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Ad Rates / Articles / Classified Ads / Editorial / Home / Links / Showtime   Collecting antique typewriters   List Martin Howard Next   Early Typewriters Gateway to the Information Age   By Martin Howard The keyboard provides an essential means for one to communicate and is used by more people today than ever before. Keyboards are arguably one of the most important tools in the world, a tool that represents our personal communication in this technological age. The keyboard truly connects the planet. But what did the first keyboards and typewriters look like and how did they evolve?   Typewriters from the 1930s and '40s all look pretty much the same - they "look like a typewriter," with four rows of straight keys, single shift and front strike visible (type-bars hit the front of the roller allowing one can see what they have just typed.) Typewriters have not always looked like this though. Just imagine if you, never having seen a typing machine, were asked to design one. How might it look? In fact, the standard big, black machines you might be familiar with, such as the Underwood and Remington, were the result of many years of mechanical evolution. During these years of discovery, ingenuity and mistakes, over 500 different typing machines were produced to print the written word. Among them were machines with curved keyboards, double keyboards or no keyboards at all!   The first typewriter patent was issued to an English engineer, Henry Mill in 1714. He outlined the concept of the typewriter when he registered a patent for "an artificial machine for impressing letters one after another, as in writing, whereby all writings may be engrossed in paper or parchment, so neat and exact as not to be distinguished from print." However, this machine was never made.   Many experimental typewriters were built and used during the first 75 years of the 19th century but none was produced in quantity. This was about to change though, as the technology for mass production had arrived and the need for fast, accurate business communication was growing. What was needed was a person to bring together all of the successful elements that had been developed so far.   This person was Christopher Sholes, an American printer living in Milwaukee. After a shaky start with a number of experimental, prototype machines, Sholes was advised by his financial backer (Glidden) to have his typewriter produced by E. Remington & Sons. This was wise advice as the Remington factory was well equipped to mass-produce complex machines, having already set up production facilities to manufacture guns and later sewing machines. With the American Civil War over and the need for guns diminished, Remington was eager for new business opportunities and embraced the challenge.   In 1873, 1,000 Sholes & Glidden typewriters came out of the Remington factory. This typewriter was a beautiful object, all black and covered with hand painted floral decorations. A cast iron foot treadle operated the carriage return. The influence of the sewing machine on its design was clear. To see what had been typed, it was necessary to lift up the carriage and look under the roller, as the type-bars struck on the underside. This was the first appearance of the "Qwerty" keyboard. The purpose of this layout was to minimize the type-bars from clashing with each other while typing, by separating the type-bars of letters frequently typed in sequence (t & h) and letters frequently used. Attempts were made to introduce more sensible layouts once typewriter designs had evolved, but it was too late, people had already learned one way and understandably did not want to learn again.   The start was slow for the typewriter, with the next typewriter, the Caligraph, not entering the world stage until 1881. However, during the following 20 years everything changed, as the industrial world realized that the typewriter was indispensable.   There was not one inventor of the typewriter. Far from it. Hundreds of companies and individuals got into the business of designing and building typewriters. The inventors, having to avoid patent infringements and pursuing their own notion of the better typewriter, created many ingenious mechanisms to get the printed word onto paper. There was little if any apparent design progression for these first typewriters.   A great variety of machines were invented, out of which the most efficient combinations of mechanisms were gradually selected. Some mechanisms, too advanced, disappeared until a later time. Each mechanism solved a particular problem, but not always in the best way. There were notable successes and failures! Full keyboard typewriters were very expensive, costing between $60 and $100 (a clerk's wage was $5 a week). With few second-hand machines to be had, a less expensive machine was needed. Thus, the "index machine" was born. This typewriter had no keyboard. Instead, a dial or knob was turned to select the character to be printed. Typing was slow, but the cost was right at $5 to $30 per machine. The index machine was popular for small businesses and home use. Many varieties were produced. As second-hand machines became available and touch-typing was discovered around 1900, the market for index typewriters disappeared. By 1896, many components, combinations and designs had been tried and the winner was emerging. A typewriter with the correct combination of successful components, a typing machine that would usher in the new century, conquer the world and put an end to this period of rich diversity in typewriter history. The Underwood had arrived.   Martin Howard’s early typewriter collection can be seen at antique typewriters.com All photographs courtesy of: the Martin Howard Collection of early typewriters.   Photos   1 - Crandall New Model - 1886. Crandall Machine Company, Croton, N.Y. Lucien Crandall, a prominent typewriter inventor, designed the Crandall New Model. This was the first typewriter to print using a single type element (with no type-bars) - well before IBM's "Golf ball" that appeared in 1961. This typewriter’s Victorian design is lavishly decorated with inlaid mother-of-pearl and hand-painted roses. 2 - Lambert 1 - 1902. Lambert Typewriter Co., New York. Frank Lambert, a French immigrant, spent 17 years developing this extraordinary and novel device. The operator types by pushing down on one of the character buttons, causing the whole round disk to tilt down in that direction.   3 - Bar-Lock 4 - 1892. Columbia Typewriter Co., New York. This typewriter has no shift key, so there is a complete set of keys just for upper case (black keys). The type-bars stand vertically behind the ornate copper shield, swinging down to the top of the roller to type. This typewriter gave visible typing but one had to sit up straight in your chair to see over the ornate shield.   View more antique typewriters from the Martin Howard collection.   The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) presents an intriguing exhibit of 20 antique typewriters from the very beginning of their history, in the 1880s and 1890s. Early Typewriters presents the renowned collection of Torontonian Martin Howard, the largest of its kind in Canada. These fascinating examples of early modern communications technology, along with period photographs, will be seen at the ROM until January 2008. For more information visit rom.on.ca     Return to top of page   This Is Livin' Publishing © 2011 581 8th Line West, RR1 Hastings, ON, K0L 1Y0 Phone/Fax: 705-696-1833   webmaster