ETCetera #27 / June, 1994 / 1 No. 27 ------- June, 1994 E T Cetera Magazine of the Early T ypewriter Collectors Association CONTENTS Editor’s Notes ...................... 2 A New S&G V ................... 3 Sholes Patent Model ........... 4 A Hammond Tale ............... 6 Beginner’s Remingtons ....... 8 Shorthand Showoff ........... 10 Ads ..................................... 11 Computer Connection ...... 11 Int’l. News ......................... 12 Letters ................................ 12 P a tente d b y Sholes 1879 patent model built by Frederick Sholes Complete story page 4
Transcript
ETCetera #27 / June, 1994 / 1
No. 27 ------- June, 1994
ETCetera Magazine of the Ear lyTypewriter Collectors Association
CONTENTSEditor’s Notes ...................... 2A New S&G V ................... 3Sholes Patent Model ........... 4A Hammond Tale ............... 6Beginner’s Remingtons ....... 8Shorthand Showoff ........... 10Ads..................................... 11Computer Connection...... 11Int’l. News ......................... 12Letters ................................ 12
Patented by Sholes
1879 patent model buil t by Frederick SholesComplete story page 4
2 / ETCetera #27 / June, 1994
ETCeteraMagazine of the Ear lyTypewriter Collectors
Collectors AssociationPublished four times per year in
March, June, Sept. & Dec.$15/yr North America
$20 overseas
know what a horrible person theETCetera editor is. So what else is new?
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But what a vote of confidence! Bythe end of January, when ETCeterawas being locked up, the ETC renewalrate was up 18% over last year. We’reglad so many of you are happy, and wehope it stays that way.
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In pr int : a classic folding Coronaappears on the cover of the book “TheMacintosh is Not a Typewriter.”Well... no kidding. Nice that theychose something other than an Under-wood for the cover shot.
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Speaking of the Mac, this user-friendly computer has a pangram pro-grammed-in to demonstrate all theletters in a font: How razorback jump-ing frogs can level six piqued gymnasts!Actually, I believe a pangram is de-fined as a sentence containing allletters of the alphabet, and the razor-back frogs bit sounds more like a title.Anyway, when all this was men-tioned in a an article in MacUser, Iwrote a reply alerting them to ourbeloved J.Q. Vandz struck my big foxwhelp, a very elegant pangram, usingeach letter only once. The editor ofMacUser’s letter column was kindenough to call thanking me for myreply, but informing me that an ear-lier letter would be published, onewhich included this each-letter-oncepangram: Mr. Jock, TV quiz show Ph.D. bags few lynx. Not bad.
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How about this for a typewriterstory? It came in an inquiry to me:
“I have a typewriter I am interestedin finding out about. My husbandfound it–I mean li terally found it onthe side of the freeway–not a scratchon it! The markings are Corona XC-R-
D. It took us a while before we noticedall the keys are not in English. They areall in Hebrew. We thought this wasvery unusual. My husband and I collectlots of different things but never beforeor since have we had to swerve to avoidsomething we ended up keeping!”
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Here’s a trial balloon. Would any-body object to a modest change in thename of our group to the “Early Type-writer and Calculator Collector’s As-sociation?” With the increasing inter-est in calculators among members, thechange might be appropriate. Thename of our magazine needn’t changeat all. If you have an opinion, write itout, send it in, and we’ll publish it.
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The University of Wisconsin/Madison newspaper ran an article onthe school’s Chancellor appearingwith the orchestra as a soloist perform-ing Leroy Anderson’s “The Type-writer.” The paper’s choice for a photoillustration, however, was amusing. Idoubt it was the machine the Chancel-lor intended to use. If so, the concertwould have been very quiet, since themachine was a Remington Noiseless!
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Did you know James EugeneMunson, co-inventor of the MunsonTypewriter, wJKas part of a family thatgoes way back? I learned of this from H.Lee Munson of Greenlawn, NY, re-ferred by Bernard Williams.
H.L. is the historian for the ThomasMunson Foundation, an organizationcomprised entirely of people de-scended from Thomas Munson, one ofthose hardy folks who helped colonizeAmerica. The first record of ThomasMunson dates back to 1637, when hewas li sted as one of the men who foughtin the Pequot Indian War.
James Eugene, the typewriter (andshorthand) pioneer is just a face in thecrowd among Munson descendants.
One collector recently got bent outof shape in a major way when I did notanswer some telephone calls. Sorry,but li fe is busy here, and if I can’thandle the phone traff ic, please forgiveme. It’s always better to rely on UncleSam’s postal service, because I do an-swer all my mail, unless I lose it, whichsometimes happens as well.
Anyway, in March’s Maine AntiqueDigest, the collector wrote an articledoing a major hatchet job on me. Shehad just found a Keaton Music Type-writer, and somehow or other got itinto her head that I thought her ma-chine would devalue mine! She seemedto think my lack of phone response wasa “veil of secrecy.” Oooo!
