The Story of the Typewriter, 1873-1923

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Who May Benefit from the Book

• Historians studying modern business expansion.
• Students of women’s economic and social history.
• Those interested in the evolution of communication technology.
• Commercial education professionals and typists.
• Inventors learning about product development and market struggle.

Top 3 Key Insights

1. The typewriter, commercially launched in Ilion, New York, in 1873, transformed business by ending “pen slavery” and enabling unprecedented growth in efficiency and speed.
2. Christopher Latham Sholes, the inventor, was supported by James Densmore’s relentless faith through years of experimental models (25 to 30) before achieving a marketable design.
3. The writing machine’s most significant impact was serving as the chief factor in achieving the economic emancipation of women by creating new professional career paths.

4 More Lessons and Takeaways

1. The typewriter perfected the “twin arts” of shorthand and transcription, conserving the executive’s “highest quality of brain labor” by freeing them from drudgery.
2. The seemingly illogical “universal keyboard” arrangement was developed to solve mechanical problems, such as preventing the type bars from colliding and “sticking fast”.
3. Early sales efforts were slow and difficult because the public resisted the $125 price tag and often ridiculed the idea of using a “printed” letter.
4. The machine is globally universal, successfully adapting to complex, non-Roman characters like Arabic, demonstrating a crowning triumph of mechanical skill.

The Book in 1 Sentence This history details the typewriter’s 1873 commercial launch, tracing its development, struggles, and profound impact on modern business and women’s economic freedom.

The Book Summary in 1 Minute The Story of the Typewriter commemorates the 50th anniversary of the writing machine’s commercial birth in Ilion, NY, in 1873. Inventor Christopher Latham Sholes, driven by a recognized need rather than market demand, created the first practical machine, with crucial support from investor James Densmore. The Remington firm manufactured the initial Model 1, which wrote only capitals, introducing the now-standard universal keyboard. Despite skepticism—exemplified by Mark Twain’s initial reticence—the machine gained traction when the shift-key Model 2 arrived in 1878 and the firm Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict took over sales in 1882. Mechanically, advances included visible writing and the adoption of touch typewriting, a method pioneered by the blind. Sociologically, the machine broke barriers of prejudice, enabling women to enter the business world and achieving their economic emancipation. This invention remains a revolutionary force, utilized today in over 150 languages globally.

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Chapter-wise Book Summary

Introduction

The Story of the Typewriter, 1873-1923, published by the Herkimer County Historical Society, commemorates the 50th anniversary of the manufacture of the writing machine. The book details how this invention, whose production began in the Mohawk Valley village of Ilion, New York, revolutionized intercommunication and business, while also serving as the primary factor in the economic emancipation of women. The data for this volume was compiled by the Society from various sources to establish Herkimer County’s place in history as the center from which this great contribution flowed.

Chapter I. Fifty Years Old

This chapter establishes the context and significance of the typewriter’s anniversary in 1923. The writing machine has become an essential factor in modern life, fundamentally changing human destiny by freeing the world from “pen slavery”. The resulting time savings facilitated and enabled the enormous growth of modern business. The typewriter is viewed as the latest evolutionary step in the long history of writing, succeeding stone monuments, papyrus, printing, and steel pens. The mechanical writing machine perfected the existing art of shorthand (phonography), which had been restricted so long as transcription was performed at pen-writing speed. By allowing rapid transcription, the typewriter and shorthand became the “twin arts,” completely emancipating the busy executive from pen drudgery, thus conserving the “highest quality of brain labor”. The invention did not arrive in response to market demand but in recognition of a deeply felt societal need, explaining the struggles of the early pioneers.

• Chapter Key Points:
  • Manufacture began in Ilion, NY, in 1873.
  • Typewriter ended “pen slavery” and facilitated modern business growth.
  • It perfected shorthand, emancipating the executive from manual labor.
• Important Quote: “The typewriter has made itself such an essential factor in modern life, it has become so necessary to all human activities, that the present-day world could hardly be conceived without it”.

