The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1911-09-29

or James Densmore, a former WiScon-
Sin editor, who in 1858 was a mon
eyed oil man in Meadville, Penn, At
| ter building thirty different models
Sholes patented what he thought was
a good machine in 1871. Two years
| more Of efforts at improvements were
necessary before a marketable type
writer was produced. A fortunate
| thought came to Densmore that just
| the right man to market the machine
was George Washington Newton Yost
man Densmore knew in the oil
business. Yost took a financial inter-
est in the typewriter manufacture,
Sholes sold out, and Densmore and
1ost made a contract with q. Rem
| lngton & Sons, at lion, N. Y, manu-
facturers of rifles, etc., to make the
typewrtters for them.
Problems for Mechanics.
The inventions of Sholes were still
so imperfect that expert mechanics
worked for months trying to remedy
the defects of the machines Walter
j.. Barron of Meadeville, Pa, another
oil man, and his brother, Ernest r.
next became interested, and the type
writer manufacture began to have
| more business7like outlook, and the
improved machines were put on the
market as the Remington. Walter
j. Barron was subsequently the inven-
tor OF the adjustable type bar and
mechanism, carriage guide. indexes
and ribbon movement now used. 1t
should here be remarked how me-
chanleal typewriters had advanced al
thouSh not in any general business
use. Wheatstone's machines had pi-
anoforte manuals, and Sholes' first
idea of keyboard, which had been
supplanted by a more modern meth
cd, however, in the 1874 machines.
+ Slow Sellers.
By the end of the first year of man
ufacture, 1874. four hundred type
writer's had been sold. Densmore &
YoSt had bought up most of the
and controlled the typewriter bust
ness. Trouble came from unexpected
sources. The machines put on the
market were more than half of them
imperfect and came back to the fac
tory. The public evinced no conf
dence in them, and by 1878 Densmore
& Yost decided something heroic must
be done.
1.-THE Typewriter War;"
Ernest r. Barron and Franz x.
Wagner, skilled mechanics, We're
brought from lion to the New York
office. With Mr.. AYost they, in four
months time, evolved a new type
writer-the Caligraph. Then Dens-
more and Ybst brought suit for in
fringement practically against them
selves.) Newspaper reporters were
tipped off to suits and counter suits
and between trips to the office OF
Densmore and Yost and the Cali
graph headquarters they made copy
on ''the typewriter war" No one was
in on the true status of affairs ex-.
oept those financially interested. Pub
lie notice was directed to the typewrit-
er, sales increased and the start of
the universal use of the typewriter
A a foes h q iy1aa ma
finally procured to manufacture the
Caligraph under the Remington pat
ents. The suits were settled ''by agree
ment of counsel" and Densmore and
Xost, worth FORTUNE, sold out, and
afterward each invented another type
writer. The Yost machine is man.
ufactured at Bridgeport.
Thousands of Patents.
Over $500 separate patents have
been issued in the United States for
typewriters and accessories. Byron
A. Brooks, a New York author, in
vented the upper and lower case let
tiers on one type bar. Charles Splro
also an author of New York, invent
ed the automatic ribbon reverse and
the universal keyboard was evolved
in the brain of Alexander Davidson,
a mechanic and a commercial school
teacher oe Springfield, Ill.
OF Local Origin.
Many machines were invented and
put on the market during the tnfan-
cy of the typewriter business. The
Victor typewriter, patented in 1889,
was the Invention of Arthur + ia
cobs of Hartford and G. q. Tfiton of
Worcester.
The Hartford typewriter was man
ufactured in this city from 1885 to
1902, when the company ceased oper-
ations. The machine was the in
ventien of John M. Fairbanks, who
was president of the company and
manufacturing was carried on in what
is now the Columbia Motor Works.
The Hartford was a double keyboard
machine.
Wagner Invented the Underwood.
Franz X. Wagner, who died about
two years ago in New York city, was
the inventor of the original Under
wood typewriter. Mr.. Wagner, 1t
will be remembered, was connected
with the perfecting of the first REM
ingtons and was one of the Original
tors Of the Caligraph. His ideas of
the machine afterward called the I'm
derwood were the results of his years
of experience and embodied depar-
lures from. typewriters in general. The
Underwood is credited with being the
pioneer in the field of practical Wis
successful leader in bringing front
strike typewriters into popular de- |
mand.
John T. Underworld president of |
the concern which manufactured BIZ
cycle supplies, became interested in
Mr.. Wagner's invention and bought |
out his patents and formed the I'm |
derwood Typewriter company, of |
which he is president. Mr.. Wagner |
retaining no financial interest. The |
machines were first manufactured in |
New York city in 1895. Three years |
later the plant was moved to Bay |
anpe, n. J., and in the year 1901 the |
of the machines was be- |
gun in Hartford, in what was then the |
Hartford Cycle factory, which now |
forms a very small part of the Under
wood plant. There were brought |
from Bayonne to Hartford about 300 |
but since then mammoth |
factories have been built and the con-
Germ now employs about 1890. A |
new factory is even now in process
of construction. ~
The Chicago typewriter and the
Smith-Premier were placed on the
market in 1889 and the Blickensder- +
fer, now manufactured at Stamford
followed in 1892.
The Royal.
The Royal was the invention of e.
B. Hess of Brooklyn, N. Y, and was
first manufactured in Brooklyn in
1905. Through the efforts of Gen
eral Manager Edward J. Manning,
who had been with the Underwood
company up to 1907 and then went to
the Royal, the manufacture of the
Royal Standard typewriter was