But we must all be prepared to rollwith the punches, right? ETC members
EDITOR’S NOTES
ETCetera #27 / June, 1994 / 3
A NewSholes & Glidden
V
Starting back with ETCetera No. 1, we established apattern of inviting news of any newly-discovered Sholesand Gliddens that appear within the collectors’ network.In that first issue, Jim Rauen described his find of theultra-rare treadle version of this important machine.
Now, our “New Sholes & Glidden V” represents theoldest privately-held S&G in the United States. In fact, itis the third-oldest the world.
The machine has a serial number of A189, which,according to research by Richard Dickerson, would placeits production date at June or July of 1874. The “A”stamped alongside the serial number means it was re-turned to the factory for the improvments Remingtonmade to the machine after 1877. In this case, there’s evena strange variation on the “A,” because it does not appearbefore the “189,” but rather after it, and it happens to bestamped upside down!
The Remington improvements are often called the“Perfected hardware,” since they were incorporatedinto the model sold as the Perfected Type Writer No. 1(although that name appeared in sales literature only—the “Sholes & Glidden” name remained on the machineitself). The Perfected No. 1, as it came from
the factory,
was painted black. It had a return lever much like thelater upstrike Remingtons and included a whole menuof mechanical improvements. Earlier machines couldbe upgraded to the “Perfected” either at the factory or atthe dealer level (only machines upgraded at the factory
had “A” added to the serial number). Earlier hardware, in-cluding the side-mounted carriage return wheel (and theassociated handle on tabletop machines) was usually re-moved on the upgrades. The lack of a mounting stub at theright rear of machine A189 indicates that this one was origi-nally a treadle model before the improvements were installed.
Although many upgraded models were also repainted black,others retained their original fancy ornamentation. Such is thecase with A189, which has an especially impressive set ofdecals, including an Oriental scene on the front deck and themagnificent portait of a woman on the rear deck. The machinelid, which was part of the upgrade, was decorated to match therest of the machine. Also present is a fold-out copy holder, ascarce accessory on these machines.
Sholes & Glidden A189 came to me from the lakes region ofMinnesota. I am told it once belonged to Perry M. Endsley whenhe was personal secretary to John S. Pillsbury, founder of thePillsbury Co. The machine was passed down to Endsley’sdaughter who sold it in the 1940’s to raise some funds. Thebuyer kept it until this year, when it was offered to me.
A189 is actually the fourth Sholes & Glidden I’ve stumbledacross in my decade of collecting. The third, serial A957, is ablack machine which I have yet to write about. There is aninteresting story behind this one, involving a repair which hasyet to be made. Once it’s done, look for the story in “A NewSholes & Glidden VI” (unless, of course, someone else comesup with an S&G in the meantime).
—Darryl Rehr
LEFT: Sholes & Glidden, ser. #A189.ABOVE: detail showing decal on keyboard lid
4 / ETCetera #27 / June, 1994
The Freder ick Sholes
The U.S. patent model illustrated on our cover was builtin 1879 by Frederick Sholes of New York, one of the sonsof Christopher Latham Sholes, who is credited withinventing the machine which founded the world type-writer industry. Frederick Sholes appears to have made afew brief attempts to tread in his father’s footsteps. Thereare two typewriter patents in his name, one of which wasaccompanied by this patent model.
The patent for the model was granted on March 2, 1880,and assigned the number 225,078. The model is a curiousdevice, built to demonstrate a backstroke typebar mecha-nism. Patentees were required only to show the workabilityof the specific mechanisms in their claims, and so there wasno necessity to build a complete working typewriter.Therefore, the Sholes model has only three keys: justenough to demonstrate the design and no more.
Oddly, the emphasis in the patent is not the backstrokedesign, but rather the ribbon carrier and the method formoving the carriage. Sholes put the ribbon on a movableframe which flips up at the touch of a lever, making thework visible to the operator. The carriage moves via adirect-gearing mechanism instead of being pulled by a cord.
One very intriguing design feature in the model is thepaper-path employed. While other backstroke machines,such as the Brooks, have the paper coiling up inside basketsin a machine’s interior, the Sholes patent model isdifferent. The paper is fed, top first, between two rollers. It
travels downward around one roller 90°, makes contactwith a curved brass plate, and is fed right back in thedirection of the user.
The model is hand-made of mahogany, brass and steel.It seems quite obvious that keytops from an existing Sholes& Glidden are used. The actual typebars may come froman S&G as well. There is no evidence that any productionmachine resulted from the design.
