The Empire (1895)

Empire Model 1
 
First year of production:  1892
 
Company:  Williams Manufacturing Company , Montreal , Canada
 
Serial No. 75503
 
The Empire, aka the Wellington, was the first in line of a highly successfull range of thrust-action typewriters based on the original design by Wellington Parker Kidder.
 
The machine was introduced in the US (Wellington) and Canada (Empire).
 
The picture above shows how the type in the machine is spread out in a fan shape with the type facing forward. On pressing a key, the type bar slides forward and hits the platen. It is a relatively simple but highly efficient process that would survive for many decades.
 
The Empire brand expanded and the machine was changed and improved. The machine was also built under Canadian licence by the Heinrich Meyer company in Germany, originally under the Empire brand, but soon after minor changes were made and the machine was marketed in Germany as the Adler 7.