Etcetera Journal of the Early Typewriter Collectors’ Association No
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ETCetera Journal of the Early Typewriter Collectors’ Association No. 125 • Summer 2019 In This Issue Editor’s Notes 2 The Shift-Key Bar-Lock 3 The Excelsior Script and Type Writer 4 Continental Music Writer 7 The Typewriter Boys of Summer 8 In Memoriam: Dennis Clark 18 The Rembrandt Jubilee 19 New Typographics 20 New on the Shelf 22 Around the World 24 Letters 24 ETCetera No. 125 • Summer 2019 • 1 ETCetera Journal of the Early Typewriter Collectors’ Association No. 125 • Summer 2019 Editor Editor’s Richard Polt 4745 Winton Rd. Notes Cincinnati, OH 45232 USA 513.591.1226 [email protected] it’s been another exciting quarter Matthew S. Eylar. It was offered together in the typewriter world. A lovely Writing with other memorabilia from Underwood Secretary-Treasurer Ball (serial number 103) was sold by Auc- and from the 1939 New York World’s Fair, Herman Price tion Team Breker on May 18 for well over where the giant was last exhibited. Chanc- its estimated price. With the auctioneer’s es are good that this massive machine was Board of Directors fees and taxes, it brought an impressive scrapped to support the war effort—but at Martin Howard €125,940 ($142,312). least one part survived. Now it is part of Bert Kerschbaumer Another notable price, though not in Peter Weil’s great collection. Richard Polt the same league, was reached by a Eureka Peter Weil index typewriter that sold for over 1600 Reinmar Wochinz times its original price of $2 (not adjusting for inflation). Why did this little trinket Design bring so much? Because it’s the only one Nick Tauriainen that has been discovered by collectors so far—as far as I know. This simple device Translation is not even on the radar for most of us, al- German: Lars Borrmann though it is included in the very thorough Spanish: Guillermo Fernández Boan Kleines Lexikon historischer Schreibmaschinen by the late Leonhard Dingwerth. It was Proofreading made around 1896 by the World Manufac- Whitney Carnahan turing Co. of New York. This little type- On a different note, I managed to writer joins some other extreme rarities complete the Cold Hard Type project, etconline.org in the special collection of our friend Fla- with the help of co-editors Frederic S. vio Mantelli. You can see it in this issue’s Durbin and Andrew V. McFeaters. It is ETCetera welcomes submissions that “New on the Shelf.” published in two volumes: Paradigm shed new light on typewriter history, Shifts collects stories, poems, and art based on original sources and firsthand about typewriters in a future where experience. Material not previously digital technology is breaking down, published elsewhere will have priority. and Escapements is set in worlds where digital tech is gone. All text in these ©2018 ETCA. Published quarterly. books is typewritten. No, we can’t resist Calendar year subscription: $35, North puns—we are even calling this new America; $40 elsewhere. Payment: publishing venture Loose Dog Press. check or PayPal. Herman J. Price, 195 The books are available at very mod- Greenbag Rd, Morgantown, WV 26501, est prices on Amazon. Will there be a USA. [email protected] further volume? Stay tuned. With this project and others, I do find ISSN 1062-9645 it difficult to keep editing ETCetera, and I would like to step down at the end of this calendar year. Herman Price has also gone On the Cover Another very intriguing item on eBay well beyond the call of duty in serving was what may be the last remaining piece for many years as secretary-treasurer Royal Bar-Lock no. 14, shift-key model, #7143 (Eric Meary collection) of the legendary giant Underwood: the and mailer. This is your opportunity to “S” key. Measuring 6.5 inches wide and 2.5 consider whether you’d like to take a inches tall, this handsome object is part turn helping your fellow collectors keep of the estate of Underwood executive informed and entertained. ■ 2 • ETCetera No. 125 • Summer 2019 The Shift-Key Bar-Lock by eric meary Bar-Lock no. 1 and shift-key Bar-Lock no. 14 (Meary collection) i recently found a shift-key royal compiled a list of 15 machines, with pic- 1903 and their serials run from 500 to Bar-Lock no. 14 (#7143). Very little is tures and/or serial numbers for about 50% around 7100; this fits my list. known about the shift-key Bar-Lock of them. It seems evident from the serials The most evident difference between (SKBL), which was called Columbia in and their appearance that the machines the early SKBLs and the SKBL no. 14 is the U.S. market and Royal Bar-Lock in labeled Model 14 are the latest of the SKBL. aesthetic. On