This was not Frederick Sholes’ only patent. One otherwas granted to him and William Miller in June of 1879.This earlier patent (No. 216,232) involved a machinewhich resembled the upstrike Sholes & Glidden, with anovel typebar action. In the design, Sholes placed histypebars radially, but resting horizontally, just a fraction ofan inch below the platen. Each typebar rides in a slot.When a key is pressed, the bar moves in a horizontal-radialmotion into the center, and flips up to hit the platen. Aspring then pulls it back into the rest position. It soundsbizarre, and from the illustration, we can conclude that thepatent model would have only six keys. Wouldn’t we alllike to see that one too!
The model we do have, for Patent No. 225,078, wasdiscovered by the author earlier this year and is one of onlya handful of typewriter patent models surviving today.Each, by its nature, is one of a kind. Patent models ingeneral have a rather tumultuous history (see About PatentModels), and we are lucky for any that turn up.
Patent ModelBy Darr yl Rehr
LEFT: Drawing from Patent 255,078 corresponding tophoto on cover. ABOVE: Handwritten patent tag, datedMarch 2, 1880, and model submission tag dated May 3,1879 (reason unknown for Oct. 4, ‘79 entry).
ETCetera #27 / June, 1994 / 5
The Frederick Sholes patent model is one ofthousands originally submitted to the U.S. PatentOff ice as part of the application process. At its openingin 1780, the Patent Off ice required models from allapplicants. By the 1830’s 10,000 models had beenaccumulated, and the entire inventory was destroyedby fire just as ground was being broken for a newbuilding to house them all. This was the first of foursuch fires to attack the U.S. heritage of patent history.
In succeeding years, the number of patent modelssubmitted severely taxed the storage capabilities of theBureau of Patents. So, in 1870, the Bureau changed itsrules, and inventors submitted no models unless specifi-cally requested to do so. The storage facility may havebeen a firetrap, because in 1877 there was another fire,destroying 76,000 models. Frederick Sholes sent in themodel discussed here in 1879. The following year, theBureau dropped the model requirement altogether,with the exception of flying machines or perpetualmotion machines. At the time, both seemed impossibledreams.
By 1908, 156,000 models were in storage, andCongress decided to get rid of them. The SmithsonianInstitution had the opportunity to take them all, butchose only 1,061. The rest went back into storage untilCongress returned to the matter in the 1920’s and putthem up for sale. Sir Henry Wellcome purchased thelot, hoping to include them in a patent museum.
However, Sir Henry died in 1936, failing to open hismuseum, and leaving the 156,000 machines in aTuckahoe, NY warehouse.
Wellcome’s estate sold the collection to Broadwayproducer Crosby Gaige, and some were put on publicdisplay. 700 of these models were sold to the organizersof the New York World’s Fair, and 900 others went tothe University of Texas in Austin. The World’s Fairmodels were sold to a gentleman named Tunicli ff Foxand are today owned by the Hagley Foundation inDelaware. The rest of the models, nearly 155,000, weresold to a group called American Patent Models, Inc.,which put 500 machines on display in departmentstores across the country.
Financial troubles forced yet another sale, and in1941, O. Rundle Gilbert bought the entire collectionat auction for only $2,100, although he did have to pay$11,000 in back storage costs. Think of it. 155,000patent models at less than 12 dollars apiece!
Another fire, in 1943, destroyed 15,000 modelswhich were in the process of being unpacked andcatalogued. Finally, a fourth patent fire in 1949 burnedall but a few thousand boxes of models.
Gilbert had hoped to establish a museum to houseand display the patent models, but these particularartifacts seem to have been cursed , with fire attackingthem at every turn. In 1970, Gilbert approached theSmithsonian, offering them another chance to pur-chase the models. He was refused, and so he sold themoff piece by piece, either by private sale or in auctions.Most of the models in private hands came from Gilbertin this way.
AboutPatent Models
Drawings from Patent 216,232 for upstroke machinewith novel typebar action.
6 / ETCetera #27 / June, 1994
In 1886, B.B. Bosworth, of Bristol, Vermont, inquired about,received and tested a Hammond typewriter “ on approval” fromthe local dealer, C.C. Post, of Burlington, Vermont. A smallcollection of correspondence left by Bosworth, paints an interest-ing picture of the time. We reprint the text of 5 documents in full.
On the letterhead of the HammondType Writer Co., 143 Centre St., New York:
New York, March 23, 1886.Mr. B. B. Bosworth
Bristol, Vt.
Dear Sir: -Your favor of March 22 is athand and we enclose herewith one of our circulars descrip-tive of our type-writing machine. The price as you will seeby said circular is $100.00 and from this we do not makeany discount in any instance except to those who act forus as agents. Mr. C. C. Post of Burlington, Vt. is our agentfor your state and we should be pleased to have you give himan order for one of our machines. We also enclose a slip ofinstructions.
Very truly yours,[Dictated] THE HAMMOND TYPE WRITER CO.
[Note the speed at which mail travelled between New York andrural Vermont in 1886! Also consider the speed of Hammond’sresponse. How many companies do as well today? -Ed.]
