Misc. Typewriters, Adding Machines

 By Bruce Shawkey

I've been intrigued with typewriters and adding machines since I was a kid. I think I started to type when I was about seven, fueled in great by the fact that my mom was a secretary and used both machines as part of her job. Later, I would become a writer and journalist, and part of those jobs is being able to touch type. I took two semesters of typing in high school, and learned on an electric typewriter, an IBM Selectric (with the type ball) which I thought was pretty high tech at the time. Later, I worked at the Wisconsin State Journal and typed on a Harris "dumb terminal," which of course replaced the giant Merganthaler Linotype machines.

Here are some typewriters and adding machines from the Internet Archives.

Here is Christopher Sholes, credited as being the inventor of the modern typewriter. Note that he is from Milwaukee, Wis.

Here are a couple of early typewriters from the Remington company:

A typewriter chair. Man, this looks uncomfortable!

The IBM Electromatic was the first commercially successful electric typewriter, manufactured by IBM after they acquired Electromatic Typewriters, Inc. in 1933, and introduced the Model 01 in 1935. Apparently, it didn't sell very well, because I've never seen one. 

The Smithsonian has one in their collection:

Here is their description:

This Electromatic brand typewriter was manufactured by the International Business Machines Corporation beginning in 1935. The Electromatic typewriter was first manufactured in 1924 by the North East Electric Company. The North East Electric Company produced the motor and base, and used a Remington model 12 as the typewriter. The North East Electric Company became the Electromatic Typewriter Company before being purchased by IBM in 1933. In 1935 IBM produced the Electromatic Model 01 for the first time. The Electromatic operated with a motor controlling all aspects of typing, from the type bar to the carriage returns, allowing the user to operate the typewriter without their fingers ever leaving the keyboard.

A 1919 adding machine from Monroe:

And then we have these cheap calculators from the '60s and '70s from Japan. They sold for a dollar or two. You could find them in novelty catalogs like Johnson Smith or stores like Spencer Gifts.

Other typewriters: