Recent Acquisition
Manufacturer: Edward Horton
Date: ca. 1887-1890
Source: Purchase
Artefact #: 2009.0001

The Horton typewriter was the first visible-typing machine of the type-bar design. This was one of the most important developments in the history of typewriters. Front-strike, visible-typing machines dominated typewriter design in the 20th century until the introduction of word processors and computers rendered the typewriter obsolete. The machine was devised and patented by a Canadian inventor Edward Elijah Horton in 1883. Horton was a journalist with the Toronto Globe and a stenographer in the provincial Court of Appeal in Toronto. The artifact acquired by the Museum is a later improved model patented by Horton in 1887. Horton typewriters are extremely rare with only 5 or 6 known to exist. This is the only one in Canada and all other examples are now in private collections.