PEN TO PC

A brief history of hardcopy

In the beginning...

Long before the advent of the personal computer and the word processor, the ancestors of today's desktop printers were occupying the offices and desks of people and organisations that needed quickly produced, legible documents.

Prior to the late 19^th century, business and professional letters and documents were handwritten. It was a laborious means of recording and transferring information. No doubt many would argue that handwriting has character, whereas machine-made text seems soulless but it at least avoids the shortcomings of handwriting.

From the beginning of the 18^th century there was interest in devising machines that could enable the blind to write to the sighted. A few machines were actually made and it must have become apparent that such machines could be adapted for clerical work also.

One of the earliest records is an English patent on a writing machine granted by Queen Ann in 1714 to engineer Henry Mill. The machine was never built. The few developments mentioned in the 18^th century were mostly aimed at assisting the blind. During the 19^th century however, there was a flowering of writing machines of all styles and sizes both in Europe and the Americas. Great ingenuity was involved in the design and construction of these machines but few survived or became successful in the marketplace.

Mechanised Writing

What would a writing machine need to be capable of doing? Assuming English language, it would have to imprint on a suitable surface recognisable characters, including the punctuation marks needed to add clarity to the document. The characters must be entered in a line running from left to right, beginning at the top of a sheet and working down one line at a time to the bottom. As machines are made to minimise manual input, ideally the machine itself would have to move either the paper or the imprinting device to fill a line of text. Additionally, the paper would have to be advanced when each line had been completed.

The printing industry had already solved some of the issues such as support material (paper, board or textile) and ink. It had also standardised the letters of the alphabet in a variety of character sets to suit different applications and had developed means of moulding typefaces in a suitable metal. It is the printing industry that gave us UPPER and lower case letters.

However, three hundred years ago, getting a writing machine to put text onto paper in the manner outlined above was still an unmet challenge. (http://www.redsun.com/type/abriefhistoryoftype/).

Development of the Typewriter

The once ubiquitous and indispensable typewriter in its various forms is one of the better known devices that evolved out of the early work on writing machines. It seems there was no actual inventor of the "typewriter"; rather it seems to have grown over time out of the work of various groups and individuals. Not surprisingly in an age of limited communications, people claiming to have invented the typewriter were likely unaware of what already had been developed elsewhere. However, there were people who invented particular forms of the typewriter.

Typically, typewriters comprise two principal parts: the imprinting system (letter keys and associated mechanisms, type and inking) and the paper transport system. The earliest methods of imprinting were probably influenced by the printing techniques of the time, such as directly inking the typefaces. The inefficiency and messiness would have spurred the search for a better method.

Image-makers

Pellegrino Turri in Italy seems to have some right to be identified as the inventor of a machine that could be considered a typewriter. Perhaps as early as 1801 and certainly by 1808, he had made such a machine for Countess Carolina Fantoni, who had become blind when young. Turri developed a medium for imprinting onto paper the characters typed on his machine and in the process invented carbon paper. After the Countess' death Turri's machine was lost along with its technical details but her typed letters survived and some refer to the machine.

Working at the same time as Turri, Ralph Wedgwood in England got a patent in 1806 on a hand- writing machine for the blind. It used a metal stylus to produce the characters and Wedgwood made "carbonated" paper for the same purpose that Turri did. This was a sheet of paper impregnated with printers' ink and allowed to dry. The inked paper was sandwiched between a sheet of thin paper on top and normal writing paper. The stylus traced the characters and the bottom sheet provided the finished document. It was not difficult to adapt this method to writing machines. The inked sheet probably had a short life under the pounding of the type and may have been messy to handle.

The ultimate transfer medium was inked ribbon. It was supplied on a spool that slipped onto a spindle on one side of the machine. A take-up spool on the other side drew the ribbon across the face of the paper as it was being typed. On more sophisticated machines an automatic reversing mechanism extended use of the ribbon until text quality became unsatisfactory. At this point the ribbon could be replaced with just a little difficulty. The textiles used generally were cotton or silk, which was the more durable. Eventually synthetic textiles were used with varying success. Coated Mylar tape was available in the second half of the 20th century. It made very good images but as typing removed the coating it was generally good for only one or two passes. As it retained a perfect record of everything that had been typed it posed a risk to privacy or information security.

Red and black inked ribbons were available for book-keeping work, with each colour occupying half the width of the ribbon. A key or lever was used to raise or lower the guides that supported the ribbon to select the desired colour.

