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The Typewriter Turns 125 1873 1998

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CONTENTS Editor’s Notes, Letters ....... 2 Ads ..................................... 3 ETCetera Typewriter/125 .................. 4 Comptometer Mod. A ...... 8 No. Mar. Blick Elec. Brochure ....... 10 Color Gallery................... 12 42 1998 Crazy George and His Typewriters ............. 14 A Rare Letter Magazine of the Early Rediscovered ................ 20 Typewriter Collectors Association The Typewriter Turns 125 Letter written from Charles Thurber to Sarah Wheelock, dated Jan. 28, 1846. The original size was 8 inches wide. Thurber wrote to Miss Wheelock using his “Mechanical Chirographer,” one of two writing machines he invented in the 1840’s. 1873 1998 hanced by the fact that these pages I’m enjoying the newsletters very ADVERTISEMENTS ETCetera come directly from the laser printer, much, and I’m sure I join other sub- without going through the process of scribers in saying that I know how Magazine of the Early Typewriter FOR SALE: Set of four black rubber offset printing. For this reason, the much time and effort you put into Collectors Association repro feet (stem bumpers) are now smaller bifold format was chosen. maintaining this newsletter and this available for all models of Oliver. $8.00 Finally, the color in ETCetera is service to the other collectors. A hearty postpaid in US, $10.00 for foreign March 1998 --No. 42 now being printed directly on the inkjet Thank-you for all your efforts! delivery. Bob Aubert, 614 New Jersey printer at 720 dpi, without having to go Jim Freiburger, Cedar Glen, CA Editor, Darryl Rehr Ave., Riverside, NJ 08075. down a generation by being copied on 2591 Military Ave., L.A., CA 90064 FOR SALE: fresh long-fiber cotton the color copier. This offers us sharper When I was filing the latest issue of (310)477-5229, (310)268-8420 fax ribbons for old machines, inked with color and more detail. ETCetera, I was struck by how much traditional black record ink. 1/2" width The principle new problem that new material had been published over E-mail [email protected] $1/yd. (10 yd. minimum). 1-3/8" width may crop up in our new publication the years. Congratulations again for a for Remington, Densmore & other ETC Home Page system is collating. I expect more pages great job. upstrikes $2/yd (5 yd. minimum). Darryl http://home.earthlink.net/~dcrehr/ out of order than before, so if you get an Don Hoke, Ph.D., Dallas, TX Rehr, PO Box 641824, L.A., CA 90064. etc.html issue with pages all awry, just send in a (former typewriter curator, WANTED: More listings for the Di- card, and you’ll get a new one. Milwaukee Public Museum) ISSN 1062-9645 rectory of Publicly Displayed Early Type- ©1998 by The Early Typewriter writers and Business Machine Collec- ETCetera (#38) is fascinating as Collectors Association LETTERS tions. Now on Richard Polt’s website usual, and I enjoyed every single word. Published four times per year in Letters from readers have been accumulat- ( h t t p : / / x a v i e r . x u . e d u / ~ p o l t / Isaac Bashevis Singer’s writings were March, June, Sept. & Dec. ing for several issues now. Here’s a collec- twdisplays.html). Includes 25 sites in my father’s favorite reading. Dorothy $20/yr. North America tion of comments other members would like three countries. Hard-copy edition pos- and I had a course in Yiddish writers at to share with you. sible when listings increase. Please in- $25/yr. overseas an Elderhostel in Baltimore once, and, clude location, address, phone and fax of course, Singer was the main attrac- Just wanted to congratulate you on numbers, contact name, and a brief tion, through his stories. your terrific latest issue of ETCetera description of the size and contents of EDITOR’S NOTES Marco Thorne, San Diego, CA As ETCetera moves into its second [#40] “Fun” is the word that summarizes the display. Listings may be e-mailed to decade I’m happy to introduce several it all. I enjoyed your “Conundrums” [email protected] or by regular mail to I received both the back and latest significant changes, which should im- piece. Altogether, “Standard Auto- Marco Thorne, 4325 West Overlook issues of ETCetera and just wanted to prove the quality of our magazine. matic” to “Typing Tips,” a fine issue. Drive, San Diego, CA 92115-6116. take a quick moment to say great job! First is the addition of Paul Block as Thank you for the time, effort and ATLANTIQUE CITY - 1600-dealer The essays were fun to read and ETCetera’s “official” proofreader. Paul result. show. March 28-29 in Atlantic City, informative.The overall format is visu- is a professional writer, copy editor and Peter Weil, Newark, DE NJ. For info: 1-800-526-2724. ally pleasing as well (and its not just proofreader, who does this sort of thing because of color photos, though these for a living, and has generously volun- Thanks for the fascinating article TIPS: are great too). I’ve seen only a VERY teered to take on the task. on today’s alternative keyboards. And I Practical Typewriter No. 1 ( Simplex) few privately produced mags that ever The next improvement is the acqui- had thought that, outside of court re- in orig. box. Nan Bailey, 2733 Stiegler turn out a comprehensive index. sition of a 1200 dpi (dots per inch) porting, the chording concept had gone Rd., Valley City, OH 44280-9585 My renewal is in the mail. Good computer printer, which makes a dra- out with the Dactygam! WANTED: a nice Crandall. Hermann work! matic difference in the black and white Kerz, Lechenicherstr. 