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Woodstock "Electrite" Typewriter

National Museum of American History

Object Details

Description
This Woodstock Electrite electric typewriter was manufactured by the Woodstock Typewriter Company of Chicago, Illinois around 1925. The Electrite was advertised as a typewriter that made “all typists experts.” The Electrite’s electric motor powered the strike mechanism and space bar, so that each key hit the paper with the same amount of force every time, resulting in uniform letters. In manual typewriters, a soft touch or mistype could result in printed text that was faint or hard to read.
Like many typewriting companies, the Woodstock Typewriter Company went through several different corporate iterations. The Emerson Typewriter Company of Kittery, Maine began business in 1907, before it was purchased by the Sears, Roebuck, & Company of Chicago in 1910. Sears, Roebuck, & Company opened their typewriting company as the Roebuck Typewriter Company in Woodstock, Illinois, but soon sold their concern to the Woodstock Typewriter Company in 1914. The Woodstock Typewriter Company operated until 1950, when it was bought by R.C. Allen Business Machines.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Esther S. and James C. Henderson
ID Number
1982.0201.03
accession number
1982.0201
catalog number
1982.0201.03
Object Name
typewriter
Measurements
overall: 9 3/4 in x 12 1/2 in x 18 in; 24.765 cm x 31.75 cm x 45.72 cm
See more items in
Work and Industry: Mechanisms
Typewriters
Computers & Business Machines
National Museum of American History
Record ID
nmah_856502
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a6-a9bf-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Related Content

  • 1925: A Year in the Collections

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