Mechanical desktop typewriters, such as this Underwood Five, were long time standards of government agencies, newsrooms, and sales offices. They have been largely replaced by IBM Selectrics and newer electronic models. Models like this are occasionally still seen in urban sales offices that use paper invoices.

This Smith Premier typewriter, purchased around the end of the 19th century, was found abandoned in the Bodie ghost town. This early example had separate keys for upper- and lower-case letters.

A typewriter is a mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic device with a set of "keys" that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a document, usually paper. Image File history File links Underwoodfive. ... Image File history File links Underwoodfive. ... The Underwood typewriter was the forerunner of the modern typewriter. ... Download high resolution version (1024x768, 136 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1024x768, 136 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Smith Corona is a US company who manufactures typewriters. ... Bodie, California, from cemetery Bodie, California, is a ghost town on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States, about 75 miles (120 km) southeast of Lake Tahoe. ... Wind turbines A machine is any mechanical or organic device that transmits or modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance of tasks. ... In engineering, electromechanics combines electromagnetism and mechanics. ... The field of electronics comprises the study and use of systems that operate by controlling the flow of electrons (or other charge carriers) in devices such as thermionic valves (vacuum tubes) and semiconductors. ... A document contains information. ... Piece of A4 paper Paper is a thin material produced by the amalgamation of plant fibres, which are subsequently held together without extra binder, largely by hydrogen bonds and to a large degree by fiber entanglement. ...

In the late 19th and the start of the 20th century a person who operated such a device was sometimes also called a typewriter but it then became more common to call the person a typist.

For much of the 20th Century, typewriters were indispensable tools in business offices and for many (if not most) professional writers. By the 1980s, however, word processor applications on personal computers largely overtook the tasks previously done with typewriters. However, typewriters are still popular in the developing world, and among some niche markets. A word processor (also more formally known as a document preparation system) is a computer application used for the production (including composition, editing, formatting, and possibly printing) of any sort of viewable or printed material. ... A niche market is a focused, targetable portion of a market sector. ...

As of 2006, the following companies manufacture typewriters and accessories: Smith-Corona, Olivetti, Adler-Royal, Olympia, Brother, and Nakajima. Olivetti is the only western company to currently manufacture manual typewriters. All other current models are electronic. Smith Corona is a US company who manufactures typewriters. ... Olivetti Lettera 22, 1950 Ing. ... The Royal Typewriter Company was a leading manufacturer of typewriters along with Underwood and Remington. ... Brother Industries, Ltd. ...

History

Early Innovations

Types in a 1920's typewriter

No one person can be said to have invented the typewriter. Like the light bulb, automobile, telephone and the telegraph, a number of people contributed insights and inventions which eventually resulted in commercially successful instruments. In 1714 Henry Mill obtained a patent in Britain for a machine that from the patent sounds similar to a typewriter, but nothing further is known.^[1] Other early developers of writing machines include Pellegrino Turri (1808) who also invented carbon paper. Many of these earliest machines, including Turri's, were developed to allow the blind to write. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2689x1998, 1143 KB) Summary types in a 1920s typewriter Author: Mohylek 16:38, 12 September 2006 (UTC) Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Typewriter Metadata... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2689x1998, 1143 KB) Summary types in a 1920s typewriter Author: Mohylek 16:38, 12 September 2006 (UTC) Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Typewriter Metadata... The light bulb is one of the most significant inventions in the history of the human race, illuminating the darkness of the evening and bringing light indoors at all times in order focus on the task at hand. ... Karl Benzs Velo model (1894) - entered into the first automobile race An automobile (or motor car) is a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor. ... Look up Telephone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Optical Telegraf of Claude Chappe on the Litermont near Nalbach, Germany Telegraph and telegram redirect here. ... Henry Mill patented the first typewriter in 1714. ... A sheet of carbon paper, coating side down. ...

An index typewriter with a circular keyboard is one of many designs of early typewriters which did not become widely adopted.

