The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-08-15
THE FIRST TYPEWRITER.
Rapid Rise in Favor of This Time
saving Machine.

New York Evening Post.
To show how comparatively new con-
venience is the TYPEWRITER, In spite OF its
now almost universal use, the first per-
son to do practical work with such
machine has been taking the current CEN
sus as chief statistician for manufaotur-
ers. s. N. D. North. who was an editor
in Utica, NJ Y, in 1872 says: Il think
/ have often wished that I had kept the
original machine, for it would have il
Illustrated better than any other mechan-
ism with which l am familiar. the mar
velous rapidity with which American in
genuity advances to the point OF perfec-
ton any labor-saving instruments, the
underlying principle of which has been
worked out. This machine was heavy
and cumbersome in comparison with the
delicate mechanism OF today, but tne
principle of construction was essentially
the same, except that the carriage, in
stead of being restored to position by
the hand at the end Of each line as now,
was brought back by means of foot
pedal and it came with a jar that made
the machine tremble in every part. My
machine did neither uniform nor elegant
work, but after a week or two l was en-
abled to accomplish all my editorial work
with it. and began to realize what an
unspeakable boon to all weak-eyed per-
sons lay here in embyro."
The first American typewriter patent
was issued in 1929 to William Austin Burt
of Detroit, Mich, who was also the IN
his writing machine typographer.
Like several which followed it. this form
was too slow for practical results. About
1S47 A. Ely Beach of New York, patented
all the essential features of the modern
typewriter. Three Milwaukee men-C;
Latham Sholes, Samuel w. Soule. and
Carlos Glidden-did much to make type
writing practicable. They worked out the
machine which furnishes the basis for
the most generally used commercial pro-
duct of today
At first the typewriter was received by
the public with suspicion. 1t seemed sub
versive Of existing conditions. A court
gave the first public recognition OF the
merits of the machine. because a court
reporter found 1t convenient for making
duplicate minutes of the proceedings.
These came under the attention of the
Judges, and it was not long before they
expressed a preference for typewriter
papers The lawyers next found the use
of typewriters a great help in the bus
mess of their offices, and the large com
time-saving devices when assured that
they are such. began to use machines in
their correspondence. The letters sent
out by them resulted in a wide advertise
ment of the typewriter, which soon then
came into general use. 1t was not until
1897 that diplomatic communications gen.
orally could be written with machine,
though the American Department of
State set the example of using the type
writer in it's domestic correspondence as
early as 1895. Even now all highly cere-
monious letter and addresses have to be
done by hand with pen and ink.
New York ranks first and Chicago sec
ond in the number of typewriter manu-
factring establishments. In the whole
country this industry now turns out
product valued at more than $6.OOO,OO0
a year, and gives employment to 5000
DeOple