The Hammond Typewriter Company

Analyzing the Hammond company’s financial records and reports for 1880 – 1900 is a fascinating look into a small, niche company growing. These documents have yielded dozens of names of company employees, stock holders, and directors which are fantastic leads to follow up some day. What caught my eye on this adventure was the company […]

What better gift than to give someone a Hammond typewriter? James B. Hammond gave machines to many people and institutions, but only one survives. King Alfonso XIII James Hammond gifted an ornate gold Hammond Multiplex to the King of Spain, Alfonso XIII. Mundo Gráfico magazine (June 3, 1914) described it as “made of gold, specially […]

Hammond models 2 and 12 are sometimes indistinguishable from one another. The Hammond No. 2 is a rare machine, not many were made, but the subtle differences between the 2 and the 12 confuse many. Hopefully this will help clear things up. This is a Hammond No. 2 This is NOT a No. 2. What’s […]

Welcome to the Hammond Typewriter Company, maker of the finest type writing machine in the world, for all nations and tongues. Our factory and main offices are located between 69th and 70th Streets, along the beautiful East River of Manhattan. Join us on a tour of our factory.

The Anvil is a fundamental part of almost every Hammond ever made. Over the course of one hundred years the anvil can become seized inside the machine. Unfortunately they often look like this… Removing the Anvil This is one of the most dangerous repairs of a Hammond because you will need to apply pressure and […]

I have added a page on common issues and repairs. This will be updated as time permits. The Hammond company produced a repair manual for their sales offices. While the original is extremely rare, The AntikeyChop sells a really nice reproduction which can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/155276281985

I am cleaning and mostly restoring a Hammond multiplex that will be on eBay later this summer. For this I am using a wonderful toolset from the Chapman Manufacturing company of Duram, Connecticut. This is not a paid endorsement or anything, I just really love their product. If you’re looking for tools to work on […]

A key feature of the Hammond typewriter is that it strives to provide the same visual impression for each character. It accomplished this through a spring-action mechanism that got its energy from a mainspring, not the fingers of the typist. In modern, non-electric typewriters the impression of the character is dependent upon the physical force […]

John Jonathan Pratt, the first American to invent a typewriter for sale to the public, was absolutely instrumental in the development, sale, and success of the Hammond typewriter. He may be the most overlooked inventor in typewriter history. From his home in Centre, Alabama in 1860 he invented a type writing machine, capitalizing on his […]