The Basket Case

Most mechanical, type bar typewriters are quite complex but the mechanisms are similar in design. The type bars, together with the keys, levers and links that operate them, are arranged in an assembly called a "basket". The moulded typeface is fixed at the free end of each type bar and there are usually two mirror-image characters in a vertical line relatively to the paper. The required character is selected by a shift mechanism. This can be locked to type all upper case letters.

There are forty to fifty type bars, depending on the complexity and application of the machine, and these are arranged in an arc. When any character key is pressed, its type bar flicks out to the geometric centre of the arc, the point at which the character will be imprinted. This point of convergence is the cause of type bar jamming when typing very quickly or more than one character key is pressed at the same time.

The fixed imprinting position of the above arrangement necessitates moving the paper along the line to be typed. This is achieved by winding the paper onto a cylindrical, revolving platen, usually of hard rubber, mounted on a carriage that traverses the typewriter. Pressing any character key or the space bar allows the carriage, and thus the paper, to move one step to the left by means of an escapement. The step can be fixed (eg width of the letter "m") or, in advanced machines be proportional to the width of the letter just typed. When a line of text is completed or the carriage arrives at the left hand stop, the typist returns the carriage to the right hand stop and the paper is simultaneously advanced one line by the lever used to move the carriage.

The Alternatives

An alternative to the type bar arrangement is the type element. This may be a cylinder or sphere on the surface of which all the required characters are moulded in a number of rows and columns. To select the required character column the element is rotated in the horizontal plane. In the case of a cylindrical element the row is selected by raising or lowering the cylinder. A spherical element is rolled on a horizontal axis parallel to the platen to select a row. Generally, this kind of element traverses the width of the machine on a carriage of its own and the platen is fixed. Another mechanism rotates the platen and advances the paper to the next line.

Daisy wheels are another form of type element and comprise radial arms with the type moulded onto the face at the end of each arm, like a type bar. A shift mechanism selects the character, as with type bars. The daisy wheel may traverse the width of the machine on its own carriage or require a traversing platen and carriage. These basically are indexing devices in which the wheel is revolved rapidly to the required character and locked. A hammer strikes the typeface against the ink ribbon and imprints the paper.

Early Workers

William Burt of Detroit was granted in 1829 the first US patent on a device called the Typographer. It was an indexing machine on which the letters were arranged on the edge of a disc. Using it was slower than writing by hand. Though Burt produced a successor his efforts never came to commercial fruition. Charles Thurber of Massachusetts patented a kind of typewriter intended for the use of the blind in 1843, and is also noted for inventing the Chirographer.

Giuseppe Ravizza (Italy) built a relatively advanced typewriter in 1855. It was remarkable for the times in that the text could to be read as it was typed. Typically, the typing on most machines of the era was not visible to the typist. Such machines were said to be "blind", as opposed to "visible" and the typist had to rely on good training and memory for accuracy.

In Brazil, the Emperor in 1861 presented a gold medal to Fr Francisco João Azevedo, in recognition of his being the "real" inventor of the typewriter. It was a large piece of equipment built of wood and a variety of scrap materials.

What became possibly the best machine of its times appeared in Denmark in 1865. Rev. Rasmus Malling-Hansen's Skrivekugle (Hansen Writing Ball) was in 1870 the world's first production writing machine. It was sophisticated in its design and construction and was refined over time. Exhibited a number of times, it won first prizes and was a commercial success up to Hansen's death in 1890, when production ceased. Some machines reputedly continued in service up to World War I.

Early models of the Writing Ball used a battery-powered, solenoid-operated escapement for paper transport, though this hardly makes it the first "electrical" typewriter. Later models used an entirely mechanical escapement. Hansen also experimented with the layout of the keys to achieve the fastest possible typing speed: his machine is reckoned to be the fastest typewriter ever produced.

By 1878 the Hansen Writing Ball had become quite compact and looked much different from the original, apart from the keyboard, which retained its characteristic dome shape. (http://www.officemuseum.com/typewriters_hansen_writing_ball.htm).

The keyboard looked somewhat like a half-grapefruit studded with 52 golf tees (the type keys), and was hinged on one side. Each key was sprung and joined to a piston at the end of which was a typeface. Only upper case letters were used. Avoiding the links and levers of the other machines of the day, the keyboard mechanism was very simple and fast but required precision machining. The axis of each piston was in line with a point on the dome's vertical axis where the character would be printed. Inked tape on rollers at each side beneath the dome imprinted the paper.

