It is documented that Hansen Writing Balls could be found in operation up until 1909 in many offices and businesses in England and Europe. The half-sphere shape of the ball is unlike any other typing device before or after it, and regardless of visual appeal, The Hansen Writing Ball gained quite a bit of attention in Europe and England as a fully functional typing device. Moving across the globe to Denmark just a few years later, The Hansen Writing Ball was invented by Reverend Rasmus Malling-Hansen, in 1865. Brazilians argue that his invention should be credited as the First Typewriter. It was completely constructed of household materials which makes it particularly interesting and impressive. Father Azevado’s typewriter is arguably the first “typewriter” as the mechanism is the most similar to the commercial models that followed its inception. The only ones worth mentioning, for the sake of being extraordinary, were Father Francisco Jaâo de Azevado’s “homemade” typewriter made from wood and knives in Brasil (1861), and Denmark’s Hansen Writing Ball (1865), both pictured below. None of these devices gained much public interest or commercial success.įrom 1829 up until 1870 many other typing devices were patented along with the ones mentioned above, and like the previous devices, none of them went into commercial production or mainstream use. A later model of the typowriter, created by John Jones in 1852 is pictured below. The typowriter was also created with the intended use for the blind. In 1829 William Austin Burt also created a writing mechanism, a “Typowriter” that instead of keys, used dials to print characters, making this process slower than handwriting to produce words on a page, but it was a way to print legible uniform text. Pellegrino’s invention of the carbon copy has made a lasting impact on the modern office (carbon copies are still regularly used on triplicate forms, phone messages and memo pads, sales receipts, etc.). His machine was intended to allow the blind to “write.” With Pellegrino Turri’s typing device, also came the first Carbon Copy. Fast forward to 1808, another typing machine was patented to Pellegrino Turri in Italy. Though there is no evidence that the machine was constructed, or sold, all we know is that this typing device was intended to prepare legal documents in a manner that was neat, legible, and in a standardized format. In 1714, the first patent for a typing machine was issued in London, England to Henry Mill. Technically the first documented typing devices predate the Remington’s Sholes & Glidden typewriter, though none of them were manufactured for commercial use. Image source: from the Early Office Museum Remington’s First Sholes & Glidden Type-Writer 1867 So how did we get to where we are now, in the high-tech age of computers and plastics? To move forward, it’s important to first move backward in time and see how these first commercially successful type-writers came to be. The first Remington typewriters, created by Sholes, Glidden, and Soule even came with a foot pedal (like a sewing machine) to control carriage returns. What did the first typing machines look like? The first manufactured typewriters resembled sewing machines more than what most people imagine when they think of a “typewriter.” Remington, who manufactured the first typewriters, was also manufacturing sewing machines at the time, leading to this initial design atheistic. To begin the exploration of the first keyboards, we must first examine the origins of typing and the first typing devices. Chapter Three: Design – Computer Keyboard LayoutsĬhapter One: Design – The Evolution of the Typewriter.

Chapter Two: Design – The Development of the Computer Keyboard.

Chapter One: Design – The Evolution of the Typewriter.

This paper will explore the history of typing, detailing the innovations across time that have accumulated into the definition of today’s standard for the ultimate typing experience. The keyboard is the number one computer interface used around the world and an integral object for many of us that most people take for granted. The type-writer has changed shape dramatically over the years, eventually becoming electronic- then practically obsolete as we moved into the age of computers and the birth of the keyboard. Since then, we have seen several updates in design, layout, technology, and function that are more efficient and user-friendly. These machines featured “blind typing” technology, where characters were printed on upside-down pages that remained unseen until completion.

Keyboards and typing technology have come a long way over the past couple of centuries. The first typing devices were designed and patented in the 1700s while the first manufactured typing devices came about in the 1870s.

Old school typewriter keyboard