MERRITT

We now bring about a "first" at any of our typewriter web pages, or blogs, in the roughly 16 years that I've been writing about typewriters on the internet.  That "first" is the presentation of an index typewriter on one of my pages.

How I came by the intriguing Merritt is a longish story, but a happy one.  Suffice to say a collector to collector trade was made, and I found myself proudly in possession of a very interesting little device.  And, apparently, from what was written about the machine during the period in which it was being sold and later (while off the market but still in recent memory) the machine was a highly workable and useful device.  It was also sold at a considerably low price compared to the big makes; my regular fascination with "low price" or "cut rate" typewriters then only adds to the interest.  So, let's take a look at this machine and try to imagine a time when such a typewriter really was a viable product and was competitive on the market.  Hopefully after we're through here, you'll see it that way, as I do!

MERRITT

The machine you see above is the Merritt Typewriter; my example is serial number 4653.  This interesting little typewriter was put on the market in 1889, which simply for comparison's sake is the same time give or take that the Smith Premier appeared to challenge that juggernaut of the early typewriter industry, the Remington.  However, while the Smith Premier was a large, heavy and sturdy machine priced near the same $100 for which the Remington sold, the Merritt was priced at only $15 in its most basic version (the upgrades generally being the case style) and was of course of vastly different construction.

The Merritt shipped in its box was advertised as comprising a package no larger than 12-1/4 inches long, 6 inches wide and 5-1/4 inches high.  Shipping weight was 6-3/4 pounds.  I can tell you right now that the Merritt (which in my example has a nice dovetailed wooden case lid which clips onto the base) is a small and light thing to carry around.  In a word - it's portable. 

This machine was invented by C. E. and Mortimer G. Merritt (Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia: A New Edition, Vol. 8, 1895) and was manufactured by the Merritt Mfg. Co., Springfield, Mass.  The Merritt Mfg. Company was incorporated March 4, 1888 in New York.

A confusing fact about this typewriter is that another manufacturing company, namely Lyon Manufacturing Co., Fifth Avenue, New York became the sole distributing agent for this typewriter for the world - this appears to have led to belief that Lyon was making the typewriter.  However, the evidence clearly points to Merritt having made the machines throughout the production run and in fact a business directory from England printed in 1902 tells us that the last known entity making the Merritt was the Densmore Typewriter Company, Springfield, Mass.  The reality of what happened to the Merritt Mfg. Company is actually more interesting.

On March 29, 1893, the now well-known Union Typewriter Company, often referred to in literature of the day and later as "the Typewriter Trust," was formed.  The purpose of this company was to buy up the stock of typewriter manufacturers (with whom agreements had already been made) so as to be able to effectively control the market.  In a Fitch's Listing Statements of the New York Stock Exchange dated 1919, we discover that Union Typewriter acquired all of the properties of the Merritt Mfg. Co., which had (according to this listing) a capitalization of $30,000 and which "had manufactured the Densmore typewriter."  The listing for Densmore Typewriter Company describes that firm as simply the seller of the Densmore typewriters, not their maker.  We can now with certainty say that the Merritt Mfg. Co. became a part of Union Typewriter, and it's very possible that this had an adverse effect on continued sales of the inexpensive Merritt.

As early as 1893 M. G. Merritt himself was actively promoting the Densmore typewriter at trade fairs (The Stenographer, Vol. 5, 1893.) 

The Merritt may have actually been manufactured through 1896, as advertisements through this date (in England, at least) exist.  Advertisements in the United States for the Merritt seem to cut off around 1892; the only explanation for this is that after that latter date the Merritt was only for export.  Pitman's Journal wrote in 1891 that "The Merritt typewriter is being largely exported to Denmark, Germany, France, Spain and Austria.  Machines fitted with the necessary accent marks and special types for these languages can be obtained in London."  What's clear is that by the time of 1902 or so, persons were placing classified ads looking for Merritt typewriters -- a good hint they were off the market, and as we know likely had been for some time.  It is this author's suspicion given the revelation that Merritt became part of the Union typewriter trust that the machine was pulled after the creation of Union, the arrangements for which began in 1892 in advance of the actual Union incorporation date. 

According to Peter Weil, no official serial number record exists for these machines, making exact dating impossible by serial; nothing ephemerous in terms of a dated sales receipt even exists which could tie a serial number to a date.  This is not to say that there is not significant literature on these machines -- there is, but it was written long ago.   Luckily for us, today, we have access to much of it.

The Merritt in Contemporary Literature.

It's unfortunate but we must immediately discount that normally useful volume written on the history of the typewriter in 1923 by Typewriter Topics, as the historical entry for the Merritt is itself incorrect in absolutely every respect except for the statement of the price.  Wide quotation of this material has apparently tainted many accounts written since. 

We can however look back at the wonderful 1909 book written by G. C. Mares, "The History of the Typewriter - Successor to the Pen," which has a good if brief entry on the Merritt.  Mares opened his entry on this machine by writing "This is a very stately, very ingenious, and thoroughly workable little instrument."  Mares described the operation of the machine (which we shall describe shortly) and noted that the carriage "appears to have been suggested by a much more elaborate machine."  He finished his entry by writing the following:  

"In many ways the Merritt is the very best of the index machines."

Indeed, it has been written more than once that, of the various index style typewriters placed on the market, the Merritt was the best.  It should be remembered that these days of the 1890's saw an enormous range of typewriter designs, operative elements, sizes and prices as what we might call "the typewriter marketplace" sought to examine the furthest commercially viable extents, in either direction, of complexity and price.  It was to the lower groups of price that the index typewriters generally belonged, and these were of course generally nowhere near as quick in producing text as were the large, elaborate keyboard machines.  There seemed to be little point in producing a relatively high priced index machine; however as the lowest workable price range was approached the index typewriter was at first attractive as a manufacturing prospect and then at the very lowest price all that could be manufactured.  

On consideration of the above, and knowing that Mares himself had operated most of the many dozens of typewriters described in his book, we find that Mares' statement on the Merritt being "the very best" index typewriter carries special weight.

Index typewriters seem historically to have been, for some, that range of machine which introduced mechanical writing. While writing by machine was becoming first known and then accepted in contemporary literature it was still yet well out of reach of most people and even most companies - at least, if the use of the well advertised Remington and competitive machines was considered.  The index machines were not only far less complicated but tremendously less expensive; they provided a lower entry point to typewriting. 

This process is brought to light most clearly in a passage printed by Pitman's Journal in 1903.  In that passage, material from another contemporary magazine named "Advertising" is reproduced which mentions the Merritt in a favorable light:

"When the Remington typewriter was the only machine on the English market-- it had a practical monopoly for some years, and has reaped, and reaps today, considerable advantages from the fact -- the first form taken by competition was the invention of several cheap and light machines, designed to imitate, at a low price, some of the characteristics of the big twenty-guinea Remington machine.  The Merritt typewriter, at three guineas, was one of the most successful.  It wrote just as well as a Remington, and duplicated, if anything, better, as it had no ribbons,  The only fault about it was that it was very much slower than the Remington machine.  For many people it constituted an effective alternative.  But neither this nor any other of the cheap typewriters ever did the business of the Remington company any harm.  On the contrary, they did good, because the British public at that time knew very little about typewriters, and the cheap machines served as educators.  People tried them, became accustomed to typewriter work, wanted something better, and eventually purchased Remingtons."