Chapter II. Early Efforts

The historical record of typewriters begins with an English patent granted to Henry Mill by Queen Anne in 1714, though no model of his artificial machine is known to exist. Later attempts, including a 1784 machine for the blind, highlight how the needs of the blind often figured prominently in early designs. The first American patent was issued in 1829 to William Austin Burt. His machine, known only through a replica after the original model was destroyed, used a type-wheel system. Subsequent inventors included Xavier Projean (1833), who used type bars striking a common center, and Charles Thurber (1843), who introduced the crucial innovation of longitudinal platen motion for letter spacing. Despite numerous ingenious attempts by men like Eddy, Fairbanks, Jones, and Beach during the 1840s and 1850s, none achieved commercial viability because their machines were universally described as “too slow”. This lengthy period of attempts revealed that the machine needed to offer speed far surpassing the pen to justify its existence and high cost.

• Chapter Key Points:
  • First recorded patent granted to Henry Mill (1714).
  • William A. Burt received the first American patent (1829).
  • Early efforts failed because they lacked sufficient time-saving speed.
• Important Quote: “It is this fact which explains the struggle and frequently the tragedy in the early history of so many great inventions”.

Chapter III. The First Practical Typewriter

The genesis of the successful machine occurred in Milwaukee in 1866–1867. Christopher Latham Sholes, a printer, publisher, and former Wisconsin politician, was working on a paging machine when Carlos Glidden suggested developing a letter-writing device, inspired partly by reading about John Pratt’s “Pterotype”. Sholes, described as gentle, modest, and indifferent to wealth, became the central inventor. He worked with Glidden and Samuel W. Soulé, producing the first crude machine by autumn 1867. The entry of James Densmore proved critical; though abrasive and eccentric, his unbounded foresight and faith sustained the enterprise, urging Sholes to build 25 to 30 improved models over six years. Shorthand reporters, including Charles E. Weller, tested the models and confirmed their viability for rapid transcription. Sholes himself coined the universal name: the “type-writer“. In February 1873, Densmore and G. W. N. Yost presented the final working model to E. Remington & Sons, the gun manufacturers of Ilion, New York. Philo Remington agreed to undertake manufacture, and the historic contract was signed on March 1, 1873. Sholes reportedly sold his royalty rights to Densmore for $12,000. William K. Jenne, a Remington mechanic, transformed the model into the first commercial machine, the Model 1 Remington, which began manufacturing in September 1873.

• Chapter Key Points:
  • Christopher Latham Sholes invented the machine in Milwaukee (1867).
  • Sholes named his creation the “type-writer”.
  • The Model 1 Remington began commercial production in Ilion, NY (1873).
• Important Quote: “The machine is no such thing as it was when you last saw it. In fact you would not recognize it”. (Sholes, detailing the ceaseless modifications in 1873).

Chapter IV. Seeking a Market

The Model 1 Remington, the first commercial machine, resembled a family sewing machine, complete with grape-vine pedestals and a foot treadle to operate the carriage return—a feature quickly discarded. Its biggest defect was that it wrote capital letters only. The arrangement of the keys, the universal keyboard, was standardized from the beginning, designed by Sholes and Densmore. This unique arrangement was influenced by mechanical problems; placing frequently used keys far apart reduced the tendency of type bars to collide and stick. The first catalogue listed reporters, lawyers, and authors as prospective users, confining the business man to a single, obscure sentence. Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) was an early buyer (1874) and became the first author to submit a typewritten manuscript to a publisher (likely Life on the Mississippi). He initially requested that the manufacturer not disclose his ownership of the “curiosity breeding little joker”. The machine faced widespread skepticism: many potential users refused to pay $125 and some agents’ customers indignantly returned letters, assuming they were printed handbills. Its debut at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition was met with curiosity and ridicule. The need for trained operators led to the creation of employment departments and the modern system of commercial education, starting with D. L. Scott-Browne’s school in 1878. The invention truly gained popular favor with the 1878 Model 2 Remington, which introduced the shift-key mechanism and two typefaces (capital and small) on a single type bar, utilizing Lucien S. Crandall’s cylinder shifting device.

• Chapter Key Points:
  • The Model 1 wrote only capital letters and looked like a sewing machine.
  • Mark Twain was the first author to submit a typewritten manuscript.
  • The Model 2 (1878) introduced the essential shift-key mechanism.
• Important Quote: “You know that my apprehension is that the thing may take for a while, and for a while there may be an active demand for them, but that, like any other novelty, it will have its brief day and be thrown aside”. (Sholes, expressing deep despondency in 1872).

Chapter V. Launched on the Commercial World

The sale of typewriters struggled under various agencies until Clarence W. Seamans was appointed sales head by Remington. The commercial turning point occurred on August 1, 1882, when the historic firm Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict was organized and secured the worldwide selling agency. The partners—William O. Wyckoff (the robust reporter with “dauntless courage”), Clarence W. Seamans (the successful salesman and natural leader), and Henry H. Benedict (known for thoroughness and sound judgment)—overcame limited resources and discouraging early sales. The future of the enterprise was secured in March 1886 when Henry H. Benedict purchased the entire manufacturing plant and patent rights from the debt-ridden E. Remington & Sons, separating the successful typewriter business from the parent company. Once established, the typewriter became an immensely effective self-advertiser, transforming business from being “lashed to a pen point” to becoming “articulate”. The machine functioned as a business builder, enabling new activities like circular letters and direct-by-mail advertising, leading directly to the growth of modern “big business”. The expansion into Europe and foreign countries was slow due to conservatism. Unlike the US, global expansion required the company itself to establish commercial schools to train operators, as few existing business schools taught typewriting abroad.

• Chapter Key Points:
  • Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict secured commercial success (1882).
  • Henry H. Benedict acquired manufacturing rights, ensuring continuity (1886).
  • The typewriter became a critical “business builder” globally.
• Important Quote: “The typewriter enterprise since that day has been entirely separate and distinct from the other activities with which the name Remington is associated, and thus it escaped the disasters which shortly after befell the old and honored house of E. Remington & Sons”.

Chapter VI. High Spots in Typewriter Progress

This chapter charts the mechanical competition and key innovations post-1873. Early rivalry centered on the type-bar principle (Remington) versus the type-wheel (like the Hammond, 1880). Another conflict was the single shift-key keyboard versus the double keyboard (e.g., Caligraph, 1883), which was eventually settled when the touch method of typewriting made the compact shift-key keyboard an obvious advantage. A major usability advancement was the automatic ribbon reverse, invented by George B. Webb in 1896, eliminating the constant necessity for manual ribbon monitoring. The demand for visible writing—allowing operators to see the line as it was being typed—was solved by the front-stroke machines, notably the Underwood (1897), which is now the standard design. Modern progress focuses on quiet typewriting. Crucially, the chapter highlights that touch typewriting (using all fingers without looking at the keys) was an innovation of the blind, who necessarily had to master this technique. Frank E. McGurrin became the first recorded sighted touch typist (1878), and his success in the 1888 McGurrin-Traub contest demonstrated the system’s superiority, quickly leading to its universal adoption in commercial schools.

• Chapter Key Points:
  • Shift-key keyboard prevailed over the double keyboard.
  • Visible writing (front-stroke) became standard (Underwood, 1897).
  • Touch typing was pioneered by the blind and popularized by McGurrin.
• Important Quote: “The touch method was a discovery of the blind, and a gift by them to all the typists of the world”.

Chapter VII. Widening the Field

The typewriter expanded its reach beyond simple line-by-line writing. A major step was the invention of the decimal tabulator (Gorin Tabulator) in 1898, which allowed instantaneous carriage setting for tabular and statistical work, such as columns of figures. This development paved the way for the adding typewriter and sophisticated typewriter-accounting (bookkeeping) machines, which combine writing and calculation in one process, offering increased efficiency and error-proofing. Conversely, the invention of the portable typewriter (like the Corona, 1912) extended the machine’s utility to personal and home use, forecasting a future where typewriting for all personal correspondence will be nearly universal. Globally, the machine is universal, with the writing systems adapted to over 150 languages. The adaptation to complex, non-Roman character sets, such as the Arabic character (which writes backwards, has over 100 individual characters, and requires varied spacing), is noted as a “crowning triumph of mechanical skill”. While ideographic languages like Chinese still pose a major challenge, the typewriter has encouraged the growth of English as the commercial language in the Far East, as its time-saving service is so great that it is “worth another language”. Furthermore, the rise of the portable machine reveals the typewriter’s immense, largely untapped value as an educational implement for children learning reading, writing, and composition.

• Chapter Key Points:
  • Decimal tabulator (1898) opened up accounting and tabular writing.
  • Portable machines expanded use into the personal/home sector.
  • Adaptation to Arabic and Cyrilian characters showcased mechanical ingenuity.
• Important Quote: “The use of the typewriter for every kind of personal writing was clearly forecast by its original builders… Many years were to elapse, however, before the employment of the typewriter became general outside of the business field”.

