Davis Typewriter Works

A Fortunate Discovery

2024-09-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

A Previously Unknown Model of Fortuna

Preface: The line of Stolzenberg-Fortuna and, later, Fortuna typewriters is practically unknown in the United States. The machines were sold primarily where they were made, in Germany, but did achieve sales around Europe and - incredibly - for a brief time in Australia. They are not by any stretch uncommon, though, with something over 60,000 or perhaps 70,000 machines having been built over a span of about 27 years. That said, the existing models are well documented among German collectors and serial numbers and features of over 90 collected examples are known. The machine you see above is a previously completely unknown, unseen model variant in the line.

Background. The Stolzenberg-Fortuna machine appeared on the market in Germany in 1923, initially as the exclusive product of Fabrik Stolzenberg, which was a major German office furniture and equipment dealer. This company previously distributed the Oliver typewriter under its own name and in fact the Stolzenberg-Fortuna machines were green. The 1923 standard machine we now describe was a thoroughly different invention, coming in fact from the same man who had designed the production version of the Mercedes typewriter, Carl Schluns. The Stolzenberg-Fortuna was not manufactured by Mercedes but in fact was produced in the factory of J. P. Sauer and Son, a gun maker whose factory was in Suhl, Germany, roughly six miles from the Mercedes Buromaschinen factory.

(Aside - I will not delve into further detail here on the history. Several months' worth of intense research by myself and collectors Thomas Furtig, Bert Kerschbaumer, Georg Someregger and others has resulted in Thomas' effort to rewrite the known history in detail, and I will not steal his thunder here.)

The established history, which derives from trade paper and advertising and which matches all known machines, is that in 1929 a "new" Fortuna IV appeared. In fact, this was a thorough refresh of the previous machine, with what we might describe best as a large number of small changes. For example, there are changes in the shape of internal castings and some of the stamped parts to make them easier to manufacture; however, the machine is essentially the same design. The major alteration was the addition of two more character keys, up from 42 to 44 and the addition of a new tabulator, which the previous machine did not have. At this time, the backspace key moved down beside the space bar to its right with the TAB key to the left of the space bar. It's important to point out clearly here that the Stolzenberg-Fortuna and Fortuna prior to this time never had advertised model numbers, were not available with any modifications, and are well documented. Further, later after the "IV" the machine changes just to model "Standard" or sometimes "ST", and again has no referenced model numbers and is only available as one model at a time. Again, for example, once the machine changed to model "Standard" a lever-set tabulator, or "setztabulator" was introduced and every machine made thereafter had it.

(One model at a time is a commonality among "lower priced" standard and even portable typewriters of the day, and is an important part of this story.)

Getting back briefly to 1929 it's necesary to note that at this time the machines became black, and that while a few continued to say "Stolzenberg-Fortuna" most of them did not. See illustration below courtesy Berthold Kerschbaumer (who provided the earlier line art seen above as well.)

Fortuna s/n 6912, Will Davis collection. The recent discovery of a green machine, which simply says "Fortuna" and which has 42 keys, and a tabulator with a different key location than the IV, has provided some behind-the-scenes surprise. Thomas Furtig, leading expert on the Fortuna line, confirms that 6912 is a previously unknown model. It does not appear in any ads, is not mentioned anywhere, and no other examples exist. Its serial number is above all known "Stolzenberg-Fortuna" machines and is below a gap after which the "Fortuna IV" serial numbers begin.

The major mechanical change on 6912 is the addition of a tabulator, not present on any other Stolzenberg-Fortuna machine and not present on any of the few green examples that just say "Fortuna" (yet another mystery.) The tabulator mechanism is functionally the same as that which was employed on the well-known IV, but the tabulator key is down to the right of the space bar and just below the right side shift key. It must be said that this location and key center spacing is not necessarily optimal.

The rest of Fortuna 6912 is the same as earlier machines; in other words, this is not the IV. It is in fact the first series, before the multiple small changes, with a tabulator added on - making it an unknown and undocumented model.

We will now attempt to answer a couple of obvious questions.

When was this made? We can narrow down at least the removal of the Stolzenberg name from the machines, at least full time, to early 1928 when records indicate Stolzenberg sold out. The first advertising we have for the IV comes in early 1929; this seems to tell us that this machine could have been made for much of 1928. However, there are almost no ads for the Fortuna at all during 1928 which to this writer hints at reduced availability or even unavailability, perhaps as the Sauer and Son factory was retooling to produce the revised and altered IV. It must be said that this machine was not at any time being produced at anywhere near the monthly or yearly rate of most standard machines; it looks like in the first five or so years of production only about six thousand Stolzenberg-Fortunas were made.

We can look at a pair of interesting advertisements from German newspapers next.

The upper advertisement above ran in Der Naturforscher in August 1927 and shows the Stolzenberg-Fortuna in what we would consider its normal early form. I hasten to add that the cut was never altered to show the two color ribbon selector that appeared during production, but the ad does not mention a tabulator on the typewriter. The lower ad ran in Der Deutsche Rundfunk in October 1928. This is clearly a Stolzenberg ad but it lists three brands available - Fortuna, Mercedes and Oliver. We can be comfortable that as of this date the name "Stolzenberg" is no longer appearing on all the machines being turned out of the Sauer and Son plant. Unfortunately, no image of a machine in 1928 advertising seems yet to have been found. Is this early 1928 to early 1929 slot the period in which the green "Fortuna," serial 6912 was made? From all evidence we have, that answer seems to be "yes."

What is this machine? Given the appearance of this example, and the fact that it has a conventionally stamped serial number and no other identifying stamps or characters or numbers either by the serial or anywhere else, this is not a prototype. The machine is completely finished in full retail condition and appears as a production example. This means it can really only be one of two things:

-A production machine previously unknown. This seems to be the better, or more historically responsible, choice given that we do not wish to over-ascribe rarity to a new find. The lack of advertising for a longish period means that we can assume nothing about what was actually being offered, even if through reduced channels and at a potentially lower rate. It is interesting however in light of these considerations that not one single other one of these is known to exist.

-A test article released to the public. Manufacturers often produce preproduction examples to be used in regular service in order to obtain feedback from end users, and also in order to disclose weaknesses in a design (or combination of designs) prior to incorporation of major changes to a product on the open market. There is a chance, given the total lack of any reference to this variant anywhere, that this machine is part of a batch manufactured to test the tabulator in service prior to a full revision of the machine that resulted in the well-known IV. These would not have been advertised as a new model, prior to proving out the new mechanism.

Whichever it is, it's extremely exciting as I approach 25 years of collecting typewriters next month to still be finding previously unknown models in the wild. Other collectors are still finding yet more unseen machines, and this wonderful hobby proves it still has many surprises in store.

As to the Fortuna machines - as I wrote earlier, these are practically unknown over here but these machines are VERY common in Germany. While I won't give away what my friend is working on regarding the detailed history, there is some fascinating engineering in these machines that is really duplicated nowhere else that I am aware of and that'll be shared in another post at a later date; you'll find out why these were advertised as the "German Speed Typewriter." For now, we can just enjoy this new member of the still-growing pantheon of antique machines.

-Will Davis, Sept 21, 2024

George Baker and the Typewriter Business

2024-07-07T03:59:00.000-07:00

George Baker started out in typewriters in 1932 and stuck with the business - his war service aside - until retirement in 2006. My father and I were lucky to interview Mr. Baker on the final day his business was open, as he was having a total clearance sale. We ended up with a few items that he knew we'd appreciate - one being his treasured Royal Line Book. But the stories and memories were the important part of the day.

The story really begins with George Baker's father, who had already taken one run at typewriters years before, servicing local machines as an independent mechanic. That adventure had ended badly when the elder Baker's partner suddenly absconded to Canada with all of the machines; Baker started over by doing something else.

After a series of factory and foundry jobs, the elder Baker decided to have another run at typewriters because he knew he could do it; asking his son, George, to come along in the venture gave him both an extra pair of hands and an apprentice. George was right out of high school and given the job market at the peak of the Great Depression, agreed to join with his father.

The Bakers began by approaching businesses in town and asking if they had maintenance or repair contracts for their typewriters; they also offered to refurbish machines that were overly worn out. The Bakers soon had customers and decided to rent part of a home in Elyria for $15 a month in order to operate their business out of it. The Bakers carried typewriters by hand in those early days from businesses to their rented space for work. "I remember sitting on the porch of that house many days and nights," George Baker told us, "scrubbing many small parts with a brush, some gasoline, and my bare hands."

Baker explained to us how meticulously his father taught him all aspects of the business, which of course turned out to be as much about people as it did machines. Paramount was selling the customers on the service they would receive, and then building relationships that would last. "He taught me how to deal with customers as people, and people as customers" Baker quipped.

The father and son duo did well - perhaps, better than even they had suspected. They decided to take the next step, and looked for a typewriter manufacturer who would allow them to obtain a dealer license in Elyria. There was a bit of fear that the Cleveland dealers might object, but they did not; the result finally in 1934 was that the Bakers launched a dealership with Royal Typewriter Company.

The timing could not have been better. Royal, according to Baker's own words, "had just changed their number 10 machine to the segment shift which was much lighter and easier than before." Although they didn't know it at the time, this was the final puzzle piece that would allow Royal to overtake Underwood as the #1 selling standard typewriter in the United States.

According to Baker, the segment shift 10 did a lot to sell itself, although you had to bring one along with you on sales calls. "You could sell the Royal as opposed to an Underwood with the heavier carriage shift if you just let the secretary or typist try it out and you would say 'see how easy that is' and that look on her face with the boss watching would usually do the trick," he told us - somewhat proudly.

(Aside: Baker is one of two long time Ohio dealers who have told us separately that in their experience the Royal No. 10 is the finest standard typewriter ever made anywhere and was unbeatable in office durability as well as ease of adjustment and repair.)

Baker continued on comparison sales. "Now, the L. C. Smith already had the basket shift from way back, but at that time they still hadn't started using the segment yet - still had separate type bar bearings. So, you could take a Smith that was kind of worn out and type on it erratically and if you knew how to do it, you could get it to print all over the place ... and then you type off a page on the Royal you're demonstrating, and everything's in line and of course the boss just goes right for that." With this, Baker did slyly remark to us as I recall that it was important to figure out who in the office actually had the most influence on what typewriters to buy - it could be a senior secretary and not the office manager, for example. However they did it, using their acumen or whether it was just the attributes of the new Royal, the Baker Typewriter Company began to take off.

Baker at one point paused and thoughtfully said to us "then there was Woodstock. They were always around, somehow, but they never seemed to be a factor in anything." He then went right on talking about sales.

Baker Typewriter moved several times after than until obtaining a proper storefront in 1940. When war broke out, the younger Baker didn't get drafted and initially didn't enlist, he told us. Offhand remarks and looks began among the townspeople and Baker's father told him that he'd better enlist right away if he wanted to really make it in the business coming home after the war. That's just what George did; originally he was billeted to an office machine job (he'd let them know what he could do with typewriters) but Baker changed over completely to armor. That's right- tanks. In fact, George Baker the typewriter man became a decorated veteran serving in the famous 749th Tank Battalion, serving everywhere in Europe from Normandy to the Ardennes Forest and the Battle of the Bulge. The 749th also drove in on the very final assault into Nazi Germany, right to the end. Baker did in fact return home a hero.

Rapid changes happened again for George, as he took over the typewriter business from his father upon returning - and then, his father passed away soon after. The business was doing so well that George began to become somewhat of a local business magnate; he invested in the Baker Building in 1955 and moved his business into it in 1966; the building is seen in the photo opening this article.

Another change occurred for Baker in 1966. Baker told us that he had become increasingly displeased not with Royal's standard machines, but with the portables both domestic and imported which seemed to be continuously dropping in quality and which he felt just weren't competitive. Baker made the decision to change affiliations to Olympia; he's seen above with an Olympia keyboard chart from that time period. Change or no, Baker Typewriter had become the biggest dealer in Lorain County, and also held a number of large school contracts for office and typing education machines.

Baker continued on through the years of electric and then electronic machines, of course having to branch out into other kinds of office equipment to keep going. Business steadily declined however, and in 2006 Baker finally decided to retire.

George Baker preferred to recall the good old days instead of the decline. "I remember carrying two typewriters in each hand, with my hands and fingers just so (he showed us) and I could get them from offices to the shop and back that way. Later of course I could only carry one on each arm, and later of course less!" he joked. He also recalled how his father had taught him the true art of sales. "My father taught me never to oversell the machine, or services, but to deal with the customer honestly and squarely. When the customer asked a question like 'how much is it then for the one with the wide carriage' or some other such thing you had just described, you just stopped talking right there because the sale was already made."

For many years, George Baker's life was simply full of typewriters and the office business. While we've found many men who worked in the trade and treated it as just another job, it was clear to us as we finally shook hands and said goodbye (late enough in the evening that Baker's wife was almost late for an appointment) that Baker really loved the business - every minute of it, and every aspect of it - and indeed liked remembering the good times as the best of goodbyes.

Another classic article from willdavis dot org. Originally published 2006; full rewrite 2024.

A New Look at the Barr Typewriter

2024-06-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

A New Look at the Barr Typewriter

Will Davis / June 2024

Preface: I first published my comprehensive article on the Barr and its variants almost 20 years ago. Since then, it's held up pretty well - but two things have caused me to revise and republish it. First, the site it was published on is essentially defunct and closed. Second, I've been able to acquire many more research resources since then and I can much more accurately delineate changes in the history, both to the machine and to corporate entities. I hope you enjoy this near-total revision and rewrite which includes many illustrations from the original piece.

Background. John H. Barr, already a well known mechanical engineer generally and, specifically, in the typewriter field, left Remington Typewriter in 1923 to launch a firm of his own. Barr joined forces with Morse Chain Company in Ithaca, New York and the Barr-Morse Corporation was formed in that year. Barr had been involved with a number of significant machines for the Remington (Union) sphere including the large Smith Premier 10 full keyboard visible and the original Remington portable.

Barr applied for patents covering a wholly different concept of typewriter design and manufacture in 1925; this machine would be built to the size and cost of the largest portables then on the market or planned but was to be designed so as to be made from stampings of sheet stock and extruded wire as much as possible, in order to simplify assembly and repair. This was in sharp contrast to the complicated and expensive-to-build Remington portables of the day. Further, the machine would incorporate segment shift for the first time in a large four bank portable.

Market Introduction. We can now, through the availability of advertising, be certain that the Barr Typewriter was introduced to the market in the last quarter of 1927. The following advertisement appeared in the Typewriter Trade Journal in October, 1927; advertisements in New York papers appeared soon after.

"The Correspondence Machine for Office and Home' and the clever slogan "Small Enough to Carry Off, Sturdy Enough to Carry On" directly imply the intent of the makers that the Barr Typewriter was suitable for serious use.

Early Model. When introduced to the market, only one model - the Barr Typewriter - was available. Richard Polt let us on to the fact years ago that a repair manual in his collection (which is now online) told of numerous, but small, changes in the machines at serial number 2000; we also have here a typewriter trade-in listing from 1930 that mentions Barr portables' trade value with a differentiation between pre-serial-2000 and post-serial-2000 machines. Price of the machine as introduced was given as $65 but some were offered at an "introductory price" of $45.

Above, Barr Typewriter serial 1258 from the Chuck Dilts / Rich Cincotta collection. Very few machines from prior to the design revisions at serial number 2000 exist today, and from an operability standpoint there is no difference in the machines before and after the break.

From the Herman and Connie Price collection comes this wonderful green Barr, serial 2099.

From my collection is this red Barr, serial 2521. This machine is complete and operable and has its original brown carrying case.

Barr Typewriter - Description. The Barr incorporates a full-size keyboard with shift keys both sides, and a shift lock only on the right; the lock is depressed by itself only to achieve a locked shift. The lock is released by the right-side shift key. This typewriter incorporates what Barr referred to as "perpendicular key action" which later in the industry would be more generally known as "parallel key action," in which the key top remains parallel to the tabletop when depressed. Similar key action (although with totally different mechanism) appeared on the Smith Premier standards as well as others before the Barr and appeared on the large portable L.C. Smith & Corona that would hit the market a few years later. This key motion is thought by many to make a machine easy to use for a wider range of typists of varied strength and speed. Shift on this typewriter, affecting the segment, is rapid, light and positive. The machine has a solid feel and is capable of considerable speed.

One unusual feature on these machines is the "Paragraph and Indent Device" applied to the rear of the carriage; this takes the place of a conventional tabulator and incorporates the margin stops as well as tabulator or indent stops.

Above, detail from the patent granted to Walter Barnard for the paragraph indent and tabulator device applied to Barr typewriters. Below is the device as seen on Barr Typewriter serial 2521.

Operation of the device is simple; normally it simply operates as the margin rack, and the outer stops serve as the margin stops. The different inner stops come into play when the lever seen at the top left of the photos is operated; in conjunction with the margin release, the carriage motion will be arrested at each intermediate stop on the rack. Margin release operates normally via a key to the left of the keyboard proper. While clever and simple, this device was probably not competitive.

This illustration from material in the Dilts/Cincotta collection proves that a wide carriage Barr was available; this had ten tabulator stops and included the same device as seen above on s/n 2521. Price of this wide carriage version was $80.

February 1929 advertisement shows the unusual "Typelyte" (also seen as "Type Lite") attachment, none of which is known to be in any collection with a Barr Typewriter.

In April 1929 it was announced that Morse Chain had been bought out by Borg-Warner; some of the side or smaller businesses that Morse was engaged in were not purchased by the outside firm but instead were sold directly either to Frank L. Morse himself or designated persons as a part of the whole package deal. Barr-Morse Corporation was not included in the sale to Borg-Warner and came under the control of Frank Morse and John Barr; our best information tells us that production was continued as-is in the Morse factory complex on top of South Hill in Ithaca, New York.

Split into Two Models. Somewhere between serial numbers 4133 and 8871, and in all probability in early 1930, the company decided to split production into two different models. In any case, the split occurred prior to July 1930. The original model effectively continued as the Barr Universal, while a stripped down model was launched as the Barr Special. A facsimile letter in the collection of Peter Weil tells us that in July 1930 the retail price of the Barr Special was $50 while the dealer cost for the machine was $30. Similarly, the Barr Universal retailed at $65 while dealer cost was $39.

Available data - which is incomplete - seems to show that for a time the Universal may have retained the Barnard-designed paragraph device on the rear of the carriage, but soon enough a conventional tabulator operated by a key on the keyboard was designed and included.

This green Barr Special comes to us from the Herman and Connie Price collection and is serial number P17857. It is unusual in that the paint is crinkle finish. The Special lacked the ribbon selector, variable line spacer and left-hand carriage release that the Universal had and also had no tabulator of any sort.

From the photo library and collection of the late Tilman Elster we have this illustration of a later Barr Special, serial number C3P548. Look carefully and you will notice that the shift lock key has moved down to above the right-side shift key, from its former position abreast the third row of keys. This is because the machine had been redesigned slightly by this point to incorporate a key operated tabulator in the Universal version, which of course is omitted on the Special. See next photo for clarification.

Barr Universal serial number B4U926 comes to us also from the Tilman Elster collection; the tabulator key is visible above the shift lock on the right side of the keyboard, as is the ribbon selector switch on the top cover.

Production in Canada. Unfortunately, an error has crept into the popular history of the Barr - it is written in places that production in the US ended in 1934 and was sent to Canada. In fact, the origin of this error appears to be the catalog that was written in 1965 to accompany the Carl P. Dietz collection of typewriters (now housed at the Milwaukee Public Museum). This is not the case; the facts are, briefly, as follows.

In 1933 Canadian press reported that architects in Montreal had been contracted to find a site for and design a $175,000 factory for the US based Barr-Morse Corporation in order to start production in Canada and for export to the British Empire from there. This did not occur; what did happen seems to be that space was rented in the Montreal factory of Northern Electric Company. A Canadian corporation, titled Barr-Morse Company Ltd. was incorporated in Montreal in July 1933 with a capitalization of $50,000 to launch the Canadian effort. However, there is simply no indication at all that production was moved to Canada or, in other words, ended in the US. There MAY have been a lull in production or a slowdown due to the general economy, but as we will shortly see, production in Canada was a parallel, not a move.

Close inspection of the front frame of Tilman Elster's Barr Special, serial F1P591 will reveal the name "Barr Morse Company Ltd" and the fact that this machine was made in Canada. These are very hard to find today.

Barr Typewriter Corporation, NY NY and Weedsport, NY. The intervening years between 1934 and 1937 do not yield much news of the Barr; it seems clear today that the machine never really took off, with the effort remaining alive but "at the back of the pack" as could be said of Woodstock Typewriter Company in the field of standard typewriters. Barr himself sold out his interest in the company somewhere between '34 and '36, and the company was bought out by interests from New York in April 1937.

A report in the Ithaca Journal, printed on May 11, 1937, detailed the fact that the new Barr Typewriter Corporation had purchased "the existing parts of the former Barr Typewriter," and rented from Morse the plant space used formerly by Barr-Morse in order to complete the assembly of machines in the process of being made. Contracts were also put out for fabrication of parts needed to complete these typewriters. A brief effort was made to find a place to relocate in Ithaca, but the move to Weedsport New York was shortly announced. Offices for the new firm were established remotely, at 33 East 33rd Street in New York City.

(Aside: It is from the above report coming out of Ithaca in 1937 that we can be convinced that production of the typewriters was not in whole moved to Canada in 1934.)

I was fortunate to contact Ezio Leonardi years ago, whose father, Salvatore Leonardi, took part in operating the factory for Barr in Weedsport. Leonardi had been associated with the first effort in Ithaca and he and several other men moved along with the operation to Weedsport. Leonardi in fact owned his own plating equipment and leased it to the new corporation. According to Ezio Leonardi, the elder Leonardi had related that production of the typewriters ended either in 1939 or 1940.

This remarkable 1939 letter shared to us from the Don and Carolyn Hoke Collection details the apparent fact that the new company continued with two models - a Model 21 that had ribbon selector, and a Model 40 that was single color. Note also that the old slogan of the company has been replaced with "You can use a Barr wherever you are." Mechanics will want to pay attention to the remark about the hardening of the type bars near their base as regards adjustments.

Weedsport machines shown.

From the late Tilman Elster's collection we see Barr (model 21) serial number 40339. This is a very high serial number; Weedsport machines, no matter what label they carry, run roughly from serial number 37000 to serial numbers in the 40000 range. This is the equivalent of the old Universal model. Note the change to black keytops, found on most or all Weedsport-manufactured Barr-designed machines.

A truly rare variant is this "Standard Model Mercury" portable, actually again a Weedsport built Barr with serial 40155 and also from the collection of Tilman Elster. It's not known to this writer just who was behind this labeling, but Royal was marketing a version of its portable as the Mercury at this time as well - which may explain why few of these exist.

From my collection comes this Macy's Portable No. 1, serial number 39840. This labeling variant is probably the most commonly found Weedsport Barr. This machine is fully operable, and I have typed on it extensively. It is one of the most pleasant machines in my collection for use. As with all Barr machines, it incorporates a snappy, accelerating type-bar action and it responds well to a firm, fast typing technique.

The back of my machine, serial 39840 clearly displays the name of the final corporation and the place of manufacture. Remember, this is a Macy's Portable No. 1 and yet it still clearly states on the rear the original manufacturer.

Variations. Most Barr-Morse machines are in smooth paint and have white keytops, and most Weedsport machines are in crinkle finish paint and have black keytops. However, documented factory exceptions to all of these are known. In addition, there are at least a few machines made after the model split in 1930 which do not state on the machines themselves the model. For example, one machine is known that is clearly the stripped Barr Special with no ribbon switch, but the machine carries "Barr Typewriter" labeling as had the single-model machines prior.

Advertising Materials. We will conclude our new look at the Barr with some illustrations of advertising materials that appeared on the original article from 2005 and additions to it through 2008.

Barr Special folder, Dilts/Cincotta collection.

Early Barr Typewriter flyer detail, Dilts/Cincotta collection.

Ink blotter, Barr Typewriter, Peter Weil collection.

This article is a complete revision from my original Portable Typewriter Reference Site linked from willdavis.org and should be considered a replacement. I hope you've enjoyed it!

Annie L. and the Annell

2022-02-21T18:22:00.000-08:00

The Annell typewriter (perhaps, properly written as Annell') has remained an enigma for collectors of antique machines for many years. Serial numbers of surviving machines tell us that not more than about a thousand of these were built; advertisements tell us that the machine was only on the market for about a year, meaning that sales must have been incredibly slow.

Physical examination of Will's Annell years ago (available in detail on our YouTube channel) revealed that the Annell is in fact a new frame, top deck and carriage assembly into which were inserted Woodstock Typewriter Company components that match up with known models No. 3, No. 4 and even No. 5. Oddly, the trade papers of the day stated that the Annell was "the Woodstock No. 4" (paraphrase) sold by mail order but the important thing to note here is that the No. 4 was off the market for years before the Annell appeared.

A new and startling discovery has been made; the Annell Typewriter Company's incorporating Chairman was none other than Richard W. Sears II, then Chairman of the Woodstock Typewriter Company. As to the name of the machine;

Thus, "Annell" was a spoken contraction of "Annie L." The firm was incorporated out of a bank in Chicago, although its headquarters were later moved to Ohio Street in Chicago. The above cut of text comes from the 1922 edition of Business Equipment Topics; evidence of incorporation comes from Moody's and other sources published at the time.

We continue to research machines that we've covered before in order to determine how the thousands of documents uploaded to the net daily might help us; what's still totally unclear is why Woodstock would attempt this mail-order-only effort with a machine priced essentially the same as the normal Woodstock. The desire to clear out a backlog of No. 3 and No. 4 parts seems a tempting assumption, but in point of fact the date of release of the Annell makes that seem a stretch. Unscrupulous though it would have been it seems far more likely that the Annell actually contained traded-in No. 3 and No. 4 parts placed in a new frame so as to legally constitute a "brand new machine," but the details presently available are insufficient for proof.

Collectors and researchers are sure to continue to find the Annell fascinating, and hopefully once in a while we'll now refer to this machine as the "Annie L"!

Quite an Investment

2019-10-08T09:26:00.001-07:00

I bought the post card you see below recently, and looking at it for a few moments got me thinking.

What we're seeing here is a pre-World War One view of the Entry Department of the headquarters of Sears, Roebuck and Company in Chicago. This is where order blanks filled out by customers are transcribed using typewriters onto forms that go to the merchandise departments' pickers.

Now, what's interesting here is really two things: First, we can see that all the typewriters in view are Olivers. That's probably not surprising given the qualities of the Oliver - visible, indestructible. Second, there could be as many as four hundred of them in just this room alone. That's a LOT of typewriters.

Not too many years later, we'd have a view in any of the Sears working rooms more like that below.

This second view comes from the front page of a Harris Visible Typewriters trade catalog, and it shows a room full of Harris Visible No. 4 machines in the early variant; some nearer us have carriage attachments. Look at the caption, though - "..nearly one thousand are in constant service throughout our plant." That's a WHOLE LOT of typewriters .. and, frankly, a pretty enormous investment in machinery. In fact, Sears stated in this trade catalog that it had entirely re-equipped using the Harris and that it had sold off all other makes formerly used in its offices. (Sears sold them direct by mail, as "used.")

De Witt C. Harris (shown above for the first time and which photo comes from Harris letterhead in my collection) and his brother Benjamin Harris were District Sales Managers for Remington Typewriter Company when in 1908 they decided to take up an offer from Sears, Roebuck to design a typewriter ostensibly for sale through its catalog. As with the Burnett, Sears would buy the entire output of the factory (at least initially.)

In November 1912, after several years of development, the Harris was put into production in the form seen below, with solid keytops like those on an Oliver and other contemporary makes, and at that time Sears began to replace the typewriters in its various offices and plants with the Harris as rapidly as possible.

Harris Visible No. 4, serial 13680, Will Davis collection. This typewriter is in bad shape, but it retains its original solid (one piece) keytops. There is evidence to suggest that Harris and later Rex were rebuilding their machines, and so a number of very early machines were refitted with ring style keytops later. Note that an operator of an Oliver would have little trouble changing right over to a Harris Visible - both were three bank, double shift visible typewriters.

Here's what got me thinking about that post card I first showed. At the time that these Olivers were purchased, they were still solidly $100 typewriters; this was years before Oliver got rid of its big branch offices and went to mail order at roughly half price. On the other hand, the Harris Visible initially retailed at $39.80, although within a short time it had to be increased to $44.50 as the earlier price was too low (the Harris concern in fact was forced to reorganize).

