- Christopher
Latham-Sholes and the Birth of "Desktop
Publishing"
- "It piles a heap of words on a page"
- - Mark Twain's comments on seeing the first typewriter
-
Inventions, like children, seldom follow the dictates of their parent's expectations. Many times this is a blessing both to the children and to the world in general. Parents and inventors design and plan only to see their prodigy eventually take on a life of their own.
Christopher Latham-Sholes, a Milwaukee printer, had invented, in the 1860's, a device to stamp the subscriber's address into the corners of magazines. Such as it was, it was a good device. It met the limited needs of the inventor and did the limited job for which it was intended. It was later modified to print page numbers on the corners of book pages.
Others were working along the same line to invent type stamping devices. Detroit inventor William Burt, in 1829, invented a wooden "typewriter." Charles Thurber, in 1843 made a machine with a circular type disk that rotated into position to type each letter. Like a child's toy of today, it was nowhere near as fast and showed little advantage over hand-written material. Some looked on it as a way to duplicate a "printed look" at one's desk.
Sholes read a magazine article on another early version of a typewriting machine. He realized that it was little different than his own machine, but used a piano style keyboard to strike the letters. He set about to improve his invention. Using carbon paper, a telegraph key, wire, and glass the first version would type only one letter - W!
This prototype was enough to show investors. A printer-friend, James Densmore invested in the machine and encouraged Sholes to make improvements. Together, they approached manufacturers about mass producing the typewriter. The first company to take a serious interest was E. Remington and Sons, the gun maker.
It was right after the Civil War and the vast military arms market was gone. Remington was looking for something in which to invest their war profits. The company had already come out with a sewing machine. The typewriter seemed to be a logical guns-to-butter move as well, but it was by no means an instant success. In fact, it nearly bankrupt Sholes, Densmore, and Remington.
The first machines had over two thousand parts. The keyboard was laid out in alphabetical order and involved finding the location of each letter with the "Columbus method," & "site and land." Soon, a "touch-typing" system was developed and this introduced a new problem. As the typing speed increased, the keys would jam. The letters were rearranged into the "qwerty" arrangement we have today in order to slow down the typing speed.
Typed letters were considered in poor taste. In a day of elegant penmanship, a person's carefully styled handwriting was a mark of their education, etiquette, and station in life. One created a flourish and distinctive appearance in one's signature. It was believed you could tell a lot about a person's character from their handwriting.
When some businesses used the typewriter for invoicing clients, it was also met with a poor reception. One respondent indignantly wanted to know why it was necessary to send their bill to the printer and have it "set up like a hand bill?"
One supporter of Sholes‚ early typewriter was author-publisher Mark Twain. He saw one in the window of a store, went in, and after a demonstration bought one on the spot. "It piles a heap of words on a page," Twain said. He became the first author to submit a typewritten manuscript to the printer.
It took several years for sales to increase. By 1880, the typewriter was a common and useful piece of office equipment. A shift key was added and it was no longer "ALL CAPS." The typewriter had a distinctive appearance on the page. Unlike printing type, the typeface used had a single width. The capital "W" occupied the same space as a small "i." The force with which one struck the key varied the appearance of the letters from bold to light face.
A bell sounded at the near the end of the line. The operator had to manually reach up and return the carriage to the right. The sound of keys striking paper, little bells ringing, and the zip of carriage returns gave the office with typewriters a distinctive sound. At least one piece of music has been composed incorporating the typewriter sounds.
Other companies began to manufacture typewriters. The basic design was the same. There were additions such as a red and black carbon ribbon that allowed for typing letters in two colors. There was even a mode that didn"t type, but "cut" mimeograph stencils. Foreign language models came out with different letter faces and key arrangements. The Hebrew and Arabic typewriters had carriage returns moving from right to left.
Type styles remained close to the same monoproportional style. "Pica" type was ten letters per linear inch and "elite" was a smaller more elegant twelve letters per inch. Attempts were later made to make proportional spacing machines and interchangeable font styles.
One thing remained constant and that was the keyboard layout. Even today, with high speed digital processing, the speed of original input is dictated by the "qwerty" layout that had been invented to slow down the typing speed.
Who says that parents don't have a lasting influence on their children . . . and their children's children . . . and beyond!
Copyright (C) 1999 by Frank Granger
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