In 1829 William Austin Burt patented a machine called the "Typographer." Like many of these other early machines, it is sometimes listed as the "first typewriter"; the Science Museum (London) describes it merely as "the first writing mechanism whose invention was documented," but even that claim may be excessive since Turri's machine is well known.^[2] Even in the hands of its inventor it was slower than handwriting. Burt and his promoter John D. Sheldon never found a buyer for the patent, and it was never commercially produced. Because it used a dial to select the character instead of having an individual key for each character, it was an "index typewriter" rather than a "keyboard typewriter", if it is to be considered a typewriter at all. From 1829 to 1870, many printing or typing machines were patented by inventors in Europe and America, but none went into commercial production. Charles Thurber developed multiple patents; his first in 1843 was developed as an aid to the blind. See Charles Thurber's 1845 Chirographer, as an example. Image File history File linksMetadata Index_typewriter. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Index_typewriter. ... William Austin Burt (1792—August 18, 1858) was an inventor, legislator, surveyor, and millwright. ... The National Science Museum in London The Science Museum on Exhibition Road, Kensington, London, is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry. ... 1845 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1855 the Italian Giuseppe Ravizza created a prototype typewriter called " Cembalo scrivano o macchina da scrivere a tasti". It was an advanced machine which let the user see the writing as it was typed.

Fr. Azevedo's typewriter

Father Francisco João de Azevedo, a Brazilian priest, made his own typewriter in 1861 with poor materials, such as wood and knives. D. Pedro I, the Brazilian emperor, on that very year, presented a gold medal to Father Azevedo for this invention. Many Brazilian people as well as Brazilian federal government recognize Fr. Azevedo as the real inventor of the typewriter, which has been the subject of controversy.^[3] Image File history File links Download high resolution version (568x880, 165 KB) Summary Fr. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (568x880, 165 KB) Summary Fr. ... Pedro I of Brazil (pron. ...

The Austrian Peter Mitterhofer created a typewriter in 1864 but it was never produced commercially. Mitterhofer continued to improve his original model and created 5 different enhanced typewriters until 1868.

The Hansen Writing Ball - invented in 1865. This model is from 1870

In 1865 Rev. Rasmus Malling-Hansen of Denmark invented the Hansen Writing Ball which went into commercial production in 1870 and was the first commercially sold typewriter. It was a success in Europe and was reported being used in offices in London as late as 1909.^[4] Additionally, Hansen used a solenoid escapement to return the carriage on some of his models, and was responsible for the first "electric" typewriter. From the book Hvem er Skrivekuglens Opfinder?, written by Malling-Hansen's daughter Johanne Agerskov, we know that Malling-Hansen in 1865 made a porselain-model of the keyboard of his writing ball, and made experiments with different placements of Image File history File links Skrivekugle_1870. ... Image File history File links Skrivekugle_1870. ... Rasmus Malling-Hansen - 1877 Rasmus Malling-Hansen - 1887 The first model of the writing ball, patented in 1870 The writing ball - model from 1874 The best known model of the writing ball - this one is from 1878 An old picture of Malling-Hansens tombstone in Garnisons churchyard in Copenhagen. ... The Hansen Writing Ball is one of the most finely crafted and impressive of the early typewriters. ... Various solenoid actuators from Trombetta Motion Technologies A solenoid is a loop of wire, often wrapped around a metallic core, which produces a magnetic field when an electrical current is passed through it. ...

Writing ball - model from 1878

the letters - in order to achieve the fastest writing speed. Malling-Hansen placed the letters on short pistons that went directly through the ball and down to the paper, and this together with the letters being placed to make the fastest writing fingers striking the most frequently used letters, made the Hansen Writing Ball the first typewriter to allow the operator to write substantially faster than a person could write by hand. Malling-Hansen developed his typewriter further through the 1870's and -80's, and made many improvements, but the writing head remained the same. On the first model of the writing ball from 1870, the paper was attached to a cylinder inside a wooden box. In 1874 the cylinder was repaced by a carriage, moving underneath the writing head. Then, in 1875 the well known, tall model was patented, and it was the first of the writing balls that worked without electricity. Malling-Hansen attended the World exhibitions in Wienna in 1873 and Paris in 1878. Both places he received the first prize medals for his invention.^{[5] [6] [7]} Image File history File links Skrivekugle. ... Image File history File links Skrivekugle. ... The Hansen Writing Ball is one of the most finely crafted and impressive of the early typewriters. ...

1868 patent drawing for the typewriter invented by Christopher L. Sholes, Carlos Glidden, and J. W. Soule.

