The Electromatic brand typewriter was manufactured by the North East Electric Company of Rochester, New York, beginning in 1924. The North East Electric Company produced the motor and base for the Electromatic, and used a Remington model 12 as the typewriter. When Remington did not supply the North East Electric Co. with more typewriters, the company became Electromatic Typewriters Incorporated in 1929 to produce its own Electromatics, before being purchased by IBM in 1933. This typewriter was likely produced between 1929 and 1933.
This is a Smith & Corona Silent typewriter manufactured by around 1934. The model was made to be portable, and operate quietly thanks to the Smith Floating Shift used in the machine (note the cursive word “Floating” above the shift key). When the shift key was invented, it originally shifted the cylinder, or platen, to be struck in a new position by the capital letters on a typebar. The floating shift moved the typebars up and down instead, allowing for a smoother typing action. The four row keyboard has a QWERTY layout.
The success of the Standard Typewriter Company’s Corona model typewriter prompted the company to change its named to the Corona Typewriting Company in 1914. In 1926 the company joined with the L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriting company in to become Smith-Corona. Smith-Corona manufactured typewriters and typewriter accessories throughout the 20th century, becoming Smith Corona Marchant in 1958. After two bankruptcies, Smith Corona returned to operation in 2010 as a thermal paper manufacturing company.
This is a Corona Special typewriter that was manufactured by the L. C. Smith Corona Company during the 1920s. The Corona Special came in a variety of different colors besides gold including lavender, light maroon, channel blue, mountain ash scarlet, cream, and bruce green. The typewriter had a three-row QWERTY keyboard, and the typewriter’s carriage could fold down onto the keyboard making it compact and portable.
This is a Smith & Corona Silent typewriter manufactured by around 1934. The model was made to be portable, and operate quietly thanks to the Smith Floating Shift used in the machine (note the cursive word “Floating” above the shift key). When the shift key was introduced in the Remington No. 2 in 1878, it originally shifted the cylinder, or platen, to be struck in a new position by the capital letters on a typebar. The floating shift moved the typebars up and down instead, allowing for a smoother typing action. The four row keyboard has a QWERTY layout.
The Standard Typewriter Company released their Corona model typewriter in 1912. Its success prompted the company to change its name to the Corona Typewriting Company in 1914. In 1926 the company joined with the L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriting company in to become Smith-Corona.
This is a Corona Three folding typewriter that was manufactured by the Corona Typewriter Company of Groton, New York around 1930. The Corona Three was an extremely popular typewriter, produced from 1912 until 1941. This model has serial number 650136, dating it to 1930. This typewriter’s platen and carriage can fold down to rest on the keyboard, allowing it to become compact and portable.
The success of the Standard Typewriter Company’s Corona Three model typewriter prompted the company to change its name to the Corona Typewriting Company in 1914. In 1926 the company joined with the L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriting company in to become Smith-Corona. Smith-Corona manufactured typewriters and typewriter accessories throughout the 20th century, becoming Smith Corona Marchant in 1958. After two bankruptcies, Smith Corona returned to operation in 2010 as a thermal paper manufacturing company.
This is a Corona Three folding typewriter that was manufactured by Corona Typewriter Company of Groton, New York around 1920. The Corona Three was an extremely popular typewriter, produced from 1912 until 1941. This model has serial number 394384, dating it to 1920. This typewriter’s platen and carriage can fold down to rest on the keyboard, allowing it to become compact and portable.
The success of the Standard Typewriter Company’s Corona Three model typewriter prompted the company to change its name to the Corona Typewriting Company in 1914. In 1926 the company joined with the L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriting company in to become Smith-Corona. Smith-Corona manufactured typewriters and typewriter accessories throughout the 20th century, becoming Smith Corona Marchant in 1958. After two bankruptcies, Smith Corona returned to operation in 2010 as a thermal paper manufacturing company.
This Franklin typewriter was manufactured by the Franklin Typewriter Company of New York, New York around 1898. 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 was a series of radial type-bars that carried a plurality of types. 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 Victor 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. This typewriter is similar in style to models 7 and 8, produced from 1898 until 1904.
This World Typewriter was manufactured by the World Type Writer Company of Portland, Maine, between 1887 and 1893. The machine was invented by John Becker, and received patent number 350,717 on October 12th, 1886. The World was an index typewriter, meaning that the letters could be selected with the pointer, manipulated by the index finger, and imprinted with another key. The absence of the keyboard made the typewriter simpler to operate, but sacrificed speed and efficiency.
Charles Spiro was the inventor of a variety of typewriters including the Columbia, the Bar-Lock, and this Visigraph. Spiro held a variety of patents relating to the Visigraph, and had begun production by 1910. This typewriter was manufactured by the Visigraph Typewriter Company sometime before 1919, when the Visigraph Typewriter Company reorganized as the C. Spiro Manufacturing Company. The Visigraph was a visible front-strike typewriter with a four-row QWERTY keyboard.
This is a Demountable typewriter that was manufactured by the Demountable Typewriter Company of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin during the 1920s. The Demountable was designed by DeWitt Clinton Harris who had previously brought the Harris Visible and the Rex Visible typewriters to market. The Demountable bears a strong resemblance to these previous typewriters, but as the name suggests, the Demountable can be separated into three main components without the use of any tools. The Demountable could be separated into the frame unit, carriage unit, and the action unit, allowing for the replacement of parts as the type bars or platen wore out as well as allowing the use of different carriage lengths without having to buy a totally new machine.
