I recently acquired a Braille Hammond in which I hoped to solve a mystery. Hammond produced a braille shuttle, ostensibly to print raised dots, but were those dots raised on the front of the paper, or the back when typed in the machine? My theory is that it prints those dots on the back of […]

The beginning of the Hammond focused on two primary elements: iron and wood. The Pterotype, a precursor to the Hammond, was said to be made of “spanish mahogany, with parts made from brass, steel, and iron.” These were the materials of the day and we see that in the early Hammond’s. Until around 1916, Hammond’s […]

Did some quick measurements the other day. The Hammond vulcanized rubber shuttles are .2 grams lighter than the metal Varityper shuttles. There’s also a slight height difference, with some modest trimming on the metal spine. Collectively these changes make it difficult to use a Varityper shuttle in a Hammond. But there is hope… In order […]

The Hammond Typewriter Company would have done well to have a blog. I sometimes wonder what it was like to work in that factory, to be the head of marketing, the secretary, or just the kid that shines shoes out front. The best I can get are photos of the factory, sales offices, etc. Like […]