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Blickensderfer typewriter
The Blickensderfer typewriter was invented by George Canfield Blickensderfer (1850–1917) and patented on April 12, 1892. Blickensderfer was a nephew of John Celivergos Zachos, the inventor of the stenotype. Two models, Model 1 and Model 5, were unveiled to the public at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Model 5 was a stripped-down version of the bigger, more complex Model 1. These machines were intended to compete with larger Remington, Hammond and Yost typewriters, and were the first truly portable, full-keyboard typewriters. The design also enabled the typist to see the typed work, at a time when most typewriters were understrike machines that concealed the writing. When Blickensderfer unveiled his small Model 5, its compactness and novel features attracted huge crowds and many orders.
The Blickensderfer typewriters were initially manufactured in a rented factory on Garden Street in Stamford, Connecticut. By 1896, due to strong foreign demand in particular for his machines, Blickensderfer opened a new and modern factory on Atlantic Street in Stamford. According to an article published by the Stamford Historical Society, "Blickensderfer's typewriter ... became the world's best seller, and the company became one of the world's largest typewriter manufacturers." The factory employed about 200 people and produced about 10,000 typewriters per year at its peak (1903-1907) until the factory closed in 1919. The first commercially successful model was the No. 5, which sold for $35, compared to the benchmark machines of the day which cost $100 or more. Each new Model 5 came in a simple wooden carrying case with an extra typewheel, a dozen ink rolls and a tool kit.
Blickensderfer typewriters were sold in France under the Dactyle name. The machines were sold in Canada by the Creelman Brothers Company of Georgetown, Ontario. They were also sold and marketed in Great Britain, Germany, New Zealand and Russia. The keyboards and type wheels were available for numerous languages, including French, Spanish, German and Polish. Some machines, called the Oriental, were adapted so the carriage moved from left to right, to accommodate Hebrew and Arabic languages.
The company's European business declined with the onset of World War I, and production and sales were particularly hard hit when the United States joined the war in 1917. As part of the war effort Blickensderfer converted much of his factory to produce munitions for the war, including a machine gun belt feed for the French government and 50 caliber machine gun mounts for aircraft.
George Blickensderfer died on August 15, 1917, after a short illness. With the chief engineer and designer gone, his company could not continue, and the heirs sold it in 1919. After several unsuccessful years under different ownership, the Remington Typewriter Company acquired the assets, including tools, parts, drawings and intellectual rights, from the bankrupt L.R. Roberts Company in 1926. Remington attempted to introduce a modified Blickensderfer 5 called the Rem-Blick to the market, but by the end of 1928 the model was discontinued.
The Blickensderfer typewriter dramatically reduced the complexity of the typewriter design. A typical Blickensderfer contained only 250 parts, compared to the 2,500 parts of a standard typewriter. It was much smaller, lighter and cheaper than others. Some of the first aluminium typewriters, marketed as the Blickensderfer 6 and the Blickensderfer Featherweight, were made by Blickensderfer, as was the world's first fully electric typewriter, the Blickensderfer Electric.
Instead of the common mechanism with letters on the end of individual type bars connected to the keys, the first Blickensderfer prototype used a cylindrical typewheel with four rows of characters; lower case, upper case, italics and short words embossed on it. It was later modified to three rows of characters: lower case, upper case and a row of numbers and symbols. Depressing a key caused the typewheel to turn so the correct letter was positioned over the paper. As the wheel turned it moved downward, contacting an ink roller prior to striking the paper. This allowed for greater speed in typing as there were no keys to become jammed or stuck together. The interchangeable typewheel principle is very similar to the IBM Selectric design introduced almost 70 years later in 1961. Like the Selectric, one could easily change the typeface or the font style on a Blickensderfer simply by changing the typewheel.
Blickensderfers were also notable for their unique keyboard layout developed by George Blickensderfer after careful analysis of the English language. The home, or lowest row of keys, contained the most commonly used letters. Blickensderfer determined that 85% of words contained these letters, DHIATENSOR. This positioning allowed the typist to keep his hands on the home row as much as possible, minimizing extraneous hand movement and increasing efficiency. The QWERTY keyboard introduced on the Sholes & Glidden typewriter in 1874 was designed for purely mechanical reasons and the chances of the keys striking each other and jamming was more limited with this configuration. Because the Blickensderfer used the typewheel, the "scientific" keyboard layout could be used for maximum typing efficiency.