After the keyboard was hinged open, a sheet of paper could be clipped into a curved frame that passed under the dome and over a platen. The frame was rotated on the axis of its curve to advance the paper one letter at a time and another mechanism moved the frame longitudinally one line at a time. This meant the document was produced at a right angle relative to the position of the typist.

It was 1867 before the first practical typing machine appeared in the US and it set the pattern for the future (http://home.earthlink.net/~dcrehr/firsttw.html). It had been developed by three inventor friends, Sholes, Glidden and Soule, who called it the Type-Writer, from which the modern name is obviously derived. After five or so years of trying to perfect the machine through numerous models they sold their rights. Thomas Alva Edison apparently had assisted Sholes and in 1871 took out a typewriter patent himself.

The sewing machine division of Remington, the fire-arms manufacturer, acquired the rights to the Sholes, Glidden and Soule machine and began producing it in 1873 under the name Sholes-Glidden Type-Writer. Predictably, it was mounted on what looked like a sewing machine stand and used a treadle for the carriage return. There was a desktop model that used a lever in place of the treadle. It also appears to be the first US machine to use inked cotton ribbon for transferring the type to the paper. Only upper case characters were available and the letter "I" was used for the numeral 1. Because the type bars struck upwards at the bottom of the platen, the text being typed was not visible. Though these machines much improved office efficiency only about 5,000 were sold but the idea had been launched.

The year 1878 brought improvements to this machine, such as the addition of lower case characters on the same type bars, which were selected through a shift-lock arrangement. Remington marketed it under its own name and it became a financial success.

The type bars, especially in early typewriters, were prone to jamming when typing adjacent keys in quick succession. It is believed Sholes, or some one connected to him, thought that momentarily slowing the typist's fingers might allow the first type bar to clear the imprinting zone before the next key arrived. To this end, he experimented with the keyboard layout. The result was the now familiar QWERTY key board for the English language.

Unfortunately this keyboard layout is inefficient from the typist's angle (cf Hansen's Writing Ball). Though more efficient keyboard layouts were devised, QWERTY became the standard by default. It has been widely adapted for other languages. The Dvorak keyboard layout facilitates faster typing and is used by dedicated enthusiasts.

For more information on the Dvorak keyboard visit http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/jcb/Dvorak/index.html OR http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/~sander/mensa/dvorak1.html

Towards the turn of the 19th century "electrical" typewriters began to appear. This is somewhat of a misnomer and these machines are better described as "electro-mechanical". They are basically mechanical typewriters equipped with an electric motor that lightened the typists work.

In the US, probably the outstanding typewriter maker from the last decade of the 19th century was George Blickensderfer. The Blickensderfer Company went on to become one of the most successful and innovative in this field. (http://www.portabletypewriters.com/portable_typewriters_blickensderfer.htm)

It seems not many early Blickensderfers were made. "Blicks", as the machines were affectionately and more conveniently known, had some very attractive features. These included visible typing, a type wheel (more properly, type element) as opposed to type bars, automatic proportional spacing, adjustable line spacing and an automatic, key-actuated carriage return. They were quieter than type bar machines and required less effort to operate. As well, type elements were available in various typefaces and other languages. Having fewer parts than other machines of the times, Blicks were very durable, reliable and easy to use. The type was inked on its way to the paper by a replaceable felt roller and was claimed to give a superior impression. Blickensderfer preferred to supply its own fast and "logical scientific" keyboard layout but it also offered QWERTY on request.

Around 1893 the portable model 5 was introduced. It took a while to take off but remained in production for some time and established Blickensderfer both in the US and Europe, which was the more developed market. There was also a feather weight aluminium version of the machine. Other models followed.

Unfortunately, the outbreak of World War I hit Blickensderfer particularly hard and sales slumped. Production and the brand name ceased in 1917 with the death of the company's founder, and the business and its patents were bought by LR Roberts in 1919. After operating the business for a few years, Roberts folded and later the Blickensderfer equipment and patents were acquired by Remington when it started producing portable machines.

Towards Today...

By the end of the 19th century most of the familiar makes of machine had appeared and the typewriter was beginning to take on its modern appearance. A significant improvement was redesigning the mechanism to allow the text to be read as it was typed, and inked textile ribbons had become the standard. Over the next twenty or so years, typewriters became standardised in design and appearance. Subsequent improvements were mostly refinements, such as enclosing the mechanism to reduce noise.

