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Home » Hammond » 1 » 1885 #039
1885 Hammond 1 Serial # 039 1885 Hammond 1 typewriter, Serial # 039 Mark Schrad's 1885 Hammond 1 typewriter. 2025-08-24 From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Mark Schrad: 1885 Hammond 1 Serial # 039 Apologies in advance for the length of the post and the copious number of pictures. But I figured if any machine would be worth chronicling, it would be this one.

This early Hammond appeared on Facebook Marketplace in the Pittsburgh, PA area in mid-August of 2025 (and apparently sat there for quite a while before a friend brought it to my attention). I quickly bought it and made arrangements to drive the five hours each way to McKee's Rocks, PA to pick it up.

The seller was Maree Gallagher and her husband, who had owned the machine since 1985, when they found it in the attic of a previous home that they had purchased from one David Manchester, Jr. at 1001 Tyndall St. in Pittsburgh. According to his 2003 obituary, David Manchester, Jr. joined the Standard Typewriter Co. of Pittsburgh as a repairman in the 1930s, continuing to grow the business into the 1970s. The Standard Typewriter Co.--located at 129 Fifth Ave. in downtown Pittsburgh--was owned by his in-laws, the Peacock family. https://archive.triblive.com/news/typewriter-repairman-keyed-in-to-love-of-music/

Indeed, a 1942 Pittsburgh business registry lists the Secretary, Treasurer and Director of the Standard Typewriter Co. of Pittsburgh as William J. Peacock (b. 1879), whose residence is listed as 1001 Tyndall Street, which is the house where the Hammond was found left in the attic.

The fact that its history is intimately entwined with a family of typewriter techs who owned the foremost typewriter shop in Pittsburgh goes far in helping to explain the most curious inconsistency with this Hammond: that the serial number stamped twice on the machine (039) is mismatched with the number on the wooden base and lid of the machine (930). That the base and lid were mismatched at the shop seems like the leading theory, though others suggest that the serial number 039 may have been an mis-strike. The mis-strike theory seems unlikely as the number was struck twice--once under the ribbon spool and another time on the lower frame--by two different stamps (as one can see that the "3" sits noticeably higher than the 0 and 9 on the stamp on the frame, whereas the stamp under the ribbon spool is straight across. So it seems unlikely that the exact same "mistake" was made twice on the same machine... though it would be helpful to find another three-digit serial number Hammond to compare the strike against.

Occam's Razor suggests that the machine is indeed serial number 039--as it says, twice--and the wooden case/base are number 930 as they say, twice.

Also: while cleaning and servicing the machine, I noted that the machine was not actually attached to the base at all: there were no carriage bolts securing it. So I obviously was not the first one to ever lift it from its base. Moreover, when working on the machine, it was noteworthy that the machine did not sit flush in the case: the carriage would rub against the wood on the right side of the frame, because the left side sat higher. And the reason that the left side was higher is that there was rubber compressed into one of the foot-holes on the left side that did not match that of the remnants of what was on machine 039. This appears to me to be some evidence of a different, previous machine in the case--the missing 930. (After grinding down the remnants of the rubber in that hole, 039 now sits flush and works well, as it should. The carriage bolts remain missing, along with the type shield and wooden typebar cover, which I'm working on replacing.)

At any rate, I am tickled to finally have a Hammond 1--with double-gothic split-shuttle, no less--to add to my collection, and it was my honor to bring it back to functional condition.

The advertisement shown in a number of the pictures is also original, and I had clipped from the January 1888 volume of Lippincottā€™s Magazine just earlier this summer.

1885 Hammond 1 #039

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Mark Schrad (MLSchrad)
Created: 08-24-2025 at 04:44PM
Last Edit: 08-24-2025 at 04:50PM

Description Hunter 121 Photos 1 Like  Find on Ebay #AD  Find on Etsy #AD

Description:

Apologies in advance for the length of the post and the copious number of pictures. But I figured if any machine would be worth chronicling, it would be this one.

This early Hammond appeared on Facebook Marketplace in the Pittsburgh, PA area in mid-August of 2025 (and apparently sat there for quite a while before a friend brought it to my attention). I quickly bought it and made arrangements to drive the five hours each way to McKee's Rocks, PA to pick it up.

The seller was Maree Gallagher and her husband, who had owned the machine since 1985, when they found it in the attic of a previous home that they had purchased from one David Manchester, Jr. at 1001 Tyndall St. in Pittsburgh. According to his 2003 obituary, David Manchester, Jr. joined the Standard Typewriter Co. of Pittsburgh as a repairman in the 1930s, continuing to grow the business into the 1970s. The Standard Typewriter Co.--located at 129 Fifth Ave. in downtown Pittsburgh--was owned by his in-laws, the Peacock family. https://archive.triblive.com/news/typewriter-repairman-keyed-in-to-love-of-music/

Indeed, a 1942 Pittsburgh business registry lists the Secretary, Treasurer and Director of the Standard Typewriter Co. of Pittsburgh as William J. Peacock (b. 1879), whose residence is listed as 1001 Tyndall Street, which is the house where the Hammond was found left in the attic.

The fact that its history is intimately entwined with a family of typewriter techs who owned the foremost typewriter shop in Pittsburgh goes far in helping to explain the most curious inconsistency with this Hammond: that the serial number stamped twice on the machine (039) is mismatched with the number on the wooden base and lid of the machine (930). That the base and lid were mismatched at the shop seems like the leading theory, though others suggest that the serial number 039 may have been an mis-strike. The mis-strike theory seems unlikely as the number was struck twice--once under the ribbon spool and another time on the lower frame--by two different stamps (as one can see that the "3" sits noticeably higher than the 0 and 9 on the stamp on the frame, whereas the stamp under the ribbon spool is straight across. So it seems unlikely that the exact same "mistake" was made twice on the same machine... though it would be helpful to find another three-digit serial number Hammond to compare the strike against.

Occam's Razor suggests that the machine is indeed serial number 039--as it says, twice--and the wooden case/base are number 930 as they say, twice.

Also: while cleaning and servicing the machine, I noted that the machine was not actually attached to the base at all: there were no carriage bolts securing it. So I obviously was not the first one to ever lift it from its base. Moreover, when working on the machine, it was noteworthy that the machine did not sit flush in the case: the carriage would rub against the wood on the right side of the frame, because the left side sat higher. And the reason that the left side was higher is that there was rubber compressed into one of the foot-holes on the left side that did not match that of the remnants of what was on machine 039. This appears to me to be some evidence of a different, previous machine in the case--the missing 930. (After grinding down the remnants of the rubber in that hole, 039 now sits flush and works well, as it should. The carriage bolts remain missing, along with the type shield and wooden typebar cover, which I'm working on replacing.)

At any rate, I am tickled to finally have a Hammond 1--with double-gothic split-shuttle, no less--to add to my collection, and it was my honor to bring it back to functional condition.

The advertisement shown in a number of the pictures is also original, and I had clipped from the January 1888 volume of Lippincottā€™s Magazine just earlier this summer.

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Hunter: Mark Schrad (MLSchrad)

Mark Schrad's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]

Status: Typewriter Hunter
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Professor of Political Science and Director of Russian Area Studies at Villanova University. Writes about alcohol politics, Russia, and international law when not refurbishing old typewriters.


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