Blickensderfer

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Blickensderfer No. 5
Blickensderfer No. 6, German version

The Blickensderfer is a typewriter that was presented by George C. Blickensderfer (1850–1917) as a prototype in 1893 in the USA . It is considered the purely mechanical forerunner of the ball-head typewriter .

General

While the models 1 and 3 were apparently only produced in small numbers, the first successful series model came in 1898 as Blickensderfer No. 5 on the world market. Its cylindrical type wheel ( not unlike a ball head ) made it handy and easy to transport. It should therefore compete with the Remington portable typewriters; But it became known because of its type wheel. While simple models were offered for 35 dollars, the Blickensderfer had to assert itself with a price of 100 dollars against the best models of their time. In 1902 Blickensderfer also manufactured the first electric typewriter, the Blickensderfer Electric, made of aluminum . This model differed technically only in the lack of a tilting axis and the movable paper carrier trolley from the later spherical head typewriters from IBM . Yet it was not a success, the reasons for this are speculative. The different standardized power grids (different voltages , partly still direct current grids ) certainly had their influence. Only three devices of this model are known worldwide today. The successor model No. 7 was again a hand-operated one. With the last version of the model No. 8 a tabulator mechanism with a fixed increment was added in 1908 . The production facility was located in Stamford , Connecticut (USA).

technology

The Blickensderfer No. 5 came out with only 250 components compared to 2500 parts of a common standard typewriter. Therefore it was much smaller and lighter than the large desk devices of their time. Similar to the later ball heads from IBM, the type wheel could easily be removed to change the font . It differs from today's type wheels in its cylindrical shape. Here the types were arranged around the cylinder in several levels, while with the modern type wheels, all types have to be placed on one level.

Three keys, one on top of the other, turned the cylinder by the same angle. These were 10 different basic angles, which were supplemented with intermediate steps to a total of 30 stop positions with the help of a shift key (capital letters) and an Alt key for digits and special characters (called Cap and Fig ). The keys in the middle and top row moved the cylinder along its axis to the next level, where the types were arranged in three rows of 30 types around the "cylinder wheel". Finally, the type hit the roller from above with a tilting movement of the entire assembly. Instead of a ribbon , a roll of paint colored the guys. All movements were controlled by hand at the same time from the write button. With their complicated technology, these devices were an outstanding achievement of mechanical engineering.

Although technically a step backwards, much simpler typewriters were produced between 1904 and 1934, the so-called Mignon pointer typewriter from AEG . It also worked with type cylinders, but was operated using a much simpler mechanism. The scribe moved a pointer over a field of letters, the movement being transmitted mechanically on two axes to change the direction of rotation of the cylinder and shift the planes. These devices were particularly inexpensive and therefore extremely successful in private use. The Blickensderfer type wheel differs from this type cylinder in that it has a larger number of adjacent types and fewer levels, which results in the shape of a wheel from the cylinder.

Keyboard layouts

Keyboard layout of the models offered in the USA
German keyboard layout

Another feature of the Blickensderfer typewriter was the changed keyboard layout . The bottom row of typing keys contained the English most commonly used letters DHIATENSOR to increase efficiency. At least two assignments are known for non- alphanumeric characters , there is also a QWERTY arrangement and other assignments for other language versions. DHIATENSOR keyboards find a brief mention in the novel Distraction by Bruce Sterling , as a logical development of a QWERTY-based technology culture.

literature

  • Robert Blickensderfer, Paul Robert: The Five Pound Secretary. An illustrated history of the Blickensderfer Typewriter. The Virtual Typewriter Museum, 2003, ISBN 90-74999-05-0

Web links

Commons : Blickensderfer Typewriter Co.  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ a b Description in the virtual typewriter museum www.typewritermuseum.org
  2. ↑ Werner von Eye: History of the typewriter and machine writing . Georg Achterberg, Verlag für Berufsbildung GmbH, Berlin 1958
  3. ↑ Example of the QWERTY arrangement
  4. ↑ Example for the Polish character set