First Typewriter using: QWERTY 
1872 1878 1932 2050
*1872
Christopher Latham Sholes set out to develop a machine that could number book pages automatically. The idea was soon extended to the idea of a machine that could print the alphabet. An article in the "Scientific American" sent "Typewriting" jetting into the future. The first typewriter containing QWERTY- the keyboard design still used today, was put on the market in 1874 . The original design excluded the number one since the "l" could be substituted easily and the shift keys(named because the key actually shifted the carriage) because the letters were all uppercase. Sholes' first model typewriter had rows arranged alphabetically. This arrangement proved to be inefficient. The location of the keys and the use of some letters over others caused the machine to jam easily. When Sholes rearranged the letters using QWERTY(top six letters on the left top corner) people accused him of trying to slow typists down to prevent frequent jamming. His goal, however, was to strategically place the letters used frequently at safe distances to keep the typebars from interlocking.
I wonder how long it took Sholes to figure out that the QWERTY setup was an efficient and viable set up for his typewriter. For the last 135 years business people, students, writers, and computer users in general have been using this setup to accomplish their goals. It's hard to fathom where society and computers would be today without the great QWERTY setup. Books, papers, reports, plays, and movie scripts would take forever to write, because authors would be forced to type with two fingers just like inexperienced typists often do. The QWERTY keyboard setup is an all too underrated marvel.
ReplyDeleteTypewriters……I only know of one person who still uses one for certain paperwork and that is my churches secretary! I remember when my mom bought one and it was the coolest thing ever! I wasn’t really old enough to use it properly but I would always play secretary on it! The one we own was the kind that just began to have a memory in it and would store what you typed and then when you were done it would type it all out at once…….so cool! We still have it, but I have no idea if they even sell the ribbon for it. I am sure when the invention of the typewriters with Qwerty came out that it allowed for teachers, office workers and journalist and whoever’s job a lot easier. I can remember the sound it would make when you shifted to the next line. As with everything else, typewriters evolved into computers which offer so much more advancement, but it goes to show how this invention was a technological advancement since this designed is still used today!
ReplyDeleteTypewriters were probably awesome when they first came available because it saved you from having to write out everything by hand. They evolved to electric and then electric with a built-in correction tape so you didn’t have to ‘white-out’ and type over your mistake. Forget about rewriting or re-arranging sentences – you may as well just start over.
ReplyDeleteWord processors are relatives of typewriters in a way. Sort of like Billy and President Jimmy Carter. They’re definitely related and have a resemblance and it’s hard to say a bad thing of substance about either one – but they’re nowhere near each other in what they’ve accomplished.