On the MEMORANDUM stationery ofC.C. Post, Burlington, Vt.
To: B. B. BosworthBristol Vt. March 24th 1886
Dear Sir:- Yours of the 23rd at hand and yourremarks noted. I think that if you give the out-side keys asfair a touch as the inner ones, they will print as perfect.They should do so if the machine is properly adjusted, andwhen it is thus, every letter must print a perfect letter whenthe key goes down to its proper place. When you give theout keys a touch that brings them down and you hit the keythat you intend, it should print a perfect, and the rightletter. I find that this trouble when found at all, isinvariably with a new beginner which he will soon overcome by practice and use. If you fail to over come this I willsee that the machine is properly adjusted or that you havea machine that is so.
Very Truly Yours.C. C. Post
[Could it be true? Did Hammond’s letter of March 23rd reallyreach Bosworth on the same day... in time for him to pick up amachine from Post, try it out, and write a letter complainingabout a problem? More likely, Bosworth knew about Post beforeHammond offered the referral.]On Hammond letterhead:
A Hammond Tale
ETCetera #27 / June, 1994 / 7
New York, March 26, 1886Mr. B. B. Bosworth
Bristol, Vt.Dear Sir;-Your favor of March
23rd. to Mr. C. C. Post, has been handed by him to us. Theimperfect printing which we notice is due to the fact thatyou play the machine in too staccato a manner. It isnecessary to depress each key fully, especially those at theouter ends of the key-board. We enclose herewith a slip ofinstructions and invite your attention to the paragraph ontouch and fingering. If you will fully follow these instruc-tions we are sure you will have no trouble in obtainingsatisfactory results and be able to obtain great speed on ourmachine.
Very truly yours,[Dictated] THE HAMMOND TYPE WRITER CO.[Enclosure]
On C.C. Post MEMORANDUM stationery:
To B. B. Bosworth.Bristol, Vt. April 5th 1886
Dear Sir:How are you getting on with the ma-
chine, does it work to your satisfaction? I sent your letterto the manufacturers, and presume you have herd [sic] fromthem have you not? Have you overcome the diff iculty youspoke of having with one or two outside keys misprinting?If this continues the machine is a trifle out of adjustment,which is an easy matter to overcome. If you buy themachine I will guarantee to put it in proper adjustment soit will print perfectly. Any time when you are coming uphere bring it along and I will put it in order very quick. Isuppose you have used the machine long enough to decidewhether you intend keeping it, and can advise me one wayor another soon have you not?
Truly Yours.[no signature]
[Oh, the li fe of a salesman! Is he not bending over backwards tooffer service to make the sale? Is he not sweating as he wonderswhat’s happening to the machine he put out on approval?]
On C. C. Post MEMORANDUM stationery:
To The Bristol Mfg. CoBristol, Vt. April 14th 1886
Gents:-Yours of the 13th inst is at hand and I note your
reply. I am not disappointed at your being pleased with theHammond Type Writer, but am much disappointed afterhaving had it so long, and acknowledging that you are somuch pleased with the machine, that you decline to keep
it. It was talked when the machine was taken, that if it gavesatisfaction, that you would buy a machine, on no otherconditions do I put machines out on trial, for I cannotafford to carry them and put them out on trial with butthose that intend to buy, providing the machine givessatisfaction. Now if it is on account of not wanting to payfor it at this time, and you will do so by having a li ttle time,then I will take your note for it on 3 or 6 months time withinterist [sic], if this will be the means of a trade with you forthat machine. From the rating your firm have in Dunnsreport I should suppose that you could afford to buy anything you desired, especially a Type Writer. At all eventsif you want the machine and cannot pay now, just send methe Co’s note for it as before stated, and I think that I won’tbe doubting as to its value.
Truly Yours. C. C. Post
The above note included two different handwritten marginalnotes:
If the above is not satisfactory please return it safely tome at your expense.
and
Has F. D. Farr seen the machine? He wrote for prices &c.I told him he could see one at your office.
We have no way of knowing if C.C. Post managed to make thesale to Bosworth, who apparently headed the Bristol Mfg. Co.There was no old machine to go with the paperwork. Bothinstruction leaflets that Hammond sent to Bosworth wereincluded in the papers. It’s interesting that they are all -text withno ill ustrations (see below).
8 / ETCetera #27 / June, 1994
ners to look for the large wheel at thefront of the carriage, which supportsthe whole carriage frame. Then, li ft upthe carriage, and see the wooden feedroller. The machine generally will say“No. 2” on it somewhere, but it maynot if it’s quite early, or if the decalsand/or paint are worn.
Number 3 and 4 in the Remingtonline are interesting and different ma-chines. The No. 3 is obviously differ-ent, with a wide carriage. The No. 4, isunique among Remingtons. It is anopen-frame, upstrike machine thattypes capitals only. It also has a largediameter platen, very much like theoriginal Sholes & Glidden. The No. 4is rare today and desirable as well.
