Pellegrino’s invention of the carbon copy has made a lasting impact on the modern office (carbon copies are still regularly used on triplicate forms, phone messages and memo pads, sales receipts, etc.). His machine was intended to allow the blind to “write.” With Pellegrino Turri’s typing device, also came the first Carbon Copy. Fast forward to 1808, another typing machine was patented to Pellegrino Turri in Italy. Though there is no evidence that the machine was constructed, or sold, all we know is that this typing device was intended to prepare legal documents in a manner that was neat, legible, and in a standardized format.

In 1714, the first patent for a typing machine was issued in London, England to Henry Mill. Technically the first documented typing devices predate the Remington’s Sholes & Glidden typewriter, though none of them were manufactured for commercial use. Image source: from the Early Office Museum Remington’s First Sholes & Glidden Type-Writer 1867 So how did we get to where we are now, in the high-tech age of computers and plastics? To move forward, it’s important to first move backward in time and see how these first commercially successful type-writers came to be. The first Remington typewriters, created by Sholes, Glidden, and Soule even came with a foot pedal (like a sewing machine) to control carriage returns. What did the first typing machines look like? The first manufactured typewriters resembled sewing machines more than what most people imagine when they think of a “typewriter.” Remington, who manufactured the first typewriters, was also manufacturing sewing machines at the time, leading to this initial design atheistic. To begin the exploration of the first keyboards, we must first examine the origins of typing and the first typing devices. Chapter Three: Design – Computer Keyboard LayoutsĬhapter One: Design – The Evolution of the Typewriter.Chapter Two: Design – The Development of the Computer Keyboard.Chapter One: Design – The Evolution of the Typewriter.This paper will explore the history of typing, detailing the innovations across time that have accumulated into the definition of today’s standard for the ultimate typing experience. The keyboard is the number one computer interface used around the world and an integral object for many of us that most people take for granted. The type-writer has changed shape dramatically over the years, eventually becoming electronic- then practically obsolete as we moved into the age of computers and the birth of the keyboard. Since then, we have seen several updates in design, layout, technology, and function that are more efficient and user-friendly. These machines featured “blind typing” technology, where characters were printed on upside-down pages that remained unseen until completion. Keyboards and typing technology have come a long way over the past couple of centuries. The first typing devices were designed and patented in the 1700s while the first manufactured typing devices came about in the 1870s.

Led typewriter keyboard