1 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tex Stuff from dot com. 2 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: Hey everyone, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm Jonathan Strickland, 3 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:19,400 Speaker 1: and today I am joined once again by my coworker 4 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: and the one of the co hosts of Stuffy miss 5 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: in History Class, Holly. Welcome back, Hello, good to be here, Holly. Now, 6 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: last time when you joined us, we talked about sewing 7 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: machines and and they're amazing connection to patent wars, which 8 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:40,560 Speaker 1: was incredible. I had never known about that. A few 9 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:43,920 Speaker 1: people associate sewing with like fisticuffs and business anger, but 10 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:46,840 Speaker 1: in fact we're all tied up together. It's actually quite 11 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:51,880 Speaker 1: well tailored fisticuffs. So this time we're going to talk 12 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 1: again sort of a historical look, but now we're going 13 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: to look at typewriters, which actually have a slight connection 14 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: to sewing machines, is it turns out. But in order 15 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: to look at this, I thought we'd look at sort 16 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,479 Speaker 1: of the history of type setting. And to do that 17 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:10,320 Speaker 1: you got to go back to the fifteenth century. Yeah, 18 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: we're all the way back, and it's one of those things, uh, 19 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:16,400 Speaker 1: and we'll talk about it. But I have often heard 20 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: people ask like, why didn't the typewriter happen sooner. Yeah, 21 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:22,759 Speaker 1: we're going to touch on that. Yeah, So way back 22 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: in the fifteenth century, that's when uh, Johann Gutenberg, when 23 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: Johann Gutenberg began to experiment with printing techniques, and by 24 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: the fourteen fifties he had actually developed the famous printing 25 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: press produced the Gutenberg Bible, probably the most famous book 26 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: from the medieval era, simply because it was well medieval 27 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 1: Renaissance era, simply because it was the first one to 28 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: be mass produced in a rapid particularly compared to the 29 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: other rapid round. Rapid with air quotes is definitely the 30 00:01:57,040 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: way to go. But you didn't have to have a 31 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: school monks hand illuminating scripts in order to come out 32 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 1: with copies of something, and we wouldn't really need a typewriter. However, 33 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: this was meant to produce things on a mass scale, 34 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,640 Speaker 1: like a single document on a mass scale. It wasn't 35 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: meant to be uh for one off, right, you weren't 36 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: going to to type set a letter to your wife, 37 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: dearest wife. How romantic would that be? Though? Right? H 38 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,359 Speaker 1: I employed three clerks in the efforts I make to 39 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: write to you to tell you my tub reculosis as 40 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: settled and no, that was not the way things worked. 41 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: But one of the reasons why we didn't see a 42 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: need for this sort of thing to to creep into 43 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: other areas, like the idea of can we make a 44 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: device like a printing press but for a personal use? 45 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: Is that uh? Well, First, until the Industrial Revolution, there 46 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: was no way to create that kind of thing on 47 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: a mass scale, right, And you couldn't really go out 48 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: and churn out a dozen typewriters in a day back 49 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: in the technology of the mid fifteenth century yet. But 50 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:13,799 Speaker 1: even if there were. The other part was that labor, 51 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: particularly in Europe, was really cheap, and there was not 52 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: really a need to go and find a labor saving 53 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 1: device for a person because there were plenty of people. 54 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 1: There were plenty of people who were starving, and you 55 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: could pay them a haypenny for them to write down 56 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: what you assuming they could write that, they could write 57 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: down what you wanted them to say. So, um, but 58 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: it wouldn't it wouldn't be too much longer. I mean 59 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: still pretty early when you look at the first patent 60 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: or patent as the case may be, for a typewriter, 61 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: which dates all the way back to seventeen fourteen. Yes, 62 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: so we jumped forward like three years, but again nothing, 63 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: an abundance of people very happy to do things in 64 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: that time when they were not, you know, stumbling around 65 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: dying or or or making one another die. Yeah. And 66 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: then in seventeen fourteen, Uh, there was, as you said, 67 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: the first patent for Henry Mill, and that was issued 68 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: by Queen Anne of Great Britain, of course, and that 69 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: patent uh described an artificial machine or method for the 70 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: impressing or transcribing of letters singly or progressively, one after another, 71 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:29,359 Speaker 1: as in writing, whereby all writings whatsoever, may be engrossed 72 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 1: in paper or parchment, so that the said machine or 73 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: method maybe of great use in settlements and public records, 74 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: the impression being deeper and more lasting than any other writing, 75 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: and not to be erased or counterfeited without manifest discovery. Yep. 76 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 1: That's uh, that's patent language, guys. You can tell that 77 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,359 Speaker 1: that dates from seventeen fourteen, and patents have become no 78 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: less obtuse in that time. That's downright clear and brief 79 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: compared to a lot of monetor's. And as is often 80 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: the case, the more words there are, the less we 81 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: know about what actually happened in historical patents. Yeah, in 82 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:10,600 Speaker 1: this case, we have no surviving illustrations or model as 83 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: far as we've known, mill never built one of these things. 