In 1867 Christopher Sholes, Carlos Glidden, and Samuel W. Soule invented another typewriter. The patent (US 79,265) was sold for $12,000 to Densmore and Yost, who made an agreement with E. Remington and Sons (then famous as a manufacturer of sewing machines), to commercialize what was known as the Sholes and Glidden Type-Writer. Remington started production of their first typewriter on March 1, 1873 in Ilion, New York. Another early typewriter manufacturer was Underwood. Download high resolution version (842x1200, 169 KB)Drawing for a Typewriter, 06/23/1868. ... Download high resolution version (842x1200, 169 KB)Drawing for a Typewriter, 06/23/1868. ... Wisconsin Historical Marker Christopher Latham Sholes (February 14, 1819 - February 17, 1890) is an American who contributed to the development of the typewriter. ... Carlos Glidden along with Invented the Remington typewriter. ... Samuel W. Sholes was one of the three men who helped invent The Remington Typewriter. ... E. Remington and Sons was a manufacturer of firearms and typewriters. ... A modern machine (Singer Symphonie 300) A sewing machine is a mechanical (or electromechanical) device that joins fabric using thread. ... March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ... 1873 (MDCCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Ilion is a village located in Herkimer County, New York, USA. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 8,610. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... The Underwood typewriter was the forerunner of the modern typewriter. ...

The ability to view what is typed as it is typed is taken for granted today. In all early keyboard typewriters, however, the typebars struck upwards against the bottom of the platen. Thus, what was typed was not visible until the typing of subsequent lines caused it to scroll into view. The difficulty with any other arrangement was ensuring that the typebars fell back into place reliably when the key was released. This was eventually achieved with ingenious mechanical designs, and so-called "visible typewriters" were introduced in 1895. Surprisingly, the older style continued in production as late as 1915. A typebar is an arm inside a typewriter with a characters on the end of it. ... In letterpress printing, a platen is the perfectly flat steel (or earlier, wooden) plate which is pressed onto the back of paper to cause an impression to be made from the type. ...

Standardization

Most models of mechanical typewriters incorporate a bell, which warns the typist that they are approaching the edge of the right margin and should start a new line after completing the word being typed. The large lever shown on the left of this image was used to perform a carriage return, enabling the typist to begin a new line of text.

By about 1920, the "manual" or "mechanical" typewriter had reached a more-or-less standardized design. There were minor variations from one manufacturer to another, but most typewriters followed the design noted below: late-model manual typewriter The copyright status of this vintage image is undetermined; it may still be copyrighted. ... late-model manual typewriter The copyright status of this vintage image is undetermined; it may still be copyrighted. ...

Each key was attached to a typebar that had the corresponding letter molded into its other end. When a key was struck briskly and firmly, the typebar hit a ribbon (usually made of inked fabric) stretched in front of a cylindrical platen that moved back and forth. The paper was rolled around by the typewriter's platen which was then rotated by a lever (the "carriage return" lever at the far left) to each new line of text. Some ribbons were inked in black and red, each a stripe half the width and the entire length of the ribbon. A lever on most machines allowed switching between colors for typing bookkeeping entries, where negative amounts had to be in red. A typebar is an arm inside a typewriter with a characters on the end of it. ... An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for colouring a surface to render an image or text. ... It has been suggested that Textile be merged into this article or section. ...

Electric designs

Though electric typewriters would not achieve widespread popularity until nearly a century later, the basic groundwork for the electric typewriter was laid by the Universal Stock Ticker, invented by Thomas Edison in 1870. This device remotely printed letters and numbers on a stream of paper tape from input generated by a specially designed typewriter at the other end of a telegraph line. Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices which greatly influenced life in the 20th century. ...

The first electric typewriter was produced by the Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company, of Stamford, Connecticut, in 1902. While never marketed commercially, this was the first known typewriter to use a typewheel rather than individual typebars, although the element was cylindrical rather than ball-shaped. The next step in the development of the electric typewriter came in 1909, when Charles and Howard Krum file a patent for the first practical teletype machine in 1909. The Krum's machine also used a typewheel rather than individual typebars. While innovative, neither of these machines reached the business or personal consumer.

