Blickensderfer typewriter

This is a Blickensderfer model 7, around 1910, with his oak wood case and basement.
This was one the first typewriter to be supplied in traveling bag for portability.

The design is very stylish. It's named after his inventor, George Canfield Blickensderfer. He was a typewriter user, but he used a very big and heavy typewriter. Since he often moved by train, he found these big typewriters difficult to be used on a train.

So he designed a typewriter that was light, easy to carry, and easy to use outside the office. And it was simpler and cheaper than the other typewriters of that period.

The Keyboard is not QWERTY, George Blickensderfer made a careful analysis of the different languages and placed on the first line the more common used letters, for every language.

In this keyboard for Germany the letters are arranged according to the frequency of the German language, so that 70 % of all writing is done with the lower buttons, 24 % with the middle buttons and only 6% with the upper row of buttons.

They said this practical and scientifically arranged keyboard saves the writer 25% of time and work.

It didn't used the typing bars. There was a ball with all the characters.

If you want more information on how it works, there is this video.

Here there is another model of Blickensderfer. the Featherweight (1910). I don't know why, but they always chose complicated names.

Here you can download the manual (in German)