Sholes Glidden

First year of production:

1874

Company:

Remington & Sons , Ilion, N.Y. , USA

Serial nr:

n.a.

The Sholes & Glidden was the first typewriter sold in considerable numbers. About 5,000 of them were made between the year of introduction (1874) and 1878 when the Remington 2 appeared. The model on this page is the most famous in the series: the highly decorated earliest model.

This first Sholes & Glidden was mounted on a sewing machine table, with a treadle to operate the carriage return. After all, the Remington factory produced sewing machines. The treadle was dropped after a short while, but the sewing machine table stayed. Other typewriter producers later on also built these tables with the simple wooden top and the cast iron legs, such as Oliver and Caligraph. (The table shown in picture 1 is not the original for the early Sholes & Glidden typewriter. The original table had two cross bars at the bottom.)

Not only did the first Sholes & Gliddens have a sewing machine table, they also had elaborate sewing machine decorations on them. Consciously or unconsciously Remington seemed to aim for a market of women. The illustrations on this page show details of these elaborate floral decorations and miniature paintings.

For more information on this machine, see the entry for the Sholes Glidden (Perfected) and the history section.

(pict 1: Darryl Rehr - pict 2-6: Hermann Kerz)

Courtesy of: n.a.