Electrical typewriters began slowly to enter the market. In 1925 Remington had sold 2500 typewriters fitted with North East Electric motors. However, uncertainties arising from the merger of Remington and Rand stalled production and North East Electric decided to produce typewriters itself and in 1929 the first Electromatic Typewriter appeared. When General Motors Delco acquired NE Electrics motor division, Electromatic Typewriters became a company in its own right. Sales of the Electromatic had been modest but it was a good, heavy duty machine, particularly suited to producing multiple carbon copies. This made it popular in the offices of government.

IBM (International Business Machines), even though a later starter, was one of the leaders in the realm of electrical typewriters. The company had its origins in 1889 when Herman Hollerith, who was contracted to the US Census Bureau, developed a machine for tabulating statistical data and patented it. This machine considerably shortened the time required to complete the census and Hollerith's work is recognised as foundational to the information processing industry. He founded a business in 1896 called the Tabulating Machine Company. It grew by merging with other technology companies and in 1911 was incorporated as the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) and, among other lines, produced punched card equipment. It listed on New York Stock Exchange in 1916.

Thomas J. Watson joined CTR in 1914 and became General Manager, despite his having been convicted in February, 1913 of anti-trust activities while working with NCR. This earned him a year's imprisonment and $5000 fine. In fact, he was a man of principle and was extremely capable and ambitious. In 1915 he became President of CTR, and in 1924 changed the company name to International Business Machines. As history shows, IBM (nicknamed Big Blue) was very successful under Watson's shrewd management. It went on to become one of the world's leading IT companies.

In 1933 IBM acquired Electromatic Typewriters and, after investing heavily, began producing electrical typewriters, starting with the Model 01 in 1935. The Selectric appeared in 1961 and revolutionised typewriter design (while at the same time being a throwback to the Blickensderfer Electric model of 1902). Ironically, the arrival of the Selectric foreshadowed the twilight of the typewriter as a business tool in developed countries. (http://www.etypewriters.com/history.htm)

The Selectric was quite adaptable and was marketed in a number of guises and models: data recording, composing, correcting and, after suitable modification, it even served as a computer terminal. Its key features included the "golf ball" type element, which was available with a variety of type faces that made the machine very versatile, proportional spacing on some models, and a keyboard mechanism that prevented more than one key being operated at a time. It could also be obtained with sophisticated correction facilities including a correction tape and a memory that enabled major corrections to be made at a key-stroke.

Obviously, IBM was not the only manufacturer of such machines but it is representative of most other manufacturers in this highly competitive field.

The Computer Age

Electronic typewriters, the ultimate development, became available in 1978 (IBM Electronic Typewriter 50 and 60). Other manufacturers such as Canon and Brother were subsequently drawn into the market.

Electronic typewriters were a major departure from the classical typewriter, essentially being a form of dedicated word processor. They offer a level of sophistication, excelled only by today's personal computers, that was simply not feasible in electro-mechanical typewriters. They were compact, light and fast. The electronics did some of the work that otherwise would be done by mechanisms but added the possibility of on-board storage memory, multiple languages, dictionary/spelling checker, document formatting and advanced error correction. Printing however was still a mechanical operation. Daisy wheel type elements, available in different fonts and languages, are popular because of the versatility they add to the electronic typewriter.

About the time electronic typewriters were coming onto the market the first personal computers began to appear: Apple I (1976) and II, IBM PC (1981). Personal computers, with their greater versatility, began gradually to replace the typewriter as an office tool and hard copy was increasingly produced by computer printers. In the early days these were usually dot matrix types (sometimes called ballistic wire printers) though the print quality, even in so-called "near letter quality" printers, was not the equal of a good typewriter's. Over time other technologies emerged or existing technologies were adapted for producing computer hard copy. These included laser, die-sublimation and ink jet printers. IBM Selectrics were adapted as a computer terminal printer for main frame and other large scale computers.

Researched and written by Gerald R Maidment on behalf of Inkjet Online.

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Daisy wheel printer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dot matrix printer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

History of the IBM Typewriter

IBM - Wikipedia

IBM Archives IBM Model 01 electric typewriter

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The Exciting History of Carbon Paper!

The First Typewriter

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Timeline - History of Antique Typewriters

Today in Science History

Typewriter Ribbons Explained

Typewriters - Qwerty - Typing Invention History

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