Brooks Typewriter

1895
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.
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