810 



TYPE-WRITERS. 



fit into serrated catches attached to the bottom 

 of the box, so that the frame can be set at any 

 convenient angle for working. Two distinct mo- 

 tions are provided for those affecting the paper, 

 and those required for operating the type. The 

 paper receives no lateral movement, that being 

 provided for in the type mechanism. The paper 

 can be fed equally well whether in sheets or in 

 web form. The sheet is fed forward by turning 

 a milled disk at the left of the instrument, and 

 for the line space by a thumb piece operated by 

 the left hand. The type are un,der the control 

 of the right hand. The space for each letter is 

 equal. The printing mechanism consists of an 

 upper and a lower plate about three eighths of 

 an inch apart. The lower one is rigid and rests 

 on the front bar of the frame, while the upper 

 one is hinged to a rod and held up from the bot- 

 tom plate by levers fixed to a small shaft on the 

 front of the upper plate. It is acted upon by a 

 spiral spring. To the top of the upper plate is 

 screwed a rectangular piece of ebonite three 

 inches long by two and a quarter inches wide, 

 in which are pierced 72 tapered holes, each hole 

 corresponding to a type character. The print- 

 ing characters are raised in relief on a thin elas- 

 tic plate of vulcanized rubber about three inches 

 square and stiffened around the edges by a light 

 brass frame. A variety of the plates are manu 

 factured so that any class of type may be em- 

 ployed and any language written by the simple 

 substitution of one plate for another, occupying 

 only a moment's time. The plates are attached 

 to an articulated frame fitted with fixed points 

 and constituting a double parallel motion. It is 

 free to move in any direction with equal facility 

 and in such a way as to bring the required letter 

 or character immediately below the printing post 

 in the center of the carriage. By the depression 

 of the key a conical pointer depending from its 

 lower extremity enters the opening bearing the 

 required character, and by the same movement 

 the carriage is depressed. The designated letter 

 on the plate below having been carried to its 

 place over the paper where the impression is to 

 be made is driven through a small aperture, and 

 the impression is completed. The ink is supplied 

 by a pad lying between the two plates against 

 whose surface the type plate is pressed by "every 

 action of the carriage. 



The Sholes-and-Glidden Machine. It was 

 reserved for C. Latham Sholes, a printer, Sam- 

 uel W. Soule, also a printer, and Carlos Glidden, 

 to open the way to success. At the close of the 

 civil war, Mr. Sholes was made Collector of 

 Customs at Milwaukee. His interest in printing 

 had never flagged, and in 1866-'67, with Soule, an 

 old friend, he was engaged in making a machine 

 for putting consecutive numbers on bank notes, 

 or on the pages of blank books after they were 

 bound. Soule had some reputation as an invent- 

 or, and the two were brought in contact with 

 Glidden, who was developing a model of his own 

 for agricultural purposes. Glidden was interest- 

 ed in their work and called their attention to the 

 fact that, pursuing the principles there embod- 

 ied, letters and words could be made instead of 

 figures and numbers. Neither Sholes nor Soule 

 had ever seen or heard of such a thing as a type- 

 writer, and they paid little attention to Glidden's 

 comment. But having seen an account in an 



English journal of the " Pterotype," they began 

 to realize the possibilities in sto're by the substi- 

 tution of letters for figures in their apparatus. It 

 became evident to the two printers that there was 

 a fortune for him who first completed a prac- 

 tical and durable machine of that sort, and as 

 Glidden had first called attention to the idea, he 

 was taken into their confidence, mutual sugges- 

 tions were interchanged, and months passed 

 while the rough ideas were being molded. A 

 working model was made, which proved in a 

 measure satisfactory. Early in 1868, Soule and 

 Glidden withdrew, and Sholes was left alone. 

 His lack of capital threatened serious embarrass- 

 ment, but James Densmore, of Meadville, Pa., 

 another printer and editor, came to the rescue. 

 He coined the word " type-writer." In June and 

 July, 1868, two more patents connected with the 

 machine were issued. 



One improvement after another was develop- 

 ed, till twenty-five or thirty experimental instru- 

 ments were made, each succeeding one a little 

 better than the one preceding. They were sent 

 out and put into the hands of interested writers, 

 generally stenographers and practical persons 

 who knew better than any one else what would 

 be needed and satisfactory. James 0. Clephane, 

 of Washington, D. C., tried the instruments as 

 no one else had tried them ; he tested them, one 

 after another, as fast as they could be made and 

 sent to him, and condemned them, till the pa- 

 tience of Mr. Sholes was exhausted. But Dens- 

 more insisted that this was the very salvation of 

 the enterprise. Sholes kept at work, and, prof- 

 iting by the suggestions made by operators and 

 critics, reached a point, in 1873, where he deter- 

 mined to make arrangements for manufacture 

 and general sale. 



In Feb., 1873, Mr. Densmore associated with 

 himself G. W. N. Yost, under the firm name of 

 Densmore and Yost. A contract was made with 

 E. Remington and Sons, of Ilion,N. Y., for 1,000 

 machines certainly, and 24,000 more condition- 

 ally. The instrument had then become known 

 as the Sholes-and-Glidden type-writer. 



The first instrument was on sale by the mid- 

 dle of 1874, and by January, 1875, 400* had been 

 disposed of. The type-writer steadily became 

 popular. Special tools were constructed, the 

 plant increased, and improvements added. In 

 the spring of 1876, Yost, with three experts, 

 went to Cincinnati to establish the business, ;m<l 

 succeeded in selling over one hundred machines 

 at retail before July 1. He then employed 

 Charles Wyrnan, from the assembling depart- 

 ment at the factory, to come to Cincinnati and 

 keep the machines that had been sold in order 

 and continue the sales. In December following 

 fewer than twenty-five per cent, of the machines 

 were in use, the expert being unable to keep 

 them in working order, and the instruments were 

 continually being returned for repairs. In 1S76, 

 the " Sholes " was shown at the Centennial Ex- 

 position, and its advertising matter and samples 

 of work scattered therefrom to all parts of the 

 world, creating surprises wherever known. Dur- 

 ing the two years of 1876-'77 about 3,000 had 

 been sold. Up to that time its general appear- 

 ance was much like a covered box with a set of 

 keys on a projecting table in front. On lifting 

 the cover, the paper carriage was disclosed ; the 



