Tap, tappety, tap-tappety tap.
- Typewriters are machines that print carbon or ink characters on paper, requiring input from a person by pressing buttons, and are mechanically or electro-mechanically driven.
- Most typewriters were replaced by word processors and computers by the late 1980s, although they are still in use in developing countries, as well as in prisons due to the ban of computers.
- Typewriters were commonly used in offices and sometimes in homes, for the purpose of typing letters, documents, and other information.
- The first typewriter ever invented was possibly by Englishman Henry Mill in 1714, for which he received a patent, and other early typewriters include inventions by Pelligino Turri, an Italian, in 1808 who also invented carbon paper, and William Austin Burt, an American who is most commonly credited for the invention of the typewriter, in 1829.
- Fast typists can type around 100 words a minute on a manual typewriter, although records have been set for more than 150 words a minute.
- Typewriters generally require the manual insertion of a sheet of paper, and when the end of a page is reached, it is removed, and a new piece of paper is inserted into the machine.
- Due to the permanency of the printing, typewriters would require a high level of typing accuracy, with competitions deducting points for inaccuracy, although mistakes could be erased with an abrasive hard rubber, or correction fluid, and various other means were also employed.
- Thomas Edison invented the first electric style typewriter in 1870, which used an electrical input to type remotely, however the technology was not widely used until decades later.
- The typically used English QWERTY keyboard layout on typewriters, known as the ‘Sholes’ or ‘Universal’ keyboard, were originally arranged by Sholes & Glidden typewriters in 1874, and are said to be laid out so that the most commonly used keys were separated to decrease the likelihood of jamming from fast typing.
- The word ‘typewriter’ is generally considered the longest English word (10 letters), that only uses one row of the QWERTY keyboard layout, although a flower, ‘rupturewort’ can beat that record (11 letters).
Bibliography:
Typewriter, 2014, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter>
Typewriters, 2014, Mary Bellis, http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Typewriters.htm
It’s great that you mentioned how typewriters are commonly used in offices and sometimes in homes, for the purpose of typing letters, documents, and other information. My wife found a broken typewriter in our basement and it made me very interested in typewriting. I want to try it out, so maybe I should ask for typewriter services for it.