Note: The predecessor of this 1889 Remington Standard #2 was the “Sholes and Glidden Type-writer” introduced in 1874 (later known as the Remington Model #1). The innovative Sholes & Glidden was produced by the Remington company in a largely unsuccessful effort to expand its market beyond shotguns, rifles and sewing machines. The Remington Standard No. 2, is considered the first commercially successful typewriter and it introduced a number of interesting features. As with the earlier Sholes and Glidden type-writer, the Remington Standard #2 was also an upstrike machine, meaning that the type levers swing up from below the platen to strike the ribbon and paper on the bottom of the platen. The typist had to lift the carriage upward, using the long curved lever on the right side of the carriage hanging down over the keyboard to view what had been typed.
Among the interesting features of this typewriter is that the carriage shift mechanism does not move the carriage up and down to type upper and lower case letters. Instead, the shift key moves the carriage horizontally back and forth, front to back, to produce either upper or lower case letters.
A wooden paper roller, tensioned by gravity and rubber bands, advances the paper onto the platen. The decal on the metal paper table behind the platen includes instructions for daily maintenance, reading: “Keep the machine free from rust. Clean all of the top rods – especially the shifting rod — with a greasy cloth Every day."
Another interesting decal on the paper table includes the first use of what would become Remington’s famous slogan: “TO SAVE TIME IS TO LENGTHEN LIFE.”
Patent dates stamped on the wooden space bar can be read with a magnifying glass. The dates include 1868, 1871, 1876 and 1877.
Although this typewriter is called the model #2, there was no Remington Standard model #1. This machine, the model #2, was introduced in 1878 offering upper and lower case characters although upper case only models were also available. It seemed that Remington executives at the time were not yet convinced that upper and lower case models would be commercially viable, believing that 10 uppercase only models would be sold for every upper and lower case version of the machine. (Source: Antique Typewriters, author: Michael Adler, PG. 176.) You can also search for “Sholes and Glidden typewriter” at Wikipedia for additional information. _______________ The Remington Standard #2 uses a 4-row, Qwerty, upstrike mechanism. Overall condition: Fair Year: 1889 Serial No.: 38620 Type language: English Manufactured by Standard Typewriter Mfg. Co., Ilion, New York for Wyckoff, Seamans and Benedict
