The stunning Bar-Lock 4 is distinguished by its prominent Baroque-style pressed copper shield, positioned in front of the vertical typebars.
Invented by typewriter pioneer Charles Spiro, who apprenticed in his father’s New York watchmaking shop, the Bar-Lock followed his earlier work designing the Columbia index typewriter, of which Models 1 and 2 are featured in this collection.
On the Bar-Lock, the typebars swing downward to strike the top of the platen, allowing the typist to see the words as they are typed, assuming they can see over the copper shield. (See the period illustration below for a depiction of a typist’s sightline.)
Just before striking the platen, the typebars pass through a small semicircular arrangement of metal pins intended to ensure alignment. Although these pins are said to reduce typebar clashes, they appear to have little effect in that regard. Nonetheless, this mechanism lends the typewriter its name by referring to the alignment pins as a “bar lock” for the typebars.
This typewriter originally sold for $100.
“The Advantages of Visible Writing – Writing in Sight – in other words simply means knowing what you are doing and being able to do it expeditiously.”
“Using the Columbia Bar-Lock is like using smokeless powder – you can see what you are doing.”
