The elegant and early Sun typewriter predates the 1889 patent of the Odell typewriter, which would successfully adopt its innovative design of a sliding selector positioned at right angles to the carriage.
This example is the first version of the Sun Index typewriter, distinguished by the absence of a carriage shift lever (spacing is achieved by lifting a simple rod), the inclusion of two ink rollers instead of one, and a platen covered with finely stitched kid leather. Additionally, the characters that print on the paper are made of metal, whereas later versions replaced this component with hardened rubber.
The Sun types only in capitals and sold for $12.
Here is a description of the Sun from its patent papers, “The object of our invention is to provide an inexpensive and yet complete type-writer of but very few parts, not liable to get out of order, requiring for its operation as few movements as in the case of expensive machines now in use, and which will admit of printing a sheet of paper of any length without the necessity of coiling or folding the same.”
“It is a Perfect Machine, and worth its weight (7 pounds, packed) in gold, both for ease of manipulation and excellence of work.”