So if we make an assumption that roughly 1000 Olivers (or any other big make) were replaced by 1000 Harris Visibles, we arrive at an interesting conclusion: Sears, Roebuck and Company saved itself a vast amount of money in changing over to the Harris. The cost of 1000 Olivers at retail at that time would, naturally, have been $100,000; the cost of 1000 Harris Visibles would have been $39800 to $44500 .. that is, IF the Harris machines were obtained by Sears for its own use at a retail price. It's likely they were not, initially at least; the cost would thus have been lower if true. So, Sears Roebuck cut its machinery investment down to roughly 40% of what it would have been had it reequipped with name brand $100 machines.

In today's money, $100,000 (in 1912) would be $2.6 MILLION. And, $44500 would be about $1.2 million. The actual savings to the company, which quite simply had to have that many typewriters in operation in order to do its work, was absolutely tremendous. Which brings up a question: Did Sears actually intend this when it opened up its offer for typewriters? Did the company realize that a potentially large saving was possible if it not only sold, but used, a "cut rate" yet high quality machine in its own offices?

It's impossible to say for sure because we have nothing to tell us either way. However, it's also impossible to imagine that SOMEONE at Sears didn't grasp the magnitude of investment in machinery that Sears had just in typewriters alone, and it's not a stretch to at least consider the possibility that cutting its own costs was something Sears wanted to do all along as far as its own offices were concerned. And again - we don't know this, but it sure is enough money to make you think twice about the real possibility that savings for itself was in Sears' play book all along.

But in reality, it's just a post card and these are just musings.

Early (left) and main production (right) Harris Visible No. 4 machines. Davis Bros. collection.

OCT 8 2019 WILL DAVIS

Sometimes You Forget - Commodore 2000

2018-03-13T10:09:00.001-07:00

While looking around in the vault for Consul machines to show in the previous post I happened into the ABC - Cole Steel area and spotted two similar cases. One of them I knew right off, but the other one, which was identical except for being a different color, was not familiar. Yet another machine I'd forgotten about? Yes.

The one whose exterior I recognized is shown first. This is the Sears Chevron of the late 60's and it's one of the machines Sears brought in as a mid-priced machine. This all-steel-bodied and well made typewriter was made by MESSA in Portugal, and derives from the ABC series made originally in Germany until 1966. In Sears model parlance, this is a Sears 5298. But what was in the other case?

Here's the answer: A Commodore 2000, which I almost immediately remembered after opening up the gray case lid. I quickly tried to remember how long I'd had it, but.. nothing. Notable on the front left corner of the machine though was the sticker seen below.

This machine was not made in Portugal; it was made in Germany! That makes it pretty unusual, since this design didn't last long there. I was immediately glad to have one of the newer style machines made in Germany to compliment the Sears Chevron.

The earliest of the ABC line of typewriters had the general appearance of the "Hammertone Green" machine seen above, relabeled for sale by Cole Steel Office Machines in the United States. This design was apparently expensive enough to make that the original maker in Germany redesigned the key lever / type bar portion of the machine while leaving most of the rest intact; the resulting redesign is seen above as the Commodore 2000 and, when moved to Portugal, the Sears Chevron. The redesign converts the front end of the machine to the modern 'four dowel' method of key lever mounting, with the ribbon bail driven off the top of the cranks formed by the key levers.

The redesign apparently did not kill off the original basic design however, which was shifted to a plastic body and sold at a lower price. This Sears 5297 actually has a significantly higher serial number than the Chevron / 5298 seen earlier, and of course was also made in Portugal. To be clear, the machine seen here retains the same key lever mechanism as the original ABC (Cole Steel). It's possible the company was simply using up stocks of parts to construct this late model.

Anyway, the Commodore 2000 is one of the more unusual machines Jack Tramiel's Commodore Business Machines brought into Canada in the days before it became well-known as a computer manufacturer. In this case the machines were made in Germany (by the original maker of the ABC line, Koch's Adlernahmaschinenwerke, Bielefeld) unlike the Consul-derived machines which arrived in pieces and which Commodore itself assembled.

These two - the Chevron and the 2000, whose fit and finish are identically good - are much better typewriters than their flattish appearance might let on. While they're not as sturdy as larger more upright models they're everything that the contemporary Princess machine is in terms of quality and almost are in terms of typing feel. They're solid and unlikely to get out of order; this variation is a definite improvement on the earlier ABC style with the early, different key lever mechanism.

I was reminded that this isn't the only old-style Commodore machine I had; there was also a Patria family machine somewhere down there to be found. I eventually found it.

This is a Spanish-made machine, with labeling applied for Commodore (part of which has long ago broken off; I got it this way.) These Patria family machines were more often seen as the Amaya overseas and, in a later plastic bodied variant, the Florida here in the United States. As with the German made machine this machine was wholly manufactured by its OEM originator and shipped complete to Commodore for distribution.

Commodore registered its name for use on typewriters in 1964, although it stated in that filing that the first use of the name in commerce occurred in September 1959. According to Tramiel's obituary in The Guardian, he formed the first version of Commodore in 1952 using a $25,000 GI loan; this was a shop in the Bronx, New York (actually the result of the buyout of a local shop, Singer Typewriter). Tramiel moved and opened Commodore International Ltd. (later, Commodore Business Machines) in Toronto, Canada in 1955, according to the obit, "to import and sell typewriters." According to Tramiel himself, there wasn't profit to be had solely in typewriter repair, but there was considerable profit in importing foreign made typewriters and selling them. Soon, Tramiel found himself with a license to construct the Czech Consul typewriters and a big contract from Sears, Roebuck (Simpson's-Sears) in Canada. Tramiel is quoted in that interview as saying that the actual application of the name Commodore to its typewriters didn't occur until 1958.

While it's the Consul machines that get mentioned most often by Tramiel in interviews, it's clear that the company was bringing in other makes to sell directly. The company even brought in Remington standard machines which I've seen, carrying the same semi-script Commodore label. As to the Commodore 2000, that model wasn't in production very long before manufacturing was shifted to Portugal, making it a solidly mid-60's machine.

It's always nice to head into your collection and discover something you'd forgotten about, especially when it triggers another look at a history you'd written once before (the first Commodore pages appeared on my original site well over a decade ago). Since downsizing considerably over the last several years I haven't had much opportunity for that to happen, but it still can today.

Consuls Continue

2018-03-07T11:04:00.002-08:00

When looking back at having had typewriter-related pages on the internet for 18 years this month I'm reminded of the early days of going out to second hand shops, antique stores and antique malls, consignment shops, garage sales and flea markets looking for typewriters. One brand that we had in bunches here in Ohio that seems harder to find elsewhere is the Czech-made Consul. These sold quite well here; perhaps it's not as big a mystery why as one might think, considering the very wide Czech-origin immigrant background we have here. (They've provided us not just with great typewriters to collect, but great food as well!)

First off we see a machine labeled President - a name surely applied to give the machine better appeal here in the states - and which is dated to 1958 by the case label sometimes but not always found stuck either in the center of the lid or centered on the base under the typewriter. This early series of Consul portables was a straight development from the Zeta portable, which probably explains the ZP prefix that the serial numbers of such machines have. This example is serial ZP-111888.

These segment-shifted machines were pretty well made, but these early ones just are not as tight and refined as major makes their size from their day. Still, they're good machines and it's pretty clear that just like Japan would do with automobiles the Czech firm of Zbrojovka Brno, who made the Consul machines, was taking feedback and improving design and assembly all the time.

The machine above is of the same lineage, but is missing its front label. It's a safe bet that the machine at one time said "Consul" on the front as we'll see on others later but there's also the chance it had some American-sounding name for sale here. This example is serial ZP-121555, is dated to 1959 by its case label and actually came with tools and its instruction book. The machine also had its rubber carriage knob caps that serve as the carriage immobilization - one can be seen on the left of the machine in the case base. Interestingly, neither the cover illustration nor the interior diagram in this machine's manual matches this typewriter. We'll briefly see those below.

Here we see two illustrations found on the instruction book for ZP-121555 from 1959. The upper illustration is close to the machine but has two fewer character keys, while the interior diagram illustration is the more deluxe model with rounded lines. Clearly, the product lineup was in a state of change and development.

What's known officially as the Consul 1511 comes next in our stroll through the Consuls.

Consul 1511 serial ZP-157225 is seen here; this machine has a case label dating it to 1959. This design has a lever-set tabulator and automatic margin setting like many Royals and others. Compared to the previous machines, these are deluxe models and are good running machines.

Consul 1511 serial ZP-164862 (label date also 1959) is not different from the previous machine. Note that the "Consul" name label on both of these deluxe models is chromed.

This machine is a Consul Silent, with serial number ZP-185678. There's no case label, but this machine might be from 1960. There's nothing special or different about this machine to make it any quieter than any other; the model name is thus probably simple marketing. What is unusual is that this is the only machine I've got in the old, square body style that has smooth enamel paint on it, which is a sort of strange beige. The others are all crinkled.

These models above were all found locally; the local supply also yielded a much later Consul portable, seen below.

The Consul 221.1 seen here is an excellent typewriter, and any real typist encountering one of these in any kind of good shape should buy it. These are solid, well made and pretty fast. This machine is serial number 0 221 115301.

The portables seen above - sometimes thought of or referred to as "upright" or "desk model" portables - were not the only portables ZB manufactured. The company also introduced an extremely widely sold and successful line of flat portables, some of which we'll see below.

This is a Consul 1531, the earliest of the flat Consul portables which was introduced around 1959 or 1960. This machine is serial 031133364. The "031" on the front of the serial refers to the model.

A similar machine stripped of its mask components reveals the simplicity of the flat Consul machines. Key levers are mounted on four dowels that themselves are held in a 'dowel plate' at the front of the machine, and act simply as cranks pulling the intermediate link (a wire) and then the type bar itself. Simple stampings make up the frame. This basic construction feature was shifted over to more and more by manufacturers around the world in an attempt to get manufacturing costs down. All Silver-Seiko flat machines, all Nakajima manual machines, the Olivetti Lettera 32 and all derivatives thereof use a form of this design of key lever mounting - as do a number of others.

A variety of machines was developed from the flat 1531 including those seen here, which we'll briefly take a look at individually.

Consul model 232, serial 5 232 291108

Consul model 232, serial 5 232 298786

Consul model 233, serial 3 233 009437

The Consul 1531 was directly replaced, it appears, by the 232, but the 233 was added later. This machine, as we can see, had a different body, two more keys, a lever set tabulator and different keytops. However, the mechanical concept of the machine was essentially the same.

Above we see a relabeled Consul 233. This machine carries the name "Baldwin," and is serial number 6 233 040454. It's suspected but not confirmed that this machine was sold by Bundy Typewriter in Philadelphia, who was known to sell and service both the Czech Consul line and the Bulgarian-made Maritsa line.

Concerning the flat machines and identification - it seems that the single digit out in front of the serial is a year reference; the next three digits are the model number, followed then by a serial. This holds true for other subvariants of the flat line, not shown here.

On the rear of the Consul 233 we can see the distinctive Zbrojovka Brno emblem - a capital Z in the center of a rifled gun barrel. This is because the firm was originally an arms manufacturer; it got involved with making Remington machines before the Second World War under license. However, the segment shifted big portables and flat portables seen on this page were developed independent of Remington and are unlike any of that company's designs. In fact, it seems likely that the Czech large portable was the first segment-shifted big portable to be sold in numbers that was made in Europe.

Zbrojovka Brno sold the rights and tooling for typewriters to a company known as RVHP in 1977 at the time when nationalized industry was privatized; that company lasted making Consul machines until about 1988. My records show that a new firm, REMAGG, relaunched Consul production in 1992 but, as might be expected, that company quit typewriters (and office equipment) in 1998.

So much for our little walk down Consul memory lane. You used to be able to find lots of these here in Ohio - I passed on quite a number back in the old days. I could have had double or more of these, but I left them for the next person. Who knows where they all went ... but for sure, there are many more out there, somewhere, waiting to appear from attics, basements and barns. Even today!

ZP-121555 and ZP-111888

A Royal Safari at Eighteen Years on the Net

2018-03-05T11:48:00.001-08:00

Folks, I put up my very first typewriter-related web page eighteen years ago this month. The purpose of that early site - which started on AOL Hometown and then was supplemented by GeoCities - was to identify the myriad of portable typewriters found out in the wild which had no source for identification. There were no sites, no lists; no databases. No books of use. Nothing. No "serious" collectors had any interest in any modern portables at all. I was essentially alone, but after I got started and people in the collecting world became certain I was serious, a number jumped on board. Eventually those original sites expanded to cover not just world-wide portables (many shown and identified there for the first time anywhere) on the Portable Typewriter Reference Site, but also early visible standards and hundreds of European machines of all sorts. The original set of sites, with some Bravehost pages added, was well over 220 separate pages on various subsections at the peak. Many collectors eventually helped out; many are still friends today. Sadly, a number of critical people from those early days are no longer with us - but are well remembered.

Looking back on those early days when every portable interested me isn't too different from now - they still do. Since it's been 18 years of this hobby and thus 18 years of friendships, co-authoring, contention, work, and fun all wrapped up I thought I might put up a few posts that hark back to the early days, showing some of the sorts of things that initially intrigued me. Here's one such sort of thing - the relative zoo of Royal portables labeled "Safari."

A ROYAL SAFARI - of sorts

The Royal Safari was introduced about 1962 - at least, the version seen here which is likely to be that variant most frequently brought to mind when the model name is mentioned. This variant was produced at Royal's still-new plant for manufacturing portable typewriters in Springfield, Missouri. These machines (that is to say, this basic mechanical design no matter the small changes or model name) were well made and very widely sold, keeping Royal at the forefront of the field.

Royal itself, however, was not to continue for very long in its original form. The company, which properly had been merged into the new Royal-McBee Corporation in 1954, was bought and merged by Litton Industries - a giant conglomerate corporation. The merger took place on February 28, 1965, marking the beginning of what would become a huge office machine organization.

An interesting change took place almost immediately; the company began bringing Silver-Seiko manual portables into the US and selling them under its name. The next year, 1966, Litton bought Imperial Typewriter Co. in England; in 1968 it bought Triumph-Adler (which already owned Grundig, who was producing the Tippa portable.) The firm has also bought adding machine manufacturer Monroe in 1967.

Rationalization of production was not long in coming, and in 1969 Royal closed its Springfield portable typewriter plant. Imperial's plant closed in 1974.

During this time the trend of selling imported typewriters was growing in every market, and typewriters were becoming more and more international than they'd ever been before. The first "Safari" that Royal sold which wasn't really a Royal came from Portugal - where it had transferred the machinery to make the original "1962" Royal Safari.

At left we see one of those Portuguese-made Royal Safari machines, in a nostalgic shot from my old website. These machines were very heavily encased in plastic, with a fair amount of space between the body shell (mask, officially) and the machine itself. What this machine actually was had no relation to the former-US made Royals, but in fact was the last development of the old West German ABC machine from the mid-1950's whose production had also been transferred to Portugal - specifically, to MESSA S.A.R.L.

The Royal Safari was a fairly close copy of the abc2000s which is seen below in a very recent shot. This was also sold as the Imperial Safari; the Litton versions are all-plastic but the abc version has considerably more metal used in the body and lid. Rarely, the Safari can be found in green.

Following the years of Litton ownership (which ended in 1979 when Volkswagen bought TA-Royal) a few other machines were brought in and sold as the "Safari" - but with Roman numerals added. These are seen and briefly discussed below.

The typewriter above is a Royal Safari II. This machine, it will be noted, does not bear the Litton Industries "Li" emblem anywhere and postdates that firm's involvement with Royal. The Safari II was manufactured by Nakajima in Japan, and is a late model whose primary key lever mount is completely enshrouded, preventing fouling. The rounded, downward curved margin set tabs are always a giveaway for a Nakajima (although there are some Nakajimas out there that don't use this design, mostly electrics.) This carriage shifted machine is a pretty solid runner, and capable of decent speed.

Above we see the Royal Safari III. This machine was manufactured in South Korea by Dong Ah Precision, the second of two Korean typewriter manufacturers (the other being K-Mek, which made the Clover.) Interestingly both Korean makers were building clones of Silver-Seiko machines; the Clover was a copy of the very common small Silver-Seiko, while this Safari III was a version of the much larger and different Silver-Seiko machine that is also much less commonly seen. So far as this writer is concerned this is a very good to excellent typewriter; the response is smooth and solid, and the machine could be used comfortably by people with a wide range of typing competence and style.

This slightly improbable machine, the Royal Safari IV, is by far the hardest to find of the bunch and, frankly, the worst. This is another version of the small Silver-Seiko machine, but this time manufactured in Bulgaria by Typewriters Works Plovdiv. This machine is analogous to the Maritsa 30 (original name) and the Omega 30 (the name commonly used for export to the US.) The Safari IV and an Omega 30 are seen below. All examples of the 30-series Bulgarian machine suffer from poor gluing of the label plates, and these have often been found to be missing on these machines. As an aside, the same machine can be found with a TA-Royal label.

In 1986, Olivetti bought TA-Royal, ending any further potential variations like those above and seeing the Royal name instead applied to other designs.

What you're seeing me calmly go through above, rattling off models and makers took years to develop, research and prove. The internet wasn't what it is now in those days, and there was precious little help. (Those who DID help know who they are!) Advertisements, trademarks, patents and, most importantly, international collectors who could provide pieces to the many puzzles were all necessary to properly write the history of so many varied brands. And we're still discovering things, still finding new information and updating old - it likely will never end. And that, my friends, gives me hope for another 18 years or more in this wonderful hobby!

Typewriter Type - Making Type Slugs

2018-03-01T10:13:00.000-08:00

Some recent questions have come up in online communities surrounding the manufacture of type for typewriters. We have a few answers.

First, I'd suggest reading this piece that covers typewriter type terminology. That's a mouthful, but it's important to have everyone understand and use the same terms in order to communicate.

Now, a bit of history....

Type slug from Harris Visible No. 4.

TYPEWRITER TYPE SOURCES

For much of the history of manufacturing typewriters in the United States, it appears as if all the big manufacturers actually made their own type in either their own plants or plants captive to them. The companies began to employ special designers as time went on to develop more and more interesting kinds of type styles to be offered, but still kept all of the manufacturing in house.

It was not until after the Second World War that US manufacturers began heavily to purchase type manufactured elsewhere for application to typewriters otherwise wholly built in the United States. The earliest known example of this was when, in 1955, R. C. Allen began to apply type imported from Germany which had been made by Ransmayer and Rodrian, Berlin. From that time on, other US makers began to employ foreign made type in some or other quantity; of course, many also began to import to the US portable (and later standard) typewriters made overseas which were themselves, naturally, fitted with foreign-made type.

MANUFACTURING OF TYPE

PRINT - The Magazine of the Graphic Arts - included in its Typewriter Type issue (June, 1952) a description of the manufacture of type slugs at the Remington-Rand plant in Elmira, New York. In order to avoid plagiarism we will simply describe the process in our own words.

According to PRINT, typewriter type was originally cast (or 'moulded') as had been done with the type used in printing presses. However, this process by itself didn't produce a type face that could withstand years of hard use. We don't have a good handle on the exact date that it occurred but according to PRINT, makers changed over to die forging soft slugs which were then hardened to withstand the abuse of hard service.

The material used for the slugs in the example given in PRINT was "soft, low carbon steel" which was received at the plant in 20 foot lengths and then cut into slugs. Actually, the slugs were cut and stamped at the same time with "wings" or tabs that were then folded to form the slot on the back of the slug that would match up with the type bar after the slug was fully complete.

Next, the slug was placed into a press which contained a die that had sunk into its face the desired type style. Pressing the die against the slug with 11 tons of force caused the slug to conform to the die and produced the raised "type face" or lettering that would eventually make the impression on a completed typewriter; the actual mechanical action of this special machine was not just direct pressure but also a rolling or, as described, a "kneading" action in order to ensure complete formation of the raised characters. Flash or excess from the die molding process was trimmed at this time.

At this point the type slug looks complete but is far too soft for actual service. Use of a soft material allowed easier cutting and forming, but a series of hardening steps was now required to prepare the type slugs for millions of impacts in actual service. The first step was immersion in a bath of cyanide at 1600 F; following removal from this bath the slugs were quenched. These steps hardened the slugs. Next, when cool, the slugs were lowered into a cadmium plating bath that was intended to provide the proper hardening specifically on the type face (the characters, that is) itself. Each was inspected after having been removed from the plating.

Of course, the final destination for type slugs is application to the type bars of a machine, and this was normally accomplished by soldering the pin and slot type connection formed by the slot on the type slug and the end of the type bar. However, there were other types of connections on some machines, such as pin and loop.

Alignment of the type slug was critical in every direction and dimension, and companies developed various jigs and procedures to ensure the type slugs were applied properly. Some sort of alignment check was of course also required after the machine was assembled, and at that point the manufacturing life of the type slug is completed when the adjuster/inspector signs off on the machine and a signed or stamped type proof sheet is produced. (These can sometimes be found with a typewriter; they were often shipped with the machine new.)

It should be added that some rebuilders applied new type to machines as a matter of habit, in order to restore the machine to fully like-new characteristics. These companies then had to at least have the ability to get slugs from the OEM and then also the ability to properly apply, align and inspect the slugs / machine thereafter.

Type slugs can be removed and resoldered; the most common reason for that these days is looseness or breakage but an increasing interest is being seen in converting QWERTY machines to QWERTZ or back, particularly for enthusiasts acquiring machines not regularly sold in their home countries. For example, an American collector might acquire a QWERTZ Princess portable if he or she was fairly confident a local shop could swap two type slugs and two keytops to convert the machine to English QWERTY layout. Naturally, other conversions are possible such as AZERTY, and so forth.

We hope this brief description has been of some assistance to collectors, historians and even those vaguely contemplating making new parts or machines. The type (and type bars) are of course a critical part of a typewriter and require a very high degree of precision. According to Beeching:

"There are approximately forty-two operations in the manufacture of each type bar alone. From this it can be deduced that typewriter production is a manufacturing nightmare. It is quite true to say that today, with any given quantity of capital, manufacturing capacity and skill, almost anything is more profitable to manufacture than a typewriter." (Wilfred A. Beeching, "Century of the Typewriter.")

When Beeching originally wrote that in 1973 (in the first edition) he certainly was correct, although it must be pointed out that people did still need typewriters and that good ones would sell. Today, we might consider 3D printing as a possible or less expensive way to manufacture type slugs but the questions of accuracy and hardness would need serious investigation with this new method. In fact, the type slugs might be the most questionable part of all if 3D printing were considered for new use.

Brother's Full Size Portable: The JP-3

2018-02-27T11:14:00.001-08:00

(This series of machine first appeared on Will's portable typewriter websites over fifteen years ago, and a detailed article on the large Brother portables appeared under both of our names in the December 2012 issue - Issue #100 - of ETCetera, which is available here. This article puts the large Brother machine in perspective, and describes variants likely to be found in the field.)

THE SHORT-LIVED BROTHER "FULL SIZE" PORTABLE

Although Brother (a sewing machine manufacturer located in Nagoya, Japan) began investigating the manufacture of portable typewriters as early as 1954, it was not until 1961 that the company brought its first model to market. This was a fairly small carriage shifted model, well made and sold at a very competitive price.

This initial entry into the typewriter market was brought about through inquiry by Western Auto, whose Western Auto Department Stores were already selling sewing machines manufactured by Brother. Western Auto began selling these machines under its "Wizard" brand name; two are shown here for interest.

Wizard Truetype, manufactured 1963 (JP-1)

Wizard Tru-Tab, manufactured 1968 (JP-1)

While sales of this model, known internally as the JP-1, provided the basis for Brother's entry, the company broadened its range by adding two further models to the market in 1965 which were related to each other. These were the electro-mechanical JP-2 and the fully manual JP-3 models. While the electric model did not sell well (as judged by surviving numbers and advertisements) the manual machine did somewhat better... although it still did not last more than perhaps seven or eight years in production.

JP-3 SERIES AND DESIGN

The new machine differed considerably from the earlier model. It was much larger, incorporated segment shift instead of carriage shift, and incorporated parallel key action like the 5 and 6 series Smith-Corona portables, the East German ERIKA, and the small East German GROMA machine in the flat category. The price of the machine at retail however was noticeably lower than the big Smith-Corona and Royal portables, giving the machine a niche. In the United States, the JP-3 was sold most widely by department store / catalog retailer Montgomery-Ward, and it is that store's brand which appears on the very early machine seen next.

The machine seen above is a 1965 Montgomery-Ward Signature 510. The JP-3 is immediately identifiable by the combination of the blocky, squarish keytops and the three-button ribbon selector to the right of the keyboard. The tab set-clear rocker to the left of the keyboard is notable, as is the high speed paper feed lever on the right end of the carriage. This machine does not have a paper bail; Brother considered its new setup on this machine to be its "Advanced Paper Handling System" which did not require a bail. Probably to meet competitive standard or critique, a bail did appear on many variants soon after production began.

With the top cover removed, another immediately obvious characteristic of the JP-3 series is seen here; the type bar springs connected to a spring rack that runs across the front of the machine, above the multi-link key lever mechanisms and which provides return pressure for the key levers and type bars. The typing action on these machines is stiffer than on others of the same general size with similar action (Smith-Corona, Erika) but is very pleasant. These machines are comfortably fast to run with the touch regulator set high.

Above is the serial number plate from the rear of the Signature 510. Note that in Brother fashion the first digit of the serial is the last digit of the year of manufacture. However, Montgomery-Ward machines incorporate the year of manufacture reversed in front of the serial. Look at the labeling "56 - SER. NO." and you will note that the digits for 1965 are there, reversed, as "56." The actual stock / catalog model number of the machine is also seen - EBK 8130A.

For collectors, typists and historians there are two general variations on this line that may be of interest. Namely, these machines were available at times with wider than normal carriages, and with interchangeable type elements. We will examine these separately.

WIDE CARRIAGE JP-3 VARIANT

Wide-carriage JP-3 machines are instantly recognizable because of their wider carrying cases, although it takes some exposure to the two sizes to spot one immediately in the field. Seen here is a Brother De Luxe 905, which was manufactured in 1966. Most Brother machines were, at this time, sold in the United States by department stores - and the majority of that was Montgomery-Ward and Western Auto. In 1965 the company also made a deal with Sperry-Rand Remington to relabel machines for that company, to be sold by it world-wide. A number of Brother machines were also sold by other means, such as catalogues mailed to homes (the Spiegel catalog was one.) Very few of its sales during these years were to, or through, office machine dealers. Thus, we at least know that the machine above was one of the relatively smaller subset sold some other way than by department stores.

Above, the back plate on the Brother De Luxe 905. Note that this is the earliest style of Brother serial number plate you'll find on a JP-3.

Seen next is a 1966 Montgomery-Ward Signature 513. This machine had a wider carriage than the 510 seen earlier, and added a paper bail.

The rear plate for the Signature 513 shows the same overall style as that seen on the 510, with the date encoded (simply reversed) and of course the differing specific data. At this time Ward's was issuing a common instruction manual labeled "Models 510-513" for these, not shown.

INTERCHANGEABLE TYPE JP-3 VARIANT

Earlier we used the term "element" to describe the interchangeable type on Brother JP-3 machines. This is because the machines came from the factory with a type slug fitted on a special type bar, which was to be replaced with a cylindrical rotating "type sleeve" style element known by the Brother name of "Dial-A-Type." We will see two machines here; one in original condition and one with the new element fitted.

Here we see a 1971 Montgomery-Ward Signature 510D. The "D" in the model calls out the interchangeable type feature and the red keytop is immediately noticeable in the keyboard.

The removable type slug is very easily seen here - as is the spacing of the type bar for this element in the segment, which has a considerable un-machined gap between the farthest right type bar for the replaceable element and the next one.

The owner's manual for the 510D clearly displays both the originally fitted, removable type slug and the optional Dial-A-Type element. This element literally is rotated to obtain one of several pairs of symbols or figures, and four optional elements were available as spelled out here.

Above, serial plate on the 1971 Montgomery-Ward Signature 510D. Note the changes from the earlier plates but also note retention of the curious date code in front of the number, digits reversed.

Now, we see a 1968 Brother Profile 715 which was found with the optional Dial-A-Type cylindrical type element installed. This is a fairly unusual JP-3 labeling variant.

The Dial-A-Type element installed in the Brother Profile 715 is a Mathematics element. These elements are relatively difficult to find; normally these JP-3 machines with interchangeable type are found in the field with the original type slug installed and no accompanying Dial-A-Type element - because the elements were sold separately.