Perhaps we can do no better than this passage in characterizing the Merritt.  By these accounts (and others) the Merritt was a fully operable, and useful machine which definitely produced quality work at a cost only 15% of that of a standard typewriter.  Still, as we know, all index machines were made obsolete eventually by a variety of competitive pressures (eventually including rebuilt standard machines which were available at far less than those machines' original prices.)  

The Merritt in Operation.

The Merritt is operated with both hands, although some contemporaneous accounts ("Modern Mechanism, 1892 and subsequent editions) are in error as they describe the Merritt as a 'one-hand machine.'  The indexing handle (on the example above, long ago lost or broken and replaced with a curved metal extension) is moved left to right until it is above the desired character for printing.  If a capital letter or figure is desired, the left hand is used to depress the appropriate key seen at the left front of the machine, and this key is depressed first followed by operation of the indexing handle.  Once the indexing handle is above the proper character or figure, it is moved downward and printing takes place.  For spaces between words, a space key is provided at the left outside of the machine.  The carriage is forced along as the machine prints, and is returned by hand.  A single platen knob at the right of the machine is used to effect all line spacing.

Above, we see the Merritt with the carriage in printing or normal position and then with the carriage raised.  The Merritt is technically an index typewriter, but it is also technically an upstrike or blind writer machine.  Running through the center of the machine is a trough; in that is another trough carrying 78 individual types.  When one of these is at the print point, action of the indexing handle shoves the type up through an alignment hole and to the paper.  The type are inked by two rollers; the Merritt is a direct inking machine.

In the photo above, the print point is clearly labeled at center; the type can be made out running left to right inside the machine.  The spacing bail is at the left side only, and is actuated when the machine prints; the SPACE key is attached directly to this bail.  The printing bail runs across the front, and it is this bail which is depressed by the indexing handle.  When the bail is depressed it pushes on the tang that can be seen at the middle of the machine (sort of straight in from the letter R in this view) which then pushes the type up to the print point.  The effect of the two shifting keys, FIG and CAP is to slide the entire index plate (on which the letters and figures are printed) left or right, aligning one of the three appropriate types (letter, capital letter or figure) at the print point.  

The Merritt when found with its original lid will have instructions printed on a sheet glued to the inside of that lid.  This includes instructions for operation, for placing the type in the trough, and for oiling and upkeep.  The basic case, seen here, was used on the machine at the $15 level.  Two optional cases were available:  A leatherette case lined in satin for $17.50 and a gilt-trimmed Oak case with plush lining, for $18.50.  The typewriter in each of these was the same machine.

Above, the dovetailed corner of the case and the metal clip which holds it to the wooden base of the typewriter.  

Merritt on the Market.

The advertising for the Merritt at times made some interesting and valid claims; let's take a look at some of these and offer some commentary.

•"It prints with perfect alignment."  Indeed, we know that from the very beginning of the era of competition in typewriters that alignment of the writing was critical; Alexander Brown, who invented the Smith Premier, did so because having seen one of the original Sholes & Glidden / Remington machines he was sure the same effect could be had by a different machine that could not so easily, to his trained eye, work itself out of alignment.  The Merritt has "forced alignment" - although not by use of a type fork as so many front strikes did, but rather by use of a type guide not unlike that found in another direct inking and blind writing machine, the $100 Yost typewriter.

•"It has no ribbon to wear out, smut fingers or paper."  The Merritt was a direct inking machine, meaning that ink was applied directly to the type and then thus to paper.  This printing press sort of impression was thought in many quarters to be of a higher quality than ribbon printing, and (once again) the Yost machine was sold very well on the visual quality of the work performed on it.  

Some front strike machines employed direct inking, such as the Sun Standard.

•"It does work equal to the Hundred Dollar Machines."  In this claim we may take considerable credit, as the testimonial seen earlier gives it weight -- as do a number of customer testimonials sent in to Merritt and reproduced in advertisements.  We must be careful here though to note that it is the quality of work being described and not the volume of work over time.  The company did defend itself in advertising against the speed disparity, thus:  "Speed is not the only requisite of the perfect typewriter.  Legibility, neatness, superior alignment, clear sharp cut letters in every word - thus securing better copying facilities in the Letter Book, etc. should be considered."

•"It can both duplicate and manifold - no other low priced typewriter can do this."  It would be difficult to picture an index machine such as the Hall being called upon for such work, and this claim seems solid.

The Merritt was advertised as being exceptionally useful for the following:  Ministers, teachers, insurance clerks, doctors, editors, commercial travelers, lawyers, reporters, hospitals, students at college, school girls and boys, writers of prose and poetry.

The Merritt in Retrospect.

Today we may look back on the Merritt and see in it those very characteristics assumed by that much later class of machines known well as the "flat typewriters"  -- the machines such as the Royal Dart of the 1960's whose simplicity and entry level price made them attractive for home use, for light work (as for example clubs or Church groups) and for students.  Of course, by that time, there was no need to introduce to people the useful nature of typewriting as it was well established.  Knowing that the Merritt in the 1890's served such groups draws a great parallel; knowing that it in some aspect was introductory in mechanical writing, still new in many quarters, gives it an even higher position or status historically for us as an opener of doors and giver of opportunity.  While some of this perception may be attributed to marketing, it's a fact that unsolicited testimonials as seen above put the machine squarely in such a position.  

The unconventional layout of the Merritt as compared with our normal perceptions of a typewriter is not important; the proper context in which to view the Merritt is that in which mechanically writing at all is new and novel, so that the exact nature of the machines employed to perform it is far less important than the fact that they accomplish the task in the first place.  Only with the broad acceptance of and then need for mechanical writing would there become a need for standardization and broadly for speed to meet the competitive situation; it was at that point when machines such as the Merritt or its competitors stepped aside to make way for the extensive range of keyboard machines of myriad shapes, sizes and costs.  

Though on the market only a short time, the Merritt was clearly viewed well by those familiar during its life; we may wishfully attempt to attribute its fairly rapid obsolescence and disappearance from the market not to any failing of the Merritt typewriter itself but rather simply to the extremely rapid advances being made in the market at the time. We must realistically observe the unavoidable fact that the Densmore was being made at the same plant, that Merritt went into Union, and that the owners of the Densmore eventually took over the operation under their own name.  Whatever the case may be, in a historical perspective many efforts and machines did far worse than the Merritt, and few such short lived machines are remembered to history so well in contemporary accounting. 

"The Typewriter Market."

"What should I pay for this typewriter?"

"How much is too much for this model of typewriter?"

"I've lost five auctions on this same model of typewriter -- why can't I get one?"

"Why won't anyone just publish a price list for old typewriters?"

The questions at the top come up over and over in the world of typewriter collecting and typewriter use.  I've seen upheavals of the community over these questions maybe ten times over all these years.  It's time for a "seasoned collector" (that'll be me, folks!) to try to get the real deal out there on pricing.

THE TYPEWRITER MARKET - by Will Davis.

I'm going to first approach this from somewhat of an unconventional angle, so bear with me.  Look at the following picture.

