1874 Sholes & Glidden Type Writer #581

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Kyle Oelofse (SaladKing)
Created: 03-08-2025 at 09:10PM
Last Edit: 03-08-2025 at 10:55PM

Description Hunter 18 Photos 3 Likes  Find on Ebay #AD  Find on Etsy #AD

Description:

Obtained through a series of coincidences I wouldn't have believed if I didn't experience them myself.

This S&G is the early "flywheel" model. When bought new it would have come with the special foot-treadle table, which is long gone. Its original decals survive mostly intact.

Unfortunately it suffered some catastrophic impact at some point in its life that caused tremendous structural damage. It's rear left foot is broken off and lost, all four mounting ears for the top deck were broken, and its front typebar guard presumably broke and was lost. To make matters worse, at some point someone attempted to braze the broken left side mounts back together. This seemed to have worked, but it left giant braze boogers behind and ruined the paint near the brazed areas. Some interior parts of the machine appear to have been repainted matte black, and the connecting rods between the keylevers and typebars look very unoriginal. Multiple removable carriage pieces (all feed rollers, paper tray) are also missing. Several keylevers near the right side are snapped (with some lost), and both levers for the spacebar are snapped (and show evidence of failed attempts to repair them). And lastly, its entire front panel and keylever hatch are lost.

In short, this S&G was severely abused and requires extensive repairs and fabrication of new parts. Fortunately it's so old that most of those parts can likely be made in a sufficiently-equipped home workshop. The flywheel will pose a challenge.

This machine is in a serial black hole, with 1874 production supposedly ending at serial 550, but 1875 production starting at serial 1850, leaving 1300 machines unaccounted for.

Typeface Specimen:

Photos:

Front left corner.

What I believe is a ribbon directional lock pokes out of this side.

This foot broke off, and one of the booger brazes is visible where the wall meets the top deck.

This is the best-preserved exterior decal.

Back right corner.

Showing the housing where the flywheel should be.

Front right corner.

Believed to be original, and somehow most are still clear.

An ornate interpretation of the US flag.

Some chips in places, but this one kept its colors well.

This one is faded, either from sun or scrubbing.

I'm almost positive none of these linkages are original.

Judging from the spindle's corrosion, the flywheel's been lost a long time.

Showing visible deformity.

Showing its shockingly thin cast iron structure.

A lot of seemingly unecessary material on the two side "shelves".

Marks it as an early machine. I din;t think the wood is supposed to be painted black though.

Tall and imperious even in its advanced age.

Hunter: Kyle Oelofse (SaladKing)

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Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 422

I inherited two Royal KMMs as a kid. Over a decade later I started actively collecting and repairing in 2015 shortly after discovering the existence of "weird" typewriters like the Blickensderfer and Hammond, and finding a destroyed Super Sterling to experiment on.