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| MOLLE No. 3 (Richard Polt collection) The corporate history behind John Molle's machine appears to be convoluted and protracted in a similar manner to that of the Harris. No fewer than four different corporations were formed to build this machine, a variant of which was patented originally in 1908 (filed in 1904) but apparently didn't appear on the market until about 1918. Three of these entities were titled "Molle Typewriter Company" and were incorporated successively in Langlade, Marathon and Kewaunee Counites in Wisconsin. The fourth, the Molle Typewriter Corporation, was incorporated in Winnebago County (which is where the factory was; this was in the city of Oshkosh.) This venture only appears to have made these odd, three-bank double shift machines until 1922; Molle had died, and the corporation was liquidated. The short-lived Liberty Typewriter Company of Chicago also failed with the design around 1922. Notable for crank-operated type bars, vaguely like the Smith Premier blind-writer. Molle No. 3 at left courtesy Richard Polt; s/n 2590. |
| The MOLLE is one of those machines which had a long, jumpy start and which never really got off the ground. It's fairly well covered in the literature, but we'll show you a few things you won't find anywhere else. |
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| Historical Information. |
| According to "Typewriter Topics" published in 1923, the actual production of the Molle No. 3 ran from about June of 1918 until July 1922, when the manufacturer was declared insolvent. We do have a bit of newer information to add to that contemporary account. It would seem that the longest-lived corporate entity was the Molle Typewriter Company, Oshkosh Wisconsin, and which was incorporated in Wisconsin on September 1, 1918 with a capital value of $500,000. The aforementioned source notes that in February 1921, further capital was required and that the company's stockholders decided to increase the monies available all the way up to $2,500,000. Apparently, though, this had no effect as, as we've already noted, the company had "had it" by July of the next year. |
| At the time of the formation of the Molle Typewriter Company (incorporated Sep. 1918) the president of the company was one L. M. Molle -- absolutely related to John E. Molle, but whether a brother or son we cannot know. What is of interest is that this same L. M. Molle is listed as a witness on another patent, for tabulator stops for (apparently) this machine, on October 15, 1920 and which was granted on December 13, 1921. That patent's inventor is one William Molle, of Oshkosh Wisconsin -- again, certainly related to both other Molle gentlemen but exactly HOW we are not certain. What seems apparent is that a good part of the Molle family was in on the business, and indeed we can see that by 1918 John Molle himself certainly was NOT in charge of the company; L. M. Molle was. |
| John E. Molle's patent -- finally granted in 1913 |