Remington “ improved” its line be-tween 1886 and 1893 (sources differ)by offering a model No. 5. It is anotheropen-frame upstrike, and apart fromthe obvious front-mounted bell (alsoseen on the No. 3), its differences fromearlier machines are diff icult to de-scribe. An illustration is shown. Com-pare the No. 5 to the No. 2 and seewhat differences you notice.
The No. 5 apparently was replacedin 1894 by the No. 6 and 7, whichbecame the best sellers of Remington’supstrikes. The only difference betweenthem is the number of keys: 38 on the6, 42 on the 7. These are the Reming-ton upstrikes most-likely to be foundby beginners. They are quite common,and are excellent specimens of theclassic upstrike design.
Remington introduced No. 8 in1897 and 9 in 1902. These improvedon the 6 & 7 by offering wider carriagesor larger keyboards. All four machinesremained in production until 1914.
In 1908, Remington succumbed tomarketplace pressure and introducedNo. 10, its first visible writer. EarlyRemington 10’s were products of up-strike-technology, with each typebarindividually hung in the type basket.Later, without fanfare, the companyimproved the model by adding themodern slotted segment, which hadbeen a feature of machines like theUnderwood from their beginnings.Remington No. 10’s are extremely
common on the flea market trail today,and are easy for beginners to obtain atlow cost. Still, they are good as col-lectibles, since they represent a turningpoint in history. Remington, you see,strenuously fought the introduction of“visible” writers, resisting change asmany large bureaucratic organizationsdo. It didn’t work, however, and aftermore than a decade of decrying “visiblewriting” as unnecessary, the companythrew in the towel, and entered the ageof modern typewriting.
Later Remingtons of appeal totoday’s collectors include the “side-lever” Remington portable, introducedin 1920. According to Paul Lippman,there are 2 models. The No. 1 (1920)has only one shift key at machine left.The No. 2 (1925) is much more com-mon and has shifts at both left andright. The Remington portables werealso made in a variety of colors, includ-ing many two-tone versions.
1925 also saw the introduction ofthe ill- fated Remington Electric. Thislarge, heavy machine was based on theRemington No. 12, but electrified,using the modern “power roller” sys-tem. Only 2500 of these were made,and survivors are scarce today. Themachine is historically important, be-cause the basic design apparently wasadopted for use in the Electromatic,which was eventually purchased andmarketed by IBM, becoming the firstwidely-successful electric typewriter inthe U.S.
Later Remingtons are also of someinterest to collectors, particularly theNoiseless models, which are intriguingfor their design, if not their rarity.
It is probably fair to say that nocollection is complete without somerepresentative of the Remington line.Besides those mentioned, there aredozens of other models, particularlythe many made in the 1930’s, when thecompany seemed to be struggling, try-ing anything to carve out a marketniche. Even if a beginner cannot findthe earliest and rarest models, there areplenty of common Remingtons to as-sure the presence of that nameplate onthe collector’s shelf.
BACK TO BASICS
for beginningcoll ector s
Beginners’ Remingtons
One of the first things beginnerslearn when they begin to explore type-writer history is the fact that the type-writer industry began with E. Reming-ton & Sons, the great American arms-makers, who put the Sholes & GliddenType Writer into production in 1874.The manufacturers did not actually putthe name “Remington” on the ma-chines for a number of years, but theline was eventually prolific, and anybeginner would do well to select someRemingtons for collecting.
The details of identifying Reming-tons, particularly the early ones, couldwell fill a book by itself, with noguarantee the information would beaccurate. The various records and ac-counts kept over the years are madden-ingly confusing. We can’t cover thesubject in exhaustive detail here, butthere are some basics that beginnerscan look to.
Taking the Remington line fromthe start, beginners should know thatwe don’t think there was really eversuch a thing as a “Remington No. 1.”Once it realized that it had founded anentire industry, the company referredto the Sholes & Glidden as the “Rem-ington No. 1” in sales and promotionalli terature. This happened well after theS&G had been discontinued. The firsttypewriter with a Remington brandname was really the No. 2, whichsucceeded the Sholes and Glidden.
The Remington No. 2, with itsblack open-style frame was the arche-type for most major typewriters fordecades to come. Introduced in 1878,it typed both upper and lower case, adistinct improvement over the Sholes& Glidden, which typed uppercaseonly.
To the beginner, all of the upstrikeRemingtons look very much alike. Toidentify the No. 2, I like to tell begin-
ETCetera #27 / June, 1994 / 9
No. 4
No. 5
No. 6No. 8
No. 10
No. 3
THE
FAMILY
No. 2
Portable
10 / ETCetera #27 / June, 1994
Karen Schoeve, a court reporter in Houston, TX used herantique steno machines and typewriters for a “Turn of theCentury” exhibit at the Texas Court Reporters Assn. Mid-year Seminar in that city. The photo shows Karen, in periodcostume, fingers poised on her 1881 Stenograph, the firststenographic typewriter to come into production (seeETCetera No. 16).
