According to Michael Adler in Antique Typewriters, From Creed to QWERTY, "Aggressive sales promotion included dropping machines out of airplanes to prove their solid construction." The Royal brand is probably one of the most recognizable, along with Underwood, L. C. Smith, and Remington. Like many other typewriter manufacturing companies, Royal also converted its factories to produce only war-effort equiptment such as machine guns and spare parts for airplanes during World War II. The company has gone through many changes over the years, include name changes (Royal Typewriter Co. to Royal McBee, back to Royal Typewriter, and finally to Royal Consumer Information products, Inc.) and ownership (private to public, acquisition by Litton Inudstries, partial acquisition by Volkswagen, which sold to Olivetti, and finally private again). Royal still manufactures consumer products. (Special thanks to Wikipedia.org: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Typewriter_Company)