by Answerbag Staff on March 17th, 2010

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What is the purpose of the typewriter?

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  • by David Perez on March 17th, 2010

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    Professionally Researched. (What's this?)

    Typewriters are mechanical devices designed to print text. They consist of rows of keys to stamp letters, numbers, punctuation and other symbols onto paper.

    Function

    Every key on a typewriter has a character printed on its surface. In early mechanical designs, each key is part of a lever, on the other end of which is a character on a type bar that corresponds to the character on the key. An ink ribbon sits between the type bars and a cylinder that holds a sheet of paper in place. When a typist presses a key, the corresponding type bar strikes the paper through the ribbon, imprinting the character on the page.

    Benefits

    Inventors designed some early typing machines to assist people with vision impairments with writing. With the invention of typewriters that allowed users to see their words as they typed, people could generate text without the skills and equipment involved in typesetting.

    Keyboard Design

    Modern English-language keyboards use the QWERTY key arrangement. The layout takes its name from the order of the first six keys on its top row. Its inventor, C.L. Soles, designed the arrangement to reduce jamming between type bars.

    Early Designs

    In 1714, an Englishman named Henry Mill obtained the first patent for a typing machine. It's not known whether he ever produced it. Italian inventor Pellegrino Turri built the first documented working typing machine, in 1808.

    The First Typewriters

    Typing machines did not become commercially viable until Danish pastor Malling Hansen invented the "Typing Ball" in 1870. In 1874, C.L. Sholes produced the machine with the keyboard that is standard to this day.

    Source:

    The Classic Typewriter Page: A Brief History of Typewriters

    Earthlink: The First Typewriter

    More Information:

    Typewriter Collector: Antique Typewriter Collecting

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