Collecting


machine capable of punching upper and lower case letters (by manipulation of a wheel): Burt’s ‘typographer’ patented in the USA in 1829. Some typewriter buffs might say that Henry Mill, a British engineer got there first with his 1714 patent ‘FOR AN ARTIFICIAL MACHINE OR METHOD FOR THE IMPRESSING… OF LETTERS, SINGLY OR PROGRESSIVELY ONE AFTER ANOTHER, AS IN WRITING….’ All in capital letters. The trouble was that typing with a machine without a keyboard took much longer than writing by hand.


It was not until the last decades of the 1800s into the beginning of the twentieth century that machines recognisable as modern typewriters were evolved. But the road to the robust, clattering manual machines that could be misused, battered, dropped, drenched in coffee and still work, was full of problems and ingenious solutions.


There were numerous difficulties. First, how could they fit in all the letters, capitals and lower case, plus figures on the end of rods that would strike the platen through the inked tape? There would be just too many keys. The shift keyboard solved that.


What shape should the keyboard be:


curved, or like a piano or should the rods strike the paper from a cylinder? When the keys struck the platen from below, typists had to lift the carriage to see what they’d written, while striking the platen from above with a downstroke blocked the typist’s view of the paper. Then Underwood in 1914 introduced the ‘frontstroke’ which was just right. Another decision to make was on how many rows of keys there should be. And in what order should the letters be arranged to best avoid getting the rods in a tangle?


There were lots of theories about that. The typewriter my father used was not a QWERTY. It may have been a HCESAR, an AZERTY a HCESAROPZ, even a DHIATENSOR, for which the inventor claimed were the most-used English letters - or based on other ideas like letter-pairing or on which hand should do the most work; but eventually QWERTY (which makes the left hand work hardest) created by American inventors Christopher Sholes and Glidden for Remington in 1874 became universal. No wonder somebody said there were at least a hundred people inventing typewriters.


Though Remington and Underwood led the markets, there were plenty of others: Smith-Corona, Royals,


Imperials…Portables came at the end of the century. In 1912 Corona sold 6,000 portables and five years later, 153,000 worth $7.5 million. They were light, weighed under 7lb, and popular, and because so many were made they do not have much value to collectors. Those that do are the unusual: there were some very strange individually- built typing machines around - and old typewriters marking the steps of development, including rare machines that had a brief period of popularity, and iconic uprights, some attractively decorated with inlaid mother of pearl and gold painted which can cost up to £1,000.


Most disused typewriters can be found for far less in spite of the hoarders who can’t let their old machines go. There are no catalogue prices, little guidance, but restoring and reconditioning makes them worth more. And if anyone wants to use one again (some old hacks say writing with a typewriter makes them think better) it is still possible to buy the ribbons.


Among suppliers (see internet) is John at Synergy. Telephone the shop on 01883 723820 and give the make and model of the typewriter, or you visit their website at www.synergygb.co.uk.


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