Birthday of a typewriter. History.

A typewriter - once this thing was the property of those who are called people of intellectual professions: scientists, writers, journalists. A booming knocking on the keys was heard in the reception rooms of high officials, where a charming typist-secretary sat at a table next to a typewriter ...

Now other times and typewriters are almost gone, they were replaced by personal computers that kept only a keyboard from a typewriter. But maybe if there was not a typewriter there would not be a computer?

Old typewriter of the early twentieth century

Legends and historical sources tell us that the first typewriter was developed already three hundred years ago in 1714 by Henry Mill, and he even received a patent for an invention from the most English queen. But here are just images of this machine is not preserved.

A real, acting machine, first introduced the world to an Italian named Terry Pellegrino in 1808. His writing apparatus was made for his blind girlfriend, the Countess Carolina Fantoni de Fivisono, who was able to communicate with the world so much by typing in correspondence with her friends and family.

Old typewriters with an "unusual" keyboard layout

The idea of ​​creating an ideal and comfortable typewriter captured the minds of inventors and over time various modifications of this writing device began to appear in the world.

In 1863, the ancestor of all modern printing presses finally appeared: Americans Christopher Sholes (Christopher Sholes) and Samuel Soule (former printer) - first invented a device for numbering pages in the books of account, and then, therefore, the principle created an efficient machine, Printing word.

The patent for the invention was received in 1868. The first version of their typewriter had two rows of keys with numbers and alphabetic arrangement of letters from A to Z (there were no lowercase letters, only uppercase letters, as there were no digits 1 and 0 - instead of them letters I and O were used), but this variant was inconvenient . Why?

There is a legend according to which, with a rapid successive click on the letters next to each other, the hammers with letters were stuck, forcing to stop the work and to rake the mash with their hands. Then Scholes came up with a QWERTY keyboard - a keyboard that made typists work more slowly.

According to another legend, Brother Scholes analyzed the compatibility of letters in English and proposed a variant in which the most common letters are spaced as far as possible, which avoids sticking during printing.

Printed typewriters with the already familiar layout of the keyboard

Advertising card of printing machines of firm "Monarch"

Different types of machines over a period of time gradually became more practical for daily use. There were cars with a different arrangement of keyboards, but ... The classic Underwood Typewriter, which appeared in 1895, managed to achieve dominance in the early 20th century, and most manufacturers began to make their typewriters in the same style.

The working principle of one of the modifications of typewriters Williams Typewriter demonstration

Old postcard - girl with typewriter

Printing machines for special purposes: stenographic, accounting, for writing formulas, for the blind and others.

There was even an alternative - typewriters without ... a keyboard. These are the so-called index typewriters: one hand works with a pointer that selects the desired letter in the index, and the other hand presses the lever to print the letter on the paper.

Such cars were very cheap in comparison with the usual ones and were in demand among housewives, travelers, amateurs-graphomaniacs and even children.

Index typewriters

The operating principle of the index typewriter The Mignon Index Typewriter is 1905

So we now have on the computer everything that was invented before us for centuries ... Typewriters have become an antique value and can be fully perceived as works of art.

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