The Conservatory's most recent, and most ancient, as regards provenance, acquisition is a Hammond #2, serial number 73654, manufactured in l893. Our example was meticulously restored by Bob Aubert of Riverside, New Jersey, an expert type-writer restorer and accomplished collector of long-standing, well-known to the collecting fraternity. Our Hammond is stored in an elegant case of tiger oak, original to the machine. The design of the Hammond bears out the contention of the Conservatory that the l9th Century remains unmatched in its degree of mechanical ingenuity and inventiveness. One would be hard pressed to point to any convenience of the 21st Century that did not have its basic foundation and core idea discovered in the l9th Century. To the right is a scan of typed copy made with the Conservatory's Hammond on a facsimile of original Hammond Typewriter [sic] Company stationery.
The Hammond contains no typebars and no platen. A turret rotates a semi-circular type-shuttle of hard rubber to position a figure on the shuttle at the printing point. At that point, a hammer strikes the paper from the rear, forcing the paper against an inked ribbon and then the type-shuttle, thus creating an impression on the paper. In this view of the Hammond's turret one can notice holes in the forward edge of the turret. When a key is pressed, a rod rises through a hole stopping the turning shuttle at the appropriate point. A variety of shuttles were available to enable one to type different languages and various mathematical symbols. Shuttles were easily interchangable.
Our example is a three bank, double shifted machine. One shift key allows the typing of capitals while the "Fig" key allows the typing of other figures marked on the key top. The key tops of the Conservatory's Hammond are made of hard rubber. A nitro-cellulose tray above the key board holds cards indicating the position of characters on keys when non-standard or non-English type shuttles are used. The space bar is made of the same material.
The carriage of the Hammond was not pulled by a draw-band. Rather, the carriage rail was toothed and ran over a large drum gear containing a steel spring. In this photograph one can see the large key that put tension on the spring. Returning the carriage caused the drum gear to rotate, winding its spring. This spring and drum gear drove the carriage and the entire mechanism of the type-writer, including the hammer and shuttle. No matter how hard one struck the keys, the blow on the paper was always the same, since finger pressure did not drive the hammer. Hence, pressing a key was just pressing a button to activate the mechanism--a truly ingenious piece of machinery.
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