Laptop ad from 1893!

Posted by Cory Doctorow, April 14, 2008 10:16 PM | permalink

IO9's located an 1893 advertisement for a laptop (typewriter)!

Measuring 12 inches long by 6-1/2 inches wide by 2 inches deep, and weighing a mere 3 pounds, the World typewriter was roughly the same size as many of today's laptop computers. Instead of a keyboard, however, the World used a dial; users chose a character with the right hand, then used the left to operate a lever that pressed it into the paper. Yet another lever was used to make spaces between words. Even so, the World typewriter was said to be

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Discussion

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#1 posted by Not a Doktor , April 14, 2008 10:45 PM

I was going to say that's impressive, my laptop is 5 pounds; but then I realized it's a non-standard typing so I guess it's like those little stamping sticker makers or T9 cell phone

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#2 posted by Dirac , April 15, 2008 12:54 AM

This thing is _begging_ for a Steampunk creation.
Have a tiny screen tastefully integrated, with a fold out Fresnel lens like in the movie "Brazil".

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#3 posted by Metlin

, April 15, 2008 7:00 AM

If you must use the exact text from the article, either have the entire text or please ignore hanging sentences that look incomplete without the text following them.

Cheers.

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#4 posted by Enochrewt , April 15, 2008 8:05 AM

@METLIN: This typewriter has reached Enlightenment. It's content to just "be".

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#5 posted by rhowan , April 15, 2008 11:23 AM

The ROM in Toronto has a display on right now of antique typewriters, they're really kind of amazing. They all belong to Martin Howard and you can see some of his collection on his website, including the model from this ad: the World.

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#6 posted by Avram , April 15, 2008 1:39 PM

Check out Thomas Jefferson's PDA!

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#7 posted by buddy66 , April 15, 2008 3:58 PM

The dial typewriter, or versions of it, had a long life—as a toy. I got a painted tin version for one Xmas when I was 7 or 8. It took so goddamn long to write a sentence I decided not to be a novelist, and I wasn't.