Typebar typewriters were still made up until at least the 1980s for electric typewriters, however, and are still made today for manual typewriters. Finally, typewriters began to use daisy wheel elements which were a flat wheel with the letters radiating out from the center like the petals on a flower. Some other manufacturers began to use similar elements. It was somewhat similar to designs in the 1800s which had a single typing element. This design continued by all major manufacturers until 1961 when the IBM Selectric introduced a typewriter with a rotating typing element that looked like a golf ball with all of the letters and symbols on it. Bars with frequently used letter pairs are widely separated to prevent jams.
The key pattern was designed for relative speed, but also to prevent keys from jamming. QWERTY are the first 6 leters on a standard keyboard. Front stroke meant you could see what was being typed as you typed. (See A Brief History of Typewriters.) A typebar is the slender bar with the letter on the end. The basic front stroke typebar typewriter with the QWERTY keyboard was in place by the 1890s. Typewriters are one of the longest lasting technologies in modern time. Introduction - From Typewriters to Computers Intro | Adler | Blickensderfer | Brother | Caligraph | Canon | Corona | Gourland | Hammond | Hermes | IBM | Oliver | Olivetti | Olympia | Optima | Remington | Rover | Royal | Silver Reed | Singer | Smith Corona | Smith Premier | Triumph | Underwood | Xerox Scroll to browse or click on a specific brand. Within a brand, they are arranged by date. The typewriters are arranged alphbetically by brand. Read on if you wish to read about my experience with computers making typewriters largely obsolete or go directly to viewing the specific typewriters. Looking on eBay and reading books also reveals that some rare typewriters can sell for thousands of dollars. Some of the earlier and more unusual typewriters are valuable, however. I obtain most of them at local garage or estate sales and a couple from thrift stores or eBay. Most of my typewriters were acquired for under $20 each. Therefore, old typewriters are still quite plentiful and hence most of them not very expensive. While many are quite old, a lot of typewriters were sold and they were made to last. They are also very finely crafted and cool machines. Typewriters were quite expensive when new, sometimes exceeding the equivalent cost of a laptop computer today. Martin were on the History Channel television show Modern Marvels episode called "Retro Tech" which originally aired on December 19, 2008. The museum contains at least one typewriter from each decade since the 1880s. The typewriter collection contains over 125 typewrites from 23 manufacturers spanning the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, from at least ten countries (United States, Japan, China, East Germany, West Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, England and the Nethelands). All of the typewriters on this page are owned by me, but are only on public display virtually through this Web site.