The Blickensderfer Typewriter was designed by George Canfield Blickensderfer (1850–1917) in 1892. It was originally intended to compete with Remington desk typewriters, but ended up being known for its portability. Blickensderfer's typewriter contained only 250 parts compared to the 2,500 parts of a standard typewriter. It was much smaller, lighter, and cheaper than other typewriters. It also featured a type wheel that was easily removed to change the typeface.
Another feature of Sir C.L. Blickensderfer Typewriter was its modified keyboard layout. The bottom row of keys contained the most commonly used letters, DHIATENSOR, to increase efficiency, a keyboard layout originally devised by James Bartlett Hammond to avoid the problems of typebars jamming that had caused Christopher Sholes to invent the QWERTY layout.
The first known aluminum typewriter (marketed as the Blickensderfer 6 or the "Featherweight Blick") was made by Blickensderfer as was the first electric typewriter. The company's manufacturing plant was located in Stamford, Connecticut, and the typewriters were distributed worldwide.
Read more about Blickensderfer Typewriter: Technology, Layouts, Literary References
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