the early model, there may Europe. The information in the literature The SKBLs were produced simultane- be a semicircular copper plate between the is sometimes contradictory. ously with the double-keyboard Bar-Locks keyboard and the shield, painted black, Peter Weil reports that a Columbia (DKBL). Most SKBLs have features similar with the name of the company embossed in Typewriter Manufacturing Co. trade to those of the late DKBL (post-Model 10). small letters in the middle of the plate, as on catalog issued about 1904 refers to the The bell, which was previously at the left Herman Price’s Columbia #2568, 1 or there shifted typewriter as “The Columbia end of the carriage, is now under it; the may be no plate, as on Richard Polt’s Royal Typewriter” while the other design, paper table is black, with a scale and two Bar-Lock #6610. 2 In contrast, the SKBL no. with a “duplicate keyboard,” is called the folding arms to hold the paper. The shift is a 14 features a nickel plate with large text. 3 “Bar-Lock Typewriter.” The Columbia simple rocking mechanism; the shift levers On my machine, the shield is tilted had either 84 or 90 characters, based on are connected rigidly to the carriage and slightly forward, as on the late DKBL, and the wishes of the buyer; the “Bar-Lock” tilt it forward when they are depressed. the back feet are higher. 4 Both features typed only 78 characters. At least two of the SKBL pictured in are intended to provide a better view of The SKBL (aka Columbia) models are my list look like DKBL Model 10; these the work in progress. quite rare. From the Internet, from Breker machines have low serial numbers. My machine still has a bar-locking auction catalogues, and with the help of According to Bert Kerschbaumer in system, but the pins that lock the type- the friendly collector community, I have ETCetera No. 114, SKBLs started in June bar are on the bar itself. 5 Early SKBLs have the classic system with vertical pins 1 3 located around the printing point, as do the late DKBLs. To conclude, SKBLs were built simul- taneously with the late DKBL (Model 10 and after), following the improve- ments of these more common machines, but had only limited success. Only the bar-locking system of the SKBL seems specific to the shift-key models. Any more information would be welcome; readers can reach me at 2 [email protected]. ■ 4 With thanks to Richard Polt. 5 ETCetera No. 125 • Summer 2019 • 3 The Excelsior Script and Type Writer by mark adams when ulrich graff called upon the Patent applications, however, tell a the offices of the San Francisco Examiner partial story. It is worth observing that to inspect the Excelsior Script and Type Christopher Latham Sholes’ daughter, Writer, he was met with intrigue. The in- Lillian Sholes, while not a patent holder, ventor declined to give his name nor did played an important role in the develop- he want it published. However, he could ment of the Sholes and Glidden Type not have given his name, for the inventor Writer beginning in 1868. She experi- of this machine, introduced in 1895, was mented with prototypes and offered As many as five machines were manu- not a man, but a woman. feedback on the problems of function factured in San Francisco, and one was Graff, a researcher and librarian at and design, and she was instrumental in displayed at the offices of the San Fran- the University of California at Berkeley, bringing the machine to Remington for cisco Examiner for promotional purposes. likely encountered a member of the Ex- manufacturing in 1873.³ The Examiner wrote on July 7, 1895, “The celsior’s board of directors, eager to pro- Welspiel is distinct for being the first type is arranged in three circles or baskets mote this ingenious machine. The actual female and sole inventor of a typewriter. immediately beneath the keyboard, and inventor, one of only a few women in the (Hynes and Prouty collaborated as a may be revolved into any desired position late 19th century to design a typewriter, team—and later married.)⁴ at the will of the operator. These baskets or was Leonie Jacobina Welspiel. Unfortunately, there is scant biograph- circles of type are entirely independent of The Excelsior failed utterly to ical information on Welspiel. How she ac- the machine proper and can be lifted out launch—few were ever made—but Wel- quired the skills to design a typewriter is instantly while any kind of script or type spiel’s contribution to the history of the unknown, but she was listed on the honor may be substituted for the style removed. typewriter deserves recognition. roll at South Cosmopolitan Primary in The Excelsior is the only writing machine San Francisco in 1884.