Label Type
Object LabelLabel
Hammond No. 2 Typewriter
1893
The Hammond Typewriter Company
New York, U.S.A.
The Printing Museum Collection*
1983.001.01
James Bartlett Hammond was a teacher, journalist and inventor who is regarded as one of the pioneers of the typewriter. He founded The Hammond Typewriter Company in 1880 and in addition to producing typewriters, the company also manufactured desks designed to be used with a typewriter. The curved keyboard unique to Hammond’s design would eventually be phased out in favor of the standard rectangular keyboard.
Unlike their competitors, the Hammond No. 2 typewriter has an interchangeable type shuttle that allows for the typist to use different typefaces: conventional type, cursive type, non-Roman alphabets, or mathematical symbols. A celluloid strip above the keyboard could have a keyboard chart clipped to it to help typists who were using unfamiliar alphabets or symbols. Another feature making it easier for a typist to see what they had just typed, was a metal tab in front of the anvil that would push down the ribbon.