How the QWERTY Keyboard was created?
There are two main characters behind the story of the QWERTY Keyboard, and they are Christopher Latham Sholes and Carlos Glidden.
In 1866, Sholes, who was a Wisconsin newspaper publisher and former state senator, co-invented an automated machine to number coupons and tickets. This was previously done by hand. Then, Glidden had an idea. He told Sholes that he could also make a machine that would print letters as well as figures.
Together with S.W. Soule, a Milwaukee printer, began working on what would become the world’s first commercially successful “Type Writer,” based on the article in Smithsonian Magazine.
The first model had a semi-sequential keyboard layout. All letters are uppercase and the capital “I” also serves as the number “1”. There is a debate on how the QWERTY Keyboard came to life. Some historians stated that this was done to solve a jamming problem by spacing out the most common letters in English.
Some historians, especially the most recent ones, believe that the design was specifically intended to help telegraphists avoid common errors when transcribing Morse code. Whatever version of the story came up, the QWERTY was created after 30 test models were done by Sholes and Glidden.
In 1874, the Sholes and Glidden typewriter was introduced to the market and it was manufactured by E. Remington & Sons. It was called the “Remington No. 1” and it became the first commercially successful typewriter. This has become the predecessor of the successful designs.
Through this, it is easier for people, especially in certain industries like the business, legal, and medical fields, to convey their message through documents without the fear that their penmanship would not be understood.
Fun Facts:
- In 1961, IBM’s Selectric typewriter was introduced.
- The first personal computers were introduced in the 1970s.
- In 1999, the first Blackberry with a QWERTY Keyboard was released.
- In the early 2010s, touchscreen phones and tablets dominated the market.
Did you know that there is also a Braille keyboard for blind people? Here are some Facts About Braille , The Tactile System For Blind People.