New Britain herald., 1925-09-28
LIGHT ON WHO INVENTED THE TYPEWRITER


 turbed. A letter of three closely typewriter pages has been re- celved from this organization. the object of which is 10 disabuse our minds as 10 who really invented that drayhorse of modern com munication, the typewriter.
 It appears that this newspaper - in common with a multitude of other newspapers last August published an item from Innsbruck. Austria, which stated that a me- morial tablet was unveiled at the house of Peter Mitterhofer. who. Austrians claim. was the inventor of the typewriter. The item then stated that Carlos Glidden, an American, saw the Mitterhofer contraption of wood, leather, wire and gut strings at the Imperial Polytechnic Institute at Vienna, copied it, and In 1867 constructed the first American machine in con- junction with C. Latham Sholes and S. W. Spulc, and tn g American patent was acquired by E. Rem ington & Sons, of Ilon, N. Y.
 The Herkimer county historical society Is perhaps justified in dis putting the astonishing intelligence from Austria to the extent of It's ability, and as long as the mimeo- graphing machines are working and there is money In the treasury to buy postage stamps this ability ought to he considerable.
 Disputation of the Austrian claim also is considerable. It is pointed out in the letter of the so- ciety that Carlos Glidden never was in Europe and therefore could not have stolen any ideas in Vienna. There had been large list of individuals who tried to invent & typewriter and the first patent was granted for' such a contraption by the British patent office in 1714
 There are two kinds of inven, tions: Those that don't work and those that do. The difference be- tween the foreign invented type writers and the American invented typewriters was the difference be- tween futility and workability.
 The first British patent for such a machine was to Henry Mills ir 1714. More than half a century later the Declaration of Indepen' dence and the Constitution of the United States were written In long hand, which is 8 forceful commen tary upon how the Mills machine was regarded by the writing fra ternity.
 The first American patent wa granted to William Austin Burt o Detroit, In 1929. A French paten was granted in 1883. And one wa granted to Charles Thurber 0 Worcester, Mass, in 1S4S. Ther were many others" later. Thes machines were curious things | look at, but the public continue writing in longhand.
 The first practical typewriter va invented by Christopher Lathal sholes, an American. in conjunc ton with s. W. soule of Milwar kee and Carlos Glidden, and short ly thereafter they were associate with James Densmore of Meat vile, Pa. soule dropped out of. til enterprise within year, Shol' was tho principal inventive geni' and with Glidden manufacture about 30 experimental models b' tween 1887 and 1873, in Thic year the Remingtons took over u patent and began smanufacturir the machines,
 All of which is not saying th Herr Mitterholfer didn't inve some kind of typewriter
 Austria. Let his memory get due - he probably invented tI first typewriter in Austria. But Il facts of worldwide significance a
 that until Sholes and his c workers applied their invent
 genius 10 the problem the typ writer remained a curio for m seums The American inventi
 worked and the others merely 2 , tempted to work. Which is consi
 erable Of a difference.