Computers & Business Machines
Imagine the loss, 100 years from now, if museums hadn't begun preserving the artifacts of the computer age. The last few decades offer proof positive of why museums must collect continuously—to document technological and social transformations already underway.
The museum's collections contain mainframes, minicomputers, microcomputers, and handheld devices. Computers range from the pioneering ENIAC to microcomputers like the Altair and the Apple I. A Cray2 supercomputer is part of the collections, along with one of the towers of IBM's Deep Blue, the computer that defeated reigning champion Garry Kasparov in a chess match in 1997. Computer components and peripherals, games, software, manuals, and other documents are part of the collections. Some of the instruments of business include adding machines, calculators, typewriters, dictating machines, fax machines, cash registers, and photocopiers
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Royal Model KMM Typewriter
- Description
- The Royal Typewriter Company manufactured this Royal Magic Margin typewriter around 1940. The typewriter’s patented Magic Margin design allowed the typist to set both the left and right hand margins with a simple push of a lever. With easy margin-switching, the Royal KMM could easily address envelopes, tabulate figures, and create tables.
- The Royal Typewriter Company was founded in 1906 by Thomas Fortunes Ryan and Edward B. Hess, with Ryan providing the capital and Hess providing the inventiveness. Hess owned over 150 patents, many of which were assigned to the Royal Typewriter Company. Hess’s most noteworthy patents related to increasing the ease of typing, including an accelerating typebar, anti friction roller escapement, Magic Margins, and selective touch control.
- date made
- 1940
- maker
- Royal Typewriter Company
- ID Number
- ME.311904
- accession number
- 156624
- catalog number
- 311904
- serial number
- 2557008
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Standard Folding Typewriter
- Description
- The Standard Folding Typewriter was made by the Standard Typewriter Company of Groton, New York from around 1906 until 1912. The typewriter was made of aluminum and was relatively light weight, and was made to be portable by allowing the carriage to fold down onto the keyboard. The Standard Folding Typewriter was succeeded by the Corona Three folding typewriter.
- 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 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1906
- maker
- Standard Typewriting Company
- ID Number
- ME.308353
- catalog number
- 308353
- accession number
- 85488
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Corona No. 4 Typewriter
- Description
- This Corona Four model typewriter was manufactured by the Corona Typewriter Company Incorporated of Groton, New York around 1924. The Corona Four had a smaller frame to allow portability. The Corona Four had 42 full size keys, a 10-inch carriage, a 2-color ribbon, and an accelerating type bar action.
- 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 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1925
- maker
- Corona Typewriter Company
- ID Number
- ME.308355
- catalog number
- 308355
- accession number
- 85488
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Victor Index Typewriter
- Description
- 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- ME.310347.02
- catalog number
- 310347.02
- accession number
- 117094
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Visigraph Typewriter
- Description
- 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Visigraph Typewriter Company
- ID Number
- ME.326231
- catalog number
- 326231
- accession number
- 257824
- serial number
- 12136
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Wellington No. 2 Typewriter
- Description
- The Wellington No. 2 typewriter was invented by Wellington P. Kidder in 1892. Kidder has already invented the Franklin typewriter (see ME*318462) before moving on to invent this thrust-action typewriter. The typewriter received patent number 471,794 on March 29, 1892. The typewriter was produced until the early 20th century as the Wellington in the United States, the Empire in Canada, and the Adler in Germany.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- ME.333708
- catalog number
- 333708
- accession number
- 303151
- serial number
- 3879
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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IBM Electromatic Typewriter
- Description
- This Electromatic brand typewriter was manufactured by the International Business Machines Corporation beginning in 1935. The Electromatic typewriter was first manufactured in 1924 by the North East Electric Company. The North East Electric Company produced the motor and base, and used a Remington model 12 as the typewriter. The North East Electric Company became the Electromatic Typewriter Company before being purchased by IBM in 1933. In 1935 IBM produced the Electromatic Model 01 for the first time. The Electromatic operated with a motor controlling all aspects of typing, from the type bar to the carriage returns, allowing the user to operate the typewriter without their fingers ever leaving the keyboard.
- This typewriter bears a label from the Rossford Ordnance Depot, a depot in Toledo, Ohio that was used to supply the military with jeeps and cars during World War II.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1941 - 1945
- maker
- International Business Machines Corp.
