The Savannah morning news., 1902-09-30
THE FIRST TYPEWRITER.
Rapid Rise i'm Favor of This Time
saving Machine.

Rapid Rise i'm Favor of This Time
saving Machine.
From the New York Post.
To show how comparatively new
a convenience is the typewriter.
in spite of it's now almost uni
versal use, the first person to do prac-
teal work with such a machine has
been taking the current census as chief
statistician for manufactures. S. n. d.
I North, who was an editor in Utica,
| N Y, in 1872, says II have often
wished that l had kept that original
machine, for it would have illustrated
| better than any other mechanism with
which / am familiar, the marvellous
rapidity with which American ingen-
uity advances to the point of perfec-
ton any labor-saving instrument, the
underlying principle of which has been
worked out. This machine was heavy
and cumbersome in comparison with
the delicate mechanism of to-day, but
the principle of construction was es
sentially the same, except that the car
riage, instead of being restored to po-
sition by the hand at the end of each
line as now, was brought back by
means of a foot pedal, and 1t came
with jar that made the machine trem-
BILE in every part. My machine did
after a week or two / was enabled to
accomplish all my editorial work on it,
and l began to realize what an un-
speakable boon to all weak-eyed per-
sons lay here in embryo"
The first American typewriter patent
was issued in 1929 to William Austin
Burt of Detroit, Mich, who was also
the inventor of the solar compass. He
called his writing machine a typo
nh A. n wi 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 typewrit-
ing practicable. They worked out the
machine which furnishes the basis for
the most generally used commercial
product of to-day.
At first the typewriter was received
by the public with suspicion. 1t SEEM
ed subversive of existing conditions.
A court gave the first public recogni-
ton to the merits of the machine. be-
cause a court reporter found 1t con-
venient for making duplicate minutes
of the proceedings. These came I'M
der the attention of the judges, and 1t
was not long before they expressed
DIcl6ItIlCc lOI lyPSWllLbcti PdpCios tt
lawyers next found the use of type
writer's a great help in the business of
their offices, and the large commercial
concerns always ready to adopt 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 adj
vertisement of the typewriter, which
soon then came into general use. 1t
was not until 1897 that diplomatic
communications generally could be
written with a machine. though the
American Department of State set the
example of using the typewriter in it's
domestic correspondence as early as
1896. Even now all highly ceremonious
letters and addresses have to be done
by hand with pen and ink.
New York ranks first and Chicago
second in the number of typewriter
manufacturing establishments. In the
whole country this industry now turns
out a product valued at more than &c.
100000 a year, and gives employment
to 5000 people.