Commenced in 1997 and believed to be the first antique typewriter related "Virtual Museum" and "Virtual Library" on the web.

© 1997 - 2021 Janet M Ridings.  All rights Reserved.

www.ladytypewriter.co.uk

Timeline

Discover from the Typewriter Timeline the wide variety of writing machines and typewriters produced, when and by whom..

In this electronic age of computers, iPads and iPhones how might Henry Mill, an Englishman, have felt all those years ago when he was granted a patent for his writing machine by Queen Anne on 7th March, 1714.  Little is known about his machine save for the Patent which stated: “by his great study, paines and expense, lately invented and brought to perfection an artificial machine or method for the impressing or transcribing of letters, singly or progressively one after the other, as in writing, whereby all writings whatsoever may be engrossed on paper or parchment so neat and exact as not to be distinguished from print….. The impression being deeper and more lasting than any other writing, and not to be erased or counterfeited without manifest discovery.”

The invention of the printing press by Johann Gutenberg in 1476 changed the way of life with the increased production of books and newspapers.  Henry, along with many others, recognised the importance of the printing press and how it would change the lives of everyone.  Over the years numerous machines were invented in the endeavour to succeed in producing a typewriter that would enable work to be produced quicker and more easily than by hand.  Machines varied considerably from embossing machines to aid the blind, printing morse characters and mechanical handwriting appliances, all bearing little resemblance to the typewriter as we know it.  Many of the ideas of the early inventors were improved upon and incorporated over the years.  The first production typewriter was made by Christopher Latham Sholes, and  was produced by the Remington Company in 1873.

Enjoy your journey through the history of the typewriter.