Royal Bar-Lock
No.10
ca.1910
Columbia Typewriter Co.
New York, NY, US
Granted, the shield on a No.10 isn't as ornate as on earlier models, but its Art Nouveau font in raised copper against the glossy black enamel is still very impressive.
Like most of the earlier Bar-Lock models this machine had a seven-row keyboard that typed uppercase and lowercase without a shift element.
Also as with the earlier models, its typbars are set-up in a front-downstrike arrangement. The type is lined-up by the patented typeBAR-LOCKing group of pins in front of the platen.
This was one of the last models to be produced with these very distinctive form and functions. Royal Bar-Locks were meant for overseas markets while Columbia Bar-Locks were for domestic sales. The two are virtually identical.
The Columbia Typewriter Company owned all the patents to the typewriters as well as its UK based subsidiary, the Royal Bar-Lock Typewriter Company, until 1914, at which point the business and patents were sold completely to said UK subsidiary. Within a year the Royal Bar-Lock and the new ownership were working ona a new model to completely replace the outdated design. There would be no more double keyboard, no more downstrike typbera arrangement and definitely no more ornate typebar shields.
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