1909 Blickensderfer 5 #141148
Status: My Collection
Hunter: Erik Bruchez (ebruchez)
Created: 06-18-2018 at 09:11PM
Last Edit: 04-01-2024 at 08:10PM
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Description:
This is a really nice machine and my most expensive one so far. I found it at an estate sale, based on a picture I saw online. I rushed to the sale to be early enough to be able to snatch it! I just paid the price, which it turns out wasn't bad at all.
It is fairly rare in its aluminum version. It appears that less than 7,000 aluminum Blickensderfers were ever produced, based on available serial numbers (earliest known #137564, latest known #143976). But it seems, according to Jos Legrand, that maybe only 1,700 aluminum ones were made.
It is the first of my machines to get "new rubber": the platen and feed roller are brand new, but not the feet yet, although I made makeshift feet with Sugru.
This project is almost complete, but there is one last part which is not necessarily easy: one of the "arms" on the carriage needs to be bent back so that the feed roller is positioned correctly. For this, I will need to heat up the part and try to bend it a little bit.
The top of the case also still needs a bit of work. But the bottom part of the case is looking good enough for display.
I didn't have much interest in the Blickensderfers until I acquired this one, but I have to say that they are very interesting machines. They were among the first truly portable machines, and full of innovations, including:
- the type wheel instead of typebars (no alignment problems!)
- the DHIATENSOR "scientific" keyboard, a precursor to DVORAK
- there is no main spring like in most machines
- there is no ribbon, instead there is an ink roller
- the machine has way fewer parts than most machines of the time
- 2024-03: cleaned the bottom case hardware more
Typeface Specimen:
Links:
Photos:
Hunter: Erik Bruchez (ebruchez)
Erik Bruchez's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]
Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 10734
I started collecting my first pre-WW2 standard typewriters in 2017. Since then I have added a few machines to my collection, which now ranges from the 1890s to the 1980s. As of 2020, I have more big standard (desktop) typewriters than portables, and a few standard electrics.
RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Blickensderfer 5 on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Blickensderfer Serial Number page and the Blickensderfer 5 By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.
