Blick No. 5.

Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company, Stamford, CT 1893

Blickensderfer typewriters have an unusual claim to fame: they’re extremely portable. Advertisements for the Blick in the late 1800s featured a series of characters:   a commercial traveler who composes correspondence on a train,  a military officer in a tent or on a warship, and a Reuters correspondent typing from the back of a camel.

The Blick portable typewriter weighs in at 6 pounds, and cost around $35 in 1900.  This lightweight typewriter uses a DHIATENSOR keyboard rather than the “universal” QWERTY keyboard layout.  The letters in DHIATENSOR occur in 85% of words, states the Blickensderfer manual.

Now, the only question is: if the ads say it weights 6 pounds, and it’s known as the “Five Pound Secretary,” then how much does the wooden case weigh?

For more information, we recommend AntiqueTypewriters.com or the Online Typewriter Museum. 

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