Electrical typewriter designs removed the direct mechanical connection between the keys and the element that struck the paper. Not to be confused with later electronic typewriters, electric typewriters contained only a single electrical component: the motor. Where the keystroke had previously moved a typebar directly, now it engaged mechanical linkages that directed mechanical power from the motor into the typebar. This was also true of the forthcoming IBM Selectric.

IBM and Remington electric typewriters were the leading models until IBM introduced the IBM Selectric typewriter, which replaced the typebars with a spherical typeball (more correctly, "element"), slightly larger than a golf ball, with the letters molded on its surface. The Selectric used a system of latches, metal tapes, and pulleys driven by an electric motor to rotate the ball into the correct position and then strike it against the ribbon and platen. The typeball moved laterally in front of the paper instead of the former platen-carrying carriage moving the paper across a stationary print position. The IBM Selectric typewriter (occasionally known as the IBM Golfball typewriter) is the electric typewriter design that brought the typewriter into the electronic age starting in 1961. ...

replaceable IBM typeballs with clip, 2 Euro coin to compare

The typeball design had many advantages, especially in eliminating of "jams" when more than one key was struck at once, and in the ability to change the typeball, allowing multiple fonts to be used in a single document. Selectric mechanisms were widely incorporated into computer terminals in the 1970s, because the typing mechanism was reasonably fast and jam-free; could produce very high quality output compared to competitors such as Teletype machines, could be initiated by a short, low-force mechanical action; did not require the movement of a heavy "type basket" in order to shift between lower- and upper-case; and did not require the platen roller assembly to move from side to side (which would be a problem with continuous-feed paper). The IBM 2741 terminal was a very popular example of a Selectric-based computer terminal, and similar mechanisms were employed as the console devices for many IBM System/360 computers. These mechanisms did use "ruggedized" designs compared to those in standard commercial typewriters. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1243x865, 225 KB) Beschreibung Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Typewriter IBM Selectric typewriter ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1243x865, 225 KB) Beschreibung Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Typewriter IBM Selectric typewriter ... A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is a now largely obsolete electro-mechanical typewriter which can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point through a simple electrical communications channel, often just a pair of wires. ...

Later models of IBM Executives and Selectrics replaced inked fabric ribbons with "carbon film" ribbons that had a dry black or colored powder on a "once-through" clear plastic tape. These could be used only once but later models used a cartridge that was simple to replace. A side effect of this technology is that the text typed on the machine can be easily read from the used ribbon. This "feature" raised issues where the machines were used for preparing classified documents; ribbons had to be accounted for to ensure that typists didn't walk out with them in pockets or purses. A document reconstructed from a used carbon ribbon was portrayed as the key to solving a crime in an episode of Columbo. DVD cover of Columbo - The Complete First Season. ...

Electronic typewriter - the final stage in typewriters development. A 1989 Canon Typestar 110

A variation known as "Correcting Selectrics" introduced correction, where a sticky tape in front of the print ribbon could remove the black-powdered image of a typed character, and introduced selectable "pitch" so that the typewriter could be switched among pica ("10 pitch", or 10 characters per inch) and elite ("12 pitch"), even in one document. Even so, all Selectrics were monospaced—each and every character was allotted the same horizontal space on the page. Although IBM had produced a successful typebar-based machine, the IBM Executive, with proportional spacing, no proportionally spaced Selectric office typewriter was ever introduced. There was, however, a much more expensive proportionally spaced machine called the Selectric Composer which was capable of right-margin justification and so was considered a typesetting machine rather than a typewriter, and the more reasonably priced IBM Electronic Typewriter 50, which was capable of proportional spacing but not justifying. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1800x1132, 637 KB) The 1989 Canon Typestar 110 typewriter (electronic) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Typewriter Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1800x1132, 637 KB) The 1989 Canon Typestar 110 typewriter (electronic) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Typewriter Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the... Canon Inc. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The IBM Electric typewriters were a series of electric typewriters that IBM manufactured, starting in the late 1940s. ... Typesetting involves the presentation of textual material in an aesthetic form on paper or some other media. ...