Karen has a number of other steno machines, but onlyslowly became infected with the full-blown collecting bug.She relates the story of her illness as follows.
The steno machine that started my collection was the onemy father found in a flea market in Mexico. When he pointedit out to me, I squealed with delight! I knew exactly what itwas and I was ready to negotiate.
“What is it?” I inquisitively asked.The vendor insipidly replied, “An adding machine.”“No, it’s not —” I gasped as my father poked me in the
ribs. Oh, okay, so I wasn’t a great negotiator at 21. “Ah, anadding machine. How much?” Of course I was ready topounce on it at any price.
“$50,” the vendor smugly replied.I was beginning to catch on to this cat-and-mouse game.
“I’ll give you five dollars.” I thought he would laugh meright out of there, but no, he knew he had a live one. Whoknows how long he’d dragged this poor machine around?
“$25,” he retorted, trying to stand his ground.“10,” I replied, with confidence. Now I knew I was in the
driver’s seat. The machine would soon be mine!“15.”“12.”“Sold!” he sighed with relief, probably at being rid of this
upstart rather than having the handsome $12 he was reapingfrom this sale.
I proudly paid him $12 in cash, scooped up my machineand went off in search of another treasure. I knew there wasprobably one hiding at this venerable flea market.
I haven’t told the story of my father finding my firstmachine in 15 years. I did not become an avid collector at 21either. My father has since passed away, so I hold that storyclose to my heart. I did not acquire another “piece” for mycollection until my sister went junking in Chicago. Shestumbled upon a 1923 Woodstock typewriter. Boy, was I inlove. These are the typewriters from what I call the RomanticEra, truly beautiful machines. Their designs show lots ofpersonality and character. I often wonder whose nimble
Shor thandShowoff
fingers had typed on its keyboard. Still I did not become anavid collector. I don’t know how it happened, but “antiques”started to find me. A friend picked several up at an estate salefor a mere pittance. Willing sellers found me, who obviously“needed” these typewriters. Since then my antique office hasgrown, complete with old-fashioned mimeograph ma-chines, old Dictaphones, an English candlestick telephone(in working order), ledger book from 1921, a Bates stampfrom 1927, a calculator that doesn’t fit in one hand much lessin your pocket, a postage scale that registers 1 cent, inkwellsusable only with a quill pen, brads which I believe precededpaperclips, a company seal (similar to a notary seal), type-writer ribbon tins, an ink blotter, perpetual calendar, oldspectacles, and opera glasses. Wait a minute. “Operaglasses?” you say. What does that have to do with an officesetting? Oh, I don’t know, they just caught my eye. I’m surethe office personnel had plenty of theatres to go to before themotion picture houses of the ’20s took over. Books I havecollected include a Stenograph Theory Manual from 1947,Wester’s Dictionary from 1857 - 3rd Edition, Gray’sAnatomy from 1860, Black’s Law Dictionary-4th Edition,Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations from 1875, and Roget’s The-saurus from 1925 (the old standbys).
After I graduated from my estate sale equipment, Idecided to buy some real beauties. My collection nowincludes two nineteenth-century Stenographs, Oliver 2(nickel), Blick 7, American 7, Varityper (Hammond fold-ing), 1923 Noiseless portable, Woodstock and others.
ETCetera #27 / June, 1994 / 11
CLOSING office machine repair shop.Parts from 1940 to 1991. Smith Co-rona, Underwood, Remington, Olym-pia, Sharp, Silver Reed, etc. 2 woodparts cabinets: 9 drawers, 34wx20hx19d.Plus 3 metal multi-drawer cabinets,etc. Lund Off ice Equipment, BruceMacLean 805-966-2266.
WANTED: double-case World in 2-2condition or better. Steve Hosier, 1301E. Ave “I” , Sp. #243, Lancaster, CA.Tel. (805)948-0148
FOR SALE: Resulta BS-7 adder. KarlHalder, 2210 Valley Mill, Carrollton,TX 75006.
WANTED: Left ribbon spool and 2spool retaining nuts for a WellingtonNo. 2. Frank Lindauer, 1229 BeechValley Rd., Atlanta, GA 30306.
WANTED: Stenograph machines, anymodel year and version. Court reportercollecting for fun. Also any miscella-neous off ice-related or court reportingrelated items prior to 1930. Pefer to bedated or trademarked. Interested inStenograph ribbon tins only. KarenSchoeve, Fast Pace Reporting, 811Dallas, Suite 1150, Houston, TX 77002.Tel. 713-650-3500
FOR SALE : duplicates from the Den-nis Clark collection. Wide variety,common to amazing. Dennis Clark,PO Box 25, Ledyard, CT 06339. Tel.(203)848-7260.
