Today, July 1st, was the date when the first commercially successful typewriter called Sholes and Glidden typewriter, also known as Remington, went on sale in 1874.
This typewriter, which became the industry standard, included a cylindrical platen and a four row QWERTY keyboard design that remains in ubiquitous use. Look at the top letter row of your keyboard!
The first model allowed the users to print only upper-case letters, which was remedied later in the Remington No. 2 model. It was also a bit frustrating since the typist couldn’t see what was being printed as they typed.
The reception from the public was not very enthusiastic at first due to the typewriter’s high cost, the need to train people to operate it, and the lack of a market. People also found upper-case printing to be impersonal and rather offensive or insulting. DO YOU AGREE?
This past March, Boston’s only typewriter shop, Cambridge Typewriter closed its doors after more than 50 years. Those of us who love typewriters will miss Tom Furrier, who owned this magical shop for the last 45 years. In this post, we include a video taken on the last day of his shop, a photo of Tom in his infamous inky coat, and the work bench where he once worked miracles with old typewriters.