The final major development of the typewriter was the "electronic" typewriter. Most of these replaced the typeball with a daisy wheel mechanism (a disk with the letters molded on the outside edge of the "petals"). A plastic daisy-wheel was much simpler and cheaper than the typeball but wore out more easily. Some electronic typewriters were in essence dedicated word processors with internal memory and cartridge or diskette external memory-storage devices. Unlike the Selectrics and earlier models, these really were "electronic" and relied on integrated circuits and multiple electromechanical components. A daisy wheel printer is a type of computer printer that produces high-quality type, and is often referred to as a letter quality printer (this in contrast to high-quality dot-matrix printers, capable of near-letter-quality, or NLQ, output). ... A word processor (also more formally known as a document preparation system) is a computer application used for the production (including composition, editing, formatting, and possibly printing) of any sort of viewable or printed material. ...

Computer/typewriter hybrids

Towards the end of the commercial popularity of typewriters in the 1980s, a number of hybrid designs combining features of computer printers and typewriters were introduced. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

These typically incorporated keyboards from existing models of typewriters and the printing mechanism of dot-matrix printers. The generation of teletypes with impact pin-based printing engines was not adequate for the demanding quality required for typed output. Newly developed, thermal transfer technologies used in thermal label printers had become technically feasible for typewriters. A dot matrix printer or impact matrix printer normally refers to a type of computer printer with a print-head that runs back and forth on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like a typewriter. ... A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is a now largely obsolete electro-mechanical typewriter which can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point through a simple electrical communications channel, often just a pair of wires. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

IBM produced a series of typewriters called Thermotronic with letter-quality output and correcting tape along with printers tagged Quietwriter. Brother extended the life of their typewriter product line with similar products. DEC meanwhile had the DECwriter. now. ... Brother Industries, Ltd. ... Digital Equipment Corporation was a pioneering company in the American computer industry. ...

The development of these proprietary printing engines provided the vendors with exclusive markets in consumable ribbons and the possibility to use standardised printing engines with varying degrees of electronic and software sophistication to develop product lines.

The increasing dominance of personal computers and the introduction of low-cost, truly high-quality, laser and inkjet printer technologies are replacing typewriters. 1993 Apple LaserWriter Pro 630 laser printer A laser printer is a common type of computer printer that rapidly produces high quality text and graphics on plain paper. ... Inkjet printers are a type of computer printer that operates by propelling tiny droplets of liquid ink onto paper. ...

Typewriter legacy

Today, with the proliferation of the personal computer with word processing software, typewriters would seem to have faded into near-obscurity. However typewriters were commonly used in professional offices (lawyers, doctors, schools, etc.) for specialized applications such as filling out pre-printed forms, addressing envelopes, and writing one-off letters. However, in recent years computer programs have enabled computer users to accomplish most or all of these tasks. Word processing, in its now-usual meaning, is the use of a word processor to create documents using computers. ... Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ...

The monospaced, stark, and slightly uneven look of typewritten text can have some artistic appeal, and some people, young or old, prefer to use a typewriter.

The QWERTY layout of typewriter keys became a de facto standard and continues to be used long after the reasons for its adoption have ceased to apply.

In some less developed countries, where personal computers are not ubiquitous, one may find public spaces with individuals who rent out their services as on-the-spot letter writers, accepting dictation from their customers, who may be illiterate or who simply do not own a typewriter. In Mexico, for example, such a thing can be seen daily on Calle Heroes de Cañonero in downtown Tampico. typewriter keyboard, from nl wikipedia Credited to: http://www. ... The QWERTY Layout QWERTY, (pronounced ) is the most common modern-day keyboard layout on English language computer and typewriter keyboards. ... Tampico bridge (finished in October 1988) links the states of Tamaulipas and Veracruz and is a major element in the Gulf of Mexico highway system. ...

