Blickensderfer

From Typewriter Wiki

Blickensderfer

The Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company

Founder:George C. Blickensderfer
BlickNo6 TopView.jpg
An aluminium Blickensderfer No. 6.
General Information
Based In:: Stamford, CT
Type: Manual Portable Electric Portable
Founded: 1893
Fate: Ended serial production in 1919 Dies acquired by Remington
Rebrands: Dactylo, Creelman Bros., Rem-Blick
Related Companies: Remington

The Blickensderfer typewriter was invented by George C. Blickensderfer around 1893, and won fame at the World's Columbian Exhibition of the same year, where the light and portable machines kept up with much heavier typewriters like the Hammond and Caligraph. Hailed as the "5-Pound Secretary" and widely acknowledged as one of the first truly portable typewriters to exist, the Blickensderfer pioneered a sector of the typewriter industry.

The Blickensderfer model 5 and subsequent models used a type element -- a vulcanized-rubber head with what was essentially stamps on its outside faces-- to print.

No instances of the Blickensderfer models 1 thru 4 are known to exist. They were longer, elaborately-shelled typewriters that supposedly used a similar typeball mechanism to the 5.

For more information on your machine, please select a specific model below: