On February 12, 1892, the Princetonian published this notice: “Mr. Barton Cruikshank has resigned the instructorship in Graphics to become superintendent of the Hammond Typewriter Co. Mr. F. C. Torrey, of the Electrical School, will succeed him for the remainder of the year.” Cruikshank had only just accepted the position of assistant professor the previous fall, teaching a “course of graphics” at the John C. Green School of Science, Princeton College.
The Hammond typewriter was still a fairly new machine, having been introduced in 1884 at the New Orleans Centennial Exposition. It differed from the Remington typewriter in its round, rotating type shuttle. To change fonts or languages, the owner purchased separate shuttles and switched between them as needed. The Hammond Company slogan was: “For every nation, for every tongue.”
Princeton’s Hammond is a variation on the Hammond No.1. The Hammond No. 2 was introduced in 1895 and No. 3 in 1896. The machines sold well into the 1920s, when the name was changed to the Varityper and continued for another fifty years.
See also: Darren Sean Wershler-Henry, The Iron Whim: a Fragmented History of Typewriting (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007). Firestone Library (F) Z49.A1 W47 2007
Wilfred A. Beeching, Century of the Typewriter (London: Heinemann, 1974). Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Z49.A1 B43 1974
Hammond typewriter, 1880s. Museum objects collection.
