Today in History

June 23, 1868

Patent for "Type-Writer" granted

Christopher Latham Sholes, Samuel Soule, and Carlos Glidden did not develop the first typewriter - but their design as patented on June 23, 1868 was destined to be the most successful. None of them, though, saw that success: theirs was one of many typewriters being developed at the time, and with no indication that theirs would be especially succesful, Soule and Glidden bailed on their patents, leaving the machine in the hands of Soule and a new investor, James Densmore. Densmore pushed himself and Sholes to tirelessly develop newer and better models, but eventually they sold the patents to E. Remington and Sons, a mechanical company. Sholes sold his half for $12,000 - Densmore kept royalties which eventually earned him over $1 Million. Besides the basic design of what would become the most successful typewriter, Sholes' other great contribution is the QWERTY keyboard, developed to provide easy access to the most used letters in the alphabet.

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