The above item is Dial soap.  This item is on the market right now.  It is generally available to anyone who wishes to purchase it, in any realistic quantity and is available at very many locations all over the country.  This item is being continuously manufactured right now; a return on the item is available if the purchaser is dissatisfied.  (I use it, so that's why I'm picking this as an example.)  Should one like this product (as I do) then he or she can go right back out and buy more of it when the first bottle is expended.  The product is being marketed now, and its comparative characteristics are advertised and at times tested by government and consumer advocacy organizations.  

The item above (a Consul PRESIDENT typewriter) is not presently on the market.  It is not with surety available at any specific location at any selected time, and its availability anywhere at any time is not guaranteed.  The item has not been manufactured for many years, and no replacement is either guaranteed by anyone, or for that matter possible any any predictable period of time.  The product is not being marketed by anyone presently, and the organization responsible for making it is out of business.  There is no consumer advocacy or support of any sort available on this product.  In addition, its mechanical operability may or may not be known to the seller of this product, and the buyer may or may not be able to ascertain its operability prior to purchase and may not be able to either repair the product (should that be required) or be able to find someone who can or will.

If I drop my bottle of Dial soap, I can have another just like it in the fifteen minutes it takes me to drive to the grocery store here and get one.  If I drop a Consul PRESIDENT typewriter, I cannot with any certainty guarantee that I will be able to replace it at all.  Yes, there is a high likelihood that since more than probably a thousand or two of this make and model were sold in the USA, I will see one again sometime.  But to say I can have another one by Christmas is foolishness.  There is no guarantee at all that this obsolete, long-out-of-production machine can be duplicated in make and model - and then even if it is, there's no guarantee as to the condition or operability of said replacement.

I hope that by the above example, I've made it clear that there IS NO TYPEWRITER MARKET.  Not in the sense that we would think of a market, anyway.  There's only one kind of typewriter on the general retail market in the United States right now -- and that's at Michael's craft stores, and it's $199.  So the "market price" for a new typewriter in the USA right now is exactly $199.  Or right about there - whatever they're charging for them.  But you see my point.  Other than that model there's no market as such for typewriters.  They're obsolete; they're way past the end of their product life cycle.  

What there is, is an auction market in which a disparate and disconnected community of sellers is providing random typewriters as individual sales; of course, there are the occasional "big time" typewriter auctions like Breker's as well. But there's no organized selling institution and thus no way to attempt to set any sort of pricing standards.  This revelation is sometimes hard on new typewriter enthusiasts who wish to get that perfect little portable for use on a picnic table.  It is never a hard revelation for the true antique collector, because the auction market is part of the hobby.  The auction market provides occasional incredible bargains, and occasional incredible knock-down drag-out fisticuffs over a given machine.  Indeed, the auction market giveth and it taketh away.

Auctioning as a scene really and truly is in a real sense a competitive situation or sport.  In the old days, back when we could all see each other's ID's on eBay (and so we knew darn well who we were bidding against) we used to gleefully pummel each other with bids on either weird or else common enough but beautiful typewriters, and as always there was only one winner.  Some slunk off to lick their wounds, but most found the process just a part of the hobby of collecting or (like me) researching typewriters, and it was par for the course to win some and lose some.  

Can we just take a look at recent auctions and publicly announce what "the going price" for a given typewriter ought to be and nail that in stone?  Of course not.  That's ridiculous, and impossible.  Let me show you why that is.

A Hypothetical Example of Auction Pricing.

Let's say that on a particular Monday, the typewriter you see above (a red Barr portable) sells on eBay at eight in the morning on a "Buy it Now" auction for $25.00.  Some quick enthusiast spots the machine after it gets put on line by a seller who just wants it gone and is not a typewriter person, and the thing sells in good shape for just that $25 buy now price, with no bidding process.  Is $25 at that moment a fair or realistic price for this typewriter in this condition?

Of course not.

Now, let's suppose that some collectors are looking at various auctions and on some or other public discussion board somebody brings up the auction.  He or she might say "Hey, who saw that red Barr that went for $25 the other day?  Someone got a steal, that's for sure!"  The discussion goes on as you'd expect with comments like "OMG" and "Too bad I didn't see that!" and lots of the collecting community sees the completed auction photos, and regrets not having been "that guy" who clicked into eBay right before breakfast.

Now, two weeks later another red Barr shows up on eBay on a seven day auction, with no opening bid.  The auction gets the predictable "prophylactic bid" after open to prevent it ending early for any reason, but not much action and stays around $30.  Then on the last day, in the last two hours, it jumps up over $200 and then finally at the last second ends at $242.00.   The machine got 21 bids overall.  Is this price a fair or realistic price for this typewriter in this condition?

Yes, it is.  It's a far better and more realistic assessment than the "one shot and gone" auction from earlier in the month. It's more sensible to aim for this higher price as a guess than it is to average the two final prices since the first auction was in many ways a special circumstance.  Will these always get that high, even if there's bidding competition?  Maybe, maybe not, but it's a decent target.  Now, the examples above are hypotheticals.  Let me give you a real one, and we'll see what you think!

The Strange Case of the Visigraph.

Here we see the elusive Visigraph.  This is an obscure, and failed, standard typewriter that is only found in what we might call 'higher end' collections around the world because they never really come up for sale.  Maybe 4000 were made, and less than 20 are known for sure to survive today.  

I won this on an eBay auction that ran seven days.  I won it for $100.  That's right -- only one hundred dollars.   Is that a fair market price for this typewriter?  Not on your life.  This is easily a thousand dollar typewriter at any time.   What happened?  I'll tell you what happened --

No one else saw it.  No one bid against me.   After I got this machine and let the cat out of the bag, I cannot tell you how many of the major collectors told me flatly "I never saw it!"  The only thing I can figure is this:  At certain angles a Visigraph looks sort of like an L.C. Smith, and perhaps even though the name was in the title, the photo on the auction was not enough to halt any other collector while scrolling through the auctions.  This typewriter would never under any normal circumstance sell that low.  I got lucky, and the value of the machine is realistically probably vaguely ten times what I paid for it.   What I'm telling you is this -- the "street value" of a Visigraph didn't plunge because I nailed this one at $100.  In fact, the Visigraph buzz picked up and had another showed up soon, it could have gone much higher than my rough value estimate. 

Keep in mind folks- there are on any day maybe 25,000 or 30,000 typewriters and related items on eBay.  It's highly likely that some items won't be seen by everyone.  It's likely that some items will be seen by only a few.  But for those typewriters listed as "rare" or "antique" you can bet that collectors have their filters set to call these up.  It's hard for these to go unseen, even though these labels are being used more and more on machines that aren't rare at all.  

MSRP

Let's get back to the Dial soap for a minute.  That product might have a "manufacturer's suggested retail price" or MSRP that you'll see in an ad - particularly if the product happens to be "on sale" for a price below suggested retail.   That whole suggested retail thing came into being years ago when I think J C Penney's was sued over the price of appliances.  As I recall they had appliances listed as "originally $XXX but now this price!" and what happened was it was shown in court that they had in fact never once actually sold the product at the $XXX level.  This was the doom of "originally" and the onset of "suggested retail pricing."  

That doesn't exist for products that have been out of production for thirty or fifty or eighty or a hundred years.  What exists are trends -- and trends are fluid, which is the opposite of an MSRP.

