Used book

Manufactured in Cincinnati

Made around 1926 I estimate. Serial number NO201609. Looks like it's been in a battle (and came out badly), but it still works fine! Have now had it 10 years or so, a gift from my in-laws (they know me :)

Scratches to the logo probably from an old cleaning attempt of the lettering...

Much of the original woodgrain finish now blends with the brown of surface rust. Nevertheless the mechanism is still oiled well, all springs still attached and working magnificently.

The adding machine adds, subtracts and prints just as it was designed to do.

(The number of ads for adding machine repair men in newspapers of the time make me fear for the mechanism to go wrong. Touching wood.) 

The rise and decline

The rise and decline of the typewriter that is. 

After its gradual invention in the latter half of the 19th century the typewriter as a device equally gradually enters the consciousness of society. By the turn of the century already it is a well-known term and it has achieved a steady presence by 1920. (The 19th century data may be under-reported, being diluted by type-writer and other variations.)

After about 1985 the typewriter rapidly fades from view again, being superseded by the computer as a tool to create printed matter.

The graph that shows the typewriter's steady presence over much of the 20th century is from Google's n-gram viewer. This is a great example of a new tool made possible only by the advances in information processing and storage technology. As a result of the Google project to scan books, a very large body of text from books from several languages over several decades is now available as searchable, digital text. The n-gram tool is introduced and explained in this TED talk, highly recommended if you have twenty minutes or so to spare.

Using this n-gram tool on the English body of text from 1870 to 2000 gives some more information also on e.g. the emergence of the term 'portable typewriter'. The graph shows the portable entering later, matching perhaps the introduction of the first successful model with the Corona around 1912. The odd dip in the mid twenties is also present in the 'typewriter' n-gram, unclear what (if anything) this signifies. This might be a skew in the corpus subject matter; perhaps more novels and fewer magazines and technical publications. (The skew does not show in some other 'technical' terms though.)

Typewriter related terms, such as 'backspace' and 'shift key' begin showing up around the same time that the typewriter becomes mainstream. The prevalence of these terms is probably too low for variations over the decades to have any significant meaning. One pattern that however does stand out is that both terms really gain significance after about 1985. Whilst these terms were (probably) created from the invention of the typewriter, these really take off from their meaning in the realm of computers.

The n-gram for the word 'computer' matches this. Having been a niche term, the computer becomes gradually better known from about 1950 on and steadily rises in the public consciousness. The computer really becomes mainstream and a household word from about 1980. Around that time the computer is not only for (large) companies anymore, but becomes a household tool that can also be used to create printed matter. I think the n-gram probably reflects that. (Though a bias in scanned material could seriously skew here; e.g. including Dr Dobbs instead of a general interest magazine would have an impact.)

The computer is of course more than a tool to create printed texts. It is a ubiquitous tool for a wide range of information tasks. As such it is understandable that the computer has a much higher share of the body of text and share of the public consciousness. The typewriter as a term hovers around the 0.0003 percent mark, the computer seems to level off at a full 0.01 percent!

Fitting then that it is the computer that make such graphs about typewriters possible.

One more thing noticeable about the n-gram for the typewriter is that even in 2000 it still has not dropped entirely out of the public mind. The later data may be slightly less reliable, but might the graph suggest a slowing of the drop? A hint of an upward trend in the typewriter?

:)

Better than good is

Fine as a watch mechanism
Solid as a rock
Better than is good

Picked up from the local Ebay for a small payment and a 5 minute bike ride. A blotter of thick paper printed with the Underwood advertisement on the front. From the style of the graphic and the typeface I guess this is almost a century old.

On the scan those rays show as a greenish-brown, but that is actually printed in gold metallic ink. With the now faded orange and the deep red that would have been quite striking when new. Also fairly expensive to print I think. But at Hfl 325 the machine is not cheap either. It is hard to translate such amounts to modern context, but I guess this would today be in the range of the price of a car.

The advertisement text extolls the virtue of the machine; that it is very good. (Debatable if being better than good is a good thing, but we'll let that pass :)  It does not have a differentiating feature or other unique selling point compared to other typewriters, it just claims superiority in being a typewriter.

