous tabulator and the half-step key to allow text corrections.
The available characters were Ro 1, Ro 7, Ro 87 and Ro 88.
When looking for (or finding) a Gabriele 5000, one must bear in mind that in the course of the 10 or so years of production there were three series that differed substantially in many details and that in Europe were not distinguished by model name. Only in markets where the Gabriele 5000 was sold under the name Satellite was the third series identified with the specific name of Satellite 2001.
The most obvious differences concern the keyboard, which makes it easy to distinguish between the various series, the replacement of the metal body with a plastic one from the second series onwards and, in general, a whole series of more or less extensive modifications that have had the effect of progressively reducing the cost of production, in particular with the increasingly extensive use of plastic even in the mechanical components.
It follows that the first series is certainly the most robust and reliable, the second is still at a good level but the third already suffers from problems of reliability and robustness, which I have personally experienced and which I will describe in a dedicated gallery. Of the three Gabriele 5000s that I own, only the one of the third generation is not working.
The judgments on the web about the Gabriele 5000 tend to emphasise the goodness of the machine but criticise its appearance; certainly, the first generation has a more interesting colour scheme and the metal body is very nice, but as I have already said considering it an aesthetically insignificant machine seems to me profoundly unfair, as is evident from the dramatic photo in the publicity material for the second generation of the Gabriele 5000.

1978 Triumph Gabriele 5000 #6764562

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Paolo Dal Chiele (pdcox)
Created: 01-19-2025 at 11:28AM
Last Edit: 01-19-2025 at 11:33AM

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Description:

Produced in January 1978.
Font: Ro 87
The Gabriele 5000 was presented at the Hanover Fair in 1969 and was the first ‘portable’ electric typewriter produced in Germany.
Even if in the Data Base the production is indicated to end in 1977, the production continued until 1981 with a total of around 300,000 units.
The Gabriele 5000 was intended for private individuals who wished to have a typewriter that offered the maximum level of writing comfort guaranteed by all-electric machines but with dimensions and weight compatible with a domestic environment. While weight and dimensions were certainly not small, compared to standard electric machines the Gabriele 5000 had the undeniable advantage of being able to be lifted and moved, and if necessary stored in a case that could be kept upright without taking too much space. The correct definition therefore is not of a “portable” machine but of a “storable” machine, one that can be taken off the work table when not needed and stored without taking up too much space.
For those who really wanted to transport the typewriter, however, a sturdier and more elegant case with additional internal protection to avoid the risk of damage was also available as an option.
In fact, the functionality and robustness of the Gabriele 5000 was comparable with that of office machines. The keyboard has 44 keys with 88 characters, with five continuous typing keys, as well as space, backspace and carriage return keys. In addition, there is the continuous tabulator and the half-step key to allow text corrections.
The available characters were Ro 1, Ro 7, Ro 87 and Ro 88.
When looking for (or finding) a Gabriele 5000, one must bear in mind that in the course of the 10 or so years of production there were three series that differed substantially in many details and that in Europe were not distinguished by model name. Only in markets where the Gabriele 5000 was sold under the name Satellite was the third series identified with the specific name of Satellite 2001.
The most obvious differences concern the keyboard, which makes it easy to distinguish between the various series, the replacement of the metal body with a plastic one from the second series onwards and, in general, a whole series of more or less extensive modifications that have had the effect of progressively reducing the cost of production, in particular with the increasingly extensive use of plastic even in the mechanical components.
It follows that the first series is certainly the most robust and reliable, the second is still at a good level but the third already suffers from problems of reliability and robustness, which I have personally experienced and which I will describe in a dedicated gallery. Of the three Gabriele 5000s that I own, only the one of the third generation is not working.
The judgments on the web about the Gabriele 5000 tend to emphasise the goodness of the machine but criticise its appearance; certainly, the first generation has a more interesting colour scheme and the metal body is very nice, but as I have already said considering it an aesthetically insignificant machine seems to me profoundly unfair, as is evident from the dramatic photo in the publicity material for the second generation of the Gabriele 5000.

Typeface Specimen:

Photos:




The half space key.
The half space key.



Contrary to the opinion of many, for me the Gabriele 5000 is a very interesting piece of design from the late sixties early seventies!
Contrary to the opinion of many, for me the Gabriele 5000 is a very interesting piece of design from the late sixties early seventies!




Hunter: Paolo Dal Chiele (pdcox)

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Points: 2528

Interested in historic motoring and vintage cars, I received a typewriter as a bonus when I bought and old off-road car. The previous owner had found somewhere a typewriter produced for the German army and when he sold me the car he gave me the typewriter too. As I learned later, it was a1961 Olympia SM7 Robust..
Of the typewriters I value more character than perfection, the signs that time has left and the stories - or fragments of stories - of those who used them ...


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