a-typewritten-blog

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Two sets of Change-a-Type characters that just showed up on eBay, with one key per set that I would love to have so damn them!

#typewriter #typing #changeable type

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Underwood widecarriage.

#typewriter #typing

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Recent purchase: the 1/2 & 1/4 key of a circa 1900-1910 typewriter.

For the record: I am against keycutting, but as someone pointed out to me... what if it is NOT a "perfectly-working machine"? Don't want beautiful pieces like this to go to waste. (Ignore the bit of lint. I cleaned the glass with a Q-tip and apparently a little floss got off.)

#typewriter #typing #key #half and quarter

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"Student striving to be a proficient typist, 1956."

#typewriter #typing

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Sylvia Plath and her typewriter.

#typewriter #typing #sylvia plath

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For your amusement: the first three minutes of the Smith-Corona Ten-Day Touch Typing Course's first record, the track "Learning The Home Row Keys".

#typewriter #typing #learning #records #instructions #1959

[a-typewritten-blog]

@neatstuffdump: Yes, because while the use of @ dates back to the 1500s, it was in the 1800s that it became the "commercial at" used by the English-speaking world's businessmen -- "25 apples @ 10¢ each" a grocer's register would say -- and predated the invention of the typewriter by two or three dozen years; that's why it was placed on typewriters, along with fractions of quarters and even eighths in some models. It wasn't until 1971 that it gained computer usage, in the writing of batch files, before it was shifted over for use in netting addresses a decade later then email addresses after that.

There are no custom keys on that typewriter -- for a guide, here's an Underwood similar to it (with some bonus non-type keys in green):

I'm not sure what character you're refering to as "the bra symbol" other than the percent sign %, which was introduced in the 1400s and would be used extensively in business by the time the typewriter made its way into the world. If that's not it, could you point it out?

And yes, it is pretty snazzy how the spoke roads to the Arc and other landmarks are actually labelled maplike in the art. :)

#typewriter #typing #art #feedback

[a-typewritten-blog]

Two thrift finds: 2 two-record instruction courses for a Sears Tower typewriter and various models of Smith Corona typewriters. Both from 1959 with the same tracklist but different pictures so they may be the same recordings. 😂

The Sears records box curiously also contains the paper ephemera from a General Electric television with built-in record player purchased in Utah, the owner's manual for the Tower typewriter, and the paper disc that goes over the turntable in that record player. Those will be a separate post.

#typewriter #typing #how to #records #instructions

[a-typewritten-blog]

A typewriter on display in the museum-ish corner of the Brown & Haley outlet in Fife, WA, alongside Almond Roca sales registers.

#typewriter #typing #tacoma

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Truly an (Arc de) Triomphe... using a 1920s Underwood Standard.

#typewriter #art

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If I had a nickel for every Galaxie Deluxe or its kin that I saw, I'd be able to afford a Galaxie Deluxe or its kin by now.

#typewriter #typing #twice the going rate

[a-typewritten-blog]

I probably have posted this before (it was capped Feb 10, 2022) but if not, here's a practical use of typewriters -- for filling out index cards in the good ol' fashioned card catalog!

#typewriter #typing #card catalog

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Sometimes you need a copy of what you're typing... so you break out the carbon paper.

#typwriter #typing #supplies!

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The typewriter shown is an Adler 'Favorit' from the 1930s.

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Just came up on eBay: three math Change-a-Type sets.

#typewriter #typing

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Your machine is from 1903, its second year of production.

Just found your blog going through ShiftyThrifting tags. I've collected typewriters since I was in middle school, and I was wondering if you have any information on Oliver typewriters. It says it's from the Woodstock typewriter company on the back of the cover/carrying case, but says the Oliver company on the carriage. A plate on mine gives the patent dates with the earliest being April 7th 1891, the most recent being March 1st 1898. I do have pictures if you'd like them. Any information would be great, thanks!

Woodstock and Oliver are two different companies, so I think your Oliver got rehomed like a hermit crab. :) I want to see the pictures of your Oliver so I can speak better about it. I am a big fan of Olivers and (as you see in my avatar) own a Printype #9.

[a-typewritten-blog]

Nice, an Oliver Printype #3! Okay, I see what you were speaking of, the "Woodstock Typewriter Company" on the cover. I'm a little confused on that because Woodstock and Oliver were two different companies that never merged, but both were based in the Chicago suburb of Woodstock, IL in the early 1900s. 50% of all typewriters on the market in the US at the time came out of the town of Woodstock. I was going to suggest that after the US production ceased in 1928 and the name was pinned to various other companies' machines into the 1950s that it was an Oliver in branding only, but that can't fit either because the 'batwing' design ended with the original company in favor of portables (and this one clearly says it was made in Chicago).

Could you do me a favor? I would like to see the serial number so I can date this; it can be found on the left on the rail when viewed from the back... here's someone else's machine to point out where:

A bit of extra reading for those interested:

Made In Chicago Museum about Oliver's local history

Oliver Typewriters fanpage

Just found your blog going through ShiftyThrifting tags. I've collected typewriters since I was in middle school, and I was wondering if you have any information on Oliver typewriters. It says it's from the Woodstock typewriter company on the back of the cover/carrying case, but says the Oliver company on the carriage. A plate on mine gives the patent dates with the earliest being April 7th 1891, the most recent being March 1st 1898. I do have pictures if you'd like them. Any information would be great, thanks!

Woodstock and Oliver are two different companies, so I think your Oliver got rehomed like a hermit crab. :) I want to see the pictures of your Oliver so I can speak better about it. I am a big fan of Olivers and (as you see in my avatar) own a Printype #9.

#typewriter #typing #oliver 3 #antique #thank you for the photos!!!