Chapter VIII. How Women Achieved Economic Emancipation Through the Writing Machine

The transformation of the social order is regarded as the typewriter’s greatest triumph. The goals of feminism—or “sex-emancipation”—could only be realized through equal economic opportunity, which the writing machine provided. Prior to 1873, career opportunities for educated women were severely limited by “blind and unreasoning” prejudice against their employment in clerical roles. General Francis E. Spinner, U.S. Treasurer, attempted to employ women as government clerks during the Civil War era, facing strong opposition. The typewriter, however, broke these ancient barriers through the law of necessity and fitness. The massive business growth facilitated by the machine reached a point where there were simply not enough men to perform all the clerical tasks. The girl stenographer and typist came into business because she was needed, and her subsequent economic freedom became the foundation for all other modern feminist developments, including the suffrage movement and greater social freedom. Sholes lived long enough to observe this change, stating that he was glad he had “done something for the women who have always had to work so hard”.

• Chapter Key Points:
  • Typewriter secured economic emancipation for women.
  • Prejudice restricted women primarily to teaching or nursing before 1873.
  • Unprecedented business growth created the necessity for female clerical labor.
• Important Quote: “Whatever I may have felt in the early days of the value of the typewriter, it is obviously a blessing to mankind, and especially to womankind. I am glad I had something to do with it”.

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Notable Quotes from the Book

1. “The story of the typewriter is really the latest phase of another and greater story—that of writing itself”.
2. “When the typewriter freed the executive from pen slavery it did more than save mere hand labor. It saved and conserved the very highest quality of brain labor”.
3. “He was always more than just to others and less than just to himself”. (Describing Christopher Latham Sholes).
4. “The first American patent on a typewriter was granted in 1829 to William Austin Burt of Detroit, afterwards better known as the inventor of the solar compass”.
5. “I am trying t to get the hang of this new f fangled writing machine, but am not making a shining success of it”. (Mark Twain, Dec. 9, 1874).
6. “The very conditions which made early progress so slow and difficult now began to reverse themselves”.
7. “We call this the age of big business… but it is only necessary to compare the average business office and business methods of today with those of fifty years ago to realize the extent to which modern business is an actual outcome of the writing machine”.
8. “It is interesting to know that, among the founders of the business, that man of vision, William O. Wyckoff, foresaw these results, and his letters to Earle… urge strongly the sale of machines in the home for educational use”.
9. “The prejudice which existed fifty years ago against the employment of women in a business office… is something which in our day is hard to understand”.
10. “The suffrage, the winning of greater social freedom, the wider participation of women in every phase of public life, all these are children of the same parent [economic freedom]”.

About the Author The Story of the Typewriter, 1873–1923 was created and published by the Herkimer County Historical Society. The Society, based in Herkimer, New York, released this volume in 1923 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the start of commercial typewriter manufacture in nearby Ilion. The purpose was to present the history of the invention, focusing on its local roots in the Mohawk Valley. The data used to compile the book was gathered from various sources, including individuals identified with the machine’s earliest history. The Society’s goal is to maintain its archives as the comprehensive repository for reliable information on Christopher Latham Sholes’s great contribution to the world. The foreword was written by John W. Vrooman, President of the Society.

How to Get the Most from the Books Focus on the connection between mechanical progress (visible writing, tabulators) and the social revolution (economic emancipation of women) to fully appreciate the machine’s transformative power.

Conclusion

The Story of the Typewriter, 1873–1923 successfully charts the profound and rapid impact of Christopher Latham Sholes’s invention. Beginning with Henry Mill’s long-forgotten patent and moving through Sholes’s tireless refinement of models, the narrative emphasizes the difficult path from invention to commercial viability, secured by partners like Densmore and the manufacturing power of Remington. The book details the essential mechanical progress—from the shift-key and visible writing to the introduction of tabulators and portable machines—that cemented the typewriter as a universal necessity. Above all, the volume positions the typewriter as a pivotal force in human destiny, highlighting its role not only in expanding modern business and speeding communication, but primarily in breaking down social prejudice and enabling the economic emancipation of millions of women worldwide.