One of the first typewriters was called the “literary piano.” It looked like a dresser drawer holding ivory keys in front of a ring of metal type, and was created by Samuel Francis of Newport, Rhode Island.
Writers for generations after played the keys to write their stories and letters, some even saying typewriter ghosts told them what to say.
The typewriter, like many inventions, had many fathers, and perhaps some mothers, though women inventors are not as well-represented in historical documents. All around the world, people in Italy, Denmark, England and other countries were simultaneously working on writing machines.
We do know that in 1868 Christopher Latham Sholes, Wisconsin newspaper publisher and politician, patented a typewriter after working on the device at Kleinstuber’s Machine Shop in Milwaukee. Sholes, now considered the inventor of the modern typewriter, found the keys were sticking, so created the QWERTY keyboard we use today, to slow down our quick fingers.
—Shannon