The Conqueror numbering machine

This is one of my favorite typewriter "go-withs," another lifeform from the Papyrozoic era. People do still manufacture and use numbering machines (the most famous is the Bates), but they are hardly a 21st-century type of device. I believe I got The "Conqueror" at a yard sale back when I lived in Chicago in the 1980s. I've never had much occasion to use it, but I admire its clever mechanical design and thought fellow typewriter lovers might enjoy seeing it.

Here are the two patents from Oct. 27, 1891, by Willard W. Sawyer, referenced on the device.

I could not find the other patent, from September 29, 1910, unless it's this British patent.

My machine bears the serial number 305883, so hundreds of thousands of Conquerors were made and sold over decades by Wm. A. Force & Co., but references to this numbering machine online are few and far between. Here's an ad in Geyer’s Stationer, November, 1922.

The Conqueror certainly resembles the Bates and other numbering machines. In fact, the Bates Co. sued Wm. A. Force in 1906, but evidently did not succeed in putting the company out of business.

Those who want to learn more about numbering machines can visit this page.