Visible Writing as a concept is generally thought to have begun with the Daugherty typewriter which first appeared in the early 1890's, although it took several more years for any measurable volume of machines constructed with this design concept to be manufactured.  The Underwood of just a short time later had assured its place in the typewriter pantheon by the year 1900, as had the Oliver -- both of which were dissimilar from machines produced prior, and from each other, but offered visible writing.

This website will display and examine some of the early machines of the 'visible' era in a way which we hope will allow the reader to find new interest in this often ignored subset of typewriters.
For ease of identification in our study, it is appropriate to group the machines by the manner and intent of the original designs, and by the advertisiing generated for the machines themselves at the time.
Pacesetters of the industry include the well-known UNDERWOOD, the well-financed MONARCH and its deliberate direct competitior the L. C. SMITH.
Unconventional machines include the very successful OLIVER and the totally unsuccessful EMERSON
Conventional machines with a design edge include the VICTOR and the RELIANCE VISIBLE
Machines continuing the upstrike heritage include the REMINGTON, the YOST and the FOX.
This website covers more machines than those described above.  Use the timeline links section below to find articles and coverage on particular makes.  Links above are NOT the same as links below for given brands; above gives overview relative to category.
1893          Daugherty Visible.
1895          Underwood. /  Oliver.
1898          Pittsburg Visible.
1901          Sun Standard No. 2.
1904          Monarch Visible. /  L. C. Smith & Bros.
1905          Secor. /  Stearns Visible.
1906          Fox Visible. / Royal.
1907          Emerson No. 3.   /  Victor Standard.
1908          Remington No. 10.   /  Smith Premier No. 10.   /  Yost No. 15.
1910          Visigraph.
1912          Harris Visible No. 4
1913          Moyer
1914          Woodstock Standard.  / Royal No. 10.
1915          Reliance Visible.
1916          Blick-Bar
1918          Molle No. 3.
Use the button at left to see some very early Visible machines from Europe, courtesy The European Typewriter Project.
VISIBLE TYPEWRITERS project officially opened August 16, 2006.    Many people have contributed to this project, with photos, advertisements, information or other assistance.  The photos and advertisements are all individually credited.  Other credits appear in the individual sections as applicable.  To all who have helped and who continue to help, THANK YOU!     
Note:  The HARRIS VISIBLE link above also leads to a great deal of information about the Rex Visible, the Demountable and the National and Portex portables.  The WOODSTOCK link also leads to a full gallery of that brand and the successor R.C. Allen machines.
VISIBLE TYPEWRITER ADVERTISING GALLERY (courtesy Peter Weil)