1891 – 1909

Williams Typewriter Co.

Brooklyn, NY & Newark, NJ & Derby CT

Williams typewriters are stunning pieces of industrial art that salute the design mantra of form following function. They were invented by John Newton Williams (1840 – 1929), whose life was as interesting as were the typewriters named after him. John’s writing machine, with its uniquely peculiar typebar arrangement, was an appeasement for the public’s want for “visible” typewriters. That’s because very early typewriters were blindwriters, which simply meant that typists could not see what they were writing because the typebars struck the platen from underneath. By 1890 there was a collective roar from the public for manufacturers to produce visible typewriters.