he Underwood Typewriter Co. took an estimated three years and $100,000 to build its “mammoth typewriter” for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Standing 18 feet high and weighing 14 tons, the gargantuan gadget was much more than an oversized prop, however. When a nearby female staffer pressed keys on a small electric keyboard connected to the typewriter, the corresponding keys on the monster machine tapped out her message — which often included breaking news, such as Germany sinking the RMS Lusitania cruise ship.