It is now fifty years since the signing of the history-making contract between the owners of the typewriter and the Remingtons, and all but one of the actors in these scenes have long since gone to their rest. It is fortunate, however, that there is one man now living who was present and an active participator in the conferences which resulted in the signing of the contract, and his memory of them is as vivid as though they were the events of yesterday. This man is Henry Harper Benedict, who afterwards became one of the founders of the commercial success of the writing machine.
Mr. Benedict, like others whose names figure prominently in this story, was a native Herkimer County boy. In 1869, after taking a degree at Hamilton College, he accepted a position with E. Remington & Sons, with whom he remained for thirteen years in a confidential capacity, becoming in time a director on the board of the corporation and treasurer of the Remington Sewing Machine Company. The story of the typewriter contract, and the events leading up to it, is thus told in Mr. Benedict’s own words.
“Mr. Philo Remington’s office and mine communicated. One day I saw on the mantelpiece in his office an envelope addressed to him in something that looked like print. I asked him what it was. He said, ‘Read it.’ It proved to be a letter from one James Densmore (unknown to us all) setting forth at considerable length the facts in connection with the invention of a machine to take the place of the pen, that is, to write by manipulation of keys. He told who were the inventors, and said that after many years of effort they had finally produced a working model, and they wanted to find someone to undertake the manufacture of the machine. He wished to bring the model to Ilion to see whether the Remingtons would care to take it up.
“I said to Mr. Remington, ‘Have you done anything about this?’ He said, ‘No, what do you think we had better do?’ ‘Why,’ I said, ‘of course we want to see the machine; it is a wonderful invention if it’s anything, and we should not neglect the opportunity offered us to examine it.’ The result was that the model was brought to Ilion early in 1873 by Mr. James Densmore and another man, whom Mr. Densmore introduced as Mr. Yost. Densmore, as we soon saw, was not much of a talker, and he had brought Yost to serve, as he himself expressed it, as ‘Aaron to his Moses.’ He did well, for Yost was one of the most persuasive talkers I ever listened to, and his tongue never tired.
“Densmore and Yost opened up the model, and exhibited it to us in a room at the Osgood House, then known as Small’s Hotel. There were present at the meeting, Mr. Philo Remington, Mr. Jefferson M. Clough, Superintendent of the Remington Works, Mr. William K. Jenne, Assistant Superintendent, Mr. Densmore, Mr. Yost and myself. We examined and discussed the machine for perhaps an hour and a half or two hours and then adjourned for lunch or dinner. As we left the room, Mr. Remington said to me, ‘What do you think of it?’ I replied, ‘That machine is very crude, but there is an idea there that will revolutionize business.’ Mr. Remington asked, ‘Do you think we ought to take it up?’ I said, ‘We must on no account let it get away. It isn’t necessary to tell these people that we are crazy over the invention, but I’m afraid I am pretty nearly so.’ ”
The party met again later in the day and a tentative agreement was entered into which developed into the contract which opened a new chapter in the story of human progress.
The actual date of this contract was March 1, 1873. The original contract was for manufacture only, but in due course of time the Remingtons acquired complete ownership. Densmore was unsuccessful as selling agent and made little money in this role, but when the ownership passed to the Remingtons, he accepted a royalty, by which he was subsequently enriched. Sholes, either at this time or shortly after, is said to have sold out his royalty rights to Densmore for $12,000, a goodly sum in those days, but the only reward, so far as we know, that he ever received for his priceless invention and the years of labor he had bestowed upon it.
PHILO REMINGTON
Manufacturer of the First Commercial Typewriter