So now we see that pricing of any kind of typewriter during any given chunk of time depends on a whole lot of variables -- who sees it, who DOESN'T see it, how long the auction runs, and so forth -- a lot of intangibles that aren't directly connected with the typewriter or its condition.  We also know that there's no real hard guide for pricing to just "start out with."

Yes, there are some collector books out there with prices in them.  There's one whose prices are kind of low, which was written when that particular author was trying to buy machines. There's also another one whose prices are kind of higher, and which was written when that particular collector was trying to sell off his machines.  Keep this in mind if you go by print resources... but also remember this:

Print resources that inject a time dependent item like price are often obsolete in that respect soon as they hit the shelves.  Things happen in markets that drive prices -- things that the authors of the books cannot have foreseen.

HERMES MANIA

Larry McMurtry has single-handedly pushed the Hermes 3000 typewriter to the height of hype and hysteria.  The Hermes histrionics are horrendous, and the hyperbole unending.  

So now, since this famous author's endorsement of what originally was a very highly overpriced machine in the States, no one can touch a Hermes 3000 for anything like the prices they were going for ten years ago.  The elevation of price caused by this hysteria has so highly inflated the common perception of that particular model's value that there's no chance of any seller who does any sort of research putting one on eBay for $25.  Are the Hermes 3000 machines worth what they're getting because of engineering or manufacturing that in any particular way excels above other competitive machines?  No, of course not - just like there's always someone smarter or tougher than you in a building, so is there always a machine around that's better than another.  The high clearing prices that the Hermes machines are getting is because of a phenomenon, not because of some innate value the machines have.  Nevertheless, what they're NOW worth is what matters, and no one would be able to reverse that trend unless a whole warehouse full of them was discovered.  

BOUTIQUE TYPEWRITERS

Then, we have the range of portable typewriters built from the 1930's to the 1970's which are being offered "fully rebuilt," or "fully serviced" and refinished and so forth, which are put on auction or direct sales sites for prices like $500 and $750 and some even higher.  This range of machines I like to call "boutique" machines.  This is not a slam against the sellers of such machines, but rather a term that I cooked up to segregate in my own mind that class of typewriter, and seller, that offers a super-premium price for a more or less guaranteed product.  The idea of this angle essentially is to take the guesswork out of buying a typewriter at auction and then either trying to fix it up or find a shop that will. You get that "dream typewriter," and get it fully operable and warrantied. However, I will say that it's my opinion that the prices of such machines are generally far beyond what is required to acquire a complete typewriter and then have it returned to fully operable status by a competent repair shop ... IF THERE IS ONE that you can drive to.  I know some of these sellers fairly well and they turn out excellent products.  

Do the boutique typewriters have an effect of driving up prices on the average?  There's no gauge for that but the common sense guess would be "probably," in so far as typewriters of specific models are being sold for the prices they are obtaining, and that cannot go unnoticed by other sellers who search completed items to gauge pricing.  

THE QUESTIONS

Now, I'll get to the theoretical questions that headed up this long-winded diatribe.

•What should I pay for this typewriter?   .... Well, that's entirely up to you.  Do you have a disposable items budget?  How much of that do you want to put on this particular machine?  Is the machine you're looking at something that you MUST have?  An example of this would be if you have a blue Barr portable and a green Barr portable and need the red one.  That might cause you to bid far more money on one than you might otherwise bid because you're trying to fill a hole in a collection.  If this bidding happens to involve several collectors who really want that machine, well, then the price is likely to get steep.  Each buyer needs to look around, do some research and then decide if the range that machine seems to be going for as best as you can determine is something that the buyer wants to get involved with.

There was, when I started collecting, a sort of a "sound barrier" for typewriters at $200.  That is to say, you really could not expect to get any good machines (from a COLLECTOR standpoint, that is, speaking about collecting as opposed to typing use) for any less than that, and the lowest tier of collectible typewriters almost always started right at that level.  That's exactly what I paid for my very first collectible machine, the Blick Universal.  I used that gauge for a number of years as a good tool to both buy machines and to advise others once I knew what was going on.

That's pretty much out the window now.  For one, there are Royal typewriters built by the thousands that boutique sellers are pricing at several hundred dollars.  This was not conceivable in August 1999 when I started out.  No new-ish portable except a gold plated Royal or a sterling Smith Corona Sterling could have gotten near that price.  Now, there are boutique portables in that range and of course Hermes machines, and various others.  Alpinas can get up there.  Torpedo machines, the fast portables can get up there.  So, the $200 yardstick has been retired.

Deals are still out there, to be sure - whether it's because of a buy it now listing, or a machine found at a second hand store or even an antique mall, or even those where no one seems to see the same auction you're seeing (scroll back up to the Visigraph.)  There are so many typewriters on eBay that it's hard to assume everything will get spotted by everyone.  

YOU have to decide what you think you want to pay for something.  What I might pay for something is very different from what this or that other collector might pay.  It's very subjective... and as we've already seen, very competitive out there in auction land.  Straight retail (like boutique sellers, or consignment / resale / antique stores) remove the haggles but increase the prices.  

•"How much is too much for this model of typewriter?"   Let's say 30% more than the highest price ever paid previously for that particular typewriter.  However, if we're talking about a Sholes & Glidden here, and none has come up for auction in a while, and a bunch of big collectors are in on the action.. well, if you've decided to stick to that 30% rule you may just get passed by.  And you need to be OK with that.  Set a limit early in an auction process, in your own mind, and don't go over it.  That isn't to say you shouldn't hope to get it cheap -- we all do.  But be ready to pay up to your limit and be ready to let go beyond that.  

•"I've lost five auctions on this model of typewriter - why can't I get one?"  Simple - you aren't willing to pay enough money to get one IN TODAY'S ENVIRONMENT, IN THE SAME WAY.  Try to get out and find one on foot, or on some other site, or put out a classified request for one.  Or decide to spend more on it.  There's nothing you can do to drive the prices back down on that brand X model X typewriter if they're up, so either find another way to get that machine, or belly up to the bar and pay more, or step away from that particular model for a while.   Consider trading someone else two for one, or a machine and cash.  Ask a friend to borrow one, if you've never used that model, to see if it really, really is worth all that money for you.  Make specific inquiries on forums and then hope that someone who knows happens to see that question at that time.  There are many ways to move ahead after a string of losses on a given model.  

•"Why won't anyone just publish a price list for all old typewriters?"   Go back and read all of this blog post over again in its entirety, slowly, to get this answer.  

IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS

What should you pay for a 1957 Smith-Corona Silent-Super in Pink, with Holiday case and paperwork including instructions and bill of sale? Oh, and it has a cursive type face.   In this case, I'd bet you'd need to put around $200 to have a shot.  Maybe that wouldn't even get it.  It's a gut feeling, taken from having watched thousands and thousands of auctions over many years and seeing the trends going up on pink machines, on cursive machines, on machines with all paperwork.  These are value enhancers to be sure, and in your own mind you should know that every one of these individually drives up desirability.  Together they'd be a killer combination..  for the seller, if lots of people see the machine and bid, and for the buyer if he or she can get it cheaply.  And what is "cheaply?"  I'd say if you got that for $100 you'd be in good shape.  If you found that at an estate sale for $15?  I'd be happy for you.  If you had to have that, and paid $210 at auction?  I'd say well, that's probably fair.  If you got it for $550 from a boutique seller?  I'd say you have a warranty and peace of mind.  