It is the star, as it is in this radiant graphic...

Touch typing practice without a typewriter

Economizing - get up to proper typing-speed before using a machine proper. A low cost way to get practice on a keyboard, from a late 30-ies article in a magazine. Forgot to write down which when I snapped the snippet, probably Popular Science. I'd stored this a while back, now finally getting round to posting after being triggered by a recent post by Mark Adams about the Tuch-Rite method.

The image of the machine is definitely suggesting a particular brand/type of machine. No mention of it in the caption, but suggests this might be from or sponsored by this particular manufacturer.

Actually it is a rather fitting image, this practice board would definitely be noiseless.

Digging around a bit more (the internet is an amazing source of trivia), first ran across an advert from 1951 for the courses of ICS, with a special caption for the Tuch-Rite method to learn touch-typing in just one day. The 'new method' still showing a noiseless picture on it's patented practice keyboard. At $25, less low-cost than I had expected! (Though in a '58 classified it is offered at $4.95 by the Tuch-Rite company of Philadelphia and in a '41 ad even for $2 (instruction book included).)

This contains the information that the unique keyboard is patented; and indeed it is. Already published in 1938 is US patent number 2,141,747 for an "Educational appliance", invented by Philip S. Gross. The publication date of the patent fits with the first article from the late 30-ies, it would have been publicized around then.

Turns out there was a book made of this method, authored by Irene A. White and Philips S. Gross published in 1953 called "Tuch-Rite Methods". Additionally the method was sold as a record with the patented keyboard included to practice with. Actually it is already being advertised with a record to listen/type/learn in 1947.

There is then also at long last a hint of a link with Remington, as some Remington branded Tuch-Rite courses (records) show up for sale on auction sites. Advertisements from the early 60-ies indeed show the Tuch-Rite course being bundled free with the purchase of a new portable.

Odd in a way, with the teaching method choosing the Remington Noiseless image at launch (not the most generic image they could have used). Add to that the odd spelling of 'rite' and compounding it with 'tuch'; was Remington in any way involved at the time? Were they inspired by this zippy new spelling by Mr Gross c.s. when naming their 'riter' machines?

Later records however show only the Tuch-Rite branding and an updated, more modern typewriter image being used (On the table a large Royal?).

Even though there isn't a lot of recent, modern information on this cardboard keyboard to learn touch-typing, there seems to be still a "Tuch-Rite Methods Inc" company in PA; listed as active since 1952.

Distracting, this internet...

Changing case

Now that I'd got the gramophone pretty much working, I set out to get some period records to go with it. With one set that I bought came a small record carrying case for 10" records.

Like many cases of the 30-ies it is made of thick cardboard covered with 'rexine' or 'leatherette'. The fittings look quite good in the picture, but in reality are rather corroded. The picture above shows the little case after receiving a first 'typewriter case treatment'. Useful skills are gotten from tinkering with typewriters, these can be applied across categories :)

Many such cases I guess were sold for storing your records. This one was however sold as packaging of a language course. The Linguaphone company sold record-based language courses in such carrying cases - in this case an English course in two cases even (that is a lot of records!). The language course records of this one were probably lost and destroyed decades ago - these sets do regularly show up on the local auction site complete though. Not rare at all. (The Linguaphone company also sold their own brand of gramophone - advertised as ideal for clear reproduction of the spoken word as well as for music. Company still extant actually.)

Not being rare, I had no qualms in replacing the now-useless index sheet on the inside of the lid with a generic index sheet. In the 'general purpose' carrying cases I've seen, the inside of the lid has such sheets with varying amounts of ornamentation. This allowed for writing in an index to the records in the case.

The new blank index sheet tries to stay with the style of the original, using the little stars as random decoration and of course using a Gill Sans typeface. So now a re-purposed carrying case for some of the new 10" records:

(After taking the picture I spotted the glue had let go in some spots, since fixed.)

Another case

Another little black carrying case.

New acquisition.
Ultra-portable.
Not a typewriter.

:-)