[3] Royal’s product line has evolved to include cash registers, shredders, personal digital assistants (PDAs)/electronic organizers, postal scales, weather stations, and a wide range of original and compatible/remanufactured imaging supplies supporting printers, faxes, and copiers.

The Royal Typewriter Company was founded by Edward B. Hess and Lewis C. Myers in January 1904 in a machine shop in Brooklyn, New York.

[3] The next year, Hess and Myers turned to Thomas Fortune Ryan, to whom they demonstrated a prototype typewriter.

Their machine had numerous innovations including a friction-free, ball-bearing, one-track rail to support the weight of the carriage, a new paper feed, a lighter and faster typebar action, and complete visibility of the words as they are typed.

In order to promote the new portable Royal president G. E. Smith secured the exclusive sponsorship of the September 23, 1926, Dempsey–Tunney championship fight for $35,000.

To promote the ruggedness of its typewriters, George Edward Smith, president of Royal, bought a Ford-Stout tri-motor airplane in August 1927.

This plane, commonly called the Royal Airtruck, dropped over 200 typewriters in crates with parachutes to dealers over the eastern seaboard of the USA on its maiden flight.

In January 1941, Edward B. Hess, one of Royal's founders and vice presidents, died in Orlando, Florida.

Royal manufactured machine guns, rifles, bullets, propellers, and spare parts for airplane engines.

It wouldn't be until September 1945 that Royal started typewriter production full-time again and not until December 1948 that it caught up on its pre-war backlog.

Royal's most popular models were in the Quiet Deluxe series of portable typewriters, produced from 1939 until 1959 (with a gap during WWII).

Ian Fleming, the British novelist who wrote the James Bond novels, used a gold-plated Quiet Deluxe.

Lewis C. Myers, the surviving founder of the Royal Typewriter Company, died in Freeport, New York at the age of 84.

Worldwide demand caused Royal to open a new factory in Leiden, the Netherlands, to produce typewriters in 1953.

In April 1954, the Royal typewriter Company announced its plan to merge with McBee, a leading manufacturer of accounting and statistical machines and supplies.

Before the advent of daisywheel and electronic machines — Royal as well as the other major manufacturers faced strong competition from typewriters from Asia, including Brother Industries and Silver Seiko Ltd. of Japan.