As Mr. Ted Munk has been vigorously conducting research into the Bennington Typewriter (and the evidence making it seem like it never bloody well existed), I thought I would show the ads for it that I could find. Quite bland, and pretty much discusses within the advertising text how the machine wasn't truly in production yet, awaiting enough stock to be purchased to buy all the necessary equipment. Based on reason, I believe Mr. Munks idea that there were only ever prototypes produced to be most likely.
Yet somehow someone found the Clark Electric which was never heard of, and no-one has a Bennington which actually had a historical trail to follow. The oddity of it all...
The back of the Xcel, Benningtons "Successor". Very odd looking. You can see how the mainspring directly engages the escapement rail. Terrible idea, really.
They all seem to be inducements to invest, don't they?
ReplyDeleteBoy, it sure would be a thrill to run across a Bennington or Xcel. Fingers crossed.
I believe that more than being ads to sell the typewriter, they were indeed mainly to sell the stock. And I'm sure someday soon, one of the prototypes will show up. I mean heck, you came across that odd, never heard of portable made half out of Woodstock parts. Id have given it greater odds of coming across the Bennington than finding that.
DeleteI'm gonna lay odds that Polt digs up a (the?) Bennington #1 and/or #2 within 5 years. The thing's practically in his back yard, if it exists at all. :D
DeleteGreat old ads. I'd love one of the typewriters.
ReplyDeleteNice! But Bennington incorporated in Arizona? We became a state in 1912 - I kind of doubt there was much of a workable manufacturing base economy in the state before 1920 - it was mostly agriculture, ranching and mining before the '40s. I'm curious what date that notice ran, because that would be interesting to see the part of the story between '04-'21 emerge and find that Bennington had gone out west to fleece rubes in the Frontier. :D
ReplyDeleteGonna have to see how far back I can search the local paper archives at the library, I guess. Maybe news from what was essentially still a Territory just didn't make it back east to the industry papers back then. But-- the possibility of a 4th prototype and bankruptcy for Bennington in AZ is quite intriguing. (:
That specific little tidbit comes from December of 1920. Probably one of the only mentions of a typewriter concern this far west, to be honest.
Deletevery interesting.. thanks for the date! I'll have to dig a bit to see what newspapers were publishing back then and see if there's any reports of his activities out West between about 1919 and 1921. This is turning into a fun hunt! :D
DeleteAlso, we can now file for posterity the phrase "back numbers" as an extinct form of the word "extinct" :D
ReplyDeleteIt does appear to pretty much mean that. According to the dictionary, the informal use of "back numbers" refers to a person or thing which is out of date.
DeleteAaargh! Apparently Bennington had also Incorporated in Arizona around June of 1907 too!
ReplyDeletehttps://books.google.com/books?id=XvQ9AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1903&lpg=PA1903&dq=bennington+typewriter+arizona&source=bl&ots=QRNXhu8uOq&sig=IEgxut55zcCMHw8QfnWn9E_R59k&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO9-iqu7DOAhXETSYKHQ6jA5s4ChDoAQgbMAA#v=onepage&q=bennington%20typewriter%20arizona&f=false
Apparently, when they were searching for factory sites in Ohio in '06-'07, the actual company was headquartered here, not in Ohio.
and according to the Arizona Republic, Bennington typewriter also incorporated yet again and issues stock around November, 1905
DeleteI hereby nominate the Bennington Typewriter Company for the Most-Ridiculous-Enterprise-That-Couldnt-Make-Up-Its-Mind-About-Anything award
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