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Blickensderfer typewriter
The Blickensderfer typewriter was invented by George Canfield Blickensderfer (1850–1917) and patented on April 12, 1892. Blickensderfer was a nephew of John Celivergos Zachos, the inventor of the stenotype. Two models, Model 1 and Model 5, were unveiled to the public at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Model 5 was a stripped-down version of the bigger, more complex Model 1. These machines were intended to compete with larger Remington, Hammond and Yost typewriters, and were the first truly portable, full-keyboard typewriters. The design also enabled the typist to see the typed work, at a time when most typewriters were understrike machines that concealed the writing. When Blickensderfer unveiled his small Model 5, its compactness and novel features attracted huge crowds and many orders.
The Blickensderfer typewriters were initially manufactured in a rented factory on Garden Street in Stamford, Connecticut. By 1896, due to strong foreign demand in particular for his machines, Blickensderfer opened a new and modern factory on Atlantic Street in Stamford. According to an article published by the Stamford Historical Society, "Blickensderfer's typewriter ... became the world's best seller, and the company became one of the world's largest typewriter manufacturers." The factory employed about 200 people and produced about 10,000 typewriters per year at its peak (1903-1907) until the factory closed in 1919. The first commercially successful model was the No. 5, which sold for $35, compared to the benchmark machines of the day which cost $100 or more. Each new Model 5 came in a simple wooden carrying case with an extra typewheel, a dozen ink rolls and a tool kit.
Blickensderfer typewriters were sold in France under the Dactyle name. The machines were sold in Canada by the Creelman Brothers Company of Georgetown, Ontario. They were also sold and marketed in Great Britain, Germany, New Zealand and Russia. The keyboards and type wheels were available for numerous languages, including French, Spanish, German and Polish. Some machines, called the Oriental, were adapted so the carriage moved from left to right, to accommodate Hebrew and Arabic languages.
The company's European business declined with the onset of World War I, and production and sales were particularly hard hit when the United States joined the war in 1917. As part of the war effort Blickensderfer converted much of his factory to produce munitions for the war, including a machine gun belt feed for the French government and 50 caliber machine gun mounts for aircraft.
George Blickensderfer died on August 15, 1917, after a short illness. With the chief engineer and designer gone, his company could not continue, and the heirs sold it in 1919. After several unsuccessful years under different ownership, the Remington Typewriter Company acquired the assets, including tools, parts, drawings and intellectual rights, from the bankrupt L.R. Roberts Company in 1926. Remington attempted to introduce a modified Blickensderfer 5 called the Rem-Blick to the market, but by the end of 1928 the model was discontinued.
The Blickensderfer typewriter dramatically reduced the complexity of the typewriter design. A typical Blickensderfer contained only 250 parts, compared to the 2,500 parts of a standard typewriter. It was much smaller, lighter and cheaper than others. Some of the first aluminium typewriters, marketed as the Blickensderfer 6 and the Blickensderfer Featherweight, were made by Blickensderfer, as was the world's first fully electric typewriter, the Blickensderfer Electric.
Instead of the common mechanism with letters on the end of individual type bars connected to the keys, the first Blickensderfer prototype used a cylindrical typewheel with four rows of characters; lower case, upper case, italics and short words embossed on it. It was later modified to three rows of characters: lower case, upper case and a row of numbers and symbols. Depressing a key caused the typewheel to turn so the correct letter was positioned over the paper. As the wheel turned it moved downward, contacting an ink roller prior to striking the paper. This allowed for greater speed in typing as there were no keys to become jammed or stuck together. The interchangeable typewheel principle is very similar to the IBM Selectric design introduced almost 70 years later in 1961. Like the Selectric, one could easily change the typeface or the font style on a Blickensderfer simply by changing the typewheel.
Blickensderfers were also notable for their unique keyboard layout developed by George Blickensderfer after careful analysis of the English language. The home, or lowest row of keys, contained the most commonly used letters. Blickensderfer determined that 85% of words contained these letters, DHIATENSOR. This positioning allowed the typist to keep his hands on the home row as much as possible, minimizing extraneous hand movement and increasing efficiency. The QWERTY keyboard introduced on the Sholes & Glidden typewriter in 1874 was designed for purely mechanical reasons and the chances of the keys striking each other and jamming was more limited with this configuration. Because the Blickensderfer used the typewheel, the "scientific" keyboard layout could be used for maximum typing efficiency.