Keyboard layout

The 1874 Sholes & Glidden typewriters established the QWERTY layout for the letter keys. During the period in which Sholes and his colleagues were experimenting with this invention, other keyboard arrangements were apparently tried, but these are poorly documented. The tantalizing near-alphabetical sequence on the "home row" of the QWERTY layout (d-f-g-h-j-k-l) demonstrates that a straightforward alphabetical arrangement was the original starting point ^[8]. The QWERTY layout of keys has become the de facto standard for English-language typewriter and computer keyboards. Other languages written in the Latin alphabet may use variants of the QWERTY layouts, such as the French AZERTY, the Italian QZERTY, the German QWERTZ, and the Portuguese HCESAR layouts. The QWERTY Layout QWERTY, (pronounced ) is the most common modern-day keyboard layout on English language computer and typewriter keyboards. ... De facto is a Latin expression that means in fact or in practice. It is commonly used as opposed to de jure (meaning by law) when referring to matters of law or governance or technique (such as standards), that are found in the common experience as created or developed without... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... The QWERTY Layout QWERTY is the modern-day layout of letters on most English language computer and typewriter keyboards. ... The QWERTY Layout QWERTY (pronounced kwerty) is the modern-day layout of letters on most English language computer and typewriter keyboards. ... The QWERTZ keyboard layout The QWERTZ keyboard is a computer and typewriter keyboard that is normally used in German-speaking regions. ... The HCESAR Layout HCESAR (pronounced by spelling the letter H and then saying the word César) is an obsolete typewriter keyboard layout. ...

The QWERTY layout is certainly far from the most efficient, since it requires a touch-typist to move his or her fingers between rows to type the most common letters. A popular story suggests that it was used for early typewriters because it was inefficient; it slowed a typist down so as to reduce the frequency of the typewriter's typebars' wedging together and jamming the machine. A more likely explanation is that the QWERTY arrangement was designed to reduce the likelihood of internal clashing by placing commonly used combinations of letters farther away from each other inside the machine ^[9]. This allowed the user to actually type faster without jamming. Unfortunately, no definitive explanation for the QWERTY keyboard has been found, and typewriter aficionados continue to debate the issue.

A number of radically different layouts, such as the Dvorak keyboard, have been proposed to reduce the perceived inefficiencies of QWERTY, but these have not been able to displace the QWERTY layout; their proponents claim considerable advantages, but so far none has been widely used. The Blickensderfer typewriter with its DHIATENSOR layout may have possibly been the first attempt at optimizing the keyboard layout for efficiency advantages. The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (pronounced ) is a keyboard layout patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak, a professor of Education at the University of Washington, and William Dealey as an alternative to the more common QWERTY layout. ... The Blickensderfer Typewriter was designed by George C Blickensderfer (1850-1917) in 1893. ...

Many old typewriters do not contain a separate key for the numeral 1, and some even older ones also lack the numeral zero. Typists learned the habit of using the lowercase letter l for the digit 1, and the uppercase O for the zero. Some still carry the habit of using the letter l instead of the numeral 1 with them when typing on a computer, sometimes leading to errors, especially when working with numerical data.^{[citation needed]} In general, data consist of propositions that reflect reality. ...

Computer jargon

Several words of the 'typewriter age' have survived into the personal computer era. Examples include:

• carbon copy – now in its abbreviated form "CC" designating copies of email messages (with no carbon involved, at least not until potential printouts);
• cursor – a marker used to indicate where the next character will be printed
• carriage return (CR) – indicating an end of line and return to the first column of text (and on some computer platforms, advancing to the next line)
• line feed (LF), aka 'newline' – standing for moving the cursor to the next on-screen line of text in a word processor document (and on the eventual printout(s) of the document).

Because the typebars of this typewriter strike upwards, the typist in this French postcard, c. 1910, could not have seen characters as they were typed.

Carbon copying, often abbreviated to c. ... E-mail, or email, is short for electronic mail and is a method of composing, sending, and receiving messages over electronic communication systems. ... On a typewriter, the cursor is a vertical line indicating the position at which the next character will be printed. ... Originally, carriage return was the term for the key, lever, or mechanism on a typewriter that would cause the cylinder on which the paper was held (the carriage) to return to the left side of the paper after a line of text had been typed, and would often move it... In computing, line feed (LF) is a control character indicating that one line should be fed out. ... A cursor is a movable marker that indicates a position. ... Typist at typewriter, from French postcard, c. ...

Correction methods

According to the standards taught in secretarial schools in the mid-1900s, a business letter was supposed to have no mistakes and no visible corrections. Accuracy was prized as much as speed. Indeed, typing speeds, as scored in proficiency tests and typewriting speed competitions, included a deduction of ten words for every mistake that was made. // Events and trends Technology First flight by the Wright brothers, December 17, 1903. ... A business letter is a letter written in a formal language, usually used when writing from one business organization to another, or for correspondence between such organizations and their customers, clients and other external parties. ...

