Today in History—June 23: Introducing the First Typewriter

Tchik tchik tchik. Ding! SHOOOK.

For generations, writers composed to the beat of this distinct percussive rhythm, and it all began on this day in 1868, when Christopher Latham Sholes, Samuel W. Soulé, and Carlos Glidden were granted a patent for the first typewriter.

Sholes, a printer and newspaper editor, was a bit of a tinkerer. After developing a page-numbering device with fellow inventor Soulé, the mechanic Glidden encouraged Sholes to adapt the idea to put letters on the page.

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The concept was revolutionary. It was faster than writing by hand and less cumbersome than composing using a printing press. Sholes figured out how to make it work: Users pressed keys connected to metal typebars. Each bar struck an inked ribbon and left a crisp impression on paper wrapped around a rotating cylinder (called a platen). The carriage then shifted, allowing the typebar to strike the next letter space.

The first model had a few quirks. The typebars struck upward, so users couldn’t see what they were writing. It typed only capital letters and had no key for the number “1” (users had to use “L”). The original layout was alphabetical, which caused jams as typists gained speed. To fix this, Sholes rearranged the keys, strategically spacing out commonly used letters. This layout became known by its first six letters: QWERTY.

By 1868 the inventors had a prototype and a patent. But manufacturing it at scale would require thousands of precision parts with consistent quality.

Enter the gunsmiths.

After a decline in sales following the end of the Civil War, firearm manufacturer E. Remington and Sons was looking to diversify. Remington’s expertise in precision machinery was a perfect fit for the intricate components of the typewriter. In 1873 it licensed Sholes’s patent, and production began on the Remington Model 1 typewriter.

Within a few years, the typewriter had become an indispensable office tool and a fixture in the literary world. Devotees included Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, and Jack Kerouac. It also gave rise to a new profession: the typist, helping open the door for women to enter the workforce.

More than 150 years later the influence of the typewriter is obvious. Technology might have moved on, but there are still those who remain enamored with these elegant machines (including yours truly).

Famous Birthdays

1879: Huda Sharawi—Founder of the women’s movement in Egypt

1940: Wilma Rudolph—American sprinter

1948: Clarence Thomas—Associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

1972: Zinedine Zidane—French football (soccer) player