22, 50937 Köln , Patrick Sheary, Washington, D.C. photos appearing in ETCetera. The Richard Polt, Walla Walla, WA GERMANY sharpness and detail are further en- 2 / ETCetera #38 / March, 1997 ETCetera #38 / March, 1997 / 3 by Darryl Rehr March 1, 1998, the publication date of this issue of ETCetera, is also the 125th anniversary of the birth of the worldwide Typewriter Industry. Although there are many “anniversaries” in typewriter history (just as there are many “inventors” of the typewriter), this one marks a turning point at which ideas became reality and inventions became products. The invention was the “Type Writer,” developed by Christopher Latham Sholes in Milwaukee during the previous five years. The product was the Sholes & Glidden Type Writer manufactured by E. Remington & Sons of Ilion, NY. March 1, 1873, was the date on which the agreement was signed to officially begin production. Since all mainstream typewriters that followed can trace their lineage to the Sholes & Glidden, we can confidently mark this date as the beginning of the Typewriter Industry. The contract was drawn up as the result of presentations made to the Remingtons and their executives by James Densmore and George Washington Newton Yost, the entrepreneurial team behind C. L. Sholes. Remington man Henry Harper Benedict later described the presentation (Yost did most of the TOP: Remington Factory in 1888 (Scientific American article 12/15/88). ABOVE: talking) and his own reaction to it: Remington Factory in 1904 (fromScientific American advertisement, 12/17/04). “As we left the room, Mr. [Philo] Remington said to me, ‘What do you Scientific American ran its first piece on the manufacture of the Remington think of it?’ I replied, ‘That machine is very crude, but there is an idea there Typewriter in its issue of December 15, 1888, just fifteen years after the signing that will revolutionize business.’ Mr. Remington asked, ‘Do you think we of the fateful contract. At that time, the Ilion typewriter works was turning out ought to take it up?’ I said, ‘We must on no account let it get away. It isn’t 1,500 typewriters monthly, although Scientific American said, “This looks like a necessary to tell these people that we are crazy over the invention, but I’m large number, but we venture to say that it will soon be doubled and perhaps afraid I am pretty nearly so.’” trebled.” Fortunately for the history students among us, Scientific American once again As we now know, Benedict was one of the true believers. As the early typewriter visited the Remington Typewriter plant 17 years later, at which time the factory enterprise struggled, he eventually became one of the famous Wyckoff, Seamans was spitting out typewriters “a machine a minute.” Details are sketchy, but with & Benedict triumvirate that would make a success of marketing the machine. illustrations and photos, we can at least get an impression of how the typewriter Benedict and his partners later bought the typewriter business from the industry grew from its adolescence to vigorous early adulthood. Remington family, making it entirely independent of the Arms Company. Generally speaking, the 1888 Remington factory appears to have been set up What was this industry like in its early days? To be sure, we can glean only a to efficiently produce typewriters in quantity but without the large-scale vague picture of the true beginnings from bits and pieces of writings handed down mechanization seen in 1905. The 1888 machines may have been mass-produced, to us here and there. More detailed documentation, however, comes to us from but much of the work was done by hand, with just the “assistance” of power. a period, not so far after the beginning, when the industry was just starting to Take, for instance, the fellow making sheet-metal covers in 1888. He’s shown flourish. on the front page of Scientific American. He has a nice jig for forming the case, but 4 / ETCetera #38 / March, 1997 ETCetera #38 / March, 1997 / 5 it obviously involves pushing the pedal, screwing down the top- forming frame, and rolling the edge-seam crank.
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