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entered into a contract with
Smathers for the production of electric typewriters. Northeast was interested in finding new markets for their electric motors and developed Smathers' design so that it could be marketed to typewriter manufacturers, and from 1925 Remington Electric typewriters were
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Smathers realized during the course of his employment that there was a great need for some method of increasing the speed and decreasing the operator fatigue of typing, and it seemed obvious to him that electric power was the answer. By late 1912 he had produced a working model of his electric
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He continued developing his idea until in
September 1914 he produced a perfected model that performed perfectly. In 1920 he obtained an extension of his early patent because of the delay caused in his work by his military service in Europe during
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After some 2,500 electric typewriters had been produced, Northeast asked
Remington for a firm contract for the next batch. However, Remington was engaged in merger talks which would eventually result in the creation of
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division purchased
Northeast Electric, and the typewriter business was spun off as the Electromatic Typewriters, Inc., and in 1933 Electromatic was acquired by IBM and the typewriter sold as the
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and no executives were willing to commit to a firm order. Northeast instead decided to enter the typewriter business for itself, and in 1929 produced the first
Electromatic Typewriter.
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206:. He was survived by his wife, Mildred Eloise Gill Smathers, and a son, Frank Gill Smathers and daughter, Shirlianne Smathers Phelps.
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115:(February 12, 1888 – August 7, 1967) was an American inventor who created what is considered the first practical power-operated
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131:, the son of James Jefferson and Harriet Olenzo Smathers. After attending the local one-room country school he entered
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staff in 1938 as a consultant and worked in development engineering at
Poughkeepsie until his retirement in 1953.
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In 1966 the Alumni
Association of Texas Christian University recognized Smathers as a "distinguished alumnus."
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and typing for a year, and in 1908 became typist, accountant, and credit manager to a company in
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typewriter and applied for a patent, which was issued the following year.
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awarded him
Smathers a Fellowship for the invention of a mechanism for
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223:"for ingenuity in the invention of the electric typewriter."
295:"James Smathers Dies: He Invented the Electric Typewriter"
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135:in 1904. He finished business school, taught
257:"Patent no. 1,077,005, Type-Writing Machine"
736:The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
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163:In 1923 the Northeast Electric Company of
88:First practical electric typewriter (1920)
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168:produced powered by Northeast's motors.
255:Smathers, James F. (October 28, 1913).
787:Burials at Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery
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228:Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences
219:of Pennsylvania awarded Smathers the
282:. Texas State Historical Association
276:"SMATHERS, JAMES FIELDS (1888-1967)"
198:Smathers died on August 7, 1967, in
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303:. August 10, 1967. Archived from
127:Smathers was born on a farm near
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792:20th-century American inventors
772:People from Llano County, Texas
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1:
465:Sholes and Glidden typewriter
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16:American inventor (1888-1967)
419:Underwood Typewriter Company
280:The Handbook of Texas Online
97:Mildred Eloise Gill Smathers
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715:Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
704:Boston Typewriter Orchestra
384:Imperial Typewriter Company
204:Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery
78:Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery
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133:Texas Christian University
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440:Blickensderfer typewriter
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389:Oliver Typewriter Company
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721:Repetitive strain injury
399:Royal Typewriter Company
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191:. Smathers joined IBM's
676:Speech-to-text reporter
491:Lucien Stephen Crandall
369:Commodore International
221:Edward Longstreth Medal
200:Poughkeepsie, New York
66:Poughkeepsie, New York
541:Lyman Cornelius Smith
536:James Fields Smathers
511:Rasmus Malling-Hansen
374:E. Remington and Sons
274:Knox, Betty Donovan.
141:Kansas City, Missouri
113:James Fields Smathers
23:James Fields Smathers
731:Speed typing contest
307:on November 17, 2007
232:proportional spacing
202:, and was buried in
129:Valley Spring, Texas
521:John Jonathon Pratt
455:Hansen Writing Ball
445:Data Recall Diamond
165:Rochester, New York
44:Llano County, Texas
531:Christopher Sholes
470:Olivetti Valentine
450:Hammond Typewriter
217:Franklin Institute
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640:Typewriter eraser
484:Prominent figures
300:Kansas City Times
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666:Data entry clerk
620:Correction fluid
526:Clarence Seamans
496:Frank Haven Hall
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85:Known for
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62:(aged 79)
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39:March 12, 1888
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48:United States
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741:Touch typing
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695:Cultural and
681:Stenographer
661:Audio typist
615:Carbon paper
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414:Smith Corona
409:Silver Seiko
309:. Retrieved
305:the original
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284:. Retrieved
279:
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226:In 1945 the
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60:(1967-08-07)
777:Typewriters
767:1967 deaths
762:1888 births
686:Typesetting
656:Copy typist
649:Occupations
608:Accessories
475:Hermes 3000
350:Typewriters
158:World War I
756:Categories
630:Ink ribbon
565:Components
516:Henry Mill
311:2008-07-15
286:2008-07-15
268:References
123:Early life
117:typewriter
35:1888-03-12
671:Secretary
193:Rochester
137:shorthand
726:Samizdat
394:Olivetti
179:In 1928
103:Children
364:Brother
259:. USPO.
599:Platen
592:QWERTZ
587:QWERTY
582:Dvorak
577:AZERTY
433:Models
210:Awards
147:Career
93:Spouse
424:Xerox
404:Sharp
242:Notes
185:Delco
215:The
55:Died
29:Born
379:IBM
758::
297:.
278:.
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119:.
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33:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.