Edison

First year of production:

1892

Company:

A.B. Dick Company , Chicago , USA

Serial nr:

1253

A.B. Dick was the designer of a mimeograph system for which he also invented a special typewriter to produce stencils. Dick is said to have been a friend of Thomas Edison’s, who allowed him to use his name for the system and for this very clumsy typewriter.

The type of the Edison.

The user had to rotate the large disk at the bottom of the machine to bring the right type into position. Pushing one of the big levers on the left pushes the type up against the platen. The other lever is for spacing. .

The machine was a total failure and soon disappeared off the market. Still, three models were produced with different numbers of characters.

Also see the book TYPEWRITER, page 152.

Courtesy of: Costa collection