And so it came to pass that on June 23, 1868, the U.S. Patent Office in the Department of Commerce issued a patent to Messrs. “Sholes, Glidden & Soule” for a “Type-Writer.”
From the U.S. National Archives Administration: Dated June 23, 1868, this is the printed patent drawing for a “Type-Writer” invented by Christopher L. Sholes, Carlos Glidden, and J. W. Soule. Drawing for a Typewriter, 06/23/1868 Drawing for a Typewriter, 06/23/1868 (ARC Identifier: 595503); Patented Case Files, 1836 – 1956; Records of the Patent and Trademark Office; Record Group 241; National Archives.
With a keyboard a lot like a piano, this 1868 invention looks a lot more like the typewriters we know and love than William Burt’s 1829 “typographer.”
Amazing how much this stuff has changed in 150 years, isn’t it?
Tip of the old scrub brush to Jude Crook:
More:
- Sholes Receives Patent for the Type-Writer, 1868 (historyherstoryblog.wordpress.com)
- Typewriter Tale(s) (lisamontanino.wordpress.com)
- Typewriter of the moment: Alice Denham, circa 1956 (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
- The Story Behind the QWERTY Keyboard (blogs.smithsonianmag.com)
- Ode to the typewriter harks back to the days of slow (teleread.com)
- Vintage Photos of Literary Icons on Their Typewriters (confessionsofaboytoy.wordpress.com)
Five years after this patent, Mr. Sholes offered this machine for sale, in 1873. Museum, Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society (the history society founded by former President Millard Fillmore, incidentally) Wikipedia photo
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
[…] Some wags designated June 23 as Typewriter Day — the anniversary of the date the typewriter was first patented by Christopher Sholes. (And you know, I did have a post on that event, last year.) […]
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