ETCetera Journal of the Early Typewriter Collectors’ Association No. 110 • Fall 2015 In This Issue Editor’s Notes 2 Clark Electric 3 The National News 9 Typewriters Make News 10 Clark Evidence for 1st Portable 16 McLaughlin to Murray 18 From Our Members 22 Electric New on the Shelf 24 ETCetera No. 110 • Fall 2015 • 1 ETCetera Journal of the Early Typewriter Collectors’ Association Editor’s Notes No. 110 • Fall 2015 Editor sometimes treasures are right un- Crandall “stretched” Pratt’s typewheel Richard Polt der our noses. We just need to look in “into a sleeve which he himself was able 4745 Winton Rd. the right place. to patent on his own, thereby by-passing Cincinnati, OH 45232 USA Case in point: the 1960 R. C. Allen Pratt’s control” (p. 110). 513.591.1226 VisOmatic Electrite that I just added to Pratt’s historic device recently gave [email protected] my collection. It had been languishing Toronto collector Martin Howard a at a nearby antique mall for quite some “Wow moment” when he spotted it in a Secretary-Treasurer time, and I’d strolled through the build- display at the British Science Museum Herman Price ing repeatedly without spotting it. But in London. Neither he nor I had realized fellow Cincinnati typewriter lover Leigh that there was still an extant Pterotype, Board of Directors Whitaker looked in the right spot— although some ETCetera readers surely Bert Kerschbaumer tucked away far below my eye level—and knew of it. Robert Messenger shared some photos of the machine on Why is the Pterotype in England? Richard Polt Facebook. Then she kindly agreed to grab Because Pratt left his home in Alabama Peter Weil it for me. This typewriter is significant during the Civil War to seek a safer and Reinmar Wochinz as a late attempt to revive Woodstock’s more congenial home in the United pioneering Electrite of the 1920s, with a Kingdom, where he designed the Ptero- Design fluted metal shaft mechanism that pro- type, patented it, and was able to sell Nick Tauriainen vides electric power to the typebars only. some examples of it, without putting it By 1960, a standard electric typewriter into factory production. As Robert Mes- Translation that required manual return must have senger reported last year on his blog, we German: Lars Borrman seemed pretty primitive, which may ac- can thank Arthur E. Morton, typewriter Spanish: Fransu Marín count for the great rarity of this machine examiner for the Royal Society of Arts, today. (Fellow editor Mike Brown has for saving the machine that can be seen one. Anyone else?) in London today. According to Morton’s ETCetera welcomes submissions that More open secrets await us in muse- report in a 1902 issue of The Shorthand shed new light on typewriter history, ums. I, for one, didn’t realize that an ex- World and Imperial Typist, “I heard ac- based on original sources and firsthand ample of John Pratt’s 1866 Pterotype was cidentally that a machine similar to my experience. Material not previously still in existence and on public display. drawing [of the Pterotype] had been left published elsewhere will have priority. Pratt’s invention is described well on by an old gentleman … at a Typewriting pages 108-9 of Michael Adler’s The Writ- Company for repairs.” Morton posted ©2015 ETCA. Published quarterly. ing Machine: it uses a typewheel and a an ad in a paper that “brought forth a Calendar year subscription: $35, North hammer that hits the paper from behind, response from a second-hand dealer, America; $40 elsewhere. Payment: carbon paper being used for inking. The who informed me that he had a few check or PayPal. invention got a great deal of attention in weeks before purchased the machine at Herman J Price its day, and provided a major impetus to an auction for a few shillings, adding, ‘He 195 Greenbag Rd the commercial development of type- thought the typewriter would be useful Morgantown, WV 26501, USA writers. Sholes was motivated by the Sci- for his kids to learn to spell on.’ I at once [email protected] entific American’s report on the Pterotype recognised it as the long-lost model, and in its issue of July 6, 1867, which predict- considering it worthy of a better fate ISSN 1062-9645 ed that “the weary process of learning than being knocked to pieces, I pur- penmanship in schools will be reduced chased the instrument.” to the acquirement of the art of writing Thank you, Mr. Morton—for saving one’s own signature and playing on the this piece of history and for feeding ev- On the Cover literary piano above described, or rather ery collector’s dream of locating a unique on its improved successors.” As for James and magical typewriter for sale at some Clark Electric Typewriter B. Hammond, he took more specific obscure auction or secondhand shop. To Photograph by Domenico Scarzello inspiration from Pratt’s design, purchas- feed your imagination further, just read Courtesy of Flavio Mantelli ing the rights to several of Pratt’s patents. Flavio Mantelli’s story on the next page. Meanwhile, according to Adler, Lucien Happy treasure hunting! ■ 2 • ETCetera No. 110 • Fall 2015 1 by flavio mantelli just when you think you’ve seen machines is shown in 3 . We also know them all, something like this comes out from the Clark family descendants that to remind us that good typewriters are George Clark was interested in vacuum still out there and there’s so much we still tubes only briefly. In fact, the Clark need to learn about their wonderful his- Radio Manufacturing Company, which tory. More specifically, we are certainly he started in 1922, lasted only a couple of 2 lacking a lot of knowledge on the early months before collapsing, possibly faced development of electric typewriters: with a patent infringement suit from George Blickensderfer was definitely a RCA. George applied for several patents pioneer in this area with his 1902 electric on radio and typewriting equipment, but typewheel model, but there’s another he apparently profited little, if anything, George who has not been accorded the from them. A picture of George inside same fame although, starting in 1908, the Clark Radio Manufacturing Company he designed an equally innovative and is shown in 4 . impressive electric type-segment model. But let’s take a step back in time to tell Unfortunately, his typewriter did not his story from the beginning. reach the market. This article is, among George C. Clark (1874-1942) was born other things, intended as a tribute to the in Chicago, a son of Dr. John S. Clark and inventor George C. Clark. 1 Fanny (Campbell) Clark. Details of his When I received a picture of the Clark education and life outside of California typewriter from a California man who’d are sketchy. He moved to California in the 3 spotted it at an antiques store north of early 1900s, settling in San Francisco in San Francisco, I had no clue whatsoever 1904. In that city, he owned the business about what it was, who produced it, and setting up and maintaining x-ray equip- how rare it was. But it didn’t take long to ment and the static machines that pow- find a patent assigned to a Mr. Clark for ered x-ray machines for medical offices. an electric typewriter (patent number In 1905, he married Lydia Daggett, whom 1,355,089) and a web page by a radio col- he had met in San Francisco. lector who had stumbled across a previ- The earthquake and fire of April 1906 ously unseen tube with the name “Geo C. destroyed George’s business, but since Clark” etched in the bulb 2 and started their home survived the catastrophe, doing some research about the inventor. Clark tried to work out of his home. The tube collector, also thanks to the However, the drastically increased rents help of Clark family descendants who got that prevailed after the earthquake in touch with him, found out that George forced him and his wife Lydia to relocate C. Clark owned a business in San Fran- across the bay to Oakland, California. cisco that set up and maintained x-ray George seems to have continued working equipment and manufactured static ma- with the x-ray and static machines for chines. Initially the company was under a while also after the move, and family his name, but then it became Clark & letters mention doctors who were still Whittemore. A photo of one of his static interested in his services. ETCetera No. 110 • Fall 2015 • 3 4 5 Nevertheless, by 1908 he was em- glider experiments around this time, but We know that George Clark worked at ployed by the Burlingame Telegraphing his death in a glider accident in 1911 has Burlingame from 1908 to 1911, and that in Typewriter Company. And this is when left him largely unknown now. A picture this period he worked on his own teletype the story of George Clark gets interesting of George Clark with what seems to be a or transmitting typewriter design with for typewriter collectors. telegraphic unit with a typewriter key- the help of Prof. Montgomery; it is hard The Burlingame Telegraphing Type- board was provided by the Clark family, to tell exactly when he matured the idea writer Company was formed to market 5 but the picture is not dated and the to develop his own design for an electric Elmer A. Burlingame’s invention, a sort family could not provide additional in- typewriter, but it is more than plausible of early teletypewriter (see p.