Harris Visible Typewriter No. 4
name: label: maker
content: Harris Typewriter Manufacturing Company
notes: label: Description
content: This Harris Visible Typewriter No. 4 was produced by the Harris Typewriter Manufacturing Company of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, beginning in 1912 until around 1918. DeWitt C. Harris submitted a patent application on April 15, 1912 for improvements to a front-striking visible typewriter. The patent was granted patent number 1,115,311 on October 27, 1914 and mainly concerned the machine’s ease of assembly and repair. The patent described a typewriter with upper and lower actions that can be tested before the machine is fully assembled into the main metal frame of the typewriter. The three-bank keyboard is in the QWERTY layout, with left and right shift keys, shift lock, tabulator, back spacer, and marginal release. It has an 11-inch carriage and writes a line 9-inches long. While this model is Number 4, model numbers one through three never sold at retail and were likely early Harris prototypes. The Harris typewriter attempted to undercut the market, claiming to have all the features of a $100.00 machine, but selling for $39.80.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
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
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Steven Eric Rixse and Cornelia Ann Rixse
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: ME.314854
label: catalog number
content: 314854
label: accession number
content: 211302
objectType: label: Object Name
content: typewriter
label: Other Terms
content: typewriter; Standard; Manual
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 1/4 in x 19 in x 14 in; 20.955 cm x 48.26 cm x 35.56 cm