1889 Remington Standard #2

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The Remington Standard #2 uses a 4-row, Qwerty, upstrike (sometimes called “upstroke”) mechanism. It is considered the first commercially successful typewriter, following the introduction of , was called the Remington No. 2 but it was actually manufactured by The Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict Company.

While the earliest recorded efforts to develop a machine for writing date back to the early 1700’s in England, it wasn’t until 1865 that a practical writing machine was developed by Christopher Latham Sholes, a printer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Printing only capital letters and numbers, the machine’s purpose was to print page numbers in books, serial numbers on tickets and other items.

Recognizing the practical demand for the writing machine, Sholes enlisted other partners, including Carlos Glidden. They obtained a patent for the device in 1869 and introduced the “Sholes and Glidden Type Writer” in 1874. Early sales were disappointing. An improved version, “The Perfected Typewriter No. 2,” was introduced in 1878 featuring both upper and lower case letters. Still, it would be several more years before a viable market would develop.

In 1881 G.W.N. Yost developed the all-capitals Caligraph No. 1, manufactured by the American Writing Machine Company, quickly followed in the same year by the Caligraph No. 2

Meanwhile, E. Remington and Sons of Ilion, New York, maker of sewing machines and its related Remington Arms Company signed a contract to use their manufacturing capability to produce type writing machines,

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Overall condition: Fair
Year: 1989
Serial No.: 38620
Type language: English
Manufactured in: United States, Remington Typewriter Company, Ilion, New York