Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: keyboards

Printed on the back of this postcard: "For over twenty years there has been no change in the method of cleaning type and platens on typewriters, rubber stamps, duplicators, etc. Here at last is the most modern way, the easy way, the last word in efficient ways to clean type, recondition platens, and at the same time free sticky keys or gummed parts."

For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard:

A giant Underwood typewriter on a horse-drawn parade float, date and location unknown. Mouse over the image above to see a close-up view of the typewriter . . Could this be the same giant Underwood typewriter that was displayed at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, which was held in San Francisco, California, in 1915 (see postcard below)?

"The 14-Ton Giant Underwood Master, operating daily at the New York World's Fair, 1939. Underwood Elliott Fisher Company. Underwood, Elliott-Fisher, Sundstrand, Speed the World's Business, One Park Avenue, New York." As this linen postcard suggests, a huge Underwood typewriter attracted visitors at the New York World's Fair in 1939. For some amazing photographs of the oversized machine, see The Giant Underwood Master Typewriter , a posting on the History By Zim blog. Underwood Elliott-Fisher (originally the Underwood Typewriter Company ) also displayed a giant typewriter at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915 (see postcard image below). Printed on the back of this postcard: The Giant Underwood Master Typewriter The Largest in the World Operates daily at the Underwood Elliott Fisher Exhibit in the Business Systems and Insurance Building at the New York World's Fair. This huge machine, weighing 14 tons, is 1,728 times larger than the regular Underwood Master. It required 3 years to build. Each typebar weighs 45 pounds and the carriage alone weighs 3,500 pounds. Letters are typed on "stationery" measuring 9 by 12 feet, and the ribbon in the machine is 100 feet long and five inches wide. Two box cars were required to transport the Giant to the World's Fair.

The Underwood Typewriter Company operated an enormous typewriter that was designed to impress fair-goers at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition , which was "a world's fair held in San Francisco, in the United States, between February 20 and December 4 in 1915." The company later exhibited another giant typewriter at the New York World's Fair in 1939 (see postcard image below). Text from the front of this postcard: The $100,000.00 Typewriter An exact reproduction of "The Machine You Will Eventually [Buy]." Westward ho! Over the Rockies we go! On our way to the Golden Gate, we will see deserts, prairies, cowboys, ranches, mountains, canyons, and the wonders of the West! The Orient, the Occident, the South Seas, the Arctic--all the world will be there. Meet us in the Palace of Liberal Arts, Court of the Universe, San Francisco. An Underwood Typewriter 1,728 times larger than the Standard Underwood. Weight 14 tons - 28,000 lbs. Dimensions in action 21 feet wide by 15 feet high. Writing daily at the Underwood Exhibit, Palace of Liberal Arts, Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, California, 1915.

A colorful touch typing chart on heavy cardboard with an attached easel on back that allows you to place it upright on your desk while you learn to type with your new 1959 Remington portable typewriter. Remington Color-Key Touch Typing Chart Here is exactly the same type of keyboard chart found in typing classes in leading schools and colleges throughout the country. Use this chart with the Touch Typing Instruction Booklet packed with your Remington Portable. This approved typing course is the fastest, easiest-to-lean of any because it relies on simple visual methods. You will actually be typing sentences after just a few hours of practice.

A machinery photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Although this real photo postcard shows what looks like a complicated Rube Goldberg contraption , it actually appears to be some sort of elaborate one-man music machine. The postcard dealer who sold this to me described the scene simply as a "pipe organ player at keyboard," but upon closer inspection I was able to identify a number of other musical instruments--a guitar, string bass, and bell, for instance--among the pulleys, belts, tubes, and pipes (mouse over the image to see my tentative identifications of some of the instruments). Although this unique machine seems to be related to the fairground organ , orchestrion , or some other type of mechanical musical instrument , I haven't been able to uncover any specific information about it or the man playing it. Has anyone else ever seen anything like it? Update: See The Mighty Nelsonian (One-Man Music Machine Mystery Solved) .