Before the personal computer, the typewriter may have been the most significant everyday business tool. Sholes invented the layout of the letters on a keyboard, now known as QWERTY, which amazingly is the default for keyboards today. The type-bar system and the universal keyboard were the machine's novelty, but the keys jammed easily.
To solve the jamming problem, another business associate, James Densmore, suggested splitting up keys for letters commonly used together to slow down typing later known as the QWERTY keyboard. This allowed for quicker typing, which soon turned business and offices interested.
In 1867, Christopher Latham Sholes (1819-1890) invented the first true typewriter that printed regular size print. He had been making a machine that printed numbers on book pages. They took that idea and significantly upgraded it.
Five years, dozens of experiments, and two patents later, Sholes produced an improved model similar to modern typewriters. By 1868, Sholes had created the first writing machine that could print faster than handwriting.
In with the new media, out with the old
The typewriter boom
Back to the introduction
“The father of the typewriter.”
Dedicated by the young men and women of American in grateful
memory of one who materially aided in the world’s progress
