European Typewriters / Great Britain / BAR-LOCK / Gallery by Tilman Elster
The Bar-Lock and relatives are so familiar to most because of their unique profile and decor that they hardly need identification.  The machine was designed by Charles Spiro, and was manufactured in the United States by the Columbia Typewriter Manufacturing Company.  (Spiro later designed the Visigraph and the Federal.)  The machine was first advertised 1888-1889.  Eventually, production was established in England, which developed into the situation wherein, in 1914, the business was sold entirely to the British subsidiary, known as Barlock Typewriter Company.  The First World War intervened, but production resumed following.  Front strike designs were prepared beginning in 1915, and were finally perfected in 1921.  By 1925, this company too was in dire straits, and with heavy investment by Sir John Jardine, was reorganized as Bar-Lock (1925) Ltd.   Production stopped again for the Second World War, again resumed, and again the company was in trouble.  In 1953, further investment led to the company becoming Byron Business Machines, which stopped production two years later.  Byron attempted to design a totally new machine, which met with great trouble; finally, in 1958, Byron sold its entire office machine business to the Oliver Typewriter Manufacturing Company.
BAR-LOCK 1B    s/n 7116   (approx. 1893)
BAR-LOCK No. 4    s/n 11149
BAR-LOCK No. 6    s/n 20546
BAR-LOCK No. 7   s/n 20079  (approx. 1896)
COLUMBIA BAR-LOCK No. 8  s/n 45008   (approx. 1910)
ROYAL BAR-LOCK No. 10    s/n 48485
ROYAL BAR-LOCK No. 12    s/n 123611  (approx. 1907)
ROYAL BAR-LOCK No. 14    s/n 199487  (approx. 1910)
COLUMBIA    s/n 2191   (approx. 1904)

This variant of the Columbia employed a single keyboard with shift key, and is often seen labeled as "Columbia Standard."  This machine simply says "COLUMBIA" on the type bar shield, and behind the top row of keys, "Columbia Typewriter Mfg. Co."
Barlock Typewriter Company, Nottingham, England first began to produce front-strike standard machines in 1921 with its Bar-Lock No. 16.
Machines sold in England carried the "Royal Bar-Lock" name.  The No. 12 and No. 14 have type bars / shields angled out to help the typist observe the writing.
BAR-LOCK No. 16    s/n 336135  (1925)
BAR-LOCK No. 18    s/n 348070  (1929 or 1930)
BAR-LOCK No. 19 SUPER    s/n 383602  (1938)
BAR-LOCK MODEL 22    s/n 803313   (1949)
BAR-LOCK PORTABLE    s/n 2687   (1938)

In 1938, Barlock (1925) Ltd. attempted to launch production of a new, competitive four-bank portable typewriter.  This was to either supplement or replace its three-bank double-shift Bar-Let portable which had been in production since 1930 but which was wholly uncompetitive by this time.  Only about 6000 of these four-bank Bar-Lock Portables were built before war intervened, and for some reason production was not restarted following.  These are quite rare machines today.