Daugherty

First year of production:

1891

Company:

Daugherty , Kittanning, PA , USA

Serial nr:

1361

James “Doc” Daugherty of Pennsylvania makes claim to the title of inventor of the first truly modern visible writing typewriter, which he marketed in 1891. .

With four rows of keys and typebars that swing up to hit the platen on the front, the Daugherty is fundamentally the same as the manual typewriters that are still in use today.

The Daugherty is a very elegant looking machine. The entire keyboard and typebar system can be lifted off the machine and replaced with another type face. (pic 3)

The biggest problem about the Daugherty was the lousy alignment of the type. The typearms were relatively long and tended to swagger on their long way up to the platen.

Also see “Typewriter”, page 106.

Courtesy of: Costa collection