History of the Typewriter

— 145 — The Blickensderfer. The Blickensderfer typewriters—for there are several of them—are the production of Mr. G. C. Blickensderfer and are made by the Company bearing that name at Stam- ford, Connecticut, in the United States. Two of the earlier models, the No. I and the No. 3 are no longer made, but the No. 5, which is the chief favourite, has been on the English market since 1895 and like the famous play of Pinero, is “ still running.” The No. 7 is a much state- lier instrument and includes a number of little conveniences not found in the earlier and lower priced model. There are also the Electric and Niagara, the latter being a very cheap Index machine. Accounts of these two instruments will be found in later sections of this volume. The No. i Blick was made to sell at $100, and like the Waverley and the Brookes already described had an automatic terminal spacing device, an automatically returning carriage and line spacer. It was fitted with a tabulating device, and an attachment for rapid ruling in red and black and permitted of an easy interchange of platens up to any width made. The No. 3 Blick was lighter and smaller than the No. 1 and although following very similar design did not incor- porate the automatic carriage return nor the ruling device. Its weight was eight pounds, being two pounds less than the No. i. The No. 5 Blick, introduced into this country by Mr. J. M. Rimington of Newcastle-on-Tyne, whose business was in 1904 registered as a limited liability Company under the style of The Blickensderfer Typewriter Co., Ltd. It is upon this model that the fame of the machine mainly rests. It was the first keyboard machine, which was sold at a low price, and notwithstanding the novelty of its principles, and the fact that it was from the first handicapped with a special keyboard, it very quickly established itself as a favourite, especially among private users and travellers. As with practically every other wheel machine the Blick has two shift-keys. The method whereby it works may be gathered from the following extract from a pamphlet written by the author of the present work in 1896 : “ By pressing down a key, say the D key, we notice that an upright arm, having cogged teeth at its side, is slightly revolved. It will be desirable to understand how this 10