The Typewriter

History

The typewriter is an old, yet classic machine. This precursor to the keyboards we use today were much clunkier, louder, and slower to use. Although they have fallen out of popular use, collectors still appreciate the technology that has brought us to where we are today. I have only ever used one typewriter, which was one put out for public use at my town library. This one had both upper and lower case, which is a "newer" feature to the typewriter scene. We wrote several pages for fun, and this one even had the ability to go back and erase a single letter once. Typing on this machine felt like being transported to another era, where letters came to life in a more tactile way that electronically onto a screen. 

Hansen Writing Ball

 The typewriter has a somewhat controversial first iteration. It was arguably first thought up in 1575, when Francesco Rampazetto, an Italian printmaker, who supposedly attempted to create a machine to help the blind communicate. This machine, called the “scrittura tattile”, impressed letters upon paper, as opposed to the more modern ink-based typewriters. The next major development is documented in 1714, where Henry Mill patented the idea of the typewriter. His goal was to aid those with slow or illegible handwriting, but he did not actually bring the machine to life. This occurred almost a century later, when, between the years 1801 and 1808, it was invented for Countess Carolina Fantoni de Fivizzano. She was a blind woman, and reports are undecided about the true inventor. Some claim Giuseppe Turri, a friend of Carolina, created the machine, but others claim Fivizzano's brother, Agostino, invented it for her. This version of the typewriter also came with the invention of carbon paper, or paper that would transfer the writings onto a piece of paper below it when pressure was applied. 

Still, typewriters were not in common use. They were also not standardized in any way, and access to the machines were limited. However, in 1865, Reverand Rasmus Malling-Hansen invented the Hansen Writing Ball. This was similar visually to a pincushion, with every "pin" being a letter in the alphabet and other special characters. It was unusually ergonomic, and contained fifty-two keys upon a brass semi-sphere. It was put into production in 1870 and was moderately successful in Europe. 

At a similar time, in 1868, the first real breakthrough had happened. Christopher Sholes, Carlos Glidden, and a few other Americans patented the first actual typewriter. It was produced by E. Remington and Sons, and the typewriter itself was often referred to as the Remington. It had the unusual QWERTY keyboard, which is not as intuitive as it seems today. Every keyboard we use has this format, and although outdated, it has stuck. The keys were initially in alphabetical order, but the keys would jam whenever several were pressed at the same time. Therefore, the keyboard was made so that more frequently used keys were further apart, preventing jamming. Of course, modern keyboards do not have this issue, but the typewriter is recent enough that a transition to a different order of keys would be difficult. 

Modern Uses

It is obvious that the typewriter lives on in modern devices, even if it is obsolete. The QWERTY arrangement is one of the most iconic features of a keyboard today. The satisfying tactile feeling of clacking keys and seeing them ink letters is recreated in the feeling of a mechanical keyboard. As I play video games for a hobby, I spend a lot of time on the keyboard, so having a useful and satisfying keyboard is important to me. When I remember that time I spent on the typewriter, it felt more powerful to watch each switch hit the paper. It took somewhat of a considerable force just to type the few pages I did.

     
Typewriters are still being made, and I feel like if I had enough room to start another collection I would start a typewriter collection. Electronic typewriters are a fascinating upgrade to the mechanical typewriters that were popular in the early 1900s, and many still purchase them today. Of course, they are more expensive because of both inflation and the vintage status of typewriters, with fancier ones being several hundred dollars. It's likely the same price as having a custom keyboard hobby, though. I appreciate the typewriter for what it paved the way for, and I think all libraries should have a typewriter for children to experience. I remember when I was at that library, an older man walked up to us and expressed how happy he was when he saw us at the typewriter. Because the typewriter was only obsolete about forty years ago, it was a large part of people's lives until half a century ago.