FOR SALE : 1950’s Smith-Corona“Eighty-Eight Secretarial” with largeOld Engli sh type. Everett Russell. Tel.(301)384-9242.
WANTED: Early IBM TW’s (Electro-matic, Mod. A, B, C, etc.) Good to excond. Also, any other early electronicTW’s or calculators (esp. Remingtonmod. 99/ li ght gteen case). MarkRosengrant, 2339 Warrington St., #B,San Diego, CA 92107. Tel 619-222-1234.
FOR SALE : new leather straps forBlick cases. Black or brown. $5 ea., ppdin US. Overseas $6. Bob Aubert, 614New Jersey Ave., Riverside, NJ 08075.
BERNARD WI LL IAMS special col-lector of Blicks offers $5000 plus ship-ping for Niagara Blick, also top pricespaid for Nico (Music) Blick & Alumi-nium Model-9, Roberts 90 or any otherunusual Blick models. 80 Manor Road,Burton-on-Trent, Staffs. England DE159SP. Tel. 0283-65858.
PETER MUCKERMANN is lookingfor typewriters in good condition andgood working order: Williams 2 or 4,Caligraph 2, 3 or 4, Pittsburg Visible 9or 10, Lambert (not model 3), Ham-mond 2 or 12 ideal. Exchange for rareEuropean typewriters possible. Alsowanted, ribbon tins with pictures oftypewriters on them. Peter Mucker-mann, Auf der Warte 24, D-3378Rheda-Wiedenbrück, GERMANY.Tel. (05242) 36339. Fax (05242) 37175.
FOR SALE: Edelmann, Williams 4,Hall, Oliver 2, Densmore 5, New Cen-tury Caligraph, Imperial D, AmericanVisible (early version), Lord Balti-more, Niagara, MW. WANTED: In-struction books and advertising bro-chures for old machines. Old trademagazines. Ribbon tins, lapel pins,erasing shields, oilers, any other type-writer ephemera. Darryl Rehr, 2591Mili tary Ave., L.A., CA 90064. Tel.310-477-5229
WANTED: Blick Bar. Condition notvery important. S. Snyder, 2018 JamesSt., Syracuse, NY 13206.
FOR SALE: roll top typing stand,sides fold down. Needs a li ttle work,legs have some rust. $125 plus ship-ping. WANTED: Chicago parts ma-chine (esp. carriage & ribbon spools/gears). Larry Wilhelm PO Box 1922,Wichita Falls, TX 76307-1922. Tel.817-692-3143 hm, 817-72304871 bus.
WANTED: Sholes & Glidden anymodel in original condition or otherrare machines. Please send details andphotograph to: John Pace O’Shea, 44Rudolph St., Sliema, MALTA (Eu-rope) or fax (365)221553.
AdvertisementsEMPIRE/WELL INGTON Research:Round 1. Creating comprehensive se-rial #/variants li st for these machines.Seeking Kidder/Colby biolgraphies,serial #/production info, adverts, etc.,etc. Send Make, Serial #, Model #,keycap colour and other known vari-ant info to A. Sellers, Box 35,Glenburnie, Ontario CANADA K0H1S0. Respondents qualify for sharedinfo, privacy respected on request.
Tips:
ROYAL STANDARD (flatbed) withbase & cover. Steve Borre, #1 LafayetteAve., Palmerton, PA 18071
FRIDEN Mod. 132 electronic calcu-lator. Neat, with small TV-type dis-play. John Cherney, 1442 E. Davis St.,Arlington Hgts., IL 60005. tel. 708-259-1115
FRIDEN automatic calculator, Model“ST”- Gilbert Malm, 1947 E. Kenwood,Dr., Maplewood, MI 55117
SMITH PREMIER 10 - fixer-upper.Lee Dodd, 1666 Dodd Rd., Niles, MI49120
SMITH PREMIER #2 - Judith Evans,192-14 Kiona Rd.,Randle, WA 98377
COMPUTER
CONNECTIONYou can now contact the editor
quickly via “E-mail” on Internet, theinternational network availablethrough many “ onli ne” servicesthroughout the world. The E-Mail ad-dress is:
If you’re a computer user and havea link to the Internet, send an E-mailmessage anytime you like. It shouldreach the editor within hours whetheryou are 7 or 7,000 miles away! If youhave your own E-mail address, pleasesend it in. This is a speedy, eff icientand low-cost way of keeping in touch.
12 / ETCetera #27 / June, 1994
InternationalNews
Germany-Histor ische BüroweltHistorische Bürowelt No. 37 appeared
in March of this year, with its newHBwaktuell bound inside. HBwaktuellis the “news” portion of IFHB’s publi-cation, and will now appear 10 times ayear, with the main magazine appear-ing now in March, June, Septemberand December (same schedule asETCetera). Aktuell is not translated,but HBw includes English summaries.