Above, the rear plate on the Brother Profile 715. The new style "brother" logo seen here was first used in 1968, so this example is also notable for being first-year in that respect.

Finally, a clip from the Brother Profile 715 instruction book. Brother referred to this larger manual portable as its "Full Size Portable Typewriter," which it clearly felt it needed in order to offer a fully competitive lineup. What's also clear is that the JP-3 and its electrified near-twin the JP-2 didn't last too far into the 1970's; Brother came out with other models although the JP-1 soldiered on well into the 1980's.

Even if the big manual portable wasn't a lasting success, it did take part in a lineup that saw Brother rise from market entry in 1961 to selling over 500,000 portable typewriters per year by 1969.

Typists today would do well to look for one of these machines. They are sturdy, with the same feel of precision that the first Brother model had but these add a "small office machine" feel and parallel key action, which some typists prefer for reduction of finger strain. Their popularity continues to grow among writers which makes it somewhat unfortunate that the model didn't last longer.

(We have not shown all variants; some are just small variations of those seen here although a very new body style was introduced for JP-3 machines near the end. Those can still be identified by the JP-3 spotting features easiest to use - which namely is the combination of a three-key ribbon selector on the right with a full keyboard, full featured portable having tallish, blocky keytops.)

Information in this article comes from the Davis Bros. archives and collection, from the US Federal Trade Commission, and from Wilfred Beeching's "Century of the Typewriter."

Davis Bros. LIVE - One Night Only - Friday Sept. 22 in Ohio!

2017-09-20T07:44:00.000-07:00

This coming Friday, September 22, there will be a special one night only showing of Doug Nichols' new film documentary "California Typewriter" at Cleveland's Cedar Lee Theatre.

Following the showing (which starts at 7:15 PM) both of us, and Richard Polt (who is actually in the movie) will take part in a question and answer session at the venue. This is your chance to get a look at the new movie in its full release phase, AND get to meet and talk to Richard and to both of us.

I'm going to tell you all that we do precious few live typewriter related appearances. We restrict most of what we do in a public way to our blogs, and our YouTube channel. However as many of you know we are constantly active in the online typewriter communities - especially Facebook's "Antique Typewriter Collectors" group - we simply just don't regularly go out and about talking typewriters. So, this is a unique chance to get to see us live at some time other than Herman Price's annual typewriter-related shindig / brouhaha. That's a wonderful affair but you can't really call it "public," since few of the general public ever would come and deal with a bunch of serious typewriter nuts for several days.

If you're in northern Ohio, or are near there consider coming out! We'll be happy to see you.

Cedar Lee Theatre, Friday September 22 at 7:15 PM for the movie with Q&A afterward. Address is 2163 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights. Ohio.

Link to info and movie preview here: http://clevelandcinemas.com/movie/244275/California-Typewriter-Trailer-and-Info

"On the Margin" - a New Effort, and a New Blog!

2017-06-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

Friends,

I'm happy to announce that I've launched a project that has been in the works in one form or another for years. This is an effort to really explain and show the rebuilt typewriter business as has never been done before. This significant part of the typewriter universe "in the old days" is ignored almost wholly by the collector books that have been published, and except for my personal efforts on the net over all these years (on my own site, and later on this blog) has really been ignored on the net as well.

The amount of original information I've compiled on the business might astound you. I've launched a brand new, stand alone blog done in a new style for me in order to bring this to you. It will take a long time, but hopefully you'll enjoy it.

And don't be put off by the 'rebuilt' theme -- you'll see plenty of wonderful, classic typewriters, many really old and wonderful photos and a horde of ephemera and paperwork. You will not be disappointed if you really love old typewriters.

Here is the blog - and I hope you enjoy it. It's still very new so if you follow it now you'll really be on the ground floor.

On the Margin - A Look Back at the Rebuilt Typewriter Business

Feel free to comment and, on that blog, there is an email "contact" form you can use as well.

Oliver in Transition

2016-09-19T12:22:00.001-07:00

Although the Oliver is one of the most famous typewriters in history, the period of time during which the original Oliver Typewriter Company in the U.S. failed and during which the Oliver was re-established as a working concern in England has not been well represented in the literature or on the internet of today. This article will look into that period and the range of machines produced.

The history of the Oliver, at least so far as the early years are concerned is well documented enough to warrant only the briefest of discussions here, punctuated by vintage images from Oliver's heyday.

OLIVER IN TRANSITION

Will Davis with assistance from Thomas Furtig, Berthold Kerschbaumer, Norbert Schwarz

•Oliver through the 1920's

Oliver envelope detail c. Norbert Schwarz

In its own ca. 1908 sales brochure, the Oliver Typewriter Company indicated the year 1896 as being the one in which the Oliver began to make itself known widely in the field of typewriters. The company had launched several years prior to that date, and by 1896 its No. 2 model was making some inroads in a field that already had a number of large and well funded competitors. The virtues of the Oliver typewriter made themselves apparent, and the improved No. 3 appeared in March 1898; it was this model which exponentially took off in popularity and sales and was that which moved Oliver right to the forefront of the world's machines.

Oliver No. 3; Davis Bros. collection

Going from success to success, Oliver introduced its improved and more substantial No. 5 machine in 1907. (Even numbered machines one higher than the base machine typed more characters.)

Oliver No. 5; sales brochure, Will Davis collection

Oliver No. 5, Will Davis collection

The 1907 world of the typewriter was quite different from that in which the Oliver had first come to prominence. While the well known qualities of solid reliability, of indestructible type bars, of unexcelled manifolding power and solid alignment which the Oliver carried still had important sales potential, the "visible" quality of writing had already long since been not just equaled but surpassed by a number of machines on the market. However, the Oliver continued to sell well even against this heavy competition as the world's appetite for typewriters continued to increase.

The No. 7 Oliver appeared in 1915, followed rapidly by the No. 9 in 1916. By this time, the competition on the market was exceedingly heavy. Visible makes on the general market were dominant, as was generally the four bank single shift keyboard.

Oliver No. 9; Will Davis collection

In 1917, Oliver made a significant shift in its sales policy. The company dropped its major city branches and commissioned salesmen, and instead shifted over to sales by agents and direct to buyer. At the same time, the retail price of the No. 9 machine was dropped from $100 to $49, which placed the brand new Oliver into the same price range as the very best rebuilt standard machines. This change actually reignited sales of the Oliver, which at the time had sold over 750,000 machines, and gave the brand a new lease on life.

To finish our look at the Oliver Typewriter Company in the U.S. in the years of success, we'll feature a few vintage advertising card illustrations from the collection of Norbert Schwarz which depict the Oliver and some period "typewriters."

•Oliver 1920-1928 - The End of U.S. Operations

By the time that a brief but serious world-wide recession began in 1920, the Oliver typewriter as a product was already essentially obsolescent. Worse, thousands of customers began to default on their time payments for Oliver machines, forcing the company to repossess a large number of these machines, which then had to be disposed of (ETCetera Issue No. 6, February 1989 as written by Darryl Rehr.) In this time period Oliver would have had the choice to sell these machines as "second hand" or "rough" machines or else rebuild them itself and then market them as such. ETCetera No. 6 is not clear on the actual method of disposition of these typewriters although it is stated that they were "sold off at a loss." Interestingly, advertisements for the Typewriter Distributing Syndicate, which had not been seen in print since the cessation of Oliver's commissioned sales network, reappeared in 1922 offering "new and rebuilt" Oliver machines. Since it is this author's educated guess that this outfit was the official, controlled resale subsidiary for Oliver Typewriter Company, we may finally have our answer as to the disposition of the repossessed machines.

In the same time period Oliver's chief engineer developed a four bank, single shift standard typewriter which still incorporated the unique and familiar Oliver U-shaped type bars although moved to a position that essentially made the machine a front strike. The prototype was delivered, Rehr reported, in 1922 but was not proceeded with.

The fading market position of Oliver's machine, coupled with the losses on machines already placed in the field triggered what would become the final decline of the company. The Woodstock, Illinois Official Sesquicentennial History tells us that in October 1922 Oliver cut its work force; this is paralleled by Rehr's report in ETCetera No. 6 of a reduction in manufacturing at about this time. The company did make moves to manufacture other products; it acquired full rights to manufacture the patented Washburne valve for internal combustion engines and put them in production in June 1922, while shortly thereafter the company announced it would begin making roller skates at the plant. The cut in the work force was undoubtedly a symptom of the company's critical shortage of cash.

Moody's Manual's entry for the Oliver Typewriter Company in 1920 does not show a large amount of debt held by the company, but the company issued $750,000 worth of notes in May, 1921 (Moody's Manual, 1922.) $50,000 of these notes were due May 1, 1923 and another $50,000 in May, 1924. The annual notes due totaled $60,000 each May of 1925, 1926 and 1927; $70,000 each for 1928 and 1929. The notes due May 1930 totaled $80,000 and those due May 1931 a whopping $250,000. It must be remembered of course that the company issued these notes in the midst of the world-wide recession, which began to ease in most nations after 1921-1922. However, Oliver's weak market position and buyback / resale of machines had more than likely triggered the Board of Directors to take on this debt in order to acquire working capital. The gamble was that the company could recover, and pay off the notes.

It should be mentioned that Oliver did introduce a new model in 1922 - the Oliver 11, which was simply a further variation on its long-lived three bank design. The company oddly appears to have continued manufacturing the No. 9 and the No. 11 side by side for some time, with the No. 9 being sold at a lower price than the No. 11. Some of the debt may well have been taken on to pay for retooling to make the No. 11, or to attempt to tool up for the four bank machine, or both; the debt acquisition of May 1921 came before the introduction of the No. 11 in 1922 and over a year before the reduction of the work force.

In March 1923, the periodical "Sales Management" carried a scathing appraisal of Oliver. The magazine described the company as being "in the throes of reorganization," and noted that several of its directing officials had resigned. Rumors were said to abound - among them that the banks were taking the company over, or that the company had been bought by Felt and Tarrant, or that the company was going to come out with "a standard basket machine." The magazine declined to push any of the rumors but wrote that these events in total were "leading to the conclusion that its cut-price policy has failed." The magazine went on: "While it would hardly be fair to place all the troubles of this concern at the doorstep of its price-advertising and price-policy, its difficulties serve to emphasize a fundamental in business-building which is too often overlooked -- namely, that even the ablest management cannot make a success of a business where the appeal is to price alone."

The last advertisements for Oliver typewriters disappear in 1923, meaning that in that time the machine was essentially off the broader market in any model, new or rebuilt from the factory.

Exact details of this period are not clear; what is clear is that reporting by Darryl Rehr in ETCetera No. 6, which includes information provided by the last actual Oliver plant employee, tells us that the company had laid off all of its plant employees either by, or in, 1926. According to ETCetera No. 6, the company assembled remaining parts into typewriters and disposed of them; this may explain why Butler Bros. was offering "brand new" Oliver No. 9 machines in its 1927 catalog at a price of $45.

The Woodstock Sesquicentennial History tells us that in March 1927, the Chamber of Commerce of Woodstock (the city in which the Oliver factory was located) was approached by an unnamed adding machine manufacturer, who wished to acquire the Oliver plant and place the Oliver typewriter back into production; the acquisition would include the Oliver patents. (This author suspects that the company in question was probably Burroughs.) Nothing came of this proposal. By July of that year a local paper described the Oliver plant as "old and vacant," as recounted in the History.

The same source tells us that in February 1928 the Oliver company asked that the Oliver plant be connected to the municipal electric power supply, in order that the property be more attractive for sale. Oliver had previously operated its own power plant. Finally, on February 13, 1928 it was reported by a local paper (again as recounted in the History) that the Oliver plant was sold to Alemite Die Casting and Manufacturing Company of Chicago.

We now know that Oliver was liquidated in its entirety; the 1938 Robert D. Fisher Manual of Worthless and Valuable Securities reported that the company had declared a final liquidating dividend of 35 cents per share, and that stock was to be presented to the Harris Trust & Savings Bank. This manual does not give the date of liquidation, but the sale of the plant and other information we will see soon tells us that in all likelihood the liquidation of assets occurred in very late 1927 and early 1928. This then marks the end of the Oliver Typewriter Company in the United States.

•The British Oliver is Born

The Oliver Typewriter Manufacturing Company Ltd. was registered in Great Britain as a corporation in 1928; it was formed by investors who sought to place the Oliver typewriter, more or less as it had existed in the United States, into production in Europe. This may seem an odd choice, but some perspective lends clarity.

In the 1920's, the currency exchange rates had more or less made American made typewriters impossibly expensive for most of Europe's buyers. This situation led to the rapid growth of typewriter industry in Europe, particularly in Germany during this time (where American typewriters were eventually banned for import). The Oliver had always been popular everywhere, and it certainly could have been argued that the Oliver, manufactured in Europe and sold in Europe, would be a viable commercial product at that time. There is also no doubt that the Oliver name carried weight and had value on the market in and of itself, and rights to it could be valuable.

Records show that the trademark for the name "Oliver" for typewriters and parts was transferred to the new firm, which often referred to itself as "British Oliver," and of course we know that the tooling to make the machines was transferred there as well. A spare parts catalog in this writer's collection also shows us that the British company either was making or could supply spare parts for the Oliver models back through the No. 9 model -- it had most likely acquired the spare parts stock from the defunct US firm. All this together means that, in all probability, the entire rights, patents, tools, trademarks and good will for same were sold by the original Oliver Typewriter Company in the US to the new Oliver Typewriter Manufacturing Co. Ltd. as part of the liquidation of the former in 1928.

The catalog also tells us, interestingly, that the new firm had made the decision to refer to the parts for all 84 character machines as "L series" and 96 character machines as "R" series. The buyer is warned to carefully select between L prefix and R prefix parts to ensure having the correct part. Even whole frames for the No. 9 / No. 10 / No. 11 / No. 12 were available from the company.

The Oliver Typewriter Manufacturing Company introduced to the trade its No. 15 and No. 16 machines in 1928, with the higher model typing 96 instead of 84 characters but being otherwise identical.

Above, the front of an advertising folder for The British Oliver, in the Will Davis collection and not previously shown on the net. The folder covers the No. 15 and No. 16 models.

Three carriage widths are shown in the brochure interior, namely the Foolscap, the Brief, and the Policy. A number of actual carriage widths was available on either the No. 15 or No. 16.

Further information on the Oliver is found in another part of the folder; click all photos to enlarge.

Above is Oliver No. 15, serial number CL-6613 from the Thomas Furtig collection. Notable is the paper table, which carries the decal "The British Oliver." In most respects the machine is not different in any major portion to the No. 11 made previously in the United States.

Oliver No. 16 serial 16 OA 458 is seen above, from the Berthold Kerschbaumer collection. The model 16 differs from the 15 in typing more characters; this particular example also has its entire keyboard comprised of ringed keytops, whereas the previously seen No. 15 has character keys with solid keytops (as on Olivers of old) but shift and control keys of ringed type.

Serial number records tell us that the new machines sold fairly poorly; the record for the No. 15 shows only a bracket of 1000 machines per year. The machines of this original Oliver style were taken off the market in 1933, at the height of the Depression. What we now know is that by that time, a number of other arrangements had been made for Oliver to distribute different and more modern machines.

•Oliver Portable Introduced

In late 1931, portable typewriters carrying the name "Oliver" appeared both in Europe and in the United States. Georg Sommeregger has undertaken some intensive research on these machines; what we present here is written in view of his findings but tailored to the evidence we have at hand.

Oliver Portable from I-T-E flyer, Will Davis collection

The Oliver portables appear to this writer to have been made in two places at once, at least for some period of time. The exact origin of the mechanical design is not clear, but no typewriter appears on the market less than several years after it is conceived. It is thus entirely possible that the Oliver Portable was in the design process by someone, either in the United States or elsewhere, at the time of the liquidation of the Oliver concern in the United States. This is not to explicitly state that the machine was being designed by, or at, Oliver in the USA prior to the company's failure, but this cannot be ruled out.

One of the makers of the Oliver machines was Fortuna Buromaschinen GmbH, Berlin, Germany. This company had emerged from the old Stolzenberg-Fortuna typewriter business wherein the machines had been made by an arms manufacturer in previous years. Stolzenberg had oddly enough been the distributor for Oliver machines "in the old days."

Fortuna portable illustration c. Norbert Schwarz

1931 Fortuna ad c. Berthold Kerschbaumer

The other maker of the Oliver portables was located in Italy. The exact nature of this operation is not yet clear; what is clear is that an Oliver Typewriter (Italy) Ltd. was registered as a corporation in 1930 in that nation, according to the Register of Defunct Companies. This only lasted until April 1932 when it was voluntarily liquidated. However, the supply of Oliver portables known to have been made in Italy continued (although in other newer body styles,) so that the logical assumption is that the known maker of those machines, S.I.M. (Societa Industriale Meccanica) grew out of the failure of the Italian Oliver concern.

The Oliver portables seem to have been sold more widely in Europe than in the United States, although they were certainly available here. We will examine some European examples first from the collections of Thomas Furtig and Berthold Kerschbaumer.

Oliver Portable serial 3793 Z, c Thomas Furtig

The style of Oliver portable seen above is that first introduced; the labeling on the front "The Oliver" is the earliest, introduced at the beginning but simplified later. This machine carries on its front frame the decal "Oliver Typewriter Co. (Sales) Ltd.," which is different from the Oliver Typewriter Manufacturing Company. There is no record of this specific corporation, but in the United States an Oliver Typewriter Sales Co. Inc. was registered in 1922 and was completely out of business by 1933, according to the Robert Fisher Manual of Worthless and Valuable Securities (1938 edition.) The relation of either of these 'sales' firms to the manufacturing firms is not clear but what is clear is that this particular typewriter carries the 'sales' company name and not a manufacturer name. It seems likely that the 'sales' firms were directly linked but separated in order to reduce investment risk.

Oliver portable serial 69505 c Thomas Furtig

Fortuna portable serial 69774 c Thomas Furtig

Oliver portable serial 69890 c Berthold Kerschbaumer

The two Oliver portables above are quite close in serial number; however, the black machine pictured second does not have a ribbon selector switch. The Fortuna machine is between the two depicted Olivers in serial number. We'll continue in serial number order with our look - the varied paint colors and finishes found on this range of machines is especially noteworthy, as the Oliver portables are not generally discussed when collectors speak of colorful 1920's and 1930's portables.

Oliver portable serial 82157 c Thomas Furtig

Junior portable serial 82926 c Berthold Kerschbaumer

Oliver portable serial 82974 c Thomas Furtig

Oliver portable serial 83631 c Thomas Furtig

Reviewing the above machines, it's significant to note that the flat black Oliver serial 69890 and the Junior, serial 82926 are perfectly identical other than the name. These two are unlike the other machines in not having a ribbon selector switch. The "Junior" name is clearly in the Oliver style - note the broken letter "o" in "Junior."

Somewhere between the 80,000 and 90,000 serial numbers, new body styles began to appear. These seem to have been mixed, so that the name Oliver appears after this time on several styles. The single sheet flyer seen below was found in a cache of 1930's Oliver advertising material; it is undated but it clearly shows one of the new body styles -- probably, the first of the new styles. The new body style machines are Italian-made.

Oliver portable flyer, Will Davis collection

Oliver portable serial 90024 c Berthold Kerschbaumer

Oliver portable serial 104567 c Thomas Furtig

Oliver portable serial 112257 c Thomas Furtig

Oliver portable serial 112554 c Thomas Furtig

Oliver portable serial 119630 c Thomas Furtig

The beautiful finish and unusual color of the example above, serial 119630, should be called out as a particular exception. Note that all of the typewriters from 90,000 and up shown above differ both either in body styles or in other mechanical details.

Considerable confusion over this line of portables still exists - for example, machines of the earliest form also appear in Europe carrying the name "Europa." This is almost certainly not a product of Europa Schreibmaschinen, who were selling under the name "Olympia," but rather a renaming of either the Fortuna or the Oliver (Italy) / S.I.M. portable. Europa Buromaschinen had already brought out its own design of portable in 1931, unlike the machines seen here.

These portables, by the listings featured at the Typewriter Serial Number Database site, were apparently manufactured straight through the Second World War and to 1947. In 1948, a new model Oliver Portable, made in England and a different design, appeared to replace these machines.

•The Oliver Portable in the United States

The Oliver portable machines are not often found in the United States, but we now know thanks to a flyer acquired by this writer that they were sold here only through International Typewriter Exchange, a major typewriter rebuilder that also for a number of years did sell brand new portable typewriters of all makes through its mail order typewriter catalogues.

I-T-E Oliver flyer, Will Davis collection.

The publication date on this piece is November 1931, and it's clearly stated that International Typewriter Exchange is the sole U.S.A. distributor. Six colors were offered: Blue, Olive Green, Mahogany, Black, Maroon and Roman Gold. The cash price for the machine was $49.90 or the machine could be bought on time for $2.00 down and $4.00 per month until the total term price of $54,90 was paid. At some point the brochure itself was hand marked to show price reductions down to $44.90 cash and $49.90 on time payments.

This piece definitely plays on the original Oliver history - noting that there were over a million Oliver machines sold, and that the Oliver name had a thirty year plus reputation in the field. What is never written once is that the machines were imported; their place of manufacture is never stated.

The 1932 International Typewriter Exchange catalog did not feature the Oliver portable in its center section along with other new portables, but did include a separate advertisement for them as well as the venerable Corona folding machine on the back of the order blank. Detail from that separate sheet is seen below.

1932 I-T-E order blank detail, Will Davis collection

It must be pointed out here that this writer has not seen the "No. 4" model assigned to the Oliver portable anywhere but in this advertisement. This is certainly a labeling applied for the convenience of the seller (I-T-E) and not something coming from the factory; however, it is certainly possible that persons buying or discussing the machine after having seen this material could have called this machine the Oliver No. 4. Thus, although the chance of encountering this labeling or any reference to it elsewhere is slight, collectors and researchers should take note of this distinction.

The Oliver portable disappeared from the International Typewriter Exchange catalog and ads prior to 1938. In all likelihood it disappeared fairly shortly after it appeared, and may have only been sold here for a couple of years. This writer is aware of no other advertising for the Oliver portables in the United States other than the materials shown above for the first time.

•The Oliver - Fortuna Mystery

It has been written by Beeching in his "Century of the Typewriter" that when production of the Oliver three bank standard machine ended, the the German made Fortuna was brought in and sold, and that this was a four bank machine idential to the Fortuna IV seen below. Several are today in the hands of collectors.

•Oliver No. 20

The evidence seems to show us that the Oliver No. 15 and No. 16 were being sold in small numbers by Oliver alongside both imported Fortuna standard and portable machines made outside Great Britain. This arrangement only lasted until 1935 when Oliver began manufacturing a licensed version of the Halda-Norden machine which, according to Beeching, had only as recently as 1929 appeared on the market in its then-present form. Again, when the No. 20 was introduced, the No. 15 and No. 16 of the old style were dropped.

Oliver No. 20 folder, Will Davis collection

Above, front of a sales folder for the Oliver No. 20 in my collection. At once the appeal to modernity is seen, as the machine is touted as "An ultra modern four bank" typewriter. The machine is also advertised as "British throughout," as an attempt to erase any notion that the product wasn't domestic.

Will Davis collection

Mechanical details of the Oliver No. 20 (actually, Halda-Norden) are seen in the interior of the advertising piece. Notable was the segment shift, with rigid arrangement that made alignment of the shift, or the stroke of the shift, impossible to get out of order. On the right, the accelerating type bar action of the machine is illustrated. Each of the numbered positions labeled next to the stroke of the keys corresponds to a position of the actual type bar as it moves to the platen. Degrees of travel marked on the arc of the type bar travel are actually degrees moved since the last position. Note that in the final 25 percent of key travel the type bar actually moves about half of its total travel.

The Oliver No. 20 was of course available with wide carriages. The machine was also available with two different numbers of characters typed, but without changing model as with the previous Oliver machines of the three bank type.

Oliver No. 20 directions, Will Davis collection

Oliver No. 20 parts diagram, Will Davis collection

Oliver No. 20 serial 321093 c Thomas Furtig

Oliver No. 20 serial 477457 c Thomas Furtig

Collectors should note that the first of the two Oliver No. 20 machines seen here is in a green shade typical of Oliver machines of old; also, the instruction manual cover attempts to duplicate this shade.

The Spink & Beeching copy of the OMEF serial number guide in this writer's collection shows production of the No. 20 Oliver right straight through until 1949, even with production being carried on during the Second World War.

FRANZ PEHMER

We close this look at the transition of Oliver from the United States to Europe, and the transition from three bank "original" design to conventional four bank front strike machines with a photo of a beautiful Oliver portable in Franz Pehmer's collection, sent our way by Bert Kerschbaumer. It's my hope that collectors will begin to seek out these Oliver portables, and recognize that there may be far more things out there carrying the name Oliver than just the original three bank standard machine. Thanks to my friends, again (Thomas, Bert, Norbert) for the assistance on illustrating this article! (9/19/2016) -- Will Davis.

MERRITT

2016-09-10T17:21:00.003-07:00

We now bring about a "first" at any of our typewriter web pages, or blogs, in the roughly 16 years that I've been writing about typewriters on the internet. That "first" is the presentation of an index typewriter on one of my pages.

How I came by the intriguing Merritt is a longish story, but a happy one. Suffice to say a collector to collector trade was made, and I found myself proudly in possession of a very interesting little device. And, apparently, from what was written about the machine during the period in which it was being sold and later (while off the market but still in recent memory) the machine was a highly workable and useful device. It was also sold at a considerably low price compared to the big makes; my regular fascination with "low price" or "cut rate" typewriters then only adds to the interest. So, let's take a look at this machine and try to imagine a time when such a typewriter really was a viable product and was competitive on the market. Hopefully after we're through here, you'll see it that way, as I do!

MERRITT

The machine you see above is the Merritt Typewriter; my example is serial number 4653. This interesting little typewriter was put on the market in 1889, which simply for comparison's sake is the same time give or take that the Smith Premier appeared to challenge that juggernaut of the early typewriter industry, the Remington. However, while the Smith Premier was a large, heavy and sturdy machine priced near the same $100 for which the Remington sold, the Merritt was priced at only $15 in its most basic version (the upgrades generally being the case style) and was of course of vastly different construction.

The Merritt shipped in its box was advertised as comprising a package no larger than 12-1/4 inches long, 6 inches wide and 5-1/4 inches high. Shipping weight was 6-3/4 pounds. I can tell you right now that the Merritt (which in my example has a nice dovetailed wooden case lid which clips onto the base) is a small and light thing to carry around. In a word - it's portable.

This machine was invented by C. E. and Mortimer G. Merritt (Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia: A New Edition, Vol. 8, 1895) and was manufactured by the Merritt Mfg. Co., Springfield, Mass. The Merritt Mfg. Company was incorporated March 4, 1888 in New York.

A confusing fact about this typewriter is that another manufacturing company, namely Lyon Manufacturing Co., Fifth Avenue, New York became the sole distributing agent for this typewriter for the world - this appears to have led to belief that Lyon was making the typewriter. However, the evidence clearly points to Merritt having made the machines throughout the production run and in fact a business directory from England printed in 1902 tells us that the last known entity making the Merritt was the Densmore Typewriter Company, Springfield, Mass. The reality of what happened to the Merritt Mfg. Company is actually more interesting.

On March 29, 1893, the now well-known Union Typewriter Company, often referred to in literature of the day and later as "the Typewriter Trust," was formed. The purpose of this company was to buy up the stock of typewriter manufacturers (with whom agreements had already been made) so as to be able to effectively control the market. In a Fitch's Listing Statements of the New York Stock Exchange dated 1919, we discover that Union Typewriter acquired all of the properties of the Merritt Mfg. Co., which had (according to this listing) a capitalization of $30,000 and which "had manufactured the Densmore typewriter." The listing for Densmore Typewriter Company describes that firm as simply the seller of the Densmore typewriters, not their maker. We can now with certainty say that the Merritt Mfg. Co. became a part of Union Typewriter, and it's very possible that this had an adverse effect on continued sales of the inexpensive Merritt.

As early as 1893 M. G. Merritt himself was actively promoting the Densmore typewriter at trade fairs (The Stenographer, Vol. 5, 1893.)

The Merritt may have actually been manufactured through 1896, as advertisements through this date (in England, at least) exist. Advertisements in the United States for the Merritt seem to cut off around 1892; the only explanation for this is that after that latter date the Merritt was only for export. Pitman's Journal wrote in 1891 that "The Merritt typewriter is being largely exported to Denmark, Germany, France, Spain and Austria. Machines fitted with the necessary accent marks and special types for these languages can be obtained in London." What's clear is that by the time of 1902 or so, persons were placing classified ads looking for Merritt typewriters -- a good hint they were off the market, and as we know likely had been for some time. It is this author's suspicion given the revelation that Merritt became part of the Union typewriter trust that the machine was pulled after the creation of Union, the arrangements for which began in 1892 in advance of the actual Union incorporation date.