- ID Number
- ME.325366
- catalog number
- 325366
- accession number
- 254085
- serial number
- 11293060
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Vari-Typer Typewriter
- Description
- This Vari-Typer electric typewriter was made by the Ralph C. Coxhead Corporation in New York, New York around the late 1937. The Vari-Typer was based on the body of a Hammond No. 2 typewriter, which had an unusual typing mechanism. Instead of the character striking the paper from the front of the machine, the printing is done by a hammer in the back of the machine striking a type-carrying shuttle in the front of the machine, with the paper and ink ribbon in between to receive the impression. The Vari-Typer was so named because it had the ability to print in a variety of typesets in various sizes, including math formulae, special symbols, and foreign characters with an easy replacement of the type shuttle. The Vari-Typer would make direct impressions of the character on the paper that could then be reproduced by a variety of processes including litho-plates, mimeo stencils or photo-offset printing. This Vari-Typer is an electric typewriter that would automatically rewind the carriage at the end of each line.
- The type-shuttle and hammer typing mechanism present in the Vari-Typer evolved from the Hammond typewriter invented by James Bartlett Hammond in 1884. James Hammond founded the Hammond Typewriter Company to produce typewriters with his patented mechanism, which enjoyed success in the late 19th and early 20th century, winning the gold medal at the New Orleans Centennial Exposition. Much could be said about Hammond’s affairs towards the end of his life, but the story of the Vari-Typer merely depends on Hammond’s patents passing to the Frederick Hepburn Company, and then ending up in the hands of the Ralph Coxhead Corporation around 1929, the company that eventually produced this Vari-Typer.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Ralph C. Coxhead Corporation
- ID Number
- ME.314891
- catalog number
- 314891
- accession number
- 212172
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Corona No. 3 Typewriter
- Description
- 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1920 - 1929
- maker
- L. C. Smith & Corona Typewriters Inc.
- ID Number
- ME.326636
- catalog number
- 326636
- accession number
- 261574
- serial number
- 394384
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Draper Typewriter
- Description
- 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.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Chicago Writing Machine Company
- ID Number
- ME.334781
- catalog number
- 334781
- accession number
- 314637
- serial number
- 0445750
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Franklin Typewriter
- Description
- 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1898
- maker
- Franklin Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- ME.318462
- catalog number
- 318462
- accession number
- 235473
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Hall Index Typewriter
- Description
- 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.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Hall Typewriter Co.
- ID Number
- ME.314603
- catalog number
- 314603
- accession number
- 205421
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Hammond Folding Multiplex Typewriter
- Description (Brief)
- One (1) Hammond Folding Multiplex typewriter
- New York, New York, about 1923
- Description: Aluminum frame with keys arranged to fold. Contained in a case. Standard keyboard. Complete with four sets of type.
- Description
- This Hammond Folding Multiplex typewriter was manufactured by the Hammond Typewriter Company of New York beginning in 1923. The typewriter uses Hammond’s patented type-shuttle and hammer typing mechanism where the printing is done by a hammer in the back of the machine striking a type-carrying shuttle in the front of the machine, with the paper and ink ribbon in between to receive the impression. This Hammond Folding Multiplex contains two additional Hammond innovations. It is called a Multiplex because the typewriter contains two type shuttles that can easily be rotated into use, allowing the typing of two complete alphabets in different typesets on each machine. This typewriter’s keyboard could also fold up to allow a cover to be attached to the base, allowing the typewriter to be carried. The keyboard is in a three row QWERTY array.
- James Bartlett Hammond filed patents for his type-shuttle and hammer typing mechanism present in Hammond typewriters in 1879, receiving patent number 224088 on February 3rd, 1880 and patent number 232402 September 21st, 1880. The Hammond Typewriter Company was founded in 1880, and produced its first machine by 1884, winning a gold medal at the New Orleans Centennial Exposition that same year. The Hammond Typewriter touted its superior strength and durability due to its unique type-shuttle and hammer typing mechanism. The replaceable type-shuttle also contributed to the Hammond’s popularity with the ability to print in a variety of typesets in various sizes, including math formulae, special symbols, and foreign characters with an easy replacement of the type shuttle, or an even simpler rotation of a wheel in the Hammond Multiplex.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1923
- maker
- Hammond Typewriter Company
- ID Number
- ME.315035
- catalog number
- 315035
- accession number
- 213958
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Remington Standard No. 6 Typewriter
- Description
- This Remington Standard Model Number 6 typewriter was manufactured by the Remington Standard Typewriter Company around 1894. The Model Number 6 contained many improvements to Remington’s previous models including an improved cylinder, improved spacing mechanism, improved paper carriage, and adjustable paper guides. Many of these improvements were due to the inventiveness of Remington mechanist George B. Webb.