Corrections were, of course, necessary, and a variety of methods and technologies were used.

The traditional method involved the use of a special typewriter eraser. The typewriter eraser was made of fairly hard, stiff rubber, containing abrasive material. It was in the shape of a thin, flat disk, approx. 2 inches (50 mm) in diameter by 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick allowing for the erasure of individual typed letters. Business letters were typed on heavyweight, high-rag-content bond paper, not merely to provide a luxurious appearance, but also to stand up to erasure. Typewriter erasers were equipped with a brush for brushing away eraser crumbs and paper dust, and using the brush properly was an important element of typewriting skill, because if erasure detritus fell into the typewriter, a very small buildup could cause the typebars to jam in their narrow supporting grooves.

Erasing a set of carbon copies was particularly difficult, and called for the use of a device called an eraser shield to prevent the pressure of erasure on the upper copies from producing carbon smudges on the lower copies.

Paper companies produced a special form of typewriter paper called erasable bond (for example, Eaton's Corrasable Bond). This incorporated a thin layer of material that prevented ink from penetrating and was relatively soft and easy to remove from the page. An ordinary soft pencil eraser could quickly produce perfect erasures on this kind of paper. However, the same characteristics that made the paper erasable made the characters subject to smudging due to ordinary friction and deliberate alteration after the fact, making it unacceptable for business correspondence, contracts, or any archival use. Eatons Corrasable Bond is a trademarked name for a brand of erasable typing paper. ...

In the 1950s and 1960s, correction fluid made its appearance, under brand names such as Liquid Paper, Wite-Out and Tipp-Ex. This was a kind of opaque white fast-drying paint which produced a fresh white surface onto which a correction could be re-typed. However, when held to the light, the covered-up characters were visible, as was the patch of dry correction fluid (which was never perfectly flat, and never a perfect match for the color, texture, and luster of the surrounding paper). The standard trick for solving this problem was photocopying the corrected page, but this was possible only with high quality photocopiers, and was not practical with color letterheads. (However, high quality typists were smart enough to place the color letterhead stock in the copier, and photocopy the corrected typed-text-only-on-plain-paper document onto the color letterhead.) A bottle of correction fluid Correction fluid is an opaque, white fluid applied to paper to mask errors in text. ... Liquid Paper, a brand name of whiteout, white-out, or opaque correction fluid, is used to cover up mistakes on paper without retyping the entire sheet. ... Wite-Out is a trademark for a line of correction fluid and related products well-known in the United States—so well-known, in fact, that it has evolved into a generic word, white-out or whiteout, synonymous with any make of correction fluid. ... Tipp-Ex is a brand of correction fluid and other related products that is popular throughout Europe. ... A small, much-used Xerox copier in a high school library. ...

Dry correction products (such as correction paper) under brand names such as "Ko-Rec-Type" were introduced in the 1970s and functioned like white carbon paper. A strip of the product was placed over the letters needing correction, and the incorrect letters were retyped, causing the black character to be overstruck with a white overcoat. Similar material was soon incorporated in carbon-film electric typewriter ribbons; like the traditional two-color black-and-red inked ribbon common on manual typewriters, a black/white correcting ribbon became commonplace on electric typewriters. Correction paper, or correction film, its plastic based equivalent, is a tab of plastic with one side coated with white correction material. ...

The pinnacle of this kind of technology was the IBM Electronic Typewriter series. These machines, and similar products from other manufacturers, used a separate correction ribbon and a character memory. With a single keystroke, the typewriter was capable of automatically reversing and overstriking the previous characters with minimal marring of the paper. White cover-up or plastic lift-off correction ribbons are used with fabric ink or carbon film typing ribbons, respectively. now. ...

Typing speed records and speed contests

During the 1920s through 1940s, typing speed was an important secretarial qualification and typing contests were popular, publicized by typewriter companies as promotional tools.