Can I give you a price like this for every typewriter out there? No, and if I told you I could I'd be either a liar or a fool.  (Or maybe a phony.)  No one collector is likely to have a thumb on the exact running price trends of all models at once.  Some of us use the "sixth sense" or "gut feeling" method, while some others meticulously track prices achieved every day.  It's up to the collector as to which method they want to use to ensure they don't overpay too often for machines (unless price is no object - but how often is that possible?)  Some collectors will commonly and publicly assess whether or not they think other collectors have overpaid or underpaid for this or that machine.  This is common; ignore it.  More than likely, they've both overpaid and underpaid as well.  Your own opinion about overpaying for a machine needs to be set before you bid - if you win the machine on the seventh day on a bid you made on the first day which no one beat, you did not overpay.  If you made a bid and then got outbid on the fourth day and then gave up, you probably did just fine in that.  The danger is when you second guess yourself and bid like mad on the last day or in the last hour or minutes.  This is something to seriously consider.  

So, above I've given you a whole lot of my feelings and experience about pricing.  For those who came here looking for a per-machine price guide, you now know why I cannot and will not attempt that.  For those who really want to embark on collecting typewriters, whether to use or just to collect in the traditional sense, I hope you now feel a lot better prepared for what lies ahead.  

Hobbies are supposed to be fun.  If you're trying to make good deals or just make good investments, try the stock and bond market.  If you want zero risk and little drama, maybe stamp collecting might be a good choice.  I will take typewriters any day over any other collectible, and even with the drama of prices and auctions and so forth, intend to stick with it permanently.  Consider the benefit of the whole before being caught up and pushed away by the height or heat of the moment.

Now, get out there and look for those typewriters you want.

Typewriter Type

A recent discussion on one of the many online typewriter forums has triggered a quick but careful look into some manufacturer (and other) materials in order to obtain the best and most accurate view of what the industry actually used as terminology when referring to the type on a typewriter; this paper, published on the Davis Typewriter Works blog, is the result.

The aforementioned discussion centered primarily around the various different styles of print which were available from the manufacturers.

Without looking at any materials, those familiar with typewriters can probably easily define the term "type."  "Type" is a component of a typewriting machine that presses upon the ribbon (in a ribbon typewriter) or directly on the paper (in a direct inking typewriter) to make the desired final impression.  Type may be driven to the printing point in any number of ways.  The type may be manufactured as many small, unique components for a typewriter, each mounted on one instrument used to drive it to the print point or in some special designs all the characters may be mounted on one single unit such as a cylinder shaped component, a sleeve, a half-circular component, or others.  In a very few typewriters (such as the Merritt) the type are not firmly mounted at all, but lie in a tray and are motivated individually when required.

Collectors and technicians all use this term generally, and frequently.  For example; "If you're not careful and you keep typing unevenly and clashing type bars together you might damage the type."  Or, "Once a week the typist must clean the type thoroughly with one of the approved cleaning preparations listed in the back of this manual."

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The problem in terminology for modern collectors has arisen because the tendency for people today is to use a word such as "font" in describing the varied kinds of print shapes and forms available.. which was never in general use at all regarding typewriters.  The term DID appear late in the era, but in a very special application that we'll see later.  For the rest of the time, and rest of the universe, no typewriter materials (be it from the sales or the manufacturing standpoint) use the term "font."  We must then support the use of the proper terms by evidence in the literature, as it is our purpose not to invent a history that did not exist but instead to properly represent the one that did - a process only possible through taking time to come into possession of the facts.

To this end, I conducted a study of the literature at hand and will detail the results below.

1.  Century of the Typewriter, Wilfred Beeching (1990 edition.)  This book, nominally for collectors, is a rich and detailed account written by someone actually in the business.  Thus, it is likely to contain accurate information - particularly where direct involvement of the manufacturers is in evidence.  It is the only "collector book" that details the vagaries of printing styles.

This book has a section "Type and Type Styles" beginning p. 78.  This section uses the term "type" in a general fashion as defined earlier in this paper.  When the section begins to display the varied forms of final print that were optionally available the header is "Range of typefaces."  This brings up the most commonly used term to describe the varied final forms of print - "type face" or else "typeface" as one word.

The term "type face" is in fact also that term which this writer personally has heard all typewriter mechanics and dealers use in describing the varied styles and sizes optionally available on typewriters.

There is some hint in Beeching's book that the author is employing the unified term "typeface" to refer to style, and "type face" to refer to that portion of the type facing the print point, into which are cast (or onto which are machined) the actual characters used to make the impressions; in other words, "type face" being the face of the type.

2.  Dealer materials

The Royal Line Book and the Olivetti-Underwood Dealer Guide were consulted to obtain the terms used to offer varied print forms to the customers.  The leading pages of both manuals are shown below.

Both of these early - mid 1960's manuals use the term "type style" to differentiate between the varied forms of print available.  Note that the Royal Line Book shows them, but that the Olivetti-Underwood would require a separate stand-alone guide (Smith-Corona materials were also printed this way.)

3.  Manufacturer materials

The trade catalog for a typewriter with large interchangeable units was consulted first.  This catalog is for the Reliance Visible, which incorporated an entire "action unit" of sorts that contained the key levers, type bars and thus of course the type.  Different styles were available as were different language keyboards.  The page to describe these interchangeable action units (interchangeable ONLY on machines of the same pitch, or that is to say which typed the same number of characters per inch) is reproduced below.

Again, we can see the general application of the term "type" in this document, as can we also see the use of the word "style" in reference to the varied forms of print available.

Another early typewriter on which the type were more or less removable as a unit (but without any of the mechanism of the typewriter coming with it) was the Hammond.  A Hammond Multiplex instruction manual is in our collection - a photocopy provided by Peter Weil some years ago.  In this document the familiar half-round elements which carry the characters to be printed are described under the dual heading "The Type Shuttle or Type Plate."  Throughout the rest of the document however the term "type shuttle" appears exclusively.  For optional type shuttles the reader is directed to the "Type Catalog."  A contemporary advertisement, also from Weil, provided at the same time uses the term "styles of type" to discern the varied forms of print available.  Thus, even with the added nonstandard terms the company still used the word "style" as one would expect, given the previous materials.

We will read again about the Hammond and its descendant shortly.

4.  PRINT

"Print - The Magazine of the Graphic Arts" produced a special technical and historical issue devoted entirely to typewriter type in June 1952 (Print, Volume 7, Number 3.)  This document was written directly with industry input.

First, in its whole this publication supports and uses the general term "type" as described earlier.  The term appears over a dozen times used generally in this way in various sections of the publication.  

Attention is called to the "Special Uses" section on page 30:

Once again, as with the Royal Line Book above (and of course many others) we see an assortment of varied forms of print, but in this case instead of being termed wholly as "type style" this publication throughout uses the term "type face."  In point of fact, in the detailed section on the manufacture of typewriter type and the actual creation of the type itself the term "type face" also appears when describing the formation of the characters on the type itself.

•••

FINDINGS.

