U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for April 12: Portable Typewriter

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

PORTABLE TYPEWRITER

Profile America — Tuesday, April 12th. On this date in 1892, the first U.S. patent for a truly portable typewriter was issued to George C. Blickensderfer of Stamford, Connecticut. His "type writing machine" featured a revolving type-wheel, a precursor to the type-ball of 1970s typewriters. The wheel reduced the number of moving parts from 2,500 to 250, improving reliability and reducing the weight by one-fourth. The Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company eventually became one of the world's largest typewriter manufacturers in a crowded field. In 1900, U.S. manufacturers shipped 145,000 typewriters. 1967 was the peak year with nearly 2 million produced. Today, what's left of typewriter manufacturing has all moved overseas, with the world leader located in India. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 2387
Blickensderfer machine/accessed 2/2/2016: http://connecticuthistory.org/the-portable-typewriting-machine-today-in-history/ 
Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times 1970, p. 694, 695
Typewriters today/accessed 2/2/2016: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-7/Typewriter.html 

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu). 

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

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