According to Peter Weil, no official serial number record exists for these machines, making exact dating impossible by serial; nothing ephemerous in terms of a dated sales receipt even exists which could tie a serial number to a date. This is not to say that there is not significant literature on these machines -- there is, but it was written long ago. Luckily for us, today, we have access to much of it.

The Merritt in Contemporary Literature.

It's unfortunate but we must immediately discount that normally useful volume written on the history of the typewriter in 1923 by Typewriter Topics, as the historical entry for the Merritt is itself incorrect in absolutely every respect except for the statement of the price. Wide quotation of this material has apparently tainted many accounts written since.

We can however look back at the wonderful 1909 book written by G. C. Mares, "The History of the Typewriter - Successor to the Pen," which has a good if brief entry on the Merritt. Mares opened his entry on this machine by writing "This is a very stately, very ingenious, and thoroughly workable little instrument." Mares described the operation of the machine (which we shall describe shortly) and noted that the carriage "appears to have been suggested by a much more elaborate machine." He finished his entry by writing the following:

"In many ways the Merritt is the very best of the index machines."

Indeed, it has been written more than once that, of the various index style typewriters placed on the market, the Merritt was the best. It should be remembered that these days of the 1890's saw an enormous range of typewriter designs, operative elements, sizes and prices as what we might call "the typewriter marketplace" sought to examine the furthest commercially viable extents, in either direction, of complexity and price. It was to the lower groups of price that the index typewriters generally belonged, and these were of course generally nowhere near as quick in producing text as were the large, elaborate keyboard machines. There seemed to be little point in producing a relatively high priced index machine; however as the lowest workable price range was approached the index typewriter was at first attractive as a manufacturing prospect and then at the very lowest price all that could be manufactured.

On consideration of the above, and knowing that Mares himself had operated most of the many dozens of typewriters described in his book, we find that Mares' statement on the Merritt being "the very best" index typewriter carries special weight.

Index typewriters seem historically to have been, for some, that range of machine which introduced mechanical writing. While writing by machine was becoming first known and then accepted in contemporary literature it was still yet well out of reach of most people and even most companies - at least, if the use of the well advertised Remington and competitive machines was considered. The index machines were not only far less complicated but tremendously less expensive; they provided a lower entry point to typewriting.

This process is brought to light most clearly in a passage printed by Pitman's Journal in 1903. In that passage, material from another contemporary magazine named "Advertising" is reproduced which mentions the Merritt in a favorable light:

"When the Remington typewriter was the only machine on the English market-- it had a practical monopoly for some years, and has reaped, and reaps today, considerable advantages from the fact -- the first form taken by competition was the invention of several cheap and light machines, designed to imitate, at a low price, some of the characteristics of the big twenty-guinea Remington machine. The Merritt typewriter, at three guineas, was one of the most successful. It wrote just as well as a Remington, and duplicated, if anything, better, as it had no ribbons, The only fault about it was that it was very much slower than the Remington machine. For many people it constituted an effective alternative. But neither this nor any other of the cheap typewriters ever did the business of the Remington company any harm. On the contrary, they did good, because the British public at that time knew very little about typewriters, and the cheap machines served as educators. People tried them, became accustomed to typewriter work, wanted something better, and eventually purchased Remingtons."

Perhaps we can do no better than this passage in characterizing the Merritt. By these accounts (and others) the Merritt was a fully operable, and useful machine which definitely produced quality work at a cost only 15% of that of a standard typewriter. Still, as we know, all index machines were made obsolete eventually by a variety of competitive pressures (eventually including rebuilt standard machines which were available at far less than those machines' original prices.)

The Merritt in Operation.

The Merritt is operated with both hands, although some contemporaneous accounts ("Modern Mechanism, 1892 and subsequent editions) are in error as they describe the Merritt as a 'one-hand machine.' The indexing handle (on the example above, long ago lost or broken and replaced with a curved metal extension) is moved left to right until it is above the desired character for printing. If a capital letter or figure is desired, the left hand is used to depress the appropriate key seen at the left front of the machine, and this key is depressed first followed by operation of the indexing handle. Once the indexing handle is above the proper character or figure, it is moved downward and printing takes place. For spaces between words, a space key is provided at the left outside of the machine. The carriage is forced along as the machine prints, and is returned by hand. A single platen knob at the right of the machine is used to effect all line spacing.

Above, we see the Merritt with the carriage in printing or normal position and then with the carriage raised. The Merritt is technically an index typewriter, but it is also technically an upstrike or blind writer machine. Running through the center of the machine is a trough; in that is another trough carrying 78 individual types. When one of these is at the print point, action of the indexing handle shoves the type up through an alignment hole and to the paper. The type are inked by two rollers; the Merritt is a direct inking machine.

In the photo above, the print point is clearly labeled at center; the type can be made out running left to right inside the machine. The spacing bail is at the left side only, and is actuated when the machine prints; the SPACE key is attached directly to this bail. The printing bail runs across the front, and it is this bail which is depressed by the indexing handle. When the bail is depressed it pushes on the tang that can be seen at the middle of the machine (sort of straight in from the letter R in this view) which then pushes the type up to the print point. The effect of the two shifting keys, FIG and CAP is to slide the entire index plate (on which the letters and figures are printed) left or right, aligning one of the three appropriate types (letter, capital letter or figure) at the print point.

The Merritt when found with its original lid will have instructions printed on a sheet glued to the inside of that lid. This includes instructions for operation, for placing the type in the trough, and for oiling and upkeep. The basic case, seen here, was used on the machine at the $15 level. Two optional cases were available: A leatherette case lined in satin for $17.50 and a gilt-trimmed Oak case with plush lining, for $18.50. The typewriter in each of these was the same machine.

Above, the dovetailed corner of the case and the metal clip which holds it to the wooden base of the typewriter.

Merritt on the Market.

The advertising for the Merritt at times made some interesting and valid claims; let's take a look at some of these and offer some commentary.

•"It prints with perfect alignment." Indeed, we know that from the very beginning of the era of competition in typewriters that alignment of the writing was critical; Alexander Brown, who invented the Smith Premier, did so because having seen one of the original Sholes & Glidden / Remington machines he was sure the same effect could be had by a different machine that could not so easily, to his trained eye, work itself out of alignment. The Merritt has "forced alignment" - although not by use of a type fork as so many front strikes did, but rather by use of a type guide not unlike that found in another direct inking and blind writing machine, the $100 Yost typewriter.

•"It has no ribbon to wear out, smut fingers or paper." The Merritt was a direct inking machine, meaning that ink was applied directly to the type and then thus to paper. This printing press sort of impression was thought in many quarters to be of a higher quality than ribbon printing, and (once again) the Yost machine was sold very well on the visual quality of the work performed on it.

Some front strike machines employed direct inking, such as the Sun Standard.

•"It does work equal to the Hundred Dollar Machines." In this claim we may take considerable credit, as the testimonial seen earlier gives it weight -- as do a number of customer testimonials sent in to Merritt and reproduced in advertisements. We must be careful here though to note that it is the quality of work being described and not the volume of work over time. The company did defend itself in advertising against the speed disparity, thus: "Speed is not the only requisite of the perfect typewriter. Legibility, neatness, superior alignment, clear sharp cut letters in every word - thus securing better copying facilities in the Letter Book, etc. should be considered."

•"It can both duplicate and manifold - no other low priced typewriter can do this." It would be difficult to picture an index machine such as the Hall being called upon for such work, and this claim seems solid.

The Merritt was advertised as being exceptionally useful for the following: Ministers, teachers, insurance clerks, doctors, editors, commercial travelers, lawyers, reporters, hospitals, students at college, school girls and boys, writers of prose and poetry.

The Merritt in Retrospect.

Today we may look back on the Merritt and see in it those very characteristics assumed by that much later class of machines known well as the "flat typewriters" -- the machines such as the Royal Dart of the 1960's whose simplicity and entry level price made them attractive for home use, for light work (as for example clubs or Church groups) and for students. Of course, by that time, there was no need to introduce to people the useful nature of typewriting as it was well established. Knowing that the Merritt in the 1890's served such groups draws a great parallel; knowing that it in some aspect was introductory in mechanical writing, still new in many quarters, gives it an even higher position or status historically for us as an opener of doors and giver of opportunity. While some of this perception may be attributed to marketing, it's a fact that unsolicited testimonials as seen above put the machine squarely in such a position.

The unconventional layout of the Merritt as compared with our normal perceptions of a typewriter is not important; the proper context in which to view the Merritt is that in which mechanically writing at all is new and novel, so that the exact nature of the machines employed to perform it is far less important than the fact that they accomplish the task in the first place. Only with the broad acceptance of and then need for mechanical writing would there become a need for standardization and broadly for speed to meet the competitive situation; it was at that point when machines such as the Merritt or its competitors stepped aside to make way for the extensive range of keyboard machines of myriad shapes, sizes and costs.

Though on the market only a short time, the Merritt was clearly viewed well by those familiar during its life; we may wishfully attempt to attribute its fairly rapid obsolescence and disappearance from the market not to any failing of the Merritt typewriter itself but rather simply to the extremely rapid advances being made in the market at the time. We must realistically observe the unavoidable fact that the Densmore was being made at the same plant, that Merritt went into Union, and that the owners of the Densmore eventually took over the operation under their own name. Whatever the case may be, in a historical perspective many efforts and machines did far worse than the Merritt, and few such short lived machines are remembered to history so well in contemporary accounting.

"The Typewriter Market."

2016-09-06T15:39:00.003-07:00

"What should I pay for this typewriter?"

"How much is too much for this model of typewriter?"

"I've lost five auctions on this same model of typewriter -- why can't I get one?"

"Why won't anyone just publish a price list for old typewriters?"

The questions at the top come up over and over in the world of typewriter collecting and typewriter use. I've seen upheavals of the community over these questions maybe ten times over all these years. It's time for a "seasoned collector" (that'll be me, folks!) to try to get the real deal out there on pricing.

THE TYPEWRITER MARKET - by Will Davis.

I'm going to first approach this from somewhat of an unconventional angle, so bear with me. Look at the following picture.

The above item is Dial soap. This item is on the market right now. It is generally available to anyone who wishes to purchase it, in any realistic quantity and is available at very many locations all over the country. This item is being continuously manufactured right now; a return on the item is available if the purchaser is dissatisfied. (I use it, so that's why I'm picking this as an example.) Should one like this product (as I do) then he or she can go right back out and buy more of it when the first bottle is expended. The product is being marketed now, and its comparative characteristics are advertised and at times tested by government and consumer advocacy organizations.

The item above (a Consul PRESIDENT typewriter) is not presently on the market. It is not with surety available at any specific location at any selected time, and its availability anywhere at any time is not guaranteed. The item has not been manufactured for many years, and no replacement is either guaranteed by anyone, or for that matter possible any any predictable period of time. The product is not being marketed by anyone presently, and the organization responsible for making it is out of business. There is no consumer advocacy or support of any sort available on this product. In addition, its mechanical operability may or may not be known to the seller of this product, and the buyer may or may not be able to ascertain its operability prior to purchase and may not be able to either repair the product (should that be required) or be able to find someone who can or will.

If I drop my bottle of Dial soap, I can have another just like it in the fifteen minutes it takes me to drive to the grocery store here and get one. If I drop a Consul PRESIDENT typewriter, I cannot with any certainty guarantee that I will be able to replace it at all. Yes, there is a high likelihood that since more than probably a thousand or two of this make and model were sold in the USA, I will see one again sometime. But to say I can have another one by Christmas is foolishness. There is no guarantee at all that this obsolete, long-out-of-production machine can be duplicated in make and model - and then even if it is, there's no guarantee as to the condition or operability of said replacement.

I hope that by the above example, I've made it clear that there IS NO TYPEWRITER MARKET. Not in the sense that we would think of a market, anyway. There's only one kind of typewriter on the general retail market in the United States right now -- and that's at Michael's craft stores, and it's $199. So the "market price" for a new typewriter in the USA right now is exactly $199. Or right about there - whatever they're charging for them. But you see my point. Other than that model there's no market as such for typewriters. They're obsolete; they're way past the end of their product life cycle.

What there is, is an auction market in which a disparate and disconnected community of sellers is providing random typewriters as individual sales; of course, there are the occasional "big time" typewriter auctions like Breker's as well. But there's no organized selling institution and thus no way to attempt to set any sort of pricing standards. This revelation is sometimes hard on new typewriter enthusiasts who wish to get that perfect little portable for use on a picnic table. It is never a hard revelation for the true antique collector, because the auction market is part of the hobby. The auction market provides occasional incredible bargains, and occasional incredible knock-down drag-out fisticuffs over a given machine. Indeed, the auction market giveth and it taketh away.

Auctioning as a scene really and truly is in a real sense a competitive situation or sport. In the old days, back when we could all see each other's ID's on eBay (and so we knew darn well who we were bidding against) we used to gleefully pummel each other with bids on either weird or else common enough but beautiful typewriters, and as always there was only one winner. Some slunk off to lick their wounds, but most found the process just a part of the hobby of collecting or (like me) researching typewriters, and it was par for the course to win some and lose some.

Can we just take a look at recent auctions and publicly announce what "the going price" for a given typewriter ought to be and nail that in stone? Of course not. That's ridiculous, and impossible. Let me show you why that is.

A Hypothetical Example of Auction Pricing.

Let's say that on a particular Monday, the typewriter you see above (a red Barr portable) sells on eBay at eight in the morning on a "Buy it Now" auction for $25.00. Some quick enthusiast spots the machine after it gets put on line by a seller who just wants it gone and is not a typewriter person, and the thing sells in good shape for just that $25 buy now price, with no bidding process. Is $25 at that moment a fair or realistic price for this typewriter in this condition?

Of course not.

Now, let's suppose that some collectors are looking at various auctions and on some or other public discussion board somebody brings up the auction. He or she might say "Hey, who saw that red Barr that went for $25 the other day? Someone got a steal, that's for sure!" The discussion goes on as you'd expect with comments like "OMG" and "Too bad I didn't see that!" and lots of the collecting community sees the completed auction photos, and regrets not having been "that guy" who clicked into eBay right before breakfast.

Now, two weeks later another red Barr shows up on eBay on a seven day auction, with no opening bid. The auction gets the predictable "prophylactic bid" after open to prevent it ending early for any reason, but not much action and stays around $30. Then on the last day, in the last two hours, it jumps up over $200 and then finally at the last second ends at $242.00. The machine got 21 bids overall. Is this price a fair or realistic price for this typewriter in this condition?

Yes, it is. It's a far better and more realistic assessment than the "one shot and gone" auction from earlier in the month. It's more sensible to aim for this higher price as a guess than it is to average the two final prices since the first auction was in many ways a special circumstance. Will these always get that high, even if there's bidding competition? Maybe, maybe not, but it's a decent target. Now, the examples above are hypotheticals. Let me give you a real one, and we'll see what you think!

The Strange Case of the Visigraph.

Here we see the elusive Visigraph. This is an obscure, and failed, standard typewriter that is only found in what we might call 'higher end' collections around the world because they never really come up for sale. Maybe 4000 were made, and less than 20 are known for sure to survive today.

I won this on an eBay auction that ran seven days. I won it for $100. That's right -- only one hundred dollars. Is that a fair market price for this typewriter? Not on your life. This is easily a thousand dollar typewriter at any time. What happened? I'll tell you what happened --

No one else saw it. No one bid against me. After I got this machine and let the cat out of the bag, I cannot tell you how many of the major collectors told me flatly "I never saw it!" The only thing I can figure is this: At certain angles a Visigraph looks sort of like an L.C. Smith, and perhaps even though the name was in the title, the photo on the auction was not enough to halt any other collector while scrolling through the auctions. This typewriter would never under any normal circumstance sell that low. I got lucky, and the value of the machine is realistically probably vaguely ten times what I paid for it. What I'm telling you is this -- the "street value" of a Visigraph didn't plunge because I nailed this one at $100. In fact, the Visigraph buzz picked up and had another showed up soon, it could have gone much higher than my rough value estimate.

Keep in mind folks- there are on any day maybe 25,000 or 30,000 typewriters and related items on eBay. It's highly likely that some items won't be seen by everyone. It's likely that some items will be seen by only a few. But for those typewriters listed as "rare" or "antique" you can bet that collectors have their filters set to call these up. It's hard for these to go unseen, even though these labels are being used more and more on machines that aren't rare at all.

MSRP

Let's get back to the Dial soap for a minute. That product might have a "manufacturer's suggested retail price" or MSRP that you'll see in an ad - particularly if the product happens to be "on sale" for a price below suggested retail. That whole suggested retail thing came into being years ago when I think J C Penney's was sued over the price of appliances. As I recall they had appliances listed as "originally $XXX but now this price!" and what happened was it was shown in court that they had in fact never once actually sold the product at the $XXX level. This was the doom of "originally" and the onset of "suggested retail pricing."

That doesn't exist for products that have been out of production for thirty or fifty or eighty or a hundred years. What exists are trends -- and trends are fluid, which is the opposite of an MSRP.

So now we see that pricing of any kind of typewriter during any given chunk of time depends on a whole lot of variables -- who sees it, who DOESN'T see it, how long the auction runs, and so forth -- a lot of intangibles that aren't directly connected with the typewriter or its condition. We also know that there's no real hard guide for pricing to just "start out with."

Yes, there are some collector books out there with prices in them. There's one whose prices are kind of low, which was written when that particular author was trying to buy machines. There's also another one whose prices are kind of higher, and which was written when that particular collector was trying to sell off his machines. Keep this in mind if you go by print resources... but also remember this:

Print resources that inject a time dependent item like price are often obsolete in that respect soon as they hit the shelves. Things happen in markets that drive prices -- things that the authors of the books cannot have foreseen.

HERMES MANIA

Larry McMurtry has single-handedly pushed the Hermes 3000 typewriter to the height of hype and hysteria. The Hermes histrionics are horrendous, and the hyperbole unending.

So now, since this famous author's endorsement of what originally was a very highly overpriced machine in the States, no one can touch a Hermes 3000 for anything like the prices they were going for ten years ago. The elevation of price caused by this hysteria has so highly inflated the common perception of that particular model's value that there's no chance of any seller who does any sort of research putting one on eBay for $25. Are the Hermes 3000 machines worth what they're getting because of engineering or manufacturing that in any particular way excels above other competitive machines? No, of course not - just like there's always someone smarter or tougher than you in a building, so is there always a machine around that's better than another. The high clearing prices that the Hermes machines are getting is because of a phenomenon, not because of some innate value the machines have. Nevertheless, what they're NOW worth is what matters, and no one would be able to reverse that trend unless a whole warehouse full of them was discovered.

BOUTIQUE TYPEWRITERS

Then, we have the range of portable typewriters built from the 1930's to the 1970's which are being offered "fully rebuilt," or "fully serviced" and refinished and so forth, which are put on auction or direct sales sites for prices like $500 and $750 and some even higher. This range of machines I like to call "boutique" machines. This is not a slam against the sellers of such machines, but rather a term that I cooked up to segregate in my own mind that class of typewriter, and seller, that offers a super-premium price for a more or less guaranteed product. The idea of this angle essentially is to take the guesswork out of buying a typewriter at auction and then either trying to fix it up or find a shop that will. You get that "dream typewriter," and get it fully operable and warrantied. However, I will say that it's my opinion that the prices of such machines are generally far beyond what is required to acquire a complete typewriter and then have it returned to fully operable status by a competent repair shop ... IF THERE IS ONE that you can drive to. I know some of these sellers fairly well and they turn out excellent products.

Do the boutique typewriters have an effect of driving up prices on the average? There's no gauge for that but the common sense guess would be "probably," in so far as typewriters of specific models are being sold for the prices they are obtaining, and that cannot go unnoticed by other sellers who search completed items to gauge pricing.

THE QUESTIONS

Now, I'll get to the theoretical questions that headed up this long-winded diatribe.

•What should I pay for this typewriter? .... Well, that's entirely up to you. Do you have a disposable items budget? How much of that do you want to put on this particular machine? Is the machine you're looking at something that you MUST have? An example of this would be if you have a blue Barr portable and a green Barr portable and need the red one. That might cause you to bid far more money on one than you might otherwise bid because you're trying to fill a hole in a collection. If this bidding happens to involve several collectors who really want that machine, well, then the price is likely to get steep. Each buyer needs to look around, do some research and then decide if the range that machine seems to be going for as best as you can determine is something that the buyer wants to get involved with.

There was, when I started collecting, a sort of a "sound barrier" for typewriters at $200. That is to say, you really could not expect to get any good machines (from a COLLECTOR standpoint, that is, speaking about collecting as opposed to typing use) for any less than that, and the lowest tier of collectible typewriters almost always started right at that level. That's exactly what I paid for my very first collectible machine, the Blick Universal. I used that gauge for a number of years as a good tool to both buy machines and to advise others once I knew what was going on.

That's pretty much out the window now. For one, there are Royal typewriters built by the thousands that boutique sellers are pricing at several hundred dollars. This was not conceivable in August 1999 when I started out. No new-ish portable except a gold plated Royal or a sterling Smith Corona Sterling could have gotten near that price. Now, there are boutique portables in that range and of course Hermes machines, and various others. Alpinas can get up there. Torpedo machines, the fast portables can get up there. So, the $200 yardstick has been retired.

Deals are still out there, to be sure - whether it's because of a buy it now listing, or a machine found at a second hand store or even an antique mall, or even those where no one seems to see the same auction you're seeing (scroll back up to the Visigraph.) There are so many typewriters on eBay that it's hard to assume everything will get spotted by everyone.

YOU have to decide what you think you want to pay for something. What I might pay for something is very different from what this or that other collector might pay. It's very subjective... and as we've already seen, very competitive out there in auction land. Straight retail (like boutique sellers, or consignment / resale / antique stores) remove the haggles but increase the prices.

•"How much is too much for this model of typewriter?" Let's say 30% more than the highest price ever paid previously for that particular typewriter. However, if we're talking about a Sholes & Glidden here, and none has come up for auction in a while, and a bunch of big collectors are in on the action.. well, if you've decided to stick to that 30% rule you may just get passed by. And you need to be OK with that. Set a limit early in an auction process, in your own mind, and don't go over it. That isn't to say you shouldn't hope to get it cheap -- we all do. But be ready to pay up to your limit and be ready to let go beyond that.

•"I've lost five auctions on this model of typewriter - why can't I get one?" Simple - you aren't willing to pay enough money to get one IN TODAY'S ENVIRONMENT, IN THE SAME WAY. Try to get out and find one on foot, or on some other site, or put out a classified request for one. Or decide to spend more on it. There's nothing you can do to drive the prices back down on that brand X model X typewriter if they're up, so either find another way to get that machine, or belly up to the bar and pay more, or step away from that particular model for a while. Consider trading someone else two for one, or a machine and cash. Ask a friend to borrow one, if you've never used that model, to see if it really, really is worth all that money for you. Make specific inquiries on forums and then hope that someone who knows happens to see that question at that time. There are many ways to move ahead after a string of losses on a given model.

•"Why won't anyone just publish a price list for all old typewriters?" Go back and read all of this blog post over again in its entirety, slowly, to get this answer.

IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS

What should you pay for a 1957 Smith-Corona Silent-Super in Pink, with Holiday case and paperwork including instructions and bill of sale? Oh, and it has a cursive type face. In this case, I'd bet you'd need to put around $200 to have a shot. Maybe that wouldn't even get it. It's a gut feeling, taken from having watched thousands and thousands of auctions over many years and seeing the trends going up on pink machines, on cursive machines, on machines with all paperwork. These are value enhancers to be sure, and in your own mind you should know that every one of these individually drives up desirability. Together they'd be a killer combination.. for the seller, if lots of people see the machine and bid, and for the buyer if he or she can get it cheaply. And what is "cheaply?" I'd say if you got that for $100 you'd be in good shape. If you found that at an estate sale for $15? I'd be happy for you. If you had to have that, and paid $210 at auction? I'd say well, that's probably fair. If you got it for $550 from a boutique seller? I'd say you have a warranty and peace of mind.

Can I give you a price like this for every typewriter out there? No, and if I told you I could I'd be either a liar or a fool. (Or maybe a phony.) No one collector is likely to have a thumb on the exact running price trends of all models at once. Some of us use the "sixth sense" or "gut feeling" method, while some others meticulously track prices achieved every day. It's up to the collector as to which method they want to use to ensure they don't overpay too often for machines (unless price is no object - but how often is that possible?) Some collectors will commonly and publicly assess whether or not they think other collectors have overpaid or underpaid for this or that machine. This is common; ignore it. More than likely, they've both overpaid and underpaid as well. Your own opinion about overpaying for a machine needs to be set before you bid - if you win the machine on the seventh day on a bid you made on the first day which no one beat, you did not overpay. If you made a bid and then got outbid on the fourth day and then gave up, you probably did just fine in that. The danger is when you second guess yourself and bid like mad on the last day or in the last hour or minutes. This is something to seriously consider.

So, above I've given you a whole lot of my feelings and experience about pricing. For those who came here looking for a per-machine price guide, you now know why I cannot and will not attempt that. For those who really want to embark on collecting typewriters, whether to use or just to collect in the traditional sense, I hope you now feel a lot better prepared for what lies ahead.

Hobbies are supposed to be fun. If you're trying to make good deals or just make good investments, try the stock and bond market. If you want zero risk and little drama, maybe stamp collecting might be a good choice. I will take typewriters any day over any other collectible, and even with the drama of prices and auctions and so forth, intend to stick with it permanently. Consider the benefit of the whole before being caught up and pushed away by the height or heat of the moment.

Now, get out there and look for those typewriters you want.

Typewriter Type

2016-03-25T14:19:00.001-07:00

A recent discussion on one of the many online typewriter forums has triggered a quick but careful look into some manufacturer (and other) materials in order to obtain the best and most accurate view of what the industry actually used as terminology when referring to the type on a typewriter; this paper, published on the Davis Typewriter Works blog, is the result.

The aforementioned discussion centered primarily around the various different styles of print which were available from the manufacturers.

Without looking at any materials, those familiar with typewriters can probably easily define the term "type." "Type" is a component of a typewriting machine that presses upon the ribbon (in a ribbon typewriter) or directly on the paper (in a direct inking typewriter) to make the desired final impression. Type may be driven to the printing point in any number of ways. The type may be manufactured as many small, unique components for a typewriter, each mounted on one instrument used to drive it to the print point or in some special designs all the characters may be mounted on one single unit such as a cylinder shaped component, a sleeve, a half-circular component, or others. In a very few typewriters (such as the Merritt) the type are not firmly mounted at all, but lie in a tray and are motivated individually when required.

Collectors and technicians all use this term generally, and frequently. For example; "If you're not careful and you keep typing unevenly and clashing type bars together you might damage the type." Or, "Once a week the typist must clean the type thoroughly with one of the approved cleaning preparations listed in the back of this manual."

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The problem in terminology for modern collectors has arisen because the tendency for people today is to use a word such as "font" in describing the varied kinds of print shapes and forms available.. which was never in general use at all regarding typewriters. The term DID appear late in the era, but in a very special application that we'll see later. For the rest of the time, and rest of the universe, no typewriter materials (be it from the sales or the manufacturing standpoint) use the term "font." We must then support the use of the proper terms by evidence in the literature, as it is our purpose not to invent a history that did not exist but instead to properly represent the one that did - a process only possible through taking time to come into possession of the facts.

To this end, I conducted a study of the literature at hand and will detail the results below.

1. Century of the Typewriter, Wilfred Beeching (1990 edition.) This book, nominally for collectors, is a rich and detailed account written by someone actually in the business. Thus, it is likely to contain accurate information - particularly where direct involvement of the manufacturers is in evidence. It is the only "collector book" that details the vagaries of printing styles.

This book has a section "Type and Type Styles" beginning p. 78. This section uses the term "type" in a general fashion as defined earlier in this paper. When the section begins to display the varied forms of final print that were optionally available the header is "Range of typefaces." This brings up the most commonly used term to describe the varied final forms of print - "type face" or else "typeface" as one word.

The term "type face" is in fact also that term which this writer personally has heard all typewriter mechanics and dealers use in describing the varied styles and sizes optionally available on typewriters.

