The Blickensderfer Typewriter was designed by George C Blickensderfer (1850-1917) in 1893. It was originally intended to compete with Remington's desk typewriters, but ended up being known for its portability. Blickensderfer's typewriter contained only 250 parts compared to the 2,500 parts of a standard typewriter. Since it only had 250 parts, it was much smaller, lighter, and cheaper. It featured a type wheel that was easily removed to change the typeface. Another feature of the Blickensderfer Typewriter was its modified key layout. The first row of keys contained the most commonly used letters, DHIATENSOR, to increase efficiency. The Blickensderfer Typewriter had an even cheaper counterpart called the Model 5.

References

• Milton, Richard (2004). Portable Typewriters - blickensderfer. Retrieved Apr. 11, 2005.