Historische Bürowelt included alengthy piece on the various models ofthe Hammond Typewriter, perhaps themost-detailed such article yet writtenon the subject. From it, we can summa-rize Hammond history with this handytimeline of the various models:
1883: No. 1 - Ideal keyboard, 2-pieceshuttle, enclosed works
1890: No. “1U” - universal keyboard,2-piece shuttle, open works
1905: No. 12 - automatic ribbonvibrator - first truly visible model
1910: Multiplex A - two shuttles oneach machine, open works
1914-16: Multiplex B - metal-coveredworks
1921: Multiplex Folding1926: Model 26 - anvil “stops” permit-
ting turns of only 180°Later machines sold under the name
VariTyper
Germany-Typenkorb & TypenhebelTypenkorb & Typenhebel with its
new Engli sh translations holds promisefor Engli sh-speaking collectors seekinga connection with their German col-leagues. Typenkorb, as we have said, isa monthly, published by PeterMuckermann. It’s available to ETC
members at $30 for the April-Dec.issues of this calendar year. A subscrip-tion flier was included in our Marchissue. If you lost it, just send a letter.Issues are bulk-mailed to Los Angelesand re-mailed from there each month,to save on the astronomical Germanpostal rates.
An interesting nugget from April’sTypenkorb was included in its auctionreport on Sotheby’s March 4 sale. AnEnigma (the infamous WWII Germancode typewriter) was sold for about$22,000! Prices for top items in ourfield certainly seem to be rising.
Hollanddeutsch Q from the Dutch collectors
group made an appearance in April(issue No. 7.4). It includes a number ofshort articles on Blickensderfer familyhistory from Bob Aubert of New Jersey.Also of interest, a lengthy piece on theFrister & Rossmann, a German-madeversion of the Caligraph machine.
PhiladelphiaTom Fitzgerald’s Typerwiter Ex-
change finally reappeared in April,1994, 14 months after its previousissue. Actually, two issues (Vol 9, Nos.2 & 3) came in the same envelope.With the mailing was a brief messagetelling readers, “Unfortunately thereare times when one must put aside thethings one does for pleasure in order toconcentrate more fully on the thingsone must do to survive.” We hopethose times, for Tom, are infrequent inthe future.
Some time ago, Tom acquired apackage of correspondence belongingto Carl Dietz, whose great collection isnow housed at the Mil waukee PublicMuseum. Among the jewels in theDietz correspondence, some letters re-garding Abner Peeler, inventor of anumber of pre-Sholes & Glidden type-writers. TypeEx tells the fascinatingstory of Peeler’s enthusiasm and ulti-mate failure. At least one and perhapsmore of his machines apparently stillexist, and we’ll hear about them infuture issues.
LettersFurther comments on Williams
lineup (ETCetera #25). “Academy” &“Junior” models were made alongsidemodels 4 &6. No doubt to cater forusers still hooked on 3-row keyboards(as in the case of Hammonds) and alsoto offer a machine with a lower pricetag. The “Academy” name was used forEuropean exports & “Junior” for U.S.sales. Some Model 2 features wereretained but keylever & typebar mecha-nism followed the No. 4 style. The topchassis posts are longer as on 4 & 6models.
Also, correction on ETCetera #24,Book Review - Old TW’s by DuncanJames. Reads - from Bernard Williams’collection Nottingham. Should be Bur-ton-on-Trent, of course.
Bernard WilliamsBurton-on-Trent, Staffs., England
[Editor’s note - we stayed the night inNottingham after visiting Bernie, his col-lection and his wife (not necessarily in thatorder) when travelli ng in England. Isuppose I lumped the whole day into the“ Nottingham” section of the memorybanks.]
At a recent flea market, I found aribbon tin marked $7 at an unattendedbooth. The dealer in the next spot was“on duty” for his neighbor and agreedto take $5. Then, though, the guy getson his walkie-talkie, and starts talkingto his absent friend. After a few min-utes, I hear, “Oh, hey, would you take$4 for the li ttle typewriter tin youhave?”
“Yeah, sure,” comes the reply.“Okay, then I’ll have to give these
people a refund,” says the man in frontof me, with a grin on his face as he pullsa $1 bill out of his pocket and gives itto me. There was nothing but silenceon the other end of the walkie-talkie.
I ’ve been to countless antiqueshows, but that was the funniest prankI’ve ever seen one dealer pull on an-other.
Ken GladstoneJacksonville, FL
This back issue of
is brought to you by
The Early Typewriter Collectors’ Association
The mission of the Early Typewriter Collectors’ Association is to support
communication and interaction within the community of typewriter lovers
and collectors, and to encourage its growth. Our magazine, ETCetera, serves
that mission by gathering and sharing knowledge about typewriter history