There is some hint in Beeching's book that the author is employing the unified term "typeface" to refer to style, and "type face" to refer to that portion of the type facing the print point, into which are cast (or onto which are machined) the actual characters used to make the impressions; in other words, "type face" being the face of the type.

2. Dealer materials

The Royal Line Book and the Olivetti-Underwood Dealer Guide were consulted to obtain the terms used to offer varied print forms to the customers. The leading pages of both manuals are shown below.

Both of these early - mid 1960's manuals use the term "type style" to differentiate between the varied forms of print available. Note that the Royal Line Book shows them, but that the Olivetti-Underwood would require a separate stand-alone guide (Smith-Corona materials were also printed this way.)

3. Manufacturer materials

The trade catalog for a typewriter with large interchangeable units was consulted first. This catalog is for the Reliance Visible, which incorporated an entire "action unit" of sorts that contained the key levers, type bars and thus of course the type. Different styles were available as were different language keyboards. The page to describe these interchangeable action units (interchangeable ONLY on machines of the same pitch, or that is to say which typed the same number of characters per inch) is reproduced below.

Again, we can see the general application of the term "type" in this document, as can we also see the use of the word "style" in reference to the varied forms of print available.

Another early typewriter on which the type were more or less removable as a unit (but without any of the mechanism of the typewriter coming with it) was the Hammond. A Hammond Multiplex instruction manual is in our collection - a photocopy provided by Peter Weil some years ago. In this document the familiar half-round elements which carry the characters to be printed are described under the dual heading "The Type Shuttle or Type Plate." Throughout the rest of the document however the term "type shuttle" appears exclusively. For optional type shuttles the reader is directed to the "Type Catalog." A contemporary advertisement, also from Weil, provided at the same time uses the term "styles of type" to discern the varied forms of print available. Thus, even with the added nonstandard terms the company still used the word "style" as one would expect, given the previous materials.

We will read again about the Hammond and its descendant shortly.

4. PRINT

"Print - The Magazine of the Graphic Arts" produced a special technical and historical issue devoted entirely to typewriter type in June 1952 (Print, Volume 7, Number 3.) This document was written directly with industry input.

First, in its whole this publication supports and uses the general term "type" as described earlier. The term appears over a dozen times used generally in this way in various sections of the publication.

Attention is called to the "Special Uses" section on page 30:

Once again, as with the Royal Line Book above (and of course many others) we see an assortment of varied forms of print, but in this case instead of being termed wholly as "type style" this publication throughout uses the term "type face." In point of fact, in the detailed section on the manufacture of typewriter type and the actual creation of the type itself the term "type face" also appears when describing the formation of the characters on the type itself.

•••

FINDINGS.

In general use, the terms "type face" (or, "typeface") and "type style" appear synonymous. Both "type face" and "type style" are used to describe the varied different forms that the final print can assume. This is fixed on a normal typewriter; is changeable on a typewriter whose printing instrumentalities are such that the type, whether with or without considerable part of the mechanism, can be removed or interchanged. (Again, while typeface / type style are changeable on such machines, normally pitch or characters-per-inch is not.)

Actual dealers and mechanics, as well as Beeching and the special issue of PRINT have displayed use of the term "type face" / "typeface" in description of the varied available print forms. The dealer and manufacturer materials shown above have used the term "type style."

It seems entirely likely, sifting and analyzing the materials, that the actual, proper term for the varied optional shapes and forms of final printed characters should be "type styles." The term "type face" or "typeface" is a common, more comfortable or familiar type of term that may well be a simple and later-on widely established misuse of the proper term "type face" referring to the face of the type, given that it is used, it would appear, more by dealers and not the makers. It is clear from the literature however that even if originally technically incorrect the term "type face" or "typeface" as a synonym for "type style" came into general use in the era of the typewriter. In other words, if one said to a dealer or mechanic "I was wondering if I could change the typeface on this machine" instead of saying "I was wondering if I could change the type style on this machine," one would be just as easily and immediately understood.

Speaking specifically about the design, fabrication, cleaning or even damaging of that part of the type on which the actual printing characters are cast or embossed, the term "type face" is used as a short hand for "the face of the type."

(It should be mentioned here that the well known industry term for the type, manufactured for a conventional typewriter and normally soldered onto the type bars, is "type slug" for each individual component of the type. Thus, the "type face" is the platen-facing portion of a type slug.)

It is reasonably established, thus, that the varied styles of print are referred to either as "type styles" or as "typefaces" / "type faces", in the interest of historical accuracy; the former probably being the correct 'inside' industry term and the second a popular colloquialization or misappropriation of another term that took hold and spread widely in the business.

•••

Addendum 1: The term "Font," its use and misuse.

It has been pointed out by Brian Brumfield that the Vari-Typer, a somewhat convoluted descendant of the Hammond mentioned above, used the term "font" for describing what we see above as typeface or type style. This is mentioned also in the PRINT magazine, which clearly describes the use of the term "font" specifically in relation to what formerly had been called a type shuttle. This is a specific and unusual occurrence, and as we can see the term has been found nowhere else in the literature so far in reference to another machine. Thus, it is true that the term "font" would be correct in referring to the changeable type in a Vari-Typer, but is a historic inaccuracy if applied to any other older machine (and of course to most newer ones.) The term "font" appears nowhere in the magazine other than in reference to the Vari-Typer.

[The progression, for purpose of explanation, from the earlier to the later brands is as follows:

The Hammond concern's patents were willed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1913 when the original inventor, J. C. Hammond, died. According to PRINT's short history the machine's rights and the patents were bought from the Metropolitan (no date given) by the Frederick Hepburn Company which is the concern that renamed the machine "The Vari-Typer." This company went bankrupt and was bought out in 1933 by a group of investors headed by Ralph C. Coxhead. The redesigned machine (now with a metal type font instead of Bakelite) and with some 3000 changes overall was re-introduced to the market under the same brand name in 1937. The concern's growth was slow until, the magazine reports, a strike at Chicago newspapers started in 1947. Reportedly "Until the strike's end two years later" the people of Chicago read newspapers set up on the Vari-Typer, which became known to the industry and pushed the machine to the later heights of "Cold type" printing. It could be easily surmised that the wide use of the term "font" in place of what had been the term "type style" during the typewriter era came up during the age of the dominance of the Vari-Typer in printing.]

The use of the term "font" applies to computers today, and essentially is duplicative of the Vari-Typer in that the operator can change the whole printing appearance at once. The term "font" appears nowhere else in reference to conventional typewriters or typewriters with interchangeable units in the literature, and thus is misapplied and perhaps even anachronistic (given the dates above) when used to describe type style on the wide range of conventionally manufactured typewriters.

DAVIS TYPEWRITER WORKS 3/25/2016

Rebuilt Typewriters by Mail Order - An Unknown Seller

2016-01-20T14:38:00.001-08:00

One of the more interesting items in my collection is a pair of sheets cut from a small (4.75" by 7.5") catalog which appears to have been a mail order catalog. Three of the four sides of these two sheets contain advertisements for a special offering of rebuilt typewriters.

The original issuer of the catalog is unknown. Conversation with Peter Weil produces no evidence from the pages which might give away the original catalog's publisher.

The date of the pages is certainly after about 1926, because the pages offer the Underwood Standard Four Bank Portable either brand new or rebuilt. Indeed, it might be that 1927-1928 would be a good first guess for these.

We'll now show the pages, which are not numbered, in the order in which they most probably appeared in the catalog -- and then make some further commentary about the offerings. Click to enlarge the three images (separately.)

Not shown is the reverse of one of these pages, which advertises on its upper half a Ouija Board, and on its lower half a boxed selection of silk fabric scraps, for quilting or dressmaking. These items have mail order numbers and a price by each.

The first page makes it clear that these machines are not sold on credit, and thus there is no machination required to protect against losing machines sent without full payment. Keeping in mind the date of this catalog is thought to be 1927-1929, let's look at the machines available.

Page 1

Underwood No. 4 and No. 5: These machines were in production at the time, but note that machines without backspace or two-color ribbon are available - these date to pre-1909.

L. C. Smith: The No. 2 appeared in 1904 and was superseded by the No. 5 in 1911. The No. 5 was built through 1923, while the No. 8 was built from 1915 on, although the open frame tells us the machines are pre-1928 or so.

Page 2

The Oliver No. 3 was made from 1898 to 1907, while the No. 9 was introduced in 1916.

Corona - this model is the widened frame type with right and left shift keys dating from later than 1922.

Smith Premier No. 2 -- this is an old machine too, dating from 1896 to 1914. This is an extreme bargain at just $15.00 when one considers prices for new machines at that time.

Monarch No. 3 -- Made from 1906 through 1914.

Noiseless -- This is the No. 5, introduced in 1922.

Remington portable -- This machine dates back as far as 1920, and the note here is the relatively high price for a rebuilt portable.

Page 3

Remington No. 10 and 11 -- The No. 10 is of course the first Remington visible, introduced 1908 and made through 1923; the No. 11 was made 1910-1926.

Royal Standard, No. 5, and No. 10 -- The Royal Standard was the very first Royal, introduced 1906; the No. 5 appeared in 1910 and the No. 10 in 1914.

Underwood portable -- this is the four bank Underwood portable introduced 1926. This is the newest typewriter in the catalog, at least in terms of initial release date.

Smith Premier No. 10 -- this was the only standard visible Smith Premier, and it was made 1908 through 1921.

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As we can see, while there are some typewriters in this offering that could include fairly new examples (the L.C. Smith No. 8 and the Underwood machines specifically, as well as the Underwood portable) most of the machines offered stood a chance of being quite old. For a price comparison, keep in mind that new machines were still between $100 and $110 for the standard models (more for wide carriage) and that portables were still between $50 and $60 generally (note that the Underwood Four Bank is being sold at its going rate new, and cut rate rebuilt). Here are the machines offered in the ad, in order of price, for comparison with these then-new prices. All rebuilt except the first.

Price Dynamics and Market Interactions

Taking a look now at the prices offered by whoever this was, we see the general mark of the rebuilt typewriter industry in that the latest available rebuilt models are roughly half the price of brand new typewriters. Older models are still available, even examples that might be 20 or 30 years old, but are available at very deep discounts.

The companies that rebuilt typewriters put out ads offering to buy used typewriters- one of many ways they obtained machines. Harry A. Smith advertised that he was interested in used typewriters "in lots from 10 to 100." It is our guess that the prices these companies offered for used machines were at least as good as, if not better than, the trade-in value that might be obtained on the machines if they were traded against new ones. This would be particularly true for a machine not being traded in on its original make (for example an Oliver being traded in on a Remington.) Since the trade-in values were lower for non-same-brand makes it might well have made sense for an office manager to sell his office stock of machines to a rebuilder and get cash he could use to better discount brand new machines. Or, if he wished to save even more money he could then turn around and buy rebuilt machines (we are aware of no trade-in allowance on rebuilt machines.)

The fact that these machines were, we suspect, purchased at or above the normal trade value on the market, and then sold being rebuilt at half the general price for new machines, points up the narrow margins on which this business model operated. It also suggests why this particular seller has opted not to allow credit sales and is going for "cash only," considering that the country had pulled out of a bad recession in the early 1920's (although far worse was to come shortly.)

Above -- The Smith Premier No. 2 and the Oliver No. 3 both dated from the 1890's and were thoroughly obsolescent by the time this catalog was issued. However, at roughly 15% of the price of a new standard machine these could have been attractive buys for the occasional user not interested in the latest features. Will Davis / Davis Bros. collections.

Another purchaser at this time that we might imagine would be someone who needed to type at home, or perhaps in a local club or church -- say, for typing schedules or recipes, club notes or so forth. Brand new portables were $50 or $60 at this time -- but as you can see from the price list a very solidly built, heavy standard typewriter could be had anywhere from $48.00 for a recent model down to just $15.00 for a totally outdated machine which would still have been completely adequate for many tasks such as suggested here. This wide range of prices kept thoroughly outdated standard typewriters in circulation probably far longer than they would otherwise have been used or even considered. It is not impossible that some standard machines were rebuilt twice, or perhaps three times, by professional outfits or dealers, given some of the age ranges we see in this advertisement.

For much more on rebuilt typewriters, see our original reference article on them here. This article adds to the information base on rebuilt typewriters, the rebuilding business and its history; others are to follow in this series which will be cross linked.

January 20, 2016

Fox Portable Typewriters and the Demise of Fox Typewriter Company

2015-08-26T20:32:00.002-07:00

The previous post on this blog (which can be found here) concerned the history of the $100, standard Fox Visible series of typewriters as seen above -- which are the Fox machines most commonly found today by collectors and which are the best known. The company added portable typewriters to its lineup rather late in its history, however, and the entire period in which they were made was, for Fox Typewriter Company specifically and for many parts of the world generally a time of turmoil. This article will explore the histories of the portable Fox machines and the demise of the company overall, as they are inextricably intertwined. The story starts, though, well before introduction of any Fox portables.

1915 - The Winds of Change

It has been written in the now well-known 1922/23 Typewriter Topics compendium of typewriter histories that the Fox Typewriter Co. plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan partly closed down at the outbreak of war, and became from that point an unpredictable element in typewriter production.

In point of fact William R. Fox himself in 1915 sold out his interest in the Fox Typewriter Co., and in July 1915 a special shareholders' meeting was held in order to ask for a 60 day option on launching an entirely new corporation to take over the assets of the old, without taking on the debt -- in other words, a reorganization. This was made good on July 19, 1915. The factory was idled to a large extent the last quarter or half of 1915 according to contemporary reports.

Later, the Fox Typewriter Company's sales manager, Irving Franks, was quoted in Typewriter Topics as having said that a reorganization and recapitalization of the concern was needed in order to be able to manufacture the Fox machine (at this point still only a standard typewriter) in quantities large enough that the unit price would be competitive. Put simply, the original firm had gone broke. (The previous article discussed the complexity and cost-to-build of the Fox visible.)

By all accounts production of the standard machine resumed after the reorganization and in fact increased, at least for some time. However, in October 1916 a report leaked in Typewriter Topics that Fox Typewriter Co. would be coming out with a portable typewriter. This was the first US typewriter manufacturer to announce having, in house, a standard and a portable typewriter.

The Baby Fox Appears - Eventually

In February 1917 Fox Typewriter Co. announced that sales records were made during the last quarter of 1916, and that it was installing "thousands of dollars worth" of new machinery at its plant. This might have been taken to mean equipment for the standard, but in fact it was probably equipment for making the new portable typewriter.

In April of 1917 an initial announcement of the Fox Portable Typewriter was made, which stated the machine would weigh but four and a half pounds.

By November 1917 the first real advertisements appeared for this machine; the stated weight was now 5-3/4 pounds, with a height of three inches when stowed. Fox had chosen to make a machine that collapsed for travel - not conceptually unlike the popular Corona, which did not collapse, but rather folded. The new machine would sell at $50.

Fox Portable No. 1 in Detail

The original Fox portable, marketed initially as "The Baby Fox," was designed by Henry P. Nordmark so that its carriage pushed down behind the typewriter when the machine was to be stowed for use, as seen above in a patent drawing.

Above, Fox Portable No. 1 serial 421, courtesy Jim Dax. The compact nature of the new portable is immediately obvious in our look at a very early example. Note that the marketing for the machine was using the name "Baby Fox," but that this does not appear on the machine anywhere.

Above - Two variations on the 1917 advertisement image developed for this machine, incorporating a juvenile Fox. (Business Equipment Topics, 1917.)

This is our Fox Portable No. 1, serial 1364, as positioned in the carrying case with the carriage collapsed behind the machine for travel.

Here is the same typewriter with the carriage raised for use. The Fox Portable No. 1 is a three bank, double shift machine with 28 keys typing 84 characters. Shift keys are provided on the left side only, with a small shift lock key above them. A backspace key is on the right side of the keyboard. This machine incorporates segment shift, and a modern slotted segment design.

The pen in this photo is being used to indicate the hinge point for the type segment mounting, which of course must move up and down to shift. The shift keys are actually both mounted on the same tuning fork shaped lever extension, which is hinged at the base where it connects to the shaft. When the CAP key is depressed this fork rotates slightly forward, pulling a reach rod under the FIG key that engages a travel stop, limiting the shift motion. When the FIG key is depressed however the reach rod is not moved and the motion of the shift is then only limited by ultimate travel stops.

Both sides of the machine mount mirror image hardware for supporting the carriage, which is easily raised and lowered and which locks in place through use of the slot and cam arrangement clearly seen in this view of the left side of the typewriter.

The machine has a three position ribbon selector below the print point, carriage release on the right side of the carriage only, and variable line spacing. The type action was intended to be quickly removed (after undoing two screws.)

In operation we found the key lever and type bar action of the Fox No. 1 portable very light, with extremely rapid return of the type bars to rest. A machine of this model in original condition fully lubricated and properly adjusted would have been a fine, fast typewriter indeed - better than a Corona 3 in our estimation. Everything on the machine is well designed and solid, and there are no "bells and whistles" or items added as an afterthought.

Above, decal found inside the lid of our Fox Portable No. 1 which appears to be the normal logo for the company (not the "Baby Fox" logo) and which is shown here for comparison.

The Trouble Begins

Even though Fox Typewriter Co. announced in November 1917 that through assignment of an agency for South America it had sold (or was prepared to sell) 6,000 standard and 10,000 portable typewriters, the company suffered a serious blow when its long serving General Sales Manager, Irving Franks (who was credited in trade journals with having brought the company back from the brink) not only resigned his position but sold all his interest in the company. This is not exactly a glowing assessment of the company's future, coming from a man in a position to be able to predict or shape it to some degree.

The next month the company announced it had increased its capitalization from $100,000 to $250,000, with issuance of stock entirely purchased by the existing shareholders. By May 1918 the capitalization had further been increased to $450,000; the company announced in Typewriter Topics that it was attempting to "build up production" of the portable typewriter.

In July 1919 the storm hit. Corona Typewriter Company filed suit against Fox Typewriter Co., claiming both infringement of multiple patents held or controlled by them, and unfair competition. In some of the complaints certain specific parts or functions of the Fox Portable were called out, while in other complaints the matter was more of form or appearance (Corona attempting in one to claim that the general shape of the front of its machine was essentially proprietary.) This action began a drawn out process that would span about three years.

Fox Portable No. 2

Fox Typewriter Co. advertisements begin to show what is known as the Fox Portable No. 2 in July 1920. These are far harder to find today than the first model.

The photo above is Fox Portable No. 2 serial 10017, sent to us years back by Richard Polt, who we understand has sold the machine. The similarities between this machine and the No. 1 cannot be denied, but Richard tells us that there are numerous small changes all over the machine as compared with the No. 1. This machine, for example, adds a margin release function to the backspace key.

Fox Typewriter Co. had only made about 8,000 of the Fox Portable No. 1 machines when it made the change to this improved model.

August 27, 1920 -- immediately after this new machine appeared -- the first court case in the series of lawsuits between Corona and Fox took place. The outcome was favorable to Corona for the moment; Six of the eight patents that Corona had filed complaint on were declared to be valid patents, and of these, five were found to have been infringed by Fox. An injunction against Fox was granted, who would continue to build machines under a bond while the case dragged on.

After only having manufactured something less than 2,000 of the Fox Portable No. 2 model, the company decided to eliminate the collapsing feature and bring out a third but radically altered portable model, which it did in the first quarter of 1921.

Fox Sterling

The third and final portable model was the Fox Sterling. This typewriter, according to Richard Polt, is very much of the previous model in concept (for example, the same key lever and type bar mechanism, and the same carriage arrangement) mounted in and on a frame that does not in any way collapse or fold. These machines are actually technically the Model 3 - this appears on the decals that are mostly hidden behind the upper row of keys.

Above, Fox Sterling serial number s12762, courtesy Peter Weil. The machine is clearly related to the earlier models, but immediately obvious is the fact that it does not fold. The logo on the front right is particularly attractive and is seen below in detail.

This typewriter then less resembles the folding Corona 3 with which its maker remained in legal entanglement, and more resembles the National machine at that time being manufactured by Rex Typewriter Company.

The above Fox Sterling, serial number 12688 is unusual among surviving machines in having a foreign keyboard - in this case, Spanish. In some printed material this final Fox portable typewriter is referred to just as the "Sterling," or else as the "Sterling Fox."

As we noted the Fox Sterling appeared in February 1921. In March 1921 Fox Typewriter Company was declared in receivership. Actual advertisements for the Fox Sterling did not appear in trade journals widely until about September 1921.

The interesting sales receipt below is provided by Peter Weil.

The receipt above is certainly very, very late -- it is dated December 23, 1921 and details the sale of "One Portable Fox #3" (the Sterling's official model number, as noted earlier) with an original price of $50. The trade-in is a Royal No. 5, for which $40 credit is given leaving a balance of $10 to be paid. The Fox Sterling was guaranteed for one year.

The End

W. A. Papworth was appointed by the court as Receiver and General Manager of the company, which struggled on operating during this bankruptcy. In March 1922 the trade rags reported that sale of Fox Typewriter Co. looked imminent - supposedly, forces aligned with the Bennington typewriter including William H. Bennington himself were set to buy the company, continue producing both the Fox visible and the Sterling and add in Bennington's own unique syllabic/word printing typewriter. The agreed value to be paid for the company was $200,000.

By July 1, 1922 this deal had fallen through; the forces aligned with Bennington had failed to raise the capital. Papworth reported to the bankruptcy court that the operation was losing money, and that unless some sort of measure were taken to improve distribution of the products of the company it would be forced to liquidate. He reported that the factory was "practically at a standstill." By July 15th the company had reduced its capitalization from $450,000 to $45,000.

The final blows began to hit as by the end of July, the First National Bank of Chicago had been allowed to file a foreclosure suit for nonpayment of interest on a $100,000 mortgage. At the same time Shaw Association, Ltd. who owned a large amount of Fox Typewriter Co. stock took action to foreclose on another $100,000 mortgage.

In August 1922, various trade and business papers reported that by court order the property was to be sold at foreclosure sale.

Above, extremely unusual all polished aluminum Fox Sterling portable owned by Herman Price, with serial number s12467. Fox Typewriter Co. had made about 1,000 of the Sterling portables before shutting down for good.

Postscript

The legal action with Corona still had to be played out, and the outcome is reported in the Patent Gazette from November 1922. I've reviewed the material, and in brief, the summation is as follows: Fox won back much more ground than it had lost the first time, although it was still found at fault. In the final adjudication, only two patents were found to have been infringed by Fox; one of them was a patent held by Corona for a separable ribbon drive (Fox was found to have infringed on three claims out of the original seven that Corona made on this patent alone) and the other was a patent generally applicable to folding typewriters. In all likelihood the Sterling was free and clear of any complications involving these patents, but in point of fact had the company not been bankrupt it still would have had to, in all probability, pay or attempt to pay damages to Corona based upon a consensus of profits made by Fox and perceived damage to business on the part of Corona. At this point, though, the findings were only a hollow victory for Corona as there was nothing it could get. The Fox Typewriter Company, originally brought into being in 1898, was gone.

Post-Postscript

The letter seen below was found inside the stationery pocket of our Fox Portable No. 1 which is shown in several photos above.

This letter is dated December 23, 1953 and is on the letterhead of the Douglas M. Hale Typewriter Sales & Service Co. It is addressed to a "Mrs. Groves," and in it Hale himself writes "this old style little portable typewriter is for you, provided it suits you." Hale promises to see Mrs. Groves after the holidays to tell her about the machine. The Christmas stickers on the envelope add a wonderful touch to this piece that gives one little Fox portable a real bit of human interest as it spans more than one lifetime and enriches more than one life.

THANKS TO Peter Weil, Richard Polt, Herman Price, Jim Dax. Information from Business Equipment Topics, Typewriter Topics, Michigan Manufacturer and Financial Record, Robert D. Fisher Manual of Valuable and Worthless Securities Vol. 6.

Fox Visible Typewriters - An Overview

2015-08-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

•This material is condensed and reproduced from an article originally appearing on "Antique Typewriters by Will Davis - Visible Typewriters" which went online in 2006. That site featured a two page article on the Fox later model "visible" machines. To meet requirements for a visual primer on these models and to produce some insight on them, this shorter but updated article now appears. Because many of the original illustrations are used, most will not enlarge when clicked.•

FOX VISIBLE TYPEWRITERS -- by Will Davis, with assistance and information from Jim Dax, Peter Weil, Ed Neuert, Herman Price and Richard Polt.

William R. Fox, and Fox Typewriter Co. plant, Grand Rapids, Mich - Ed Neuert

William R. Fox's enterprise in manufacturing typewriters entered the field in 1898 with a largely conventional upstrike machine which quickly earned a reputation for ruggedness and speed. The timing was a bit late, though, and today collectors do not find a large number of surviving Fox upstrike machines. Much more plentiful are the "visible" Fox machines; this article provides an introduction and primer.

The Fox Visible machines were announced to the trade in February, 1906. This was two years after the highly anticipated and well heralded introductions of the L. C. Smith & Bros. standard visible, and the Monarch standard visible. It was also the same year as Royal introduced an innovative visible priced well below the norm. The Fox, however, was a true $100 machine intended to go head to head with any other equally priced make on the market.

Perhaps because of problems tooling up to build the machines, the Fox visible machines were not actively marketed until early 1907. This delay between an official announcement and the widespread marketing of a particular machine was somewhat common among the smaller makers of typewriters.

The Fox incorporated some novel design concepts - not the least of which was its use of a two speed escapement (allowing a setting for normal typists and one for exceptionally fast, steady typists.) Another oddity was the use of two different lengths of type bar.

Above, patent drawings covering the original style Fox Visible. The upper shows the key lever / type bar mechanism; the lower shows the mounting rings. The Fox employed segment shift, as did the still new Monarch and L. C. Smith machines.

Below, a February 1906 advertisement for the Fox Visible (Will Davis collection)

The Fox Visible is most commonly found in one of two "most popular" models -- the No. 23 and the No. 24. These two were offered at the same time for much of the Fox Visible's production, and differed only in the number of keys (number of characters typed) with a slight price difference.

Above, April 1907 illustration of the Fox No. 24, courtesy Peter Weil. This is the general appearance of the very earliest Fox visible machines. These do not have a backspacer. This illustration is of interest as it shows a No. 24 that appears to have only 43 character keys. All known No. 24 machines have 44 keys, while all known No. 23 machines have 39 keys. It is not certain that the No. 24 was ever actually made "one key short" as this illustration appears to depict.

Above, a Fox No. 23 owned by Jim Dax, with serial number 0297 16297. Other than being a No. 23 this machine matches in all details the advertising cut seen above. This may indeed be the 297th visible Fox manufactured.

Our next view of the machines is from 1908, via a trade catalog scan provided by Ed Neuert.

Above we see the No. 23 machine - and immediately a change can be seen. Look at the front frame; a key is protruding through a hole at the front left. This is the TAB key. Fox visibles are notorious for having frames broken in this area as the penetration seriously weakens the frame here. The typewriter has not materially changed from the original introduction about two years prior,

Above, the Fox No. 24 as depicted in Ed Neuert's 1908 trade catalog. The unique appearance of the Fox visible machines when compared with anything else on the market attracts many collectors.

Note the solid, one piece keytops (black, with white lettering) and elaborate pinstriping.

Far less well known to collectors today are the long carriage models of the Fox visible. In the 1908 trade catalog, the models are delineated by paper width and carriage width as follows:

No. 23 and No. 24: Paper width 9.5 inches; writing 7.5 inches

No. 25: Paper 12 inches; writing 9.5 inches

No. 26: Paper 14.5 inches; writing 12 inches

No. 27: Paper 16.5 inches; writing 14 inches

No. 28: Paper 19 inches; writing 17 inches

All of the wider carriage machines had the same keyboard as the No. 24. The decimal tabulator shown on the machine depicted above (a No. 28) has actually been found on a Fox No. 4 blind writer acquired by the Davis Bros. and subsequently sold to Herman Price; presently we know of none on a Fox visible. The different paper table decal on the wide carriage machine should be noted.

The illustration below is from Ed Neuert. It dates to May 1909 and tells us that the machine had not changed in appearance or design by this time from those shown in the 1908 trade catalog.

The machine above is our Fox No. 24, serial P1355 21355. This machine matches the above illustration perfectly in all details. Below, a view of the rear, which is as unusual as the front.

The wonderful book written in 1909 by Carl Mares (included on our reading list) notes that the Fox visible was just beginning to be fitted with a backspacer at the time. The machine you see above does not have one; if it did, the key would be protruding from the right side of the typewriter's front, above the keyboard. We have no illustrations from right at the time the backspacer was added. It might be important to point out that many typewriters at this time were just introducing backspace mechanisms, and today, collectors look hard for L.C. Smith and Underwood standard machines that are old enough not to have a backspace key.