This Hartford No. 2 typewriter was manufactured by the Hartford Typewriter Company of Hartford, Connecticut between 1896 and 1901. The Hartford was a blind-writing typewriter with upstriking typebars, with an interesting lever and rod connection between the keys and the typebars, seen in patent number 553,515 from January 28, 1896. The machine prominently featured a double keyboard, allowing it to print both upper case and lower case letters. In a time where visible typewriters with shift keys were being brought to market, a blind-writing double-keyed Hartford was behind the times and the company soon filed for bankruptcy.
This Draper typewriter was manufactured by the Chicago Writing Machine Company of Chicago, Illinois around 1906. The Draper was a re-named Chicago Typewriter that was sold from the Sears Roebuck mail-order catalog for $18.72. The Chicago was a revamped Munson Typewriter, originally invented by Samuel J. Seifried under patent number 474,350 in May 3rd, 1892 and assigned to the Munson Type Writer Company. The Chicago/Munson had a steel typesleeve similar to the Crandall, except that the characters were arranged horizontally on the sleeve rather than vertically. The keyboard is also interesting in that it is a “WERTY” keyboard. The “Q” key has been moved to be next to the “Z.”
The Williams typewriter was produced by the Williams Typewriter Company from around 1891 until 1909, mostly from a factory located in Derby, Connecticut. John N. Williams received patent number 501753 on July 18, 1893 for his type-writing machine. Williams’s design served to correct the inability of a typists writing to be seen in the prevalent “upstriking machines” such as the Remington Standard. Williams’s solution was an innovative keystroke, where the key sat on an inking pad and raised itself up before springing forward to type on the paper. This innovative action wouldn’t allow for all the keys to be on the front of the machine, so there were typebars at the front and back of most William’s machines. This necessitated the upper part of the paper being pulled down into a basket below the type bars after it had been typed on, allowing only a few lines to be seen.
This machine does not fit the standard Williams design of front and back typebars, and does not have any visible branding. During the early 20th century, Williams was trying to design a typewriter with a full front typebar. A number of patents by Jerome B. Secor of Derby, Connecticut, were assigned to Williams during this period, many relating to “front-strike” machines. Secor later bought the Derby factory from Williams and produced several typewriter models, until the factory was purchased by Maxim Munitions Corporation in 1915. This may have been an early Williams front strike prototype.
This typewriter was manufactured by the German company Adlerwerke vormals Heinrich Kleyer (Adler Works, formerly Heinrick Kleyer) of Frankfurt, Germany during the early 20th century. The machine has lost many of its Adler decals, but “Imported” can still be seen on the machine. The typewriter has a cast iron frame, nickel fittings, and is mounted on a mahogany board with a black metal cover that reads “Adler Imported.” This machine is very similar to the Adler No. 7, having the same sliding type bar mechanism instead of the usual swinging type bars.
As typewriters developed during the 20th century, a class of music typewriters began to emerge. This is a Keaton Music Typewriter that was invented by Robert H. Keaton of San Francisco, California. Keaton had two patents that covered his music typewriter, the first was given patent number 2,047,690 on July 14, 1936 and related to a 14 key music typewriter, and the second was given number 2,631,712 on March 17, 1953 and covered a 33 key music typewriter. The typewriter’s board held sheet music in place while a semicircle ring of keys containing notes and musical notation typebars could be maneuvered above the sheet music to create musical compositions.
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.
Thomas Hall was awarded patent number 238,387 on March 1, 1881 for his “Type-Writer” design represented in this typewriter. The Hall Typewriter was manufactured by the Hall Typewriter Company of New York, New York, beginning in 1881. The company moved from New York to Salem in 1887, then Boston in 1889, producing a similar model typewriter in all three locations. This Salem variant of the Hall index typewriter began to be produced in 1887. Index typewriters have no keyboard—the characters are selected by a pointer system. In the Hall index typewriter each hole on the grid corresponds to a character, pushing the key through the hole imprints the letter on the page and shifts the page over one space. This typewriter is contained in a wooden carrying case, with a metal handle and a metal plaque that bears the image of a feather with the inscription “HALL TYPE WRITER Co./TRADEMARK/SALEM, MASS.”
This Victor index typewriter was manufactured by the Tilton Manufacturing Company of Boston, Massachusetts around 1889. The typewriter notably lacks a keyboard, and is called an “index” typewriter because you used your index finger to select the letters rather than striking a key. Bringing the selector over the character on the letter plate rotates the daisy wheel to the corresponding character. Pressing the inner left-hand key swung the hammer to strike the character, imprinting the type on the paper. The far left hand key served as the space bar. The daisy wheel used in this machines was such a brilliant design that it went on to be used in typewriters and printers in the 1970s and 1980s. The black metal body of the typewriter notes that the typewriter contains two patents, patented on August 13, 1889 and August 20, 1889. These corresponded to patent number 409128 and patent number 409289, patented by Charles E. Tilton and Arthur I. Jacobs, respectively. Jacobs assigned his patent to the Tilton Manufacturing Company while it was still located in Portland, Maine.
This Victor index typewriter was manufactured by the Tilton Manufacturing Company of Boston, Massachusetts around 1889. The typewriter lacks a keyboard, and is called an “index” typewriter because you used your index finger to select the letters. Bringing the selector over the character on the letter plate rotates the daisy wheel to the corresponding character. Pressing the inner left-hand key swung the hammer to strike the character, imprinting the type on the paper. The far left hand key served as the space bar. The daisy wheel went on to be used in typewriters and printers in the 1970s and 1980s. The black metal body of the typewriter notes that the typewriter contains two patents, patented on August 13, 1889 and August 20, 1889. These corresponded to patent number 409128 and patent number 409289, patented by Charles E. Tilton and Arthur I. Jacobs, respectively. Jacobs assigned his patent to the Tilton Manufacturing Company while it was still located in Portland, Maine. The typewriter is contained in a wooden carrying case.