In general use, the terms "type face" (or, "typeface") and "type style" appear synonymous.  Both "type face" and "type style" are used to describe the varied different forms that the final print can assume.  This is fixed on a normal typewriter; is changeable on a typewriter whose printing instrumentalities are such that the type, whether with or without considerable part of the mechanism, can be removed or interchanged.  (Again, while typeface / type style are changeable on such machines, normally pitch or characters-per-inch is not.)

Actual dealers and mechanics, as well as Beeching and the special issue of PRINT have displayed use of the term "type face" / "typeface" in description of the varied available print forms.  The dealer and manufacturer materials shown above have used the term "type style."  

It seems entirely likely, sifting and analyzing the materials, that the actual, proper term for the varied optional shapes and forms of final printed characters should be "type styles."  The term "type face" or "typeface" is a common, more comfortable or familiar type of term that may well be a simple and later-on widely established misuse of the proper term "type face" referring to the face of the type, given that it is used, it would appear, more by dealers and not the makers.  It is clear from the literature however that even if originally technically incorrect the term "type face" or "typeface" as a synonym for "type style" came into general use in the era of the typewriter.  In other words, if one said to a dealer or mechanic "I was wondering if I could change the typeface on this machine" instead of saying "I was wondering if I could change the type style on this machine," one would be just as easily and immediately understood.

Speaking specifically about the design, fabrication, cleaning or even damaging of that part of the type on which the actual printing characters are cast or embossed, the term "type face" is used as a short hand for "the face of the type."  

(It should be mentioned here that the well known industry term for the type, manufactured for a conventional typewriter and normally soldered onto the type bars, is "type slug" for each individual component of the type.  Thus, the "type face" is the platen-facing portion of a type slug.)

It is reasonably established, thus, that the varied styles of print are referred to either as "type styles" or as "typefaces" / "type faces", in the interest of historical accuracy; the former probably being the correct 'inside' industry term and the second a popular colloquialization or misappropriation of another term that took hold and spread widely in the business.

•••

Addendum 1: The term "Font," its use and misuse.

It has been pointed out by Brian Brumfield that the Vari-Typer, a somewhat convoluted descendant of the Hammond mentioned above, used the term "font" for describing what we see above as typeface or type style.  This is mentioned also in the PRINT magazine, which clearly describes the use of the term "font" specifically in relation to what formerly had been called a type shuttle.  This is a specific and unusual occurrence, and as we can see the term has been found nowhere else in the literature so far in reference to another machine.  Thus, it is true that the term "font" would be correct in referring to the changeable type in a Vari-Typer, but is a historic inaccuracy if applied to any other older machine (and of course to most newer ones.)  The term "font" appears nowhere in the magazine other than in reference to the Vari-Typer.  

[The progression, for purpose of explanation, from the earlier to the later brands is as follows:

The Hammond concern's patents were willed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1913 when the original inventor, J. C. Hammond, died.  According to PRINT's short history the machine's rights and the patents were bought from the Metropolitan (no date given) by the Frederick Hepburn Company which is the concern that renamed the machine "The Vari-Typer."  This company went bankrupt and was bought out in 1933 by a group of investors headed by Ralph C. Coxhead.  The redesigned machine (now with a metal type font instead of Bakelite) and with some 3000 changes overall was re-introduced to the market under the same brand name in 1937.  The concern's growth was slow until, the magazine reports, a strike at Chicago newspapers started in 1947.  Reportedly "Until the strike's end two years later" the people of Chicago read newspapers set up on the Vari-Typer, which became known to the industry and pushed the machine to the later heights of "Cold type" printing.  It could be easily surmised that the wide use of the term "font" in place of what had been the term "type style" during the typewriter era came up during the age of the dominance of the Vari-Typer in printing.]

The use of the term "font" applies to computers today, and essentially is duplicative of the Vari-Typer in that the operator can change the whole printing appearance at once.  The term "font" appears nowhere else in reference to conventional typewriters or typewriters with interchangeable units in the literature, and thus is misapplied and perhaps even anachronistic (given the dates above) when used to describe type style on the wide range of conventionally manufactured typewriters.
 

DAVIS TYPEWRITER WORKS  3/25/2016

Rebuilt Typewriters by Mail Order - An Unknown Seller

One of the more interesting items in my collection is a pair of sheets cut from a small (4.75" by 7.5") catalog which appears to have been a mail order catalog.  Three of the four sides of these two sheets contain advertisements for a special offering of rebuilt typewriters.

The original issuer of the catalog is unknown.  Conversation with Peter Weil produces no evidence from the pages which might give away the original catalog's publisher.

The date of the pages is certainly after about 1926, because the pages offer the Underwood Standard Four Bank Portable either brand new or rebuilt.  Indeed, it might be that 1927-1928 would be a good first guess for these.

We'll now show the pages, which are not numbered, in the order in which they most probably appeared in the catalog -- and then make some further commentary about the offerings. Click to enlarge the three images (separately.)

Not shown is the reverse of one of these pages, which advertises on its upper half a Ouija Board, and on its lower half a boxed selection of silk fabric scraps, for quilting or dressmaking.  These items have mail order numbers and a price by each.  

The first page makes it clear that these machines are not sold on credit, and thus there is no machination required to protect against losing machines sent without full payment. Keeping in mind the date of this catalog is thought to be 1927-1929, let's look at the machines available.

Page 1

Underwood No. 4 and No. 5:  These machines were in production at the time, but note that machines without backspace or two-color ribbon are available - these date to pre-1909.

L. C. Smith:  The No. 2 appeared in 1904 and was superseded by the No. 5 in 1911.  The No. 5 was built through 1923, while the No. 8 was built from 1915 on, although the open frame tells us the machines are pre-1928 or so.

Page 2

The Oliver No. 3 was made from 1898 to 1907, while the No. 9 was introduced in 1916.

Corona - this model is the widened frame type with right and left shift keys dating from later than 1922.

Smith Premier No. 2 -- this is an old machine too, dating from 1896 to 1914.  This is an extreme bargain at just $15.00 when one considers prices for new machines at that time.  

Monarch No. 3 -- Made from 1906 through 1914.

Noiseless -- This is the No. 5, introduced in 1922.  

Remington portable -- This machine dates back as far as 1920, and the note here is the relatively high price for a rebuilt portable. 

Page 3

Remington No. 10 and 11 -- The No. 10 is of course the first Remington visible, introduced 1908 and made through 1923; the No. 11 was made 1910-1926.

Royal Standard, No. 5, and No. 10 --  The Royal Standard was the very first Royal, introduced 1906; the No. 5 appeared in 1910 and the No. 10 in 1914.  

Underwood portable -- this is the four bank Underwood portable introduced 1926.  This is the newest typewriter in the catalog, at least in terms of initial release date.  

Smith Premier No. 10 -- this was the only standard visible Smith Premier, and it was made 1908 through 1921.

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As we can see, while there are some typewriters in this offering that could include fairly new examples (the L.C. Smith No. 8 and the Underwood machines specifically, as well as the Underwood portable) most of the machines offered stood a chance of being quite old.  For a price comparison, keep in mind that new machines were still between $100 and $110 for the standard models (more for wide carriage) and that portables were still between $50 and $60 generally (note that the Underwood Four Bank is being sold at its going rate new, and cut rate rebuilt).  Here are the machines offered in the ad, in order of price, for comparison with these then-new prices.  All rebuilt except the first.

