Compact, effective, and affordable at $40, the Blickensderfer 5 became the first portable keyboard typewriter and went on to achieve great success. It was affectionately nicknamed the “five-pound secretary.”
Unlike conventional typewriters, the Blickensderfer has no typebars. Instead, it uses a cylindrical type element (shown below), which is interchangeable and allows for a variety of font styles. A small felt roller, attached to a spring-loaded arm beneath the type element, provides the inking.
Typing on the Blickensderfer requires a staccato strike on the keys to ensure the complex mechanism delivers enough force for proper imprinting.
This example, with its beautiful and prominent nameplate, was sold by the Creelman Brothers of Georgetown, Ontario, Canada, among the first shops to offer typewriters in Canada. However, their main product line consisted of hand-operated knitting machines.
Shown below are the cover, illustrated advertisement, and back page from the very rare Creelman Brothers manual (circa 1894). The cover depicts the earliest form of the Blickensderfer 5, featuring the stencilled nameplate. (Courtesy of the Brian Wilson Collection.)
A letter from the Creelman Brothers dated 1895 (seen below) features the Blickensderfer 5 and the curved keyboard Williams 1 in the upper corners. The letter itself discusses their knitting machines, but the Creelman Brothers also sold other typewriters, including the Caligraph 2, Yost 1, and Underwood 1.
“The Blickensderfer Typewriter excels in all classes of work, and is the “one thing” desirable for gentlemen of literary or scientific pursuits.”
“Educate your children to be self-supporting. In addition to any vocation you may intend them to follow. To know Typewriting is to earn a living.”