As of 2005, Barbara Blackburn is the fastest typist in the world, according to The Guinness Book of World Records. Using the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard, she has maintained 150 word/min for 50 min, 170 word/min for shorter periods of time, and has been clocked at a peak speed of 212 word/min. Blackburn, who failed her typing class in high school, first encountered the Dvorak keyboard in 1938, quickly learned to achieve very high speeds, and occasionally toured giving speed-typing demonstrations during her secretarial career. She appeared on The David Letterman Show and was deeply offended by Letterman's comedic treatment of her skill.^[10] 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Guinness Book of Records (or in recent editions Guinness World Records, and in previous US editions Guinness Book of World Records) is a book published annually, containing an internationally recognized collection of superlatives: both in terms of human achievement and the extrema of the natural world. ... The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (pronounced ) is a keyboard layout patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak, a professor of Education at the University of Washington, and William Dealey as an alternative to the more common QWERTY layout. ... The Late Show with David Letterman is an hour-long weeknight comedy and talk show broadcast by CBS from the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway in New York City. ... David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American late night talk show host, comedian, television producer, Indy Racing League car owner (Rahal Letterman Racing), and philanthropist. ...

Due to popular software named "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing", many people have assumed that there is a woman named Mavis Beacon who is a very good typist. In reality, Mavis Beacon is a fictional promotional character. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is a software program for teaching touch typing. ...

Forensic identification

Because of the tolerances of the mechanical parts, slight variation in the alignment of the letters and their uneven wear, each typewriter has its individual "signature" or "fingerprint", allowing a typewritten document to be tracked back to the typewriter it was produced on. In the Eastern Bloc, typewriters (together with printing presses, copy machines, and later computer printers) were a controlled technology, with secret police in charge of maintaining files of the typewriters and their owners. (In the Soviet Union, the organization in charge of typewriters was the First Department of the KGB.) This posed a significant risk for dissidents and samizdat authors. This method of identification was also used in the trial of Alger Hiss. Fingerprint: A fingerprint is an imprint made by the pattern of ridges on the pad of a human finger. ... Forensic identification is the application of forensic science and technology to identify specific objects from the traces they leave, often at a crime scene. ... A map of the Eastern Bloc. ... The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ... A small, much-used Xerox copier in a high school library. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Secret police (sometimes political police) are a police organization which operates in secrecy for the national purpose of maintaining national security against internal threats to the state. ... The First Department (Первый отдел, Pervyj Otdel) was in charge of secrecy and political security of the workplace of every enterprise or institution of the Soviet Union that dealt with any kind of technical or scientific information (plants, R&D institutions... The KGB emblem and motto: The sword and the shield KGB (transliteration of КГБ) is the Russian-language abbreviation for Committee for State Security, (Russian:  ; Komitet Gosudarstvennoj Bezopasnosti). ... A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively opposes an established opinion, policy, or structure. ... Samizdat, book published by Pathfinder Press containing a collection of forbidden Trotskyist Samizdat texts. ... Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 - November 15, 1996) was a U.S. State Department official involved in the establishment of the United Nations. ...

Black/white computer printers have their "fingerprints" as well, but to lesser degree. Modern color printers and photocopiers typically add printer identification encoding -- a steganographic pattern of minuscule yellow dots, encoding the printer's serial number -- to the printout. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Printer identification encoding is a technology used by many manufacturers of printers, in which the model, serial number and other identifying information about the printer is printed on every page produced. ... Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one apart from the intended recipient knows of the existence of the message; this is in contrast to cryptography, where the existence of the message itself is not disguised, but the content is obscured. ... A serial number is a unique number that is one of a series assigned for identification which varies from its successor or predecessor by a fixed discrete integer value. ...

Other forensic identification method can involve analysis of the ribbon ink. Forensic science (often shortened to forensics) is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to the legal system. ...

See also

The UNIVAC 1102 or ERA 1102 was designed by Engineering Research Associates for the United States Air Forces Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tullahoma, Tennessee in response to a request for proposal issued in 1950. ... The JOHNNIAC or John (v. ... The Friden Flexowriter was a teleprinter based on a 1940s IBM product that was spun off as an independent company and later sold to the Friden Corp. ...

References

2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 12 is the 193rd day (194th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 172 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in leap years). ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Typewriter

• goodtyping - Free online typing course
• The Classic Typewriter Page
• Barbara Blackburn, the World's Fastest Typist
• Museum of Typewriters and Calculators at the Finnish Business College
• The Boston Typewriter Orchestra

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Wikimedia Commons logo by Reid Beels The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...

Patents

• US79265 -- Type Writer Machine

   

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