Price Dynamics and Market Interactions

Taking a look now at the prices offered by whoever this was, we see the general mark of the rebuilt typewriter industry in that the latest available rebuilt models are roughly half the price of brand new typewriters.  Older models are still available, even examples that might be 20 or 30 years old, but are available at very deep discounts.

The companies that rebuilt typewriters put out ads offering to buy used typewriters- one of many ways they obtained machines.  Harry A. Smith advertised that he was interested in used typewriters "in lots from 10 to 100."  It is our guess that the prices these companies offered for used machines were at least as good as, if not better than, the trade-in value that might be obtained on the machines if they were traded against new ones.  This would be particularly true for a machine not being traded in on its original make (for example an Oliver being traded in on a Remington.)  Since the trade-in values were lower for non-same-brand makes it might well have made sense for an office manager to sell his office stock of machines to a rebuilder and get cash he could use to better discount brand new machines.  Or, if he wished to save even more money he could then turn around and buy rebuilt machines (we are aware of no trade-in allowance on rebuilt machines.)

The fact that these machines were, we suspect, purchased at or above the normal trade value on the market, and then sold being rebuilt at half the general price for new machines, points up the narrow margins on which this business model operated.  It also suggests why this particular seller has opted not to allow credit sales and is going for "cash only," considering that the country had pulled out of a bad recession in the early 1920's (although far worse was to come shortly.)

Above -- The Smith Premier No. 2 and the Oliver No. 3 both dated from the 1890's and were thoroughly obsolescent by the time this catalog was issued.  However, at roughly 15% of the price of a new standard machine these could have been attractive buys for the occasional user not interested in the latest features.  Will Davis / Davis Bros. collections.

Another purchaser at this time that we might imagine would be someone who needed to type at home, or perhaps in a local club or church -- say, for typing schedules or recipes, club notes or so forth.  Brand new portables were $50 or $60 at this time -- but as you can see from the price list a very solidly built, heavy standard typewriter could be had anywhere from $48.00 for a recent model down to just $15.00 for a totally outdated machine which would still have been completely adequate for many tasks such as suggested here.  This wide range of prices kept thoroughly outdated standard typewriters in circulation probably far longer than they would otherwise have been used or even considered.  It is not impossible that some standard machines were rebuilt twice, or perhaps three times, by professional outfits or dealers, given some of the age ranges we see in this advertisement.

For much more on rebuilt typewriters, see our original reference article on them here.  This article adds to the information base on rebuilt typewriters, the rebuilding business and its history; others are to follow in this series which will be cross linked.

January 20, 2016

Fox Portable Typewriters and the Demise of Fox Typewriter Company

The previous post on this blog (which can be found here) concerned the history of the $100, standard Fox Visible series of typewriters as seen above -- which are the Fox machines most commonly found today by collectors and which are the best known.  The company added portable typewriters to its lineup rather late in its history, however, and the entire period in which they were made was, for Fox Typewriter Company specifically and for many parts of the world generally a time of turmoil.  This article will explore the histories of the portable Fox machines and the demise of the company overall, as they are inextricably intertwined.  The story starts, though, well before introduction of any Fox portables.

1915 - The Winds of Change

It has been written in the now well-known 1922/23 Typewriter Topics compendium of typewriter histories that the Fox Typewriter Co. plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan partly closed down at the outbreak of war, and became from that point an unpredictable element in typewriter production.

In point of fact William R. Fox himself in 1915 sold out his interest in the Fox Typewriter Co., and in July 1915 a special shareholders' meeting was held in order to ask for a 60 day option on launching an entirely new corporation to take over the assets of the old, without taking on the debt -- in other words, a reorganization.  This was made good on July 19, 1915.  The factory was idled to a large extent the last quarter or half of 1915 according to contemporary reports.

Later, the Fox Typewriter Company's sales manager, Irving Franks, was quoted in Typewriter Topics as having said that a reorganization and recapitalization of the concern was needed in order to be able to manufacture the Fox machine (at this point still only a standard typewriter) in quantities large enough that the unit price would be competitive.  Put simply, the original firm had gone broke.  (The previous article discussed the complexity and cost-to-build of the Fox visible.)

By all accounts production of the standard machine resumed after the reorganization and in fact increased, at least for some time.  However, in October 1916 a report leaked in Typewriter Topics that Fox Typewriter Co. would be coming out with a portable typewriter.  This was the first US typewriter manufacturer to announce having, in house, a standard and a portable typewriter.


The Baby Fox Appears - Eventually

In February 1917 Fox Typewriter Co. announced that sales records were made during the last quarter of 1916, and that it was installing "thousands of dollars worth" of new machinery at its plant.  This might have been taken to mean equipment for the standard, but in fact it was probably equipment for making the new portable typewriter.

In April of 1917 an initial announcement of the Fox Portable Typewriter was made, which stated the machine would weigh but four and a half pounds.

By November 1917 the first real advertisements appeared for this machine; the stated weight was now 5-3/4 pounds, with a height of three inches when stowed.  Fox had chosen to make a machine that collapsed for travel - not conceptually unlike the popular Corona, which did not collapse, but rather folded.  The new machine would sell at $50.


Fox Portable No. 1 in Detail

The original Fox portable, marketed initially as "The Baby Fox," was designed by Henry P. Nordmark so that its carriage pushed down behind the typewriter when the machine was to be stowed for use, as seen above in a patent drawing.

Above, Fox Portable No. 1 serial 421, courtesy Jim Dax.   The compact nature of the new portable is immediately obvious in our look at a very early example.  Note that the marketing for the machine was using the name "Baby Fox," but that this does not appear on the machine anywhere.

Above - Two variations on the 1917 advertisement image developed for this machine, incorporating a juvenile Fox.  (Business Equipment Topics, 1917.)

This is our Fox Portable No. 1, serial 1364, as positioned in the carrying case with the carriage collapsed behind the machine for travel.

Here is the same typewriter with the carriage raised for use.  The Fox Portable No. 1 is a three bank, double shift machine with 28 keys typing 84 characters.  Shift keys are provided on the left side only, with a small shift lock key above them.  A backspace key is on the right side of the keyboard.  This machine incorporates segment shift, and a modern slotted segment design.

The pen in this photo is being used to indicate the hinge point for the type segment mounting, which of course must move up and down to shift.  The shift keys are actually both mounted on the same tuning fork shaped lever extension, which is hinged at the base where it connects to the shaft.  When the CAP key is depressed this fork rotates slightly forward, pulling a reach rod under the FIG key that engages a travel stop, limiting the shift motion.  When the FIG key is depressed however the reach rod is not moved and the motion of the shift is then only limited by ultimate travel stops.

Both sides of the machine mount mirror image hardware for supporting the carriage, which is easily raised and lowered and which locks in place through use of the slot and cam arrangement clearly seen in this view of the left side of the typewriter.

The machine has a three position ribbon selector below the print point, carriage release on the right side of the carriage only, and variable line spacing.  The type action was intended to be quickly removed (after undoing two screws.)

In operation we found the key lever and type bar action of the Fox No. 1 portable very light, with extremely rapid return of the type bars to rest.  A machine of this model in original condition fully lubricated and properly adjusted would have been a fine, fast typewriter indeed - better than a Corona 3 in our estimation.  Everything on the machine is well designed and solid, and there are no "bells and whistles" or items added as an afterthought.