We next see the machine in 1912, again via a trade catalog from Ed Neuert. This shows the "New" Fox visible line, which was announced to the trade in March, 1912.

In point of fact, we know of very little that could substantially make this machine completely new; it is however improved over previous models in a number of small ways. Note the back space key on the right side, front. This machine also has carriage release levers on both sides of the carriage; prior to this the carriage release was only on the left side of the carriage. The paper table decal has been slightly simplified as can be seen comparing illustrations.

Less easy to see is that the No. 24 has been modified to handle 10.5 inch paper. On the new machines the key levers had been lightened at the front ends, which was said to give an even lighter touch than earlier machines (already known for a light touch.) The machine had a new "double bevel" escapement, which replaced the old "two speed" escapement design and concept which had carried over from the original blind writer (upstrike) Fox machines. The machines had a new, patented design of removable ribbon spool with a conical shape. The keytops were altered, being a new cemented celluoid double-layer type with dished tops to fit the fingers.

The 1912 lineup is notable also for dropping the No. 23 model and the No. 27 model. As of this point then, remaining available models were as follows (all 44 keys):

No. 24 Paper 10.5 inches; writing 8.5 inches

No. 25 Paper 12 inches; writing 9.5 inches

No. 26 Paper 14.5 inches; writing 12 inches

No. 28 Paper 19 inches; writing 17 inches

Carriage interchange on the Fox visibles was said to be fairly easy and rapid.

Our next illustration from Ed Neuert dates to 1919, depicting the No. 24 model.

This illustration is quite interesting in that it shows a design variation that is very rarely found on existing Fox visible machines -- the keytops have been altered to a nickel ringed, white legend design with (probably) glass inserts. This is the final major change to the machine; advertisements begin to show this alteration sometimes, but not in all, 1914 and 1915 images. From that point on the company was in financial difficulties, and soon became absorbed first with trying to make a portable, and second with lawsuits concerning that portable.

The 1922 Typewriter Topics compendium of typewriter history tells us that after the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914, part of the Fox typewriter plant was closed and that the whole Fox typewriter enterprise was a questionable entity from that point forward. We know that the entire operation changed hands to a newly financed corporation during this time (November 1915) and that it was eventually shut down completely and liquidated in 1922.

Fox brought out a portable typewriter, the folding Fox No. 1 in 1917 which led to a series of legal actions brought by Corona. The Fox portables were later made non-folding and also ended in 1922.

(Above, Fox Portable No. 1 serial 1364, Davis Bros. collection)

The portables did not save the company, which had a serious problem already - its standard typewriter was complicated and expensive to manufacture. A similar fate was said to have befallen the Secor -- another good typewriter that was too expensive to build profitably if sold competitively. Fox Typewriter Co. knew this, and filed at least two sets of patents whose purpose (clearly stated) was to convert the Fox visible standard machine to a design easier and less expensive to manufacture.

The design above was filed by Fox for patent in 1913, and concerns converting the Fox visible to a simpler design with all type bars of one length. The key lever at bottom, hinged at the rear of the machine (right side of drawing) imparts motion to an intermediate lever which rotates clockwise as seen here from the left side of the typewriter. This intermediate lever pulls an intermediate link, attached directly to the type bar. A decidedly weak point of this design is the coupling between the key lever and intermediate lever, which requires side clips or tangs to ensure the pieces remain in sliding contact. This design was never built to our knowledge.

The above design for modifying the Fox visible is about a year newer than that above, and incorporates a slotted type bar segment along with a completely revised key lever and type bar mechanism much more well thought out than that previously patented.

In reality, neither of these design changes was applied to the Fox visible even though the company was recapitalized several times and reorganized once. This author has wondered if the venture into portables, with their higher profit margin, was not an attempt to first enter that market and then produce enough cash to retool the standard machine to reduce its manufacturing cost. We will never know, of course, but the speculation is interesting.

For Collectors:

Fox visible machines run in serial numbers from 16,000 to about 125,000; the serial is the second of the two numbers. The No. 23 machine disappears around serial 36,000. Nickel ringed keytops appear somewhere around serial 110,000. There were never any heavy, major alterations to the machine over the period during which it was made in terms of design, but rather a number of small improvements and additions. Essentially the machine can be considered largely unchanged for its entire production run from a mechanical standpoint.

•This concludes our brief look at the Fox visible, standard machines. CLICK HERE to read about the Fox portables, and the financial troubles that doomed the company•

Rebuilt Typewriters - A Discussion and Categorization

2015-07-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

•Present day typewriter historians continue to be puzzled by various typewriters they encounter which seem not to match established characteristics. In many cases this is because these machines have been rebuilt through one of a number of avenues. The old website (now gone) had a considerable amount of information on rebuilt typewriters; because it appears important, we'll reproduce some of that, enhance it, and expand upon it here.•

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REBUILT TYPEWRITERS were becoming an important market force prior to 1900; because of the fact that office or standard typewriters generally had short contractual lives (under five years, according to information in our archives) before they were removed from operation to be replaced, there were from early days a number of "left over" typewriters. The instinct of some early dealers was to destroy the trade-ins or take-backs so they did not threaten the new product being sold. However, this quickly gave way to a vast and complicated universe of buying and selling traded-in, second hand / used machines at prices far, far less than the $100 price of brand new office machines. It was in these somewhat shady and fluid price zones that rebuilding companies and some big city dealers made their fortunes and provided tens of thousands of rebuilt office typewriters over the many years that typewriters were in general use.

We'll provide some "blocks" of information that will certainly be of use to collectors and historians; anyone attempting to research information on widely produced standard typewriters of any make or model should read and understand all of these sections before attempting to interpret data. Rebuilt typewriters are likely to insert false data in any block of research.

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Why buy a rebuilt typewriter? In other words, why would someone in those days purchase one of these machines? The simple answer is PRICE. Most rebuilt standard machines were offered at more or less half the going price for new machines -- and as various models became more and more out of date, they were offered at lower and lower prices.

Above is a price list insert from what we believe to be a late 1923 or early 1924 rebuilt typewriter catalog published by Young Typewriter Company. (The company moved in late 1923; the new address is stamped on this printed insert.) It is important to note that most of the typewriters listed here were introduced between 1908 and 1917, and so were definitely not brand new. Very notable is the inclusion of the blind-writer Remington No. 6 at a deep discount price of $21.00. Compare these prices with the $100 for a brand new standard typewriter, and consider that individual who works occasionally in the home printing (say, for a church or just as a side job) or the office manager who needs to get several typewriters inexpensively. The advantage is obvious. Excepting the realm of unusual, off brand or "junk" typewriters that existed, this price advantage was held exclusively by vendors of rebuilt typewriters until high quality portable typewriters began to appear on the scene, priced $50 to $65 and which gave those who wished to have a machine in the home an option for a brand new machine that could also be carried about. This generally did not begin to take hold until well after the end of the First World War; in fact, there were few good portable typewriters on the market until the mid-1920's that could stand up to the use that a well done rebuilt standard could.

(Young Typewriter Company was established in 1911 and appears to have done business through about 1928.)

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REBUILT TYPEWRITERS: LEVELS OF REBUILDING

We can historically identify several brackets or levels of rebuilt typewriter that the collector will encounter today. Keeping an eye out for these is important, especially in research.

I. Rebuilt by Original Manufacturer and Upgraded.

This is actually the rarest category; few old typewriters were "improved" significantly in the process of rebuilding. Normally, the machines were fitted with replacement parts. However in some rare cases old machines were significantly upgraded.

The typewriter above is one such example. As we know today, Woodstock Typewriter Company got into the business of rebuilding its own machines (more about that later on) and that's the case with this example. However, look closely -- what we have here appears at first glance to be a sort of mix up of parts. In reality this machine is an old Woodstock No. 5 that the factory has enclosed (adding on a front panel, with the WOODSTOCK label, as well as side panels) and has upgraded with a carriage that includes the new see-through window allowing the typist to see the position of the margin stops without tilting or moving the table. The serial number of this machine is RN15206; Woodstock added on the "R" on front of the serial to indicate Rebuilt. The serial without the R indicates a No. 5 machine from the middle 1920's -- but this rebuild took place, so far as we can ascertain, most probably between 1947 and 1950.

II. Rebuilt by Original Manufacturer

Eventually the big makers of typewriters realized that there was a business to be had by rebuilding typewriters, for which (as trade ins) the manufacturers were usually giving some small amount of credit on the buying price. Woodstock is well known to have entered the rebuilding business itself; the machines carrying the special decal the company applied are common enough. This appears to have begun in the late 1930's.

The above mid-late 1930's Woodstock typewriter appears normal enough in itself. But look down along the lower edge of the frame, on the side of the machine toward the rear.

The big Union Typewriter conglomerate got into this business several years before the First World War when it converted the American Writing Machine Company from being a maker of new typewriters (the Caligraph) to a rebuilder of all makes.

The ad above, in my collection, appears actually about actual size. It dates from 1911 and shows AMWCo as advertising "All makes - all styles - all prices" of rebuilt typewriters. Naturally, the company shows one of the Union makes in this ad.

This 1930 letter from AWMCo to a customer, in my collection (see above) shows that the company was still in business then, and the letterhead clearly still advertises "Rebuilt Typewriters and Adding Machines." Some may question AWMCo as "original builder" - we credit this instance as the company was an arm of Union Typewriter, who controlled Remington, Smith Premier, AWMCo, Densmore, Yost, and briefly Pittsburg.

Remington also got into the rebuilding game apart from AWMCo.

Above, Dave's Remington Noiseless 6 as seen in his office. Collectors should look at this twice - why is this machine finished in crinkled black paint instead of smooth black enamel? And should this most likely have white keytop inserts?

Looking at the right side shift key gives the answer:

The key insert says "Factory Reconditioned at Remington Noiseless Factory."

The decal on the rear of the typewriter tells us the same thing. It would seem that Remington had decided that only those that built the Noiseless machines should be rebuilding them!

Let's take a look at a sort of middle example between "Rebuilt by Original Manufacturer" and "Rebuilt by Professional Rebuilder."

IIb. Rebuilt by Assignee of Original Manufacturer

We can describe two cases of this instance. In 1921, it was announced that a new rebuilding concern had been incorporated; Regal Typewriter Company had been organized to rebuild and sell typewriters, and one Marcus Harwitz who set up this new company had formerly been the Manager of the Exchanged Machines Department for Royal Typewriter Company.

In April 1922 the new company began to do business selling "Regal Rebuilt" machines -- which were all Royal typewriters. It soon trademarked its emblem, which can be found only on the rear of a Regal rebuilt Royal. (Seen below.)

The company immediately opened a New York headquarters and a Chicago office. There is not much more to report about this company from trade literature -- but we have long known here that the company had an exclusive arrangement to officially rebuild Royal machines. We have found the proof.

Testimony in a lawsuit between a typewriter dealer and Regal Typewriter Company shows us the fact that Regal had the responsibility (as would have the Exchanged Machines Department before this) of doing something with all the machines traded in to Royal dealers. It is now apparent that what Regal was doing most likely was rebuilding the Royals that were traded back in to Royal on new models, and was selling off the other makes (surely at wholesale) to other buyers. (These would be other rebuilders.) This ensures a path to get the rebuilt Royals to market with high quality, and ensures some small cash flow (profit, that is) on the traded in machines of all other makes.

What Royal had effectively done was put the rebuilding at arm's length... but not too far away. Regal Typewriter Company continued in this same business until April 16, 1975 when it was merged into Litton Business Systems, Inc. (information from US Patent and Trademark Office.)

In the early 1920's, L. C. Smith & Bros. signed an exclusive arrangement with the Smith Typewriter Sales Co. through Harry A. Smith to make that company the exclusive rebuilder of L. C. Smith & Bros. typewriters. We do not know how long this lasted; we also do not know if Smith Typewriter Sales was handling all machines traded in to L. C. Smith dealers, or was just rebuilding L. C. Smith machines for resale. This does however constitute a second known case of rebuilding by assignment of original manufacturer.

III. Rebuilt by Professional Factory

By the 1910-1915 time period there were perhaps a dozen important firms doing business (mostly out of Chicago and New York) entirely in rebuilt typewriters. These firms never manufactured new machines; they always took in second hand or used machines, reconditioned them, and sold them through a number of paths.

•Some were sold direct by mail, through magazine advertisements, to private individuals or offices
•Some were sold through large catalog distributors like Montgomery-Ward, Sears Roebuck and others
•Some were sold to typewriter shops which did not have an affiliation with a major brand selling new typewriters, but which wished to get into selling standard machines
•Some were sold by agents, who were assigned territories (a method also used by many big makers at various points in history, and by most of the small, or "off brand" makers of brand new machines.)
•Many were sold overseas (i.e. outside the U.S.)

The best known of these to collectors was Harry A. Smith, who originally from 1911 did business under that name in Chicago but whose rebuilt typewriter business was later titled "Smith Typewriter Sales Co." This company (like others) obtained typewriters from any number of places, any number of ways; for years the company advertised not only machines for sale in various magazines, but also placed classified ads looking for typewriters "in batches of 10 to 100" that it would buy -- and then of course rebuild and sell any number of ways.

Above, typical Harry A. Smith advertisement in Davis collection; dated to 1914. Click to enlarge, and note the price under $50 for this standard typewriter. There is another fact about this advertisement which is important but will be pointed out later.

Eventually there were big factories (such as that of ITE or International Typewriter Exchange) which were turning out large numbers of rebuilt typewriters post-World War 2 for sale through major catalog houses such as Montgomery-Ward. These typewriters were completely overhauled and rebuilt, but were repainted in a much more modern looking color. A fairly typical example is seen below.

The Underwood No. 5 seen above is finished in overall gray crinkle paint, has no front frame decals and no beaded lines, and has only the red decal "Underwood" on the paper table. In fact, typewriters painted just like this of all makes and models were distributed through catalogs (and other venues, we are sure, including dealerships perhaps) for a number of years. Below is a small scan from a Fall / Winter 1961 Montgomery Ward catalog showing rebuilt machines for sale.

Note the simple decals on all of the machines. The prices are not under $50 any more -- but it should be noted that manual standard typewriters by this point were well above the pre-war $100 mark (the Royal FP's basic price in 1960 was $225.00.) Thus, the machines seen here were still just about half the price of a new standard typewriter, generally.

Above is the Underwood SX-100 model as offered rebuilt. Note the gray crinkle paint and simple Underwood decal - both features match the actual Underwood No. 5 seen earlier.

IV. Rebuilt by Dealer / Local Shop

Of course many dealerships in large and small cities had some business at whatever level taking in machines and then reselling them. In some instances the rebuilding included just painting over worn places on the typewriter frame; but in others, the dealers were able to apply and bake crinkle paint that had a factory finish even if none of the decals or the color were normal for that machine.

The above L. C. Smith Silent machine was in all probability dealer rebuilt. The machine has a good professional paint finish, a set of comfort rubber keytop covers, but only the name SMITH above the keyboard. The machine's features suggest rebuilding after World War 2, and maybe into the late 50's. Of course, when brand new, this machine would have been painted in smooth black enamel and had far different decals.

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DOING BUSINESS WITH TYPEWRITER REBUILDERS

One could find an ad for rebuilt typewriters almost anywhere in the early years of the 20th century. All you had to do was look.

Sometimes the first thing you'd see would be a mail-in offer card such as below.

The card induces the prospective buyer with low down payment, low payment prices thereafter, and overall a price half that of the original maker's retail price. The prospective buyer is invited to send in the card and receive a big catalog. Below is the front cover of what you got if you sent in THIS CARD.

The spectacular front cover of the International Typewriter Exchange catalog. This catalog, by the way, is in my collection and was published in 1938.

We open the catalog and see the frontispiece below (click to enlarge) wherein ITE founder William F. Clausing introduces himself and his business to us. Be sure to read this great ad copy.

In its earliest years, ITE did actually advertise that it sold all makes of typewriter. However by this time Clausing has decided only to obtain and rebuild what he calls the "Five Big Makes" -- Underwood, Royal, L.C. Smith, Woodstock, and Remington. Let's take a look at a couple.

At this point, it's time to make what might be the most important point of this entire post on rebuilt typewriters. Clausing makes it clear (as do many other rebuilders in their catalogues over the years) that he refinishes and repaints every single machine. As we can see, these machines very closely match what they looked like when originally manufactured. As a result, it is often the case if no "rebuilt by" decal or keytop insert is present that YOU CANNOT TELL A WELL REBUILT MACHINE FROM THE ORIGINAL SIMPLY BY APPEARANCE. In fact so many machines were sold over the years after thorough rebuilding the chances that a "perfect condition" pre-1930's typewriter you may be looking at was actually rebuilt and re-decaled are much higher than ten percent. Below is the rear cover of the ITE catalogue with one more offer. Note that the appearance of the machine offered matches the original. However, many ITE machines do have a large circular decal on the front, with the company name indicating the machine was rebuilt.

International Typewriter Exchange is still in business today 100 years later in 2015, offering rebuilt modern typewriters and other machines. The company notes on its website that it eventually got machines into catalogues from Sears, Montgomery Ward, Speigel and Alden's, and did sell rebuilt typewriters not just to individuals direct (as in the earlier days) but also to typewriter dealers nationally. This company was one of the biggest players in rebuilt typewriters from its founding in 1915.

Once you decided to purchase the machine, you sent away a form for it that included your first or down payment and typically two or three "references" that would act as credit checks. These were acted upon, as you can see in a rare letter below.

The above letter in my collection is an actual credit reference letter mailed out in 1909 by the Rebuilt Typewriter Company, in Chicago. Be sure to click and enlarge the photo to read the letter. The credit desired is "for about 50 dollars," in other words the going price of a top notch rebuilt machine.

(Note at the top J. E. Grady - this, for early historians, is "Grady the Typewriter Man," who started this company originally in 1905 as Chicago Office Outfitters; Grady already had good knowledge of second hand and rebuilt typewriters from previous retail experience and included these in this new personal venture. By mid 1906 he had made the decision to focus all business on rebuilt typewriters and the company was renamed Rebuilt Typewriter Company. Grady later made the claim that this company originated the business model and approach for all later typewriter rebuilding firms - a claim, given the relatively early date of his company and his statements in a letter to Typewriter Topics in 1907, that has some merit, although as we'll see there were other firms in the business in 1909. Grady prior to launching his own company had been Chicago Assistant Branch Manager for Oliver Typewriter Company. He left the business in 1915 to work in automobiles.)

Naturally, once you obtained the machine and it proved satisfactory, you continued payments until the title was passed to you. Many private individuals and small organizations obtained solid, dependable machines at low cost by buying rebuilt typewriters over the years - as did thrifty office managers who wished to equip an office less expensively through the use of these machines.

DISHONESTY, LOW QUALITY, NO WARRANTY COVERAGE, AND THE FTC

The big makers of standard machines -- even if they were dealing in rebuilt machines themselves -- frequently railed against the rebuilt machines as substandard and/or a poor substitute. While most of the early rebuilding firms were honest (J. E. Grady, above, swore by the complete honesty of his business as a cornerstone of its success) some were not.

Look back up at the Harry A. Smith advertisement seen earlier and read it once more -- you'll notice something interesting. NEVER ONCE does that advertisement say that the machines being offered are second hand, rebuilt machines, but they are. This practice, not just limited to Harry A. Smith, coupled with the low quality of some second hand machines led to a series of Federal Trade Commission actions beginning about 1916 which essentially boxed the rebuilt typewriter industry into a position of honesty and quality. This in no way damaged the business model overall, although it certainly would have driven out the more marginal and less quality-focused firms and individuals.

Harry A. Smith also engaged in the further deceptive practice of redesignating machines as "Harry A. Smith" machines, with somewhat random model numbers, and selling them under his own name rebuilt. This practice was not specifically called out by the FTC but is highly deceptive nonetheless.

Federal Trade Commission Complaint No. 36, filed February 1, 1918 (FTC vs. Harry A. Smith) had listed as causes "Stifling and suppressing competition in the sale of typewriters by publishing and causing to be published false and misleading advertisements designed and calculated to cause customers and prospective customers to believe that the repaired and rebuilt typewriters of standard makes offered for sale at a price of less than one-half that charged by the makers of such machines are new typewriters in alleged violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act."

At the same time as the above action was filed, other actions were filed against Dearborn Typewriter Company, Metro Typewriter Company and Block & Emporium.

Later Smith ad using word "reconstructed."

The FTC then invited the major typewriter manufacturers to its headquarters and investigated the practices, and the requirements for rebuilt typewriters. The results were published in 1920.

From the 1920 Federal Trade Commission Annual Report:

"Rebuilt Typewriter Industry. The reputation gained for properly and thoroughly rebuilt typewriting machines yielding a comparatively high percentage of efficiency was found on investigation by the Commission to have induced widespread unfair deceptive practices.

To simultaneously correct the unfair practices complained of, the industry upon the invitation from the Commission assembled and at its request defined and denounced in open meeting those practices which in the judgement and experience of the industry were considered unfair methods of competition.

The term 'rebuilt' or 'remanufactured' typewriters was first defined substantially as follows: Machines in which all substantial parts have been removed, examined, cleaned and tested; defective parts replaced; type properly aligned; unnecessary lost motion eliminated; tarnished blued and nickeled parts reblued and renickeled; and the parts of which have been reassembled, inspected and adjusted by competent workmen.

The industry then defined and denounced the use of the following practices as unfair methods of competition:

A. The selling of rebuilt or remanufactured typewriters as new machines.
B. The selling as rebuilt or remanufactured typewriters machines which have been given only superficial repairs or such repairs as are necessary to enable a machine to be operated without being rebuilt or remanufactured as defined herein.
C. Guaranteeing of a machine by a dealer who is not a competent workman or who does not employ a skilled repair or service man, and who cannot keep the guaranteed machines in repair or furnish service in answer to a customer's complaint.
D. The guaranteeing of machines sold on mail order unless guaranty (sic) expressly provides that a local dealer shall make service repairs at the expense of the mail order dealer or provides for the return of the machine to the mail order dealer for guaranteed service repairs."

MONTGOMERY WARD 1961 - REBUILT TYPEWRITERS

We've already seen two scans from a 1961 Montgomery Ward catalog. Let's see how this company was advertising its rebuilt typewriters and compare that with the 1920 FTC mandate on the industry.. To do that, we'll look at the header for Ward's rebuilt typewriters....

"Reconditioned Typewriters for Three-Way Economy!

1. Cut Overhead 2. Big Machine Competence at Low Price 3. Utility on Easy Terms

-- What does "Reconditioned Typewriter" mean at Ward's?

1. Factory Disassembled - Every typewriter is disassembled at the factory for full reconditioning. Working parts are inspected for wear.

2. Scientifically Cleaned - Disassembled machines are chemically washed of all dust, sediment, dirt. Clean parts ensure smooth operation.

3. All Worn Parts Replaced - All broken and excessively worn parts are replaced with new parts. All rubber parts are also new.

4. New Modern Plastic Key Tops - Old key tops replaced with new plastic tops for a handsome appearance, more comfort in typing.

5. New Baked Enamel Crackle Finish - All painted parts are refinished to protect machine, add to its good looks.

6. Quality Workmanship - Every reconditioned typewriter sold here assembled, rigidly inspected by skilled, factory-trained mechanics.

Judging from the description, I'd say Montgomery Ward was right in line with the requirements for honesty and excellence laid out by the industry and adopted by the FTC in 1920! It's likely that the work was being done by ITE.

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As you can see, the rebuilt typewriter industry was vast and long-lived. It produced many thousands of good, reliable machines -- and a few notorious ones. It competed so fiercely with the new machine business that the industry both joined it, and had it regulated into compliance. It produced a large number of machines that for all purposes cannot be distinguished from the original article when new -- and it also produced some very odd looking machines seemingly having their design quite out of place with their decor.

We have more information to share with you on rebuilt typewriters, but will share that in a second post - leaving this one as the primary post with the "must have" information on rebuilt typewriters.

8:30 PM Eastern July 16, 2015

The Victor Standard Typewriter

2015-05-25T06:36:00.001-07:00

Victor No. 3; Davis Bros. collection

The Victor is one of those typewriter brands which collectors today view somewhat as an oddity, or else as an "off brand" or "also-ran" make. The Victor lasted in production from 1907 through perhaps 1925, giving it a short life when compared with big makes such as Remington or Underwood. Yet the Victor has a special place for some collectors, and for that reason we've decided to give a complete history of this machine as we did previously on this blog with the Harris - Rex - Demountable line of machines, the Reliance, and the Burroughs. This material supersedes that on my old website.

THE VICTOR'S BEGINNINGS

The Victor did not appear from a vacuum; it had its roots in persons involved with an established manufacturer of typewriters. The Franklin Typewriter Company was that entity from which the Victor developed.

In 1902, the Franklin Typewriter Company of New York, which was manufacturing a machine of that name and which had been invented originally by Wellington Parker Kidder, was declared bankrupt. The Franklin was a workable typewriter, but was not exceedingly modern and not particularly competitive - but still, it was better in ways than a number of other machines holding out on the market. The company was sold on October 18, 1902 to one Robert J. Edwards for a sum of $12,222. The company's tooling had been valued, by assessor, at between six and seven thousand dollars and its factory equipment at about fifteen hundred.

In 1904, the newly reorganized company brought the No. 10 Franklin to market; this would be the final model of this series. In 1905, the company - perhaps spurred by the then-recent (1904) introduction of the visible-writing L.C. Smith machine, and its direct competitor the Monarch at the same time - began to work on a true $100 front strike standard machine. The timing of this move is notable, as at this time the Remington, Smith Premier, Yost, and Fox standard machines were all still understrike or "blind writer" designs. These plans were not announced to the industry.

The new Victor (taking the name of an index style predecessor of the Franklin) was brought to market in May 1907. One month before this move and concurrent with injection of new capital, the Victor Typewriter Company had been incorporated and had taken over all interests of the older Franklin concern. The Franklin design was dropped.

VICTOR NO. 1

The Victor No. 1 as introduced to the market in the second quarter of 1907 was a four bank, front strike machine of the general $100 class in all measures such as weight, size and capability. The keyboard incorporated 42 keys typing 84 characters, with a single (carriage) shift. The machine had several features which were notable in comparison with other new visibles such as the L.C. Smith or Monarch; for example, every Victor came out of the factory with a decimal tabulator as standard equipment but at no added cost. The Victor had an outstanding and unique mounting design for its type bars wherein each had two legs attached to the mounting bar one inch apart - a feature intended to absolutely prevent bearing wear from working the machine out of alignment. The bearings were also adjustable to take up for wear. Oddities with the machine were its ribbon vibrator, which ran the ribbon vertically at the print point (it being fed by spools under the top deck and having two colors) and the machine's physical setup that ensured the printing was done above the horizontal on the platen. This latter feature was intended to assist with visibility of the typing in areas not exceedingly well lit; not all typists had desks by the window, and not all offices were well lit in those days.

In the interest of comparison with other standard makes available at the time, it should be pointed out that the Victor was never available as separate concurrent models; other makes, such as L. C. Smith, Monarch and Underwood had two or more models available concurrently with differing numbers of keys and/or wide carriages. Also, the Victor was unavailable without the decimal tabulator - in keeping with the "single model" concept. Indeed, throughout its entire life the Victor would never have more than one model offered at one time.

The machine was manufactured in a factory at 812-814 Greenwich Street, New York City as seen below in an illustration from Business Equipment Topics.

This factory building still stands today, in wonderful condition at 812-814 Greenwich St., New York City. Click here to see it on Bing Maps. It is now refurbished as high end housing.

As mentioned, the Victor entered the market at a time that the Underwood was moving toward dominance of all other $100 machines, but into which the new and "visible" L. C. Smith and the Monarch had appeared. Within a year or so of the introduction of the Victor, however, the big Union makes changed over to visibles -- the Remington and Smith Premier machines being the most well known. Right before the Victor's introduction, the Fox had also changed to a visible writer .. and there were numerous other lesser machines around as well as a flood of rebuilt blind-writers with which to compete.

The Victor No. 1 was actively marketed mainly in the United States, although it did appear in Europe where it was marketed as the DIKTATOR. This early marketing of the machine overseas was however inconsequential when compared to the efforts undertaken later in the life of the machine's descendants.

DIKTATOR, in the Thomas Fuertig collection. Note refitting of horizontal path ribbon guide.

As with all new machines of any sort, time discloses deficiencies or weaknesses and responsively the company introduced a number of changes with a new model after having sold roughly 3000 examples of its first model.

