Typewriter

Christopher Sholes, USA, patent 79,265 of 1868. QWERTY and the typist economy.

Overview

Sholes patented the first commercially successful typewriter, sold to Remington in 1873. The QWERTY layout, arranged to stop typebar jams, survived every later efficiency challenger including Dvorak. Typewriting became the first mainstream office job for women. Mark Twain claimed first typewritten manuscript honors. Carbon paper and the typed form reshaped bureaucracy. The keyboard outlived its machine: every phone screen still carries Sholes' letter arrangement.