Showing posts with label Remington. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Remington. Show all posts

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Remington #8,000,000: The Inception

Remington #8,000,000 with Sholes and Glidden prototype circa March 23, 1933 via Peter Weil

Typewriter nerds, rejoice! The Typosphere is just an awesome place and this practically knocked me over when I read my email this afternoon.

A typewriter collector, Peter Weil, contacted me the long way around through uber collector and advocate Richard Polt. He came across the above image of the eight-millionth Remington, a Noiseless 8, being used alongside a Sholes and Glidden prototype that would lead to the first Remington. The plate on front is a dead giveaway. It is indeed the machine in my possession by way of a New York City ebay seller several years ago.

http://vintagetechobsessions.blogspot.com/2012/02/last-stand-at-remington-starring.html

We know from the plate on this machine that it was just a few weeks old at the time. This fills in some historical gaps. Here is more than you would probably want to read about this machine:

http://vintagetechobsessions.blogspot.com/2013/03/remington-8-number-8000000-80th-birthday.html
http://vintagetechobsessions.blogspot.com/2012/02/itam-special-report-eight-millionth.html
http://vintagetechobsessions.blogspot.com/2012/02/last-stand-at-remington-starring.html

Here is the history of this photo as told by Peter Weil. Substitute 'Remington 8' for 'Portable 1'.

"On March 23, 1933, the YWCA held an event to commemorate the 60th anniversary of there invention of the typewriter. More specifically, The focus of the celebration was “…the entrance of women into the modern business world.” I find it dumbfounding that Smithsonian would have loaned the Sholes to them, but my guess is that the YWCA had a lot of clout in Congress to succeed in bowing so important an artifact. I suspect that this specific version is a bit earlier than the one made famous by the image of Sholes’ daughter typing on iyt. Note that these keys are ceramic ones, as on the earlier prototypes, whereas the keys on the example used by the daughter are similar to the latter metrakl-ringed flat ones covered with glass that were used on the first fully marketed Sholes and Gliddens in 1874. I think it also interesting that the YWCA selected a Remington Portable, admittedly, the largest they made at the time, a Model 1, to contrast with and to indicate progress since, the Sholes machine. The # Model 1  was a borderline office machine, but it was a not a full one. Perhaps because it had just been introduced into a tighter office market created by the Depression, Remington, who probably loaned it for the event, wanted it used.

The Acme Co., a news service, printed and distributed multiple copies of the photograph, headlining it as “”How Types Have Speeded Up.” In their caption, they also draw primary attention to the contrasts in the clothing of the two women typists. Clearly, faster types, faster typists (literally and figuratively), and real progress for typewriters and women! (yes, I am being facetious)"

For context, check out Richard Polt's typewriter history highlights: http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-history.html

Thanks Peter and Richard for helping tell the history of this machine!

Monday, July 22, 2013

Recent Typewriter Sightings - Catch and Release Edition

Summer travel, garage sale season and time to browse have coincided to present some interesting typewriter sightings. As my tastes become more refined, fewer machines make the cool typeface or rarity cut that would cause me to bring them home. Hence, another round of catch and release typewriters.

This was my favorite from the weekend. The machine is electric, needs a ribbon cartridge and relatively common, but the placement with black velvet is 100% win!


More from the same antique mall...


Note the changeable key on this SCM electric.
At least this Royal would not interested key-choppers. Those are replacement keys. The carriage is huge!

This QDL was nice and overpriced.
Going back in time a bit, here are a few more interesting machines. We'll start with the uber-cool Raspberry Pi powered IBM Selectric at the Kansas City Maker Faire.



And back to normal machines...


Most of the standard machines I run across are of the Underwood and Remington variety. I was overjoyed to find a Noiseless and an early IBM electric. What a tank! This was in one of those odd, outdoor flea market zones. Given the heat and humidity in our region, these are doubtless hunks of rust by now.



Witness the King of the Ginormous Carriages. Dang.




Nice Remington. It had pretty good action.


This Underwood species is not the best typer around. Nevertheless, I have an interesting variant to show off in a future blog entry.


Bow before the huge and powerful Royal Empress! The action felt good on this machine and the price was right. I had no place to put a beast like this.

 "Recent" is a relative term. With kids in middle and high school and two working parents, time has flown by. Some of the machines below are from April and May, but that seems just like yesterday.





This brother deserves two photos. Finding a German keyboard in middle-America is an odd experience.





Yet another Galaxie. It seems to me that the age of machines appearing in thrift stores and antique malls is creeping upward. That would make sense as households are liquidated and cleaned up.


Two Royals. The white QDL was an interesting sighting. It functioned perfectly. Alas, it had a standard typeface dating back to the earliest Royal portables.


"I am Futura of Borg. Prepare to be bored to death by my color scheme."


This poor Underwood was probably harvested for its keys.


Finding any Hermes in the wild is rare in my part of the world. This one worked well and I was sorely tempted to bring it home.


I've been impressed with the light action on the Underwood standards I've found in the wild. They aren't sexy, but they appear to be good machines.



I'll leave you with a really nice Remington portable located in one of the better monthly antique stores in the Kansas City West Bottoms.


I'm pretty far behind in my blogging. The good news is that I typed almost everyday during our family vacation. The night before Tesla's birthday, I hit the 50,000 page view mark. That is a blog topic of its own, but it will have to wait. I also have two newer arrivals to show. One is a rarity and the other is an oddity. But first, I have yet more shooting to do at upcoming County Fairs and demolition derbies. Ah, summer!

Thanks for viewing!

Friday, March 1, 2013

Remington 8 Number 8,000,000 80th Birthday!


On March 1, 1933, Remington manufactured its eight-millionth machine. Unlike most typewriters, we know exactly when this one was made since they affixed an engraved nameplate.


A proper birthday celebration might have featured party hats, party favors, a Deco style layer cake, lots of sugared up portable typewriters, a bouncy castle, dancing bears, mimes, jugglers, fire-eaters and a Polka band. However, it's Friday and we are just getting over the latest blizzard and the school/work week. MEK of the House Full of Nerds baked banana bread today. I'll take fresh banana bread over a store bought cake any day!

As I was taking these photos, my Spousal Unit, MEK, commented that "This has to be the Nerdiest thing we've ever done!" Well, I beg to differ. We went one step further and sang "Happy Birthday" to the typewriter. Extreme Nerds have no limits!

You can read about this lovely machine in excruciating/loving detail at ITAM Special Report: The Eight Millionth Remington

If you dare, read all about this machine's acting debut at "Last Stand at the Remington"  Godzilla loves the attention!

This was all Teeritz's fault. That and an impulse control issue on my part.

Happy Birthday, Remington!

The Dread Copyright Notice: All words and images are copyright Dwayne F. of vintagetechobsessions. Beyond penalties allowed under law, we have a legion of barely controlled robots and giant monsters at our command. You don't really want to meet them in the middle of the night. Share the love and link back to this site. I'm good with non-commercial use with attribution. See, I can be totally reasonable.



Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Remington Typewriters Practically Assemble Themselves

This great video shows some of the manufacturing steps in building a 1935 Remington 16. The self-assembly steps occur at around the four minute mark.  Enjoy and happy International Typewriter Appreciation Month!