New Franklin Typewriter

New Franklin Typewriter

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Description
This New Franklin typewriter was manufactured by the Franklin Typewriter Company of New York, New York around 1904. The design for the Franklin typewriter was patented by Wellington P. Kidder, receiving patent number 464,504 on December 8, 1891. The main feature of the Franklin typewriter is its series of radial type bars that carry multiple typefaces. The curved Franklin keyboard remains one of its most distinctive features.
The Tilton Manufacturing Company of Boston, Massachusetts was originally assigned patents to both the Victor Index Typewriter (invented by Arthur Jacobs in 1889) and the Franklin typewriter (invented by Wellington Kidder in 1891). Eventually, both these typewriters were sold by their own companies, with the Victor Typewriter Company staying in Boston and the Franklin Typewriter Company moving to New York. The Franklin Typewriter Company began producing Franklin Typewriters in 1892, releasing numerous models before the company went bankrupt in 1904. The Victor Typewriter Company of Boston absorbed the interests of the Franklin Typewriter Company in 1907 and moved into its New York factory and offices at 812 and 814 Greenwich Street, producing its new visible frontstriking typewriter Victor No.1 that same year.
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
typewriter
Other Terms
typewriter; Manual
date made
1904
maker
Franklin Typewriter Manufacturing Company
place made
United States: New York, New York
Measurements
overall: 7 in x 12 in x 15 1/2 in; 17.78 cm x 30.48 cm x 39.37 cm
ID Number
1981.0107.01
accession number
1981.0107
catalog number
1981.0107.01
81.0107.01
Credit Line
Julius H. Gass in the names of Michael L. Gass and Jode Sheryl Sosnoff
See more items in
Work and Industry: Mechanisms
Typewriters
Computers & Business Machines
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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