VICTOR NO. 2

December 1909 saw the introduction of the Victor No. 2, which in overall appearance and general arrangement followed closely after the No. 1 but which incorporated a very large number of improvements and alterations. These included the following:

•Change of primary key levers from wood to metal, and change in mechanism design
•Addition of new and novel ribbon color selector device, on front, with distinctive guide
•Back space key (mounted as bar above keyboard, center)
•New carriage rail and bearings
•New escapement
•Variable line spacing
•Improved paper finger design
•Provision for individual adjustment of key lever tension

Retained in the machine's features were the decimal tabulator, the ribbon arrangement, and the orientation of assembly that made the machine type just above level, as it were, on the front of the platen. Wide carriages had been introduced just immediately prior to issuance of the No. 2 model in 1909.

The Victor Typewriter Company soon found itself in a position to announce somewhat of a sales coup, as it was the Victor that won out over a number of other standard makes in a competition held by International Correspondence Schools of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The purpose of this competition was to determine which make ICS would use for its correspondence typing and business courses -- for which it would be shipping off not just the courses, but $100 typewriters.

ICS placed an enormous order in January, 1910 for no less than 7,500 Victor typewriters to be used not only for its correspondence work but also by special arrangement in all of its own offices and plants. This was one of the largest single orders of its time, and represented over twice the entire production that the company had achieved of the No. 1 model in two and a half years. This order also began what would prove to be a close relationship between the Victor concern and ICS until the complete shutdown of the business in the 1920's.

INTERNATIONAL TEXTBOOK TAKES OVER

After a period of two years and three months the Victor No. 3 model appeared on the market; introduced in March 1912, the machine had a number of small improvements over the No. 2. In its general arrangement, main operative features and mechanical design it was not at all dissimilar from the preceding model. As it happens historically, the No. 3 would be the major production model for the company; it would last on the market for about seven and a half years. It continued at $100 price as with the previous offerings.

Victor No. 3 ad, Auto Trade Journal; date unknown, Will Davis collection

When the new model hit the market, ICS announced that it had over 2,000 Victor machines in its service (of all models) whether that be for use by correspondence students or for use in its own offices and plants. Whether the commitment for a further 5,500 machines to ICS played a role in what happened next is not certain, but seems important given the ICS commitment to its correspondence program - but whatever the case, Victor soon found itself in new hands.

In September 1912 it was revealed to the trade that Robert J. Edwards had sold the Victor Typewriter Company to ICS affiliate International Textbook Company including all patents, tools, facilities and good will. A letter by inventor George W. Campbell (intimately involved with the Victor for years) to Business Equipment Topics stated that this transaction "benefited Victor in every way." In point of fact, the Victor concern was seriously in trouble, and it is a good bet that ICS bought it partly to save it, partly to ensure its supply of typewriters, and partly due to the desire of Thomas J. Foster - head of the ICS companies - to become somewhat of a business magnate in the vein of the Vanderbilts or the Morgans.

The various Foster enterprises, which included not just ICS but mining and railroading interests among others were all headquartered around Scranton, Pennsylvania. Financial magazines of the day made note of the interconnected finances of the Foster enterprises, the apparent seamless movement of money between them (and even mergers of them) and both the frequent convulsions of their financial conditions and the resultant pleas to investors for more cash. None of the ventures was highly profitable -- the entire Foster empire was a house of cards it was said, and in point of fact the addition of Victor to the fold made the conditions worse, not better.

The periodical FINANCIAL WORLD was never kind to T. J. Foster or his ventures, it would seem, and right from the start it questioned the purchase of the typewriter concern by ICS/ITB, noting in November 1912 that financials for the Victor concern were generally impossible to find but that $1,000,000 had been raised by Foster to buy the stock of a company which had multiple small judgments (in other words, lost lawsuits) against it. The picture then was of a company so cash deficient it could not pay its bills but yet for which Foster had managed to get a million dollars from investors. The contract for the 7,500 Victor machines was valued (at the time of ICS purchase of Victor) at about $850,000.

Already in October 1912 FINANCIAL WORLD had directly accused Foster's companies of continuing to offer bad securities after good, so that increasing monies taken in were used mostly to pay old debt. The periodical wrote of the Foster companies "it is a long chain they are running, but it is no stronger than its weakest link." Soon the company would attempt to offer a SECOND block of stock totaling $1,000,000.

SHOPPING AROUND TO UNLOAD VICTOR

Before three years were out the condition of International Textbook Company had become rather acute - and so had the condition of Foster's empire. The outbreak of war in Europe had led to a reduction in sales of all kinds, overseas first and then in the US; hard hit of course were correspondence courses. According to testimony by Foster a couple years later in an unrelated personal bankruptcy case (not Foster's), just as the War broke out Victor was attempting to establish a conventional sales and dealer network (which implies an outlay of cash to purchase or rent properties and hire and train personnel.)

As early as May 1915 reports began to appear that Int'l Textbook was shopping around for buyers for Victor Typewriter and a new location for its factory. The May 8, 1915 AMERICAN STATIONER reported that Victor officials were scouting the town of Lynn, Massachusetts and discussing a $1,000,000 deal to locate a manufacturing plant there. Representatives of the Lynn Chamber of Commerce showed the typewriter men the city. Nothing came of this proposal, although it did make press a number of places.

However also in May 1915 FINANCIAL WORLD reported that Foster himself was courting the city of Columbus, Ohio to erect a new factory for the Victor. Foster was proposing that Columbus businessmen underwrite an issue of $5,000,000 worth of 7% bonds; the factory would provide employment for 1500 people, Foster reportedly said. The publication (more skeptical of Foster than ever) noted the dire condition of the home businesses back in Scranton and jokingly noted that Foster would build a factory in Kamchatka if he could get an infusion of five million dollars.

By the end of May Foster had made another proposal to the businessmen and bankers of Taunton, Massachusetts - this time an issue of $2,500,000 of twenty-year bonds on a basis of 7% return. FINANCIAL WORLD at this time (May 29, 1915) noted the sorry history of Int'l Textbook and the Victor stock since purchase, with continual recapitalization being required. "So it goes on, weaving and weaving new securities out of the shreds of an old carpet. It is an unending process of capitalizing and recapitalizing the same old proposition. This has naturally and justifiably raised over the whole edifice a black cloud of suspicion," the publication went on to say; it added some details of other financial maneuverings inside the Foster empire to patch holes here and there, and even some bankruptcies.

Victor No. 3 w/ original crate; Davis Bros. collection

By June 1915 the situation of ICS and Int'l Textbook was absolutely critical. At the 1915 Int'l Textbook Shareholder meeting, Foster himself announced that cash receipts were down for the preceding year over three quarters of a million dollars and this, coupled with rapidly rising expenses had driven available cash to just $100,000. The company had paid its dividend in January and originally intended to pay April's (and declared it) but then rescinded the April dividend. The stockholders then voted to authorize an emergency issuance of $1,000,000 in bonds, to be secured by physical property and real estate. However, none of these bonds sold (even through March 1918.) It was reported in August, 1915 in THE AMERICAN STATIONER that it was the Victor Typewriter Company's financial condition that was largely responsible for the bad condition of International Textbook Company.

At this time - August 1915 - the Chamber of Commerce of Lawrence, Massachusetts was now reported to be considering whether or not to arrange a deal to buy the company and bring it to Massachusetts. The August 14 AMERICAN STATIONER reported that a letter was sent from the Chamber president to businessmen in Lawrence showing that the condition of Victor Typewriter was not great, having for example only about $28,000 in cash above all outstanding liabilities, but that if any eight business men in the town could each put in $1000 then eight seats on the Board of the new company could be secured and the company brought to Lawrence

What had in fact transpired in the interim between the first visit of officials to Lynn and the present offer for Board seats in Lawrence is that a deal had been struck between Int'l Textbook (Foster) and George W. Campbell (mentioned earlier) to buy out the entire typewriter business from Int'l Textbook. It was now left for Campbell and his group to discover just where a new factory would be either bought and converted or else built and fitted.

Victor No. 3 illustration courtesy Peter Weil

By October 1915 the deal with Lawrence businessmen had fallen through. Instead, Campbell and partners incorporated a new Victor Typewriter Manufacturing Company (incorporated in New York) to buy the concern and build a new and large factory in Poughkeepsie, New York. The capital stock of the new corporation was $2,625,000 (a decent figure, since the Lynn officials earlier had found the capital stock of Victor to be $1,780,000 and the total assets to be $1,267,580.)

November 1915 brought wide announcement of a bright future for Victor. Trade papers showed artists' renderings of the new, large and modern plant intended for Poughkeepsie, which was designed by architect John J. Petit of New York. The $1,500,000 plant would include every modern feature and according to AMERICAN STATIONER "it is the company's idea to surround its employees with every element which will be conducive toward their comfort and efficiency of their work." The new plant would incorporate its own power plant; it would not be ready over a year. In that month TYPEWRITER TOPICS reported that it was primarily the financial condition of Int'l Textbook that led investors to buy out the typewriter concern.

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

And then the new deal, the massive factory, the new ownership failed. The deal was not consummated; the new company did not take over. Not one brick of the new factory was put up. Production of the No. 3 Victor went along as before on Greenwich St. in New York.

International Textbook, according to V. P. Ralph Weeks, 'reorganized the operations of the company' to secure profitability in what it believed would be the near term. And things began to actually look up.

In 1916, a number of positive things happened. The company decided to sell some of its sales offices in smaller business areas and hand over the dealership rights to typewriter businesses already established in those locations. In England, Salter Typewriter Co.'s factory was being used for war purposes -- so it arranged to sell the Victor typewriter through its dealer network. This meant that Victor gained a new, ready-made (if temporary) sales network in England and that Salter could maintain its network for the time when the war was over. And the Boston Board of Education, after considering various models for two years, ordered 1,000 Victor typewriters.

The announcement was made in May, 1917 trade papers that the entire equipment of the Victor Typewriter Company was underway by rail to a new home - a factory space erected for it on the property of International Textbook Company, in Scranton Pennsylvania near the other major operative buildings of the company.

The plant occupied by Victor Typewriter from May 1917 onward still stands today in Scranton, Pennsylvania and is seen above in a screen shot from Bing Maps.

There is also evidence that in late 1917 the company set up a subsidiary to handle its machines after rebuilding and/or traded in machines - the formation of a "Victor Typewriter Sales & Supply Co." is noted in several sources and in September 1917 the company advertised that it had "a number of overhauled, perfect condition second-hand machines that had been traded in on the new Victor No. 3 model." This company was also located in Scranton, Pa.

However in 1917 International Textbook and ICS reported that they had lost over 12,000 correspondence students as a result of the War just in the period from May to December 1917. Clearly though as seen above the company had made moves to establish sales through conventional sales practices, so that the typewriter business was not directly affected by this loss (which was not by any means limited to just correspondence courses that required typewriters.)

THE NEW VICTOR NO. 10 AND NEW OWNERSHIP

In November 1919 the Victor No. 10 was announced to the trade. This machine was a thorough revision of the previous general design; while it incorporated the same key lever and type bar mechanism and the same bearing design for the type bars, a large portion of the machine was "rationalized"or made more like that of other standard machines of the day. The ribbon spools were brought out from under the top deck and placed on top of it; the type basket was reoriented so that impression now occurred level on the front of the platen; and the whole of the carriage assembly was brought up and forward toward the typist to improve access and reach. At the print point, the former vertical orientation of the ribbon was dropped in favor of a wholly conventional ribbon vibrator. The decimal tabulator design and the ribbon selector quadrant design were retained, but a host of minor other improvements was made and the new machine (which now sold at $110) was said to contain "nearly 100 fewer parts" than had the previous models. The Victor No. 10 is often erroneously described in collector publications by its platen width (10-1.2 inches) as a model number - but the model is No. 10 nevertheless. The company expected first deliveries on or about January 1, 1920.

Victor No. 10, courtesy Thomas Fuertig.

Victor No. 10, courtesy Richard Polt

At the same time as the much improved No. 10 was announced, the company began construction of an addition to its Scranton, Pa. typewriter factory.

The year 1920 saw an event that had been attempted numerous times before but which had failed brought to fruition; the Victor Typewriter Company was sold by International Textbook to a concern headed by Everly M. Davis. The periodical UNITED STATES INVESTOR reported in 1921 that International Textbook had "disposed of interests in Victor Typewriter" during the year 1920, but other sources show the date of changeover being February 1921. It is possible that the deal was signed late in 1920 and not effective until February of the next year. Whatever the case, the company was now on its own feet.

An important change that had been progressively occurring in the matter of sales of the Victor was an ever-increasing focus on the export of the typewriter outside the United States. Earlier in this piece Foster was quoted as saying that Victor was only just establishing a sales network at the time it was purchased by International Textbook; at an international trade convention in Cleveland, Ohio in 1921 Victor Typewriter President Mayne R. Denman told the assembled crowd that when the war had broken out, his company was not exporting. He did point out that after concerted effort in the field, it was now exporting 80% of its product. He mentioned that some companies who had been exporting pre-war were referring to new exporters as "wild-catters" (a derogatory term) but he said that he felt the new exporters had every bit as much right to build business as old exporters had. Denman also brought up the problem that some South American opportunities had been stymied because prospective customers had been cancelling orders; the required purchase of raw materials for these had taken place in some cases a year in advance, so that when the customers ultimately cancelled the costs for the whole process were thrown onto the manufacturer.

Victor No. 10 courtesy Tilman Elster.

In June 1922, trade paper Business Equipment Topics reported that production of the Victor No. 10 during that month was greater than during any other month for the last year and a half, and that the company was essentially 25% overbooked in sales vs. actual production.

THE END

We do now know the exact turn of events (yet) that surround the collapse of the Victor Typewriter Company, although the worldwide recession of the early 1920's is unavoidably contributory. What is clear is that for some reason or another, in March 1924 Business Equipment Topics reported that ownership of Victor Typewriter Company had passed BACK into the hands of International Textbook Company. In point of fact, back in June 1922 (the same month that manufacturing was reported to be at a high point) it was also reported that two whole floors of a building at Scranton that had formerly been used by Victor were being re-purposed for other uses. It is quite contradictory to find that Victor's production was at a peak and that it was giving up floor space -- but the nature of a trade paper is first to promote and second to report. Thus it was very likely that production of the machine had not been vibrant at all for some time, and that the reported "peak" in manufacturing was more of a last gasp than an augury of future success. Whatever the case, the death of the concern was near at hand.

Moody's reported that Victor Typewriter Company had (in 1924) about $568,000 in notes outstanding to International Textbook. This must partly explain ITB taking control of the company once again, and indicates the company's cash-deficient position.

References to existence of the company can still be found in 1925 publications - but not in 1926. In 1926, the Victor Adding Machine Co. paid Victor Typewriter $15,000 for "rights and good will" concerning the name "Victor" for typewriters, as it intended to launch a portable typewriter of indigenous design and wished to use its name for the typewriter. At this point, this was probably the largest payment Victor Typewriter could have hoped for, and surely this was an aid in the dissolution of the company which must have occurred at about this time.

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PERSPECTIVE AND ANALYSIS

Victor Typewriter Co. manufactured four models over the span 1907-1924.

•Victor No. 1 / May 1907 - December 1909 / serials 0 to ~3000 (3000 units)
•Victor No. 2 / December 1909 - March 1912 / serials 3000 to 7500 (4500 units)
•Victor No. 3 / March 1912 - December 1919 / serials 8000 to 25000 (17000 units)
•Victor No. 10 / December 1919 - ? 1924 / serials 50000 to 55000+ (about 5300 units)

When the Victor machine was first conceived about 1905 the market was still responding to the Underwood; the brand new visible, front strike L. C. Smith and the similar Monarch were making enormous waves in the trade press, and the push toward all standard machines being visible writers had just begun in earnest. (The Oliver also continued to be a force.) The Victor just barely beat the Remington and Smith-Premier visibles to market in 1907, but it had been beaten to market by the Fox and by the brand new Royal, both of which had appeared in 1906. The Royal had two models - a $100 and a $65, both described as "Standard" machines. In the same time period the short lived Remington-Sholes Visible appeared, and quickly disappeared. Sun Typewriter Company had introduced a $100 machine (its No. 6) to complement its line of lower priced front strike machines.

The Victor has, as a product line, a peculiar distinction -- Most $100, small brand machines introduced in the USA later than it did failed or at least did much worse than it did; these include the Blick-Bar, Remington-Sholes Visible, Secor, Sholes Visible, Stearns, and Visigraph. The Woodstock, introduced 1914 was later but as we have described in one of our videos was not initially a $100 machine because of the issuance of "credit drafts" with each machine during early years, bringing the price under $70 (a policy which was not maintained, but rather kept long enough through production of the Woodstock No. 4 to ensure spread of the product.) We thus can provide a pinpoint in history for the Victor as about the last "off brand" $100 standard to make it.

Rebuilt standard machines available at good quality but half the price of new standards seriously began to make inroads as increasingly they became available at this same time; additionally, a number of ostensibly "standard" but lower priced and less well featured machines such as the Harris Visible, the Pittsburg Visible (later Reliance), and others such as the Molle populated the same price range as the better rebuilt machines. In other words, competition was fierce. The First World War had a serious effect on sales; the increase following it was more than blunted by the world-wide recession of the early 1920's that killed off so many manufacturers (not just Victor, but Reliance and Fox to name a couple.)

Victor No. 10 trade catalog illustration courtesy Peter Weil

As originally introduced, the Victor had some features that appear to us today to be peculiarities, but in the world of typewriters such as it existed at the time none of these would have been especially glaring. However within just a few years it became clear, for example, that having ribbon spools on the top of the machine for the sake of convenience was preferred, and in ways the Victor became more and more out of date domestically. Export sales clearly helped bolster the machine, though, and after some years the design was heavily modernized and relaunched at the start of 1920 as the No. 10. This model only sold about five thousand machines before the company failed.

At no time was Victor in any position to steer the overall field. Its machine was good, but no better than the other $100 makes and had nothing especially to commend it. Instead it remained an "also ran" for its entire career - although it maintained its high market price to the end.

Victor No. 3, Davis Bros. collection

COLLECTORS TODAY AND THE VICTOR

Victor standard machines were superbly painted, decaled and finished, and are very often found in a condition that surprises. For four bank front strike standards, the Victors draw a premium price.

Numerous Victor machines were rebuilt and relabeled by Chicago-area rebuilder Harry A. Smith Typewriter Co. and can be found with this brand name and variously given the Harry A. Smith model numbers of 2, 4, and 6 (rebuilt Victor No. 2 machines) and 9 and 12 (rebuilt Victor No. 3 machines.)

With something over 30,000 Victors of all models built, the Victor as a brand is roughly as common as Demountables of all models (about 25,000 built) but considerably less common than Harris Visible / Rex Visible machines of all models (about 70,000 built.) Roughly three times as many of the ornate, open sided (German built) Ideal machines were made as were made of all models of the Victor, as a poignant comparison. Certainly then a Victor of any model should be on the wish list of any collector interested in early or unusual front strike standard typewriters. Serious typists (in other words modern writers) should only pursue the No. 10 model, if any at all.

LINKS

Typing test! My Victor No. 10, tested back in January 2011.

Harry A. Smith page on this blog features details on rebuilt Victors

SOURCES

As noted in the text - includes various issues of Business Equipment Topics / Typewriter Topics, The American Stationer, American Machinist, Poor's Manual of Industrials and Public Utilities, Automobile Trade Journal, Educational Foundations, United States Investor, Typographical Journal, and Financial World. Black and white typewriter cuts taken from Business Equipment Topics (Victor Typewriter Co. advertisements.) All other illustrations and machines shown, see individual captions and descriptions.

Machines in Davis Bros. collection include a Harry A. Smith No. 4 (Victor No. 2), a Victor No. 3 and a Victor No. 10.

Portable Typewriters Today - February 2015

2015-02-10T17:36:00.004-08:00

In the days of my old website I carried out, from time to time, updates on the portable typewriters that were actually being manufactured around the world. There was a fairly static page until February 2005, at which time I began making some semi- regular updates on the changes in the typewriters available for purchase brand new.

Now, TEN YEARS LATER, I'm going to revisit that series of articles by doing two things:

•First, an update of the manual portables available right now.
•Second, an archive of the information written from 2005 onward on my old site to record the winding down of the manufacturing and sales of portables in the USA.

PORTABLES TODAY - FEBRUARY 2015

Incredibly, we find that one of the oldest names in the business continues to offer a portable manual typewriter on its website.

The Royal Epoch is available for $199.99 at Royal Consumer Business Products' website. This machine is manufactured for Royal in China by Shanghai Weilv Mechanism Company.

Manual Typewriter - available at Sharper Image for $199.99 and listed "in stock" today, February 10, 2015. This is the same machine as that sold above as the Royal Epoch. No model name or number is shown on the illustrations available. An illustration of the machine from the site (appearing here for archival purposes in anticipation of that date when this offer is ended) is below.

Wordsmith's Manual Typewriter

Machines using this name - which actually looks like a marketing scheme and not a name applied on the typewriters themselves - are presently listed two places and are the same machine as the Royal Epoch and that sold by Sharper Image seen above.

Hammacher Schlemmer lists the machine for $249.95 and as of February 1, 2015 listed it as being available from its New York store. However a check today February 10 shows the machine as no longer available. Thus, we've just seen the end of one line of distribution this month.

Skymall lists the machine for $249.95 noting that it is sold through Hammacher Schlemmer but says that the machine is presently unavailable.

(Also, quite differently to these Robert E. De Barth is still showing the old Olivetti MS25 manual as available but has no price. This machine is not the same as those shown above, but rather is the same as the recent "Generation 3000.")

The above applies to machines available in the United States directly to consumers.

Manufacturing of mechanical or manual portables in 2015 is, as was last reported on my old website, limited entirely to Shanghai Weilv Mechanism Co. in China, although this company is manufacturing (or at least advertising) several different actual mechanical designs. It is not known if it is making these all continuously or is making them in batches. The company describes itself as having two production lines, and employs less than 100 people. Basic models being made are as follows:

"Carina / Carina 2" series

These typewriters are based off of what had been sold as the Olympia Carina in days past; they're derived from Nakajima originally and are the same as seen above in this post except for the De Barth offering. Some variants of this machine are offered in black, some in white; some carry the ROVER brand name, and some do not. Carriage widths available are 11", 13", and 18". Below are shown the black "2013 New Model" with 11" carriage and the SM18 with 18" carriage.

Rover (IMC) Series

This series of typewriters is derived from the old IMC make in Italy, whose tooling was sent to China some years back. This machine is the intermediate size machine being made by Shanghai Weilv, and is available in 9", 9.5", 11" and 13" carriage sizes. The manufacturer claims to be able to supply 3500 machines per month. Below is one of the various ROVER branded machines of this mechanical series.

Traveller C

Finally, the smallest machine is that whose mechanical origin is the Silver-Seiko small machine, which at the last was made for Olympia as its Traveller C model. This machine is now offered in 9" or 9.5" carriage width as the Rover Traveller C, pictured below.

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That does it for machines being made right now. The Shanghai Weilv offerings may indeed be for sale outside the US through various retailers, but they're only available wholesale from the manufacturers in minimum lots of 1000.

Now, we're going to jump all the way back to TEN YEARS AGO, using archived information from my old site, to give a timeline of the decline of the actual retail sale of manual portable typewriters in the United States.

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The Run-Down of Manual Portables in the US, 2004 - 2007.

As of mid-2004, machines still on the market included the Olympia Traveller C, and two offerings from Olivetti - the Lettera 25 and the Lettera 35l. The machines were quite different; the Olympia had a snap over lid, carriage shift, and the lowest price of the lot. The Olivetti machines were larger and heavier (although still of the "small" range of Olivetti portables) and incorporated segment shift, but had bag type carrying cases instead of a lid or actual hard case.

In the third quarter of 2004, both Olivetti and Olympia dropped their long running manual portables. In the case of Olympia, the end was complete; in Olivetti's case it immediately began importing machines from China which were advertised as the "Olivetti MS25 Premier." Interestingly the MS25 was actually imported under the same model number in TWO DIFFERENT mechanical variations - a machine based on the old Brother, and another machine based on the IMC/Rover manufactured by Shanghai Aeroengine Manufacturing. We noted at that time that the production of this IMC model had been taken over from Shanghai Aircraft Industrial Corporation who actually was a part owner of the new Shanghai Aeroengine firm; the product's brand name had been "Chang Kong."

At this time there had been machines advertised by Optima Erfurt as the Optima Traveller C, but these also disappeared when the Olympia Traveller C disappeared.

As of February 2005, also advertising manual typewriter manufacturing was Marshall Sewing Machine Industrial (located in Taiwan) offering its model MT-99 portable (a small machine resembling the Traveller C, but with a clear plastic paper tray on the carriage.) Ningbo Duodashi Manufacturing Co. in China was offering its DUODASHI brand machine; it said at the time it began production in 1962. Chee-May (Goh's) of Taiwan also listed many KOFA (Keeping Offices Fully Automated) models which included the Model 100 "mixto" or "Frankenwriter" whose design incorporated elements of two other previous machines (the main body of the old carriage shifted Triumph Tippa, merged with the carriage off of the bigger Olympia Traveller as made in Yugoslavia by UNIS, Sarajevo.)

Jordi Traveler, Will Davis collection. "Model 100" rebranded.

In February 2005 the Olympia site still showed the Traveller C and two Carina models as available but since manufacture of the Traveller C was known to be terminated, these must have been backstock.

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In December 2005 we noted in another update that the Olivetti MS25 Premier, and the Rover 5000 were both available through a number of channels. The perplexing thing (to some) was that either of these might show up as one of two different models.

The name "Rover 5000" was being used to cover two machines of different design, but which had the same number of keys, carriage width, and so forth. One was based on the old original Rover 5000 made in China. One of the old Rover 5000 machines is shown below for comparison.

Rover 5000, Will Davis collection. Original series.

Machines ordered under either the Olivetti name, or through special interest catalogs like "Dr. Leonard's Health Care" wherein they were branded "Rover" might show up to the user either as the IMC/Rover family variant seen above or else as the Brother design based variant seen below. (We actually did order one from Dr. Leonard's and below is what we received in December 2005.)

Rover 5000, Davis Bros. collection, acquired brand new 12/2005

The Dr. Leonard's Health Care catalog was a special interest mailer that primarily focused on products appealing to, or required by, senior citizens - and the typewriter was deliberately marketed in these with somewhat of a "throwback" angle. The shift in focus of machines away from the old original product lines (as in Olivetti's case) and the introduction of the machines into "alternate" marketing like Dr. Leonard's points up the manual portable typewriter's position in the product life cycle at that time.

February 2006.... We discovered that the Signatures mail order catalog, offered by Starcrest Products of California, Inc. included a manual portable - the "Generation 3000." We sent for one.

Generation 3000, Davis Bros. collection. Acquired new 2/2006.

At this time we finally were able to discover that this particular design, based on what had originally been a Brother design, was being made by Ideal (Jinan) Machinery Co., Ltd. of China. The Generation 3000 offering came in a very nice zippered vinyl case, as opposed to the snap over plastic lid of the Rover 5000... but both are the same typewriter. The Generation brand name was owned by Generation Marketing Group, whose assignee was a Mr. Ashok Matta. It is likely that this firm was the intermediary in arrangements between Ideal (Jinan) and the retailers.

The illustrations for the Generation 3000 included just a generic illustration of the machine with no name - a hint that the machines were offered under a variety of names and that a generic illustration was used. See below.

Illustration in Generation 3000 inst.; Davis Bros. collection

At this time (Feb. 2006) the Carol Wright mail order catalog, which was loosely affiliated with the firm sending out the Dr. Leonard's Health Care mailers, also began offering the Rover 5000 typewriter.

For clarity then -- this Ideal (Jinan) design, based on the old dowel mounted key lever Brother machine, was being sold as the Generation 3000 (in black with zippered case), the Rover 5000 (in white with snap over case lid) and as the Olivetti MS25 Premier (also with snap over lid.)

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We didn't make another update on this topic until December 2007, when we announced the discovery of an elaborate offering of typewriters under the FLYING brand name. The company manufacturing these was Zhangjiagang Feiteng Typewriter Co., Ltd. which was part of the Feiteng Group in China. Offered were models Flying 300, Flying 800A, Flying 800B, Flying 880A, Flying 880B, Flying 960A and Flying 960B, all of which were related to each other mechanically and the Flying 970 which appeared quite like the Olympia Traveller C.

