POCKET TYPEWRITER Nº1 YEAR 1897

Impressive Pocket Nº1 typewriter, manufactured in 1897 by the Pocket Typewriter Co, in Bradford, England.

The design of this ingenious mechanism is due to Arthur Ernest Wynn and Henry Dobson. Manufactured by John Waugh at the Swan Arcade in Bradford, England, and marketed in France by Bonnet & Cie, in Paris. Wynn and Dobson patented their small machine in England, Belgium and France at the end of 1897. It was possibly the first pocket typewriter produced, this miniature barely measures 10x7 cm and weighs 125 grams.

As you can see in the photos, it is so small that it fits in the palm of your hand. It really was a pocket machine, hence its name "Pocket", where you could store it without problem and take it with you anywhere. It was made of metal with a white porcelain plate where tabs with the characters, numbers and signs were placed around it. It is very easy to use, you insert a stack of paper and mark the characters you want to print. The ink is obtained from a small sponge that rubs against the characters when they are to be printed on the paper. Character selection is done with the knob located in the center. The dial is completely decorated with text, where we can read all this text: "The miniature Pocket Typewriter", Bonnet & Cie, Paris, Machine a Écrire, Polyglotte". It refers to the name of the machine, which although it was manufactured in England It was marketed in France by Bonnet & Cie in Paris because it is truly a polyglot machine, since it could be used by people with different languages.

This machine that we sell is the Pocket Nº1, but there is another copy marked as Pocket Nº2, which is the same but does not contain as many signs as the first model. The machine is in good condition and appears to work, although we have not tested it with paper. On the back we see a small repair made a long time ago to a tab that touches the sprocket (see detail photos).

 

Age: 1897

Condition: Good

Reference: 12765