Above, decal found inside the lid of our Fox Portable No. 1 which appears to be the normal logo for the company (not the "Baby Fox" logo) and which is shown here for comparison.


The Trouble Begins

Even though Fox Typewriter Co. announced in November 1917 that through assignment of an agency for South America it had sold (or was prepared to sell) 6,000 standard and 10,000 portable typewriters, the company suffered a serious blow when its long serving General Sales Manager, Irving Franks (who was credited in trade journals with having brought the company back from the brink) not only resigned his position but sold all his interest in the company.  This is not exactly a glowing assessment of the company's future, coming from a man in a position to be able to predict or shape it to some degree.

The next month the company announced it had increased its capitalization from $100,000 to $250,000, with issuance of stock entirely purchased by the existing shareholders.  By May 1918 the capitalization had further been increased to $450,000; the company announced in Typewriter Topics that it was attempting to "build up production" of the portable typewriter.

In July 1919 the storm hit.  Corona Typewriter Company filed suit against Fox Typewriter Co., claiming both infringement of multiple patents held or controlled by them, and unfair competition.  In some of the complaints certain specific parts or functions of the Fox Portable were called out, while in other complaints the matter was more of form or appearance (Corona attempting in one to claim that the general shape of the front of its machine was essentially proprietary.)  This action began a drawn out process that would span about three years.


Fox Portable No. 2

Fox Typewriter Co. advertisements begin to show what is known as the Fox Portable No. 2 in July 1920.  These are far harder to find today than the first model.

The photo above is Fox Portable No. 2  serial 10017, sent to us years back by Richard Polt, who we understand has sold the machine.  The similarities between this machine and the No. 1 cannot be denied, but Richard tells us that there are numerous small changes all over the machine as compared with the No. 1.  This machine, for example, adds a margin release function to the backspace key.

Fox Typewriter Co. had only made about 8,000 of the Fox Portable No. 1 machines when it made the change to this improved model.

August 27, 1920 -- immediately after this new machine appeared -- the first court case in the series of lawsuits between Corona and Fox took place.  The outcome was favorable to Corona for the moment; Six of the eight patents that Corona had filed complaint on were declared to be valid patents, and of these, five were found to have been infringed by Fox.  An injunction against Fox was granted, who would continue to build machines under a bond while the case dragged on.

After only having manufactured something less than 2,000 of the Fox Portable No. 2 model, the company decided to eliminate the collapsing feature and bring out a third but radically altered portable model, which it did in the first quarter of 1921.


Fox Sterling

The third and final portable model was the Fox Sterling.  This typewriter, according to Richard Polt, is very much of the previous model in concept (for example, the same key lever and type bar mechanism, and the same carriage arrangement) mounted in and on a frame that does not in any way collapse or fold.  These machines are actually technically the Model 3 - this appears on the decals that are mostly hidden behind the upper row of keys.

Above, Fox Sterling serial number s12762, courtesy Peter Weil.  The machine is clearly related to the earlier models, but immediately obvious is the fact that it does not fold.  The logo on the front right is particularly attractive and is seen below in detail.

This typewriter then less resembles the folding Corona 3 with which its maker remained in legal entanglement, and more resembles the National machine at that time being manufactured by Rex Typewriter Company.

The above Fox Sterling, serial number 12688 is unusual among surviving machines in having a foreign keyboard - in this case, Spanish.   In some printed material this final Fox portable typewriter is referred to just as the "Sterling," or else as the "Sterling Fox."

As we noted the Fox Sterling appeared in February 1921.  In March 1921 Fox Typewriter Company was declared in receivership.  Actual advertisements for the Fox Sterling did not appear in trade journals widely until about September 1921.

The interesting sales receipt below is provided by Peter Weil.

The receipt above is certainly very, very late -- it is dated December 23, 1921 and details the sale of "One Portable Fox #3" (the Sterling's official model number, as noted earlier) with an original price of $50.  The trade-in is a Royal No. 5, for which $40 credit is given leaving a balance of $10 to be paid.  The Fox Sterling was guaranteed for one year.

The End

W. A. Papworth was appointed by the court as Receiver and General Manager of the company, which struggled on operating during this bankruptcy.  In March 1922 the trade rags reported that sale of Fox Typewriter Co. looked imminent - supposedly, forces aligned with the Bennington typewriter including William H. Bennington himself were set to buy the company, continue producing both the Fox visible and the Sterling and add in Bennington's own unique syllabic/word printing typewriter.  The agreed value to be paid for the company was $200,000.

By July 1, 1922 this deal had fallen through; the forces aligned with Bennington had failed to raise the capital.  Papworth reported to the bankruptcy court that the operation was losing money, and that unless some sort of measure were taken to improve distribution of the products of the company it would be forced to liquidate. He reported that the factory was "practically at a standstill."  By July 15th the company had reduced its capitalization from $450,000 to $45,000.

The final blows began to hit as by the end of July, the First National Bank of Chicago had been allowed to file a foreclosure suit for nonpayment of interest on a $100,000 mortgage.  At the same time Shaw Association, Ltd. who owned a large amount of Fox Typewriter Co. stock took action to foreclose on another $100,000 mortgage.

In August 1922, various trade and business papers reported that by court order the property was to be sold at foreclosure sale.

Above, extremely unusual all polished aluminum Fox Sterling portable owned by Herman Price, with serial number s12467.    Fox Typewriter Co. had made about 1,000 of the Sterling portables before shutting down for good.

Postscript

The legal action with Corona still had to be played out, and the outcome is reported in the Patent Gazette from November 1922.  I've reviewed the material, and in brief, the summation is as follows:  Fox won back much more ground than it had lost the first time, although it was still found at fault.  In the final adjudication, only two patents were found to have been infringed by Fox; one of them was a patent held by Corona for a separable ribbon drive (Fox was found to have infringed on three claims out of the original seven that Corona made on this patent alone) and the other was a patent generally applicable to folding typewriters.  In all likelihood the Sterling was free and clear of any complications involving these patents, but in point of fact had the company not been bankrupt it still would have had to, in all probability, pay or attempt to pay damages to Corona based upon a consensus of profits made by Fox and perceived damage to business on the part of Corona.  At this point, though, the findings were only a hollow victory for Corona as there was nothing it could get.  The Fox Typewriter Company, originally brought into being in 1898, was gone.


Post-Postscript

The letter seen below was found inside the stationery pocket of our Fox Portable No. 1 which is shown in several photos above.

This letter is dated December 23, 1953 and is on the letterhead of the Douglas M. Hale Typewriter Sales & Service Co.  It is addressed to a "Mrs. Groves," and in it Hale himself writes "this old style little portable typewriter is for you, provided it suits you."  Hale promises to see Mrs. Groves after the holidays to tell her about the machine.  The Christmas stickers on the envelope add a wonderful touch to this piece that gives one little Fox portable a real bit of human interest as it spans more than one lifetime and enriches more than one life.

THANKS TO Peter Weil, Richard Polt, Herman Price, Jim Dax.   Information from Business Equipment Topics, Typewriter Topics, Michigan Manufacturer and Financial Record, Robert D. Fisher Manual of Valuable and Worthless Securities Vol. 6.