The Typewriter in Wisconsin

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The Typewriter in Wisconsin: The first typewriter was assembled in the shop of Charles Kleinsteuberin in Milwaukee in 1867 and was patented in 1868 by the inventor Christopher Latham Sholes (1819-1890

"The Typewriter in Wisconsin"

Scientific American, n.s., 17:3 (July 6, 1867)

AN ARTICLE IN THE Scientific American gave the Milwaukee enterprise its start. The editors of this periodical, one of whom, A. E. Beach, was himself the inventor of a writing machine, made it their policy to stimulate all kinds of mechanical invention in the United States. In their issue for July 6, 1867, they published an account of a " type writing machine " which an Alabaman by the name of John Pratt had recently exhibited in England. This device carried all its types on a movable " solid electrotype plate." In front of this plate a vertical framework held a piece of paper and a " carbonized sheet," and a " minute hammer " striking the paper from behind knocked it against the carbon and one of the types to make the impression. After describing this machine of Pratt's, the Scientific American went on to say: "The subject of type writing is one of the interesting aspects of the near future." Writing was about to be revolutionized." the laborious and unsatisfactory performance of the pen must sooner or later become obsolete for general purposes," and the "weary process of learning penmanship in schools " must be " reduced to the acquirement of writing one's own signature and playing on the literary piano above described, or rather on its improved successors." These words came to the attention of C. Latham Sholes, and he got an inspiration from them.3

3Scientific American, n.s., 17:3 (July 6, 1867). For Sholes's own reference to this
article, see ibid., 27:77 (Aug. 10, 1872).

A. E. Beach　
Alabaman by the name of John Pratt

nuisance of type-bar collisions

Densmore was turning out machines one by one, not mass-producing them, and so he was able to incorporate changes in design as he went along. On some machines he put a treadle (a dubious "improvement") so that an operator could throw back the carriage by pressing his foot. To lessen the nuisance of type-bar collisions, which were frequent, largely because of the alphabetical order of the keys, he adopted a new arrangement that he and Sholes had worked out. This revision fixed, once and for all, the basic pattern for the present standard or " universal" keyboard.26

26 Sholes to "Walter J. Barron, June 9, 1872, facsimile in Reiley, Story of the Typewriter, 51; Sholes to Barron, Oct. 5, 1872; Densmore to Barron, Nov. 8, 1872; Densmore to Lavantia Douglass, Sept. 9, 1884; Quaife, Roby's Story, 67-69; Frederic Heath, " The Typewriter in Wisconsin," Wisconsin Magazine of History, 27:263ff (March, 1944).

The Original Typewriter Enterprise,1867-1873

The Original Typewriter Enterprise,1867-1873　Richard N. Current

AN ARTICLE IN THE Scientific American gave the Milwaukee
enterprise its start. The editors of this periodical, one of whom,
A. E. Beach, was himself the inventor of a writing machine, made
it their policy to stimulate all kinds of mechanical invention in
the United States. In their issue for July 6, 1867, they published
an account of a " type writing machine " which an Alabaman by
the name of John Pratt had recently exhibited in England. This
device carried all its types on a movable " solid electrotype plate."
In front of this plate a vertical framework held a piece of paper
and a " carbonized sheet," and a " minute hammer " striking the
paper from behind knocked it against the carbon and one of the
types to make the impression. After describing this machine of
Pratt's, the Scientific American went on to say: "The subject
of type writing is one of the interesting aspects of the near future."
Writing was about to be revolutionized―" the laborious and unsatisfactory
performance of the pen must sooner or later become
obsolete for general purposes," and the "weary process of learning
penmanship in schools " must be " reduced to the acquirement
of writing one's own signature and playing on the literary piano
above described, or rather on its improved successors."

"The Original Typewriter Enterprise",1867-1873
"The Original Typewriter Enterprise,1867-1873"

typewriter aligning sholes

typewriter aligning sholes

Product Design and Cost Considerations:Clock, Watch, and Typewriter Manufacturing in the 19th Century
Donald Hoke

Typewriter Design
The mosti mportantp erformancec riterionf or typewritersw as" perfect alignment,t"h e degreet o whicht he lowere dgeso f the lettersl ine up when typed. Typewriterm anufacturerrse alized that their extremelyc omplex productr equireda djustmento accomplish"p erfecta lignment,"a nd they designeda djustabilitiyn to their machines.
The designi ngenuityin the Remingtont ypewriteri s evidenti n the typebarh anger,w hichw ass ecuredw ith a machines crew. Anotherc lever design aspect of the typebar hanger was its reversibility. The same hanger suspendeadl l the typebarsb, ut, to providec learancefo r the typebara rms, everyo thehr angewr asin stalleadt 180o fromt heh angeorn e ithesr ideo fi t.
This is not the only Remington typebar adjustment. Another adjustmenwt as the steelw ire connectintgh e typebart o the key lever. This adjustmenat ssuredt hat the keyso n the keyboardc ouldb e adjustedt o the same height without affecting the typebars themselves. The Remingtons advertisedth eir earliestm achinest,h e Sholes& Glidden,a s beinga djustable by the user.

If anyt ypes houldg et a trifle out of alignmenta, gentlep ressure against he innere nd of the type-baro, ne wayo r the other, as may be needed, will put all right again. If a type should get radicallyo ut of place,i t canb e adjustedb y looseningth e screw of its hanger-bearingb,u t thiss houldn ot be attemptedt ill one is fully familiar with the machine.

The Remingtondse velopesdp eciatlo olst o insuret hep ropera lignment of the type,n otablya specialt ypebara djustingt' ?ure, whichi nsuredt hat whent he typew ash ungi n itsh angere, acht ypew oulds trikea commonp oint.
The typebarr ingw asp lacedi n a frames upportedo n four legs,s imilart o the typewriter'sto p plate. The typebarsh ung as they would when finally assembled.A crosst he back of the f?ure was an adjustableir on bar on whichw as mounteda n indicatinga rm which markst he centerp oint of the typebars.