- The first commercially successful typewriter was designed by Christopher Sholes and Carlos Glidden and manufactured by gunmakers E. Remington and Sons in 1874 in Ilion, New York. The typewriters manufactured by E. Remington and Sons had been sold by the company Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict since 1882. In 1886 E. Remington and Sons sold the entirety of their typewriter interests to Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict. Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict manufactured their typewriters under the Remington Standard Typewriter Company name beginning in 1892. The company became the Remington Typewriter Company in 1902, before merging with the Rand Kardex Company in 1927 to become Remington Rand. The Remington Rand plaque on the typewriter would have been a later addition to the Standard No. 6. Remington Rand continued to sell typewriters until around 1955, when it was acquired by the Sperry Corporation.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1904
- maker
- Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict
- ID Number
- ME.311041
- catalog number
- 311041
- accession number
- 136288
- serial number
- 123640
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Royal KHM Typewriter (Cutaway)
- Description
- The Royal KHM model typewriter was produced by the Royal Typewriter Company of Hartford, Connecticut in 1934. The Royal KHM was very similar to the Royal 10, but notable differences include a lack of glass sides, no scooped center, and covered ribbon spools. This version has had pieces removed so the inner workings of the typewriter can be seen.
- The Royal Typewriter Company was founded in 1906 by Thomas Fortunes Ryan and Edward B. Hess, with Ryan providing the capital and Hess providing the inventiveness. Hess owned over 150 patents, many of which were assigned to the Royal Typewriter Company. Hess’s most noteworthy patents related to increasing the ease of typing, including an accelerating typebar, anti friction roller escapement, Magic Margins, and selective touch control. In 1954 Royal merged with the McBee Corporation, operating as Royal Mcbee until 1964. In 1964 Royal McBee was acquired by Litton Industries, which used Royal as a brand until 1968.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Royal Typewriter Company
- ID Number
- ME.311043
- catalog number
- 311043
- accession number
- 136502
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Flying Fish Typewriter
- Description
- This is a Flying Fish typewriter that was manufactured in Shanghai, China by the China National Light Industrial Products Import and Export Corporation in 1975. The typewriter has finger-shaped turquoise keys, tab-buttons for margin settings, with a black, red, and white ribbon selector.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1974-1975
- maker
- Light Industrial Products Import-Export Corp.
- ID Number
- ME.334952
- catalog number
- 334952
- accession number
- 320831
- 320831
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Woodstock "Electrite" Typewriter
- Description
- This Woodstock Electrite electric typewriter was manufactured by the Woodstock Typewriter Company of Chicago, Illinois around 1925. The Electrite was advertised as a typewriter that made “all typists experts.” The Electrite’s electric motor powered the strike mechanism and space bar, so that each key hit the paper with the same amount of force every time, resulting in uniform letters. In manual typewriters, a soft touch or mistype could result in printed text that was faint or hard to read.
- Like many typewriting companies, the Woodstock Typewriter Company went through several different corporate iterations. The Emerson Typewriter Company of Kittery, Maine began business in 1907, before it was purchased by the Sears, Roebuck, & Company of Chicago in 1910. Sears, Roebuck, & Company opened their typewriting company as the Roebuck Typewriter Company in Woodstock, Illinois, but soon sold their concern to the Woodstock Typewriter Company in 1914. The Woodstock Typewriter Company operated until 1950, when it was bought by R.C. Allen Business Machines.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1982.0201.03
- accession number
- 1982.0201
- catalog number
- 1982.0201.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Corona No. 3 Typewriter
- Description
- This Corona typewriter was manufactured by the Corona Typewriter Company, Inc. of Groton, New York sometime around 1923-1925. The typewriter is a front-striking model with a three row QWERTY keyboard, likely the Corona No. 3 although it lacks the “3” numbering on the frame below the spacebar. The Standard Typewriting Company began producing a folding model of typewriter in Groton around 1907.
- 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 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1923 - 1925
- maker
- Corona Typewriter Company
- ID Number
- ME.336759
- catalog number
- 336759
- accession number
- 1978.2479
- serial number
- 590430
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Victor Index Typewriter
- Description
- 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- ME.310347.01
- catalog number
- 310347.01
- accession number
- 117094
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Williams No. 6 Typewriter
- Description
- This is a Williams No. 6 typewriter that was manufactured by the Williams Typewriter Company of New York between 1904 and 1909. John N. Williams received patent number 501753 on July 18, 1893 for his type-writing machine invention. Prior to William’s design, most typewriters were blind-writing upstriking machines, forcing the typist to lift the platen to see their work. Williams’s design allowed for visible writing with an intriguing “grasshopper” typing mechanism. The typebars were arranged in two semi-circles around the platen and rested on an inking pad. When their key was struck, the typebar rose up and sprung forward to hit the paper, printing a visible line.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Williams Typewriter Company
- ID Number
- ME.326647
- catalog number
- 326647
- accession number
- 261226
- serial number
- 41312
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
