Thursday, June 10, 2010

Yes, there is a Sholes and Glidden in the collection. I've seen them before, but it is still a semi-religious experience. What struck me this time was the small diameter of the typebasket compared to the body of the machine, the tiny type, and the big keys topped with glossy, convex glass. This is an early S&G (serial number 225), designed to be used with a foot treadle for the carriage return. Every S&G has its own story, and this one is distinguished by a surprising stencil. THE Sholes & Glidden TYPE WRITER, PATENTED, Western Electric MANUFACTURING COMPANY, CHICAGO -- Richard Polt: "A Visit to the IBM Collection", ETCetera, No.59 (September 2002), pp.7-9

If its serial number is truely 225, it is one of the machines which were dispatched to the Western Union Telegraph Company, Chicago, from E. Remington & Sons in the summer of 1874. The machines were used to receive and write down Morse telegraphs in the telegraph stations, and then, in between 1878 and 1881, they were replaced by new machines "Remington No.2". Some of them were possibly resold by the Western Electric Manufacturing Company. In my opinion the stencil and decoration were wrote at the time of reselling around 1880 or after.