Lucien S. Crandall Typewriter Patent Model
date: label: patent date
content: 1881-12-20
name: label: maker
content: Crandall, Lucien S.
notes: label: Description
content: Lucien Stephen Crandall of New York, New York received patent number 251,338 on December 20th, 1881 for this type-writing machine patent model design. Crandall described his invention as a “design to furnish a typewriting machine of simple and cheaper construction and with a greater range of type, combining upper and lower case letters, figures, and punctuation marks, and working them all with one set of keys merely.” The design had two interesting elements, the first being what Crandall called a “type-sleeve,” which allowed the printing of both lower-case and capital letters. The type-sleeve was covered with raised characters that wrapped around the sleeve arranged so that the most frequently used letters are in the center of the row requiring less shifting of the sleeve. The capital letters and numerals were not activated by a shift key, but rather a laterally-oscillating key-lever (the gold switch on the upper left of the model) that moved the type-sleeve. You would move the switch one way to activate the numerals and punctuation, and the other way to activate the capital letters. The keyboard for Crandall’s machine was arranged in a non-QWERTY fashion.
label: Description
content: Lucien S. Crandall held several other patents for typewriters and typewriter improvements. The Crandall Machine Company of Groton, New York was founded in 1879 to produce Crandall’s machine. The first Crandall typewriter was manufactured in 1881, which was said to look very similar to the patent model displayed in object ME*251217. The New Model Crandall was marketed in 1885, and has the reputation of being one of the most beautiful early typewriters ever produced with inlaid mother of pearl in the casing, decorative flower motifs, and its elegant black keyboard (notably two rows and non-QWERTY). Crandall produced two more models, the Universal No. 3 in 1893, and the Improved Crandall in 1895. The company ceased operation by 1899.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: associated place
content: United States: New York, New York City
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanisms
label: See more items in
content: Typewriters
label: See more items in
content: Computers & Business Machines
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: ME.251217
label: catalog number
content: 251217
label: accession number
content: 48865
label: patent number
content: 251338
objectType: label: Object Name
content: patent model, typewriter
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
label: Other Terms
content: patent model, typewriter; typewriter; Manual
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal; iron (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 in x 10 in x 9 in; 10.16 cm x 25.4 cm x 22.86 cm