At that time the Marshall Sewing Machine Industrial model MT-99 was still being offered in large lots through multiple export opportunity sources. Click here to see the link on Allproducts which is still active in February 2015 even though the machine is long deleted from the company's own site. Below, the Marshall MT-99 from the company's illustration. I have no idea whatsoever if the company ever actually manufactured more than a few of these machines.

At this time (December 2007) Shanghai Weilv Mechanism Company was only making machines based on the old IMC/Rover series that started in Italy, and only in two models -- the Rover 5000 and the Rover 8000. Some of the 5000 series machines were rebranded for Olivetti as the MS25 Premier. Ideal (Jinan) Machinery Co. Ltd. was only making the one model, which was being sold in the US through Olivetti (also as the MS25 Premier) and through various catalogs. The machine was advertised for a time on the Royal Consumer Information Products website but we reported in late 2007 that the machines had not actually been available. Olivetti still controlled Royal at this time.

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Later years would see Royal split off into a private US-owned and operated company again... and now, in 2015 it is offering a mechanical typewriter over 100 years after the name appeared on the market. There's no telling how long this will last, but it continues to fascinate me that every time we think the market has totally ended in the United States, another attempt is made.

On the world front, by all appearances both Ideal (Jinan), Flying, and Ningbo Duodashi are out of production. We have no idea if Marshall Sewing Machine Industrial ever made any machines, really. Only Shanghai Weilv soldiers on with three different mechanical designs, and apparently at least some kind of contract with Royal. I'll keep my eye on things and make another update later this year.

Montgomery Ward's Reliance Visible Typewriters

2015-02-04T14:27:00.002-08:00

Above is the front of a small, and quite delicate insert sheet that one might have found inside of a catalog or magazine; this insert is in my collection. It was published by Montgomery Ward & Co., which for many years was the second largest general sales catalog mail order house in the USA (behind Sears, Roebuck & Co.) There is no date on this little flyer. The back side is below.

This might well be the first step anyone would take in ordering a typewriter for himself, herself, or for one's small office or home. The time range in which this flyer was published -- roughly the 1916-1920 time period -- was that time period in which the typewriter as an entity, as a product, was moving from being a specialty item to being something that people felt they could, and possibly should, have as a personally (privately) owned object and not as property of a business or office.

The machine advertised is the Reliance Visible. In point of fact, the machine and the factory to produce it in Kittanning, Pennsylvania were either owned by or completely contracted to Ward's at this point. The Reliance Visible was, in many ways, to Ward's what the Harris Visible was to Sears. The differences though are notable; for example, the Harris wasn't really seriously marketed widely until 1913 while the Reliance Visible had a pedigree going back to the 1890's and the Daugherty. The Harris was a three bank double shift machine, while the Reliance was a four bank single shift machine which some collectors today might call a "gimmick" machine -- because the Reliance had a quickly removable key lever and type bar assembly for change of type.

We're here to take a look briefly at the Reliance and the trade catalog material, but let's first quickly identify the heritage of the Reliance.

Daugherty - Pittsburg beginnings

Daugherty Visible, courtesy JIM DAX

The Daugherty Visible was introduced to the market in 1891, and in fact predates the well known Underwood in the field of front strike, four bank typewriters. Initial production was at the plant of the Crandall Typewriter Co., Groton New York but production was moved to Daugherty Typewriter Company's own plant in Kittanning, Pennsylvania in 1894.

The company's offering of 1896 is pictured below in an advertisement sent to us by Peter Weil. Note the price for the machine of $75.00.

Daugherty Ad, 1896; Peter Weil collection

Important to note on this advertisement is the statement that the machine had the "Remington Keyboard." This is an indicator of the time in which the machine was being sold; the conclusion that visible writing, four bank keyboard (single shift) machines would win out was not by any stretch decided firmly at this point - neither was it especially obvious. In being a visible writing machine and in having the four bank single shift keyboard, the Daugherty was visionary.

In 1897, a problem with production caused the scrapping of 2500 machines at the factory. This devastated the small company, with agents around the country compelled to cancel the orders placed should machines be unavailable. The company was bankrupted, and was bought out; the factory was shut down for seven and a half months.

As a result, the Pittsburg Visible Typewriter Company was born and the machine became the Pittsburg Visible. The "h" in the name Pittsburgh was not used for a time, and the company and machines reflect this spelling aberration.

Pittsburg Visible No. 10, JIM DAX collection

The typewriter continued to receive improvements (and continued to sell in the $65-$75 dollar range) into the 20th century. The Railroad Telegrapher in 1905 contained an ad stating that the Pittsburg Visible held the world's record of 28,000 words in seven hours, and the telegraph record of 274 unsorted Western Union messages in 254 minutes. The ad, put out by "Telegraphers Typewriter Co., Rialto Building, Chicago" also said that "we can give you names of telegraphers who have used this machine for ten years, handling from 100 to 200 messages per day without expending one cent for repairs." The price was $75.00, payable $10.00 down and $6.50 per month thereafter.

Eventually the Pittsburg Visible was manufactured through the No. 12 model. In 1910, the company came under control of Union Typewriter - the giant trust that included Remington, Smith Premier, American Writing Machine (by this time rebuilding typewriters, but formerly maker of the Caligraph), Monarch, Yost and others. The company would last only three years under this ownership. The original inventor himself remained with Union Typewriter until 1913, at which time he left to join Underwood Typewriter Company. (Some historical points here.)

By 1912 the No. 12 had appeared - the final Pittsburg Visible model. By now the machine looked much more modern than had the thin, open early models. The machine was selling at $65 and according to advertisements by the company, most of the sales were by mail order.

Pittsburg Visible No. 12 serial 39284, David A. Davis collection

Peter Weil has sent us a bill of sale for Pittsburg Visible No. 12 serial number 37764, which was sold on September 6, 1912. The price was $57.50 which might indicate a trade in was used. Shortly the company would change the spelling from the previously used "Pittsburg Visible" and "Pittsburg Visible Typewriter Company" to include the "h" at the end of "Pittsburg."

The company entered bankruptcy on May 12, 1913 according to information sent us by Richard Polt. Richard also informs us that in September 1913 the selloff of machines had begun; an ad in the New York Times told interested buyers that leftover machines were available at the New York office for just $39.00. One of the receivers of the company was Frankin L. Sholes, of the famous Sholes typewriter family. Typewriter Topics' 1923 compendium relates the fact that the manufacturing plant was sold on March 16, 1914 to one J. S. Kuhn of Pittsburgh, for $12,000.

On August 20, 1914, the manufacturing plant was shut down. "Standard Corporation Service Daily" reported that the company's shutdown put "many men out of employment" and noted also that the company had been selling a large part of its output to Germany. (The implication here is that the outbreak of war had cut off the company's sales.)

The total number of machines manufactured by Daugherty and Pittsburg did not exceed about 41,000 typewriters. The companies had lasted twenty-four years, give or take; it would appear that the cutoff of exports, coupled with a business model that sold direct by mail only had done the company in.

It is important to note that by this time, the Pittsburgh Visible (as it was now known) existed in a storm of competition. Established $100 machines on the market included the Underwood, Remington, L.C. Smith, Royal, Monarch and Smith Premier which were dominating sales. Other lesser makes such as Oliver, Fox and Victor further crowded the field; the Woodstock was just about to appear and take a major place, and Sears, Roebuck had ordered ten thousand Harris Visible machines to sell in large volume through its catalog and through mail order. Competition was serious; many various styles of typewriter - some index type, some keyboard type - were killed off in this period.

It was only through the effort of another large catalog sales outfit that the design we're discussing survived beyond this rough period.

Reliance Visible and Montgomery Ward

Reliance Visible trade catalog, Will Davis collection

Although there is evidence that the machine formerly known as the Pittsburgh Visible re-appeared under the Reliance name in late 1915, it is not until early in 1916 that Montgomery Ward begins heavily advertising the typewriter in various magazines, describing it as their own machine. As noted, the direct implication of this is that the machine's entire production was contracted to Ward (as was the early arrangement Sears had with the Harris Visible) or else that Ward actually had controlling interest in or owned the factory. Whatever the case, as of early 1916 the two biggest mail order houses in the world were now selling standard typewriters they were willing to put their brand names behind.

Will Davis collection

The page above not only describes Ward's faith in the Reliance Visible, but actually shows the machine being used in three settings in the offices of the company. This is a direct parallel to the depiction of the Harris Visible being used in Sears, Roebuck offices in the Harris trade catalog. Click the photo to enlarge it and read the particulars - and look at the Reliance machines in actual use.

The Reliance Visible was described by Ward's as incorporating the six features absolutely necessary for any machine to be considered "standard" - namely:

1. Visible writing
2. Standard keyboard (four row, single shift as opposed to three bank double shift or full)
3. Fixed key travel distance of 9/16 inch - "It is interesting to note that all speed and endurance contests have for years been won by standard machines with 9/16 inch key depression and four rows of keys, both of which features the Reliance has," according to the brochure
4. Light Shift Key Action
5. A Light-Running Carriage
6. Rapid Escapement.

Further, the machine was said to be of "standard design" (in configuration, fit and finish), "standard material" (high grade material and workmanship), and had "standard features" (the six required points, and said to be "equipped to do any kind of work that can be done on the most expensive typewriter.")

There were no longer any model numbers or major variations; the machine simply was the "Reliance Visible" and had optionally available keyboards as will be seen.

The Typewriter - A Big Factor in Modern Business (from trade catalog, Will Davis collection)

Above, the Reliance Visible (from the same sales catalog, Will Davis collection.) The configuration of the machine is generally standard, although the openness of the area around the type bars is notable when compared with just about any other standard make. This machine does have some unusual operating features. For example, the key seen protruding from the side of the machine here is the tabulator key, which also serves as the margin release. Opposite it, on the other side of the typewriter, is the backspace key. Paper release is effected by pulling the paper table forward. The machine does have a two-color ribbon, and a target type indicator to tell which color is selected.

Immediately to the side of the type bars in the illustration above can be seen a key protruding from the top of the deck. Pulling up this key releases the "keyboard" for removal, as seen below.

The Reliance Visible was normally sold with the Commercial Keyboard. However, according to the sales catalog:

"..we can furnish two regular foreign keyboards. One of these can be used to write French, Spanish, Portuguese or Italian, and the other for German, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish or Danish. We can also supply special keyboards for languages such as Greek, Russian, Bulgarian or Croatian. These keyboards can either be purchased separately or fitted on your machine when you order it. The arrangement of letters on these foreign keyboards is exactly the same as on the English."

Further, four type styles were available: Pica, Medium Roman, Elite, and Small Italic. Pica and Small Italic were 10 cpi, Elite 10 cpi and Medium Roman about 8 cpi.

Other features of the machine included the following:

•44 keys, 88 characters
•Tabulator with six stops as standard equipment
•Ball bearing carriage
•Single, double and triple line spacing; includes ratchet release
•Adjustable paper fingers
•Type face protection (projections on rear of type bars)
•Extra wide paper capacity (paper width 10-1/8 inches, writing line 9 inches)

The Reliance Visible itself, catalog item 157L8503 was $48.50 with a shipping weight of 58 pounds including machine, shipping crate, metal case, rubber dust cover, typewriter brush, oil, two ribbons (one blue or black and one two-color) along with instructions. The net shipping weight was 25 lbs.

Extra keyboards, catalog item 257L8506 were available for $30.00 and had a shipping weight of 20 pounds. Available in four type styles, with languages and styles noted above.

Reliance Visible Examples

We own three Reliance Visible machines; two are shown and briefly described below. The third is a parts machine, and is not different from the first unit shown below.

Reliance Visible serial 51695, Davis Bros. collection

The machine you see above was actually purchased along with the trade catalog whose illustrations we've been showing. The catalog had a letter from Ward's to one Enos Lesh, with a date of October 28, 1916 about sending for the trade catalog. Letterhead on this is labeled "Montgomery Ward & Co. - Reliance Visible Typewriter Division." Hand written inside the catalog is "Mar 4-1917 Enos Lesh." Thus we can pin the date of this serial number in the first quarter of 1917. This concern did not make more than about 12,000 typewriters from late 1915 through perhaps 1922 or 1923.

Serial numbers for known examples jump from the 41,000 range for the last of the Pittsburgh machines to a new 51,000 range for the first of the Reliance machines.

We tested this machine and found it to be fairly pleasant to use. The type action is not strong - having somewhat of a delicate feeling - and is not conducive to exceeding high speed. The control of backspace is clumsy, being located on the outside and pushing inward. However the shift (which is segment shift) is among the lightest ever tested here and is a real high point of typewriter design in terms of its ease of operation. Other controls are workable, if unusual; the paper release via paper table is novel, and the line space is functional if not excellent (it in fact duplicates that on the Emerson exactly.)

Reliance Visible, serial 60800, Davis Bros. Collection

The machine above displays two significant changes. First, the line space lever is totally different, as is the whole line space mechanism. More important to historians is the decal on the front top of the keyboard, which now says "Reliance Machine Mfg. Co." instead of saying "Reliance Typewriter Co." as before. This latter name has been found a number of times in various corporate records references, but the exact date of the change in corporate name (and perhaps ownership) is not known. In all other respects however this is essentially the same typewriter.

Reliance Visible catalog, courtesy PETER WEIL

The trade catalog cover illustration sent us by Peter Weil, seen above, actually matches the later version of the Reliance Visible shown in actual example above.

Above, we see an illustration from Peter Weil, showing the AMERICO. This relabeled variant is physically the "high deck" version of the very late Pittsburgh Visible and Reliance Visible machines, which is far more enclosed and which looks much more like other standard machines of the day. Collectors like these because of the range of relabelings seen applied to them. These "high deck" variants are much less common than the machines otherwise shown on this page and were never advertised or shown in Montgomery Ward ads or materials. Note the line space lever, which matches that on the late style Ward's Reliance Visible shown earlier, serial 60,800 and on the late trade catalog cover.

Reliance Visible - In Retrospect

Today as collectors, we view the Reliance as somewhat of an oddity. The machine definitely falls into two brackets we seem to like to apply retroactively to typewriters:

•First, the machine was a "lower priced" standard. Many of these failed, and because they did they're not common and are thus more prized by collectors.

•Second, the machine had a removable major element. While many typewriters had quickly removable carriages (for interchange with wider ones, as an example) many fewer makes had major interchangeable units like this.

In total, the Reliance Visible didn't sell more than about 12,000 machines from perhaps late 1915 through the early 1920's when it was taken off the market. This is neither a total failure nor a major impact, and it looks as if the Reliance was not a make that drove events in the industry. The sea was very full of very big fish by the late teens and early 20's -- and a recession in the early 20's killed off a large number of makers (including Fox and Victor.)

Sales-by-mail was an increasing problem around this time; early on, this was workable with lower priced machines (and helped enable lower prices by omission of sales forces and offices) but the enormous flood of rebuilt machines everywhere - often of highly variable quality - made inexpensive typewriters rather easy to come by. Thus the "middle ground" between brand new $100 machines sold under one to three year contracts with service available at all times, and rebuilt machines for $25 to $50 which were a couple years old but solid was almost completely untenable. This is further hinted at by Royal's move out of the $65 (Royal Standard, Royal No. 1) and $75 (Royal No. 5) range up into the true $100 range in 1914 with the Royal No. 10. The middle ground was clearing out, fast.

(Speaking of mail order.. Oliver Typewriter Company famously ditched its sales organization in 1917, letting go 15,000 sales people and closing its city offices; the company converted to direct by mail sales. This allowed it to drop its price from $100 to $57 but could not save the company. It would have done better to develop a four bank front strike typewriter. This seems obvious today, but such things were not obvious at the time in a seriously competitive market -- and some bad decisions were made. I note this to indicate the range of actions being taken by companies in those days -- and also to note the move of the established Oliver make from the high priced bracket down into the price bracket of the Reliance Visible and of the Harris Visible / Rex Visible.)

The fine appearance of these machines when found in good condition makes them desirable, as does their somewhat unusual profile. Typists could be frustrated by these, as they reward only a precise technique and very steady rhythm and perhaps worse they're difficult to repair. Historians will note the connection between the typewriter and Montgomery Ward, and will engage in making comparisons between the efforts of these concerns and those of Sears, Roebuck and Harris. The idea that a range of disparate products could be sold by, and guaranteed under, the brand name of a distributor and not the original manufacturer was continuing to gain broader acceptance at this time; it led to the popular department stores of major cities of later years, that lasted through the 1990's when their decline began. Thus, collectors who have fond memories of shopping at such stores in days of old may particularly enjoy the department store historical connection of the Reliance Visible.

Whatever the case, while the Reliance Visible is not terribly important to typewriter history, it is a part of it and is the end of a famous and visionary line of typewriters which, in the final analysis, were not substantial enough to stand up to the heavier, more well optioned $100 machines which had sales and service networks behind them or the flood of inexpensive rebuilt machines which themselves were just older models of the big makes on the market.

For more information:

Read about the Sears, Roebuck effort to sell the Harris Visible (as mentioned above) here.

See the letter from Ward's to Enos Lesh about the Reliance Visible here.

Burroughs Standard Typewriter - A Second Look

2015-01-24T12:49:00.001-08:00

• Introduction. Woodstock, Illinois -- the date, March, 1927. A large adding machine company approaches the Chamber of Commerce of the city to inquire about the purchase of the long dormant Oliver Typewriter Co. factory, with the intent of acquiring all patents and rights as well as the facility for the purpose of placing the typewriter back in production. The Woodstock Sesquicentennial's notes, from which this report comes, do not mention the adding machine company by name (it was apparently not revealed at the time). The deal does not go through; in February 1928 the factory is instead sold to Alemite Die Casting and Manufacturing Company of Chicago. An adding machine company wishing to produce typewriters? It wouldn't have been the first time (American Can took control of Rex Typewriter's sales in 1918, for a brief season) and having a full office machine line in one house was something the industry was realizing was the way of the future.

The date of inquiry is curiously timed with the March 1927 effective date of the merger of Remington Typewriter with Rand-Kardex-Bureau which created the giant Remington-Rand Corporation, with both typewriters and adding machines under the same roof (as well as many other items). L.C. Smith & Brothers bought and merged Corona Typewriter Company in 1926, creating another powerhouse. Merger season was on; later, in 1934, L.C. Smith & Corona would buy and merge the Portable Adding Machine Company.

Within four years of the aforementioned Oliver factory inquiry the long-established Burroughs Adding Machine Company would place on the market a four-bank, standard office typewriter in the $100 class intended to be competitive with all others on the market. Was this inquiry made on behalf of Burroughs? We do not know at this date, and might never. It's an interesting prelude to an established story.

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We first wrote about the Burroughs standard machine in great detail in the December 2006 issue of ETCetera, as well as on a 2006 page on my old site on GeoCities (presently dormant as of early 2015.) I decided it's time to revisit that content and put the story we first told eight years ago back into available print, but with new insight, details, and illustrations. Although some of these have appeared on my sites before (and some of our old site's illustrations and much of its written content have been copied by others) the content you see here is constructed new for this page.

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Burroughs Adding Machine Company entered the typewriter market in 1931 with a machine it described as being completely new, with a variety of superior points to other machines on the market and made specific the point that the company was not saddled with having to update an old design to meet present market requirements. While this might seem an advantage, 1931 was indeed a rather late date to break into the highly competitive US standard office machine market with a totally new design when the field was dominated by well established makes Royal, Underwood, L.C. Smith & Corona, Remington-Rand and Woodstock. (There were a couple other makes on the market such as Smith Premier and Demountable, but these were not major players.) The way the market was developing, however, pointed toward the ability of a manufacturer to more or less make captive its customer by selling that customer all of its office machines or even those plus many major office supplies. This trend continued long after the Burroughs story began; in 1949, R. C. Allen would buy out Woodstock Typewriter to do the same thing, and about a decade later Cole Steel Office Equipment would begin selling typewriters, adding machines and dictaphones to compliment its long-standing line of office furniture. Eventually in the 1960's conglomerate corporations such as Smith-Corona-Marchant and Litton Industries would offer wide ranges of office equipment and material. Suffice it to say, Burroughs' estimation of the market demand (or perhaps marketing opportunity) was right on the mark and not so early in time that the idea would have seemed overly novel.

Let us use Burroughs' own sales material to present the machine to you. Below we reproduce much of the 1933 sales brochure on hand, in order. Click the pages to enlarge them and read about the various design features of this then-new standard machine. Your eyes do not deceive you - this Depression Era booklet is NOT printed level to the pages or consistent throughout.

The next several pages are incentives as to why you should trust Burroughs, who advertises its "Half a century's experience in building precision machines" on page 16. In part the text notes

"To maintain its leadership Burroughs has been alert to the ever-changing requirements of business, as well as to the newest manufacturing processes and methods. Many of the principles of construction which have proved so efficient in Burroughs figuring machines and typewriter accounting and billing machines are utilized in the Burroughs Typewriter."

Page 17 notes the World-Wide Service available, and notes the one year guarantee of free inspections and service of the machine - which could be extended after the first year "at nominal cost to the user" by the Burroughs Service Agreement. This Service Agreement "provides for regular inspections, cleaning, oiling and adjustments, which prolong the life and efficient use of the equipment."

The back page shows the other general model then available - the Burroughs Electric Carriage Typewriter. See below.

Burroughs Typewriters Examined.

As was first revealed to collectors by us in 2006, the Burroughs machines had internally used model numbers or codes which delineated them. In the general range of Burroughs machine products the typewriters were lumped together as "Series T" machines. The all manual typewriter, which is the subject of 99% of the brochure you've just read, was the "Series T type 50" and the electric carriage machine was the "Series T type 60." The type number was altered for specific machines when the carriage was increased above the standard width.

...{We're primarily interested here with the manual standard machine, but first a note about the electric. Note the description in the brochure -- the only power operated features are carriage return (the return key is where the right shift lock key normally would have been), line space advance and carriage (case) shift. The type bars remained manually operated. Thus, it's important for historians and collectors to realize that the Burroughs electric was, really and properly the "Burroughs Electric Carriage" machine and was only semi-electrified as was the early Woodstock Electrite, the much later Smith-Corona 5T portable and others.}...

In operation, the Burroughs manual is adequate if uninspired. The specific design of the key lever and type bar mechanism doesn't lend to either a snappy or rapid feel, although an experienced typist could certainly adapt to this machine with no problem... and that's one of the things that helped this machine stick around for about a decade. It's not a BAD typewriter, but rather it's quite run of the mill in terms of use. In fact one gets the impression that everything on it is the average of the impressions of every other typewriter on the market. Having said that, here are a few observations.

• The machine is quite late as an overall design to incorporate carriage shift, although the shift is fairly light.

• The tab stops are visible by the typist when seated above the paper table. This feature was not in itself new (for example, the Visigraph had that 20 years earlier) but is considered convenient by some.

• The brochure notes that "all scales are alike." This seems to be a shot at Underwood who had a reversed scale on its front frame bar, or at machines whose tab stop racks were not exactly in line with their actual carriage spacing (of this latter group, we just showed on Youtube a machine where this is actually the case - the Imperial 50 - but didn't point out that slightly annoying feature.)

• The machine is full of design features that are "best available." In other words, it was extremely important that Burroughs have competitive features (like, say, variable line spacing) but not infringe on any patents of any manufacturer in business. Thus, one might say that by the time this machine appeared most of the best ideas to accomplish certain things were already taken and Burroughs had to plow the fields that were left open. Dan Supek, veteran typewriter repairman, clearly described this to us point by point years back when comparing, with us, the Burroughs and a number of other machines in the shop. The comparison isn't hard to make yourself either if the Burroughs is in a room full of typewriters!

We obtained a good deal of operating experience with the machine you see below, which was completely disassembled, tanked, and adjusted prior to the testing.

Burroughs Standard Typewriter serial 51A 80724, Davis Bros. collection

The experience with this typewriter was, on our part, uninspiring. The machine does not rank above the bottom third of all standard manual machines in the quality of touch, or response to speed. However, it is also neither overly delicate or underbuilt.

The Burroughs (as explained in thorough detail in my December 2006 ETCetera article) was like many adding machines, and many much later typewriters in using a set of stampings as its structural frame instead of one or more large, heavy castings. Certainly this meant that Burroughs did not have to add a large casting plant to its factory; it also meant that methods of assembly could be carried over from stamped frame figuring machines. The exterior that one sees on the machine is simply an exterior "mask" comprised of multiple pieces, which was actually given a design patent in 1931.

This was a bit early for this feature in standard typewriters, actually - and in this one regard Burroughs might be regarded as innovative. As two major examples, Royal and Remington-Rand did not change to such construction until around 1938-1939, with Woodstock following shortly (the Woodstock machine was even completely open sided until right around the time the Burroughs appeared). The advantages of this style of construction are obvious, with the cost and complexity of casting operations being completely avoided.

We also have as a "control group" the completely unrebuilt Burroughs manual standard seen below.

Burroughs Standard Typewriter serial 51A 261068, Will Davis collection

The typewriter above, like that shown earlier, has a wide carriage. However it also adds a decimal tabulator and palm tabulator - both mentioned on page 13 of the brochure. The only extra cost option this machine lacks is the stroke (type) counter.

In short, were a professional typist to come to work one Monday and find the previous make and model of typewriter replaced with the Burroughs, the short period of upset would not have been too disastrous and soon the typist would be able to turn out a lot of work... but my impression is that few would ever actually LIKE the machine. It does the job, but it does not make you enjoy doing it.

Endpoint?

We've been able to find very little about the machines in terms of factory information. We know that the War Production Board took control of Burroughs' production in 1942 and believe that typewriter manufacture was terminated at that point, although the statements of a couple of Second World War Veterans to Your Typewriter & Computer's Dan Supek have given us a hint that a number of Burroughs machines were in use by the military during that war. Whatever the case, the machines did not reappear as part of Burroughs' line post-war, limiting their production to roughly a decade. We do not have any serial number data for the machines.

What interests me most about this whole affair is the first part -- that in 1927, someone approached Oliver about buying their factory. When that didn't go through, what did that company do? If that was Burroughs, it did what my guess is: It went to work designing its own typewriter from the ground up, which explains the time interval required for the machine to appear on the market. Speculation? Absolutely. But interesting speculation nonetheless.

Burroughs Adding Machine plant circa 1933

Note: All materials and machines pictured in this post are actually in our collection. The Burroughs sales brochure we have first appeared anywhere online in 2006 on our site.

4 PM 1/24/2015

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Addendum: 1/25/2015

Peter Weil, long time friend of ours, of this blog and of our previous websites has sent along some scans of original Burroughs materials actually in his collection, with the express purpose that they be shown here. The materials and my comments follow below.

Above, we have a wonderful and bright ink blotter showing the "New Burroughs Standard Typewriter." This piece contrasts with some others in not emphasizing the "Quiet" nature of the machine. We can tell immediately that this is a manual standard Burroughs 50 and not the electric carriage 60 because this machine has a carriage return lever and also has a pair of shift lock keys adjacent to the shift keys on either side of the keyboard. The electric carriage 60 omits the right side shift lock and adds a large key to return the carriage in a similar position, and omits the return lever.

Above, an eraser shield depicting the Burroughs Electric Carriage Typewriter. Ink blotters and eraser shields are two of the more "workaday" pieces of ephemera one might find - and it's nice to see two such pieces in unusued condition.

Above.. NOW. A 1933 trade catalog introduces the Burroughs Electric Carriage Typewriter. Note the lack of return lever on the carriage, and the large key on the right side of the keyboard for "return."

A different trade catalog provided by Peter shows some of the features of the Burroughs Standard Typewriter. This particular image shows quite well the appearance of the "crinkle" or "crackle" painted panels on these typewriters. This paint, by the way, appears to have been applied on top of gloss paint and will come off if severe cleaning methods or tanking are used on the exterior panels. We have seen that ourselves!

"Combining all the most modern typewriter features with beauty and advanced design...." begins another page from the 1933 Burroughs trade catalog.

We end Peter Weil's contribution with another trade catalog illustration showing the Burroughs Standard Typewriter in use. It's easy to see from this angle that, were the paper not there, the typist could see the tab stops without moving the paper table, and of course could just as well see the scale on the paper bail and the front scale on which the margin stops are set.

THANK YOU to Peter Weil for these further additions on the Burroughs line.

•••••

Typewriter Cleaning Tip, and introduction to the Imperial 50

2015-01-23T07:23:00.001-08:00

We put up a new video last night covering a cleaning idea you might want to try (and maybe a few you don't!) and added in a typewriter that's pretty easy to clean thanks to a number of really significant design features. We won't spoil the video with details on the machine just yet... although we did show the machine several years ago in the old Workshop pages on my site.

Click here to see this new eight minute video.

10:30 1/23/2015