Brooks Typewriter

In an effort to create a visible writing machine, the Brooks typewriter had its typebars positioned at the rear, behind the platen, and striking downward towards the paper.  This arangement is commonly known as the  backstroke method.  Paper handling on the Brooks was inconvenient,  a sheet of paper was rolled into a holder behind the keyboard where it fed into the platen.  Visibility was limited to only a few lines of type before the paper returned into the paper holder.  Inking was by ribbon.  Some models of the Brooks were sold as the Eclipse, manufactured by the SS White Dental Company of Staten Island, NY and later by the Brady Manufacturing company in Brooklyn, NY.   The Brooks typewriter was short lived and is considered a very rare and desirable typewriter.

The Brooks typewriter was invented by the prolific inventor Byron A. Brooks whose career dates back to the early days of the typewriter industry where he worked on the Sholes and Glidden type-writer.  It was there, while working for the Remington Typewriter Company that he was credited with the design of the shift key that was originally used on the Remington 2 typewriter in 1878 and is still in use on modern keyboards today.   Byron Brooks is also credited with the invention of the Crown Type-Writer, an index design as well as the Travis typewriter, a keyboard design, both using typewheels to print. 

The Brooks typewriter shown in the above photo is serial #1316 and is from my personal collection.