84 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: Perhaps he did, but if he did, there's no record 85 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,039 Speaker 1: of it. So most of the sources I've read have 86 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 1: essentially said there's it was never probably never insisted. So 87 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:28,559 Speaker 1: but still it shows that people as far back as 88 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:33,480 Speaker 1: the early eighteenth century, we're thinking about creating a machine 89 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,280 Speaker 1: that would allow for the writing of words in a 90 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: in a mechanized fashion. Then we moved to forward another 91 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: century to eight and we have an Italian inventor, Pellegrino Turi, 92 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: and he creates a typing machine for the Countess Carolina Fantoni. 93 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: D Well, sorry not da Vivizan. Oh man, my Italian 94 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: is terrible. My Germans only slightly worse. Um, at least 95 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:03,480 Speaker 1: I didn't try and throw in one of those terrible 96 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:06,719 Speaker 1: like like over the top stereotypical Italian accents, as I 97 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: am wont to do. But it was interesting, you know 98 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:14,040 Speaker 1: he made this for the countess for a specific reason. Yeah, 99 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,920 Speaker 1: she could not handwright because she had lost her vision. Yeah, 100 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:22,920 Speaker 1: so he created this device for her. We don't know 101 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:26,920 Speaker 1: what this particular device looked like. No model survives, However, 102 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: unlike the case with mill, we know that it existed 103 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: because there are still uh examples of the letters that 104 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: the Countess wrote on this device. Yeah, I would give 105 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: anything to see how it worked and how it particularly 106 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,159 Speaker 1: addressed her lack of vision, like sort of a variant 107 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:50,599 Speaker 1: almost Braille type situation going on, because there had to 108 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: be feel elements to the keys or should to memorize placement. Right, 109 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:57,040 Speaker 1: we don't even know if there were keys on this device, right, 110 00:06:57,080 --> 00:06:59,479 Speaker 1: We don't know what the mechanism was for it. We 111 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 1: just know that it was a thing that would allow 112 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:07,080 Speaker 1: her to write, and it's pretty phenomenal. Again, it's it's 113 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:09,479 Speaker 1: sad that that's lost to history because I also would 114 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:12,680 Speaker 1: love to hear about, you know, what actually happened. But 115 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:16,920 Speaker 1: then we get to the point where the Americans get involved. Yeah, 116 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: as we moved deeper into the eighteen hundreds, things really 117 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:23,240 Speaker 1: start cooking. The first one of note is William Austin Burt, 118 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:25,440 Speaker 1: and he was an American engineer and he was issued 119 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: a patent for what he called a typographer, and this 120 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: basically resembled a large chunk of wood and it had 121 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: sort of a clock like face on one side of it, 122 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 1: and according to this pattern, it was twelve by twelve, 123 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: so twelve inches wide, twelve inches tall, and then eighteen 124 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: inches long, so a little bit bigger than an actual 125 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,360 Speaker 1: cube in terms of dimension. And then it was a 126 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 1: little bit clunky in its actual function because to type 127 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: a single letter, you'd have to rotate this lever, and 128 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: then you would press down on it and make that 129 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: letter press against the paper, so you're kind of just 130 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: turn this dial. I tried to imagine what it would 131 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: be like to like type an email that way, and 132 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: it makes me both laughing cringe at the same time. 133 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: There are a couple of things. I actually watched the 134 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 1: video of one of these being used, but it was 135 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: without any helpful narration to explain what was going on, 136 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: and I, honestly I could not tell how you could 137 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 1: make sure you were putting the right letter on the 138 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 1: right spot on a page. It almost looked like the 139 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: impressions on the page we're going willy nilly. But I've 140 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:34,599 Speaker 1: seen actual letters that were written using the typographer, and 141 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 1: they look like a fairly not the not the neatest 142 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: type letter you've ever seen, but it is obviously a 143 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:46,680 Speaker 1: type letter and neater than handwriting. Yeah, But however it 144 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:51,199 Speaker 1: was not faster than handwriting, So this particular device never 145 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:53,960 Speaker 1: really took off. Also, there was a big setback. We 146 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:56,560 Speaker 1: talked about this, I think in our Sewing Machine episode 147 00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 1: two we did, and it's actually come up in other 148 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: episodes we've done. And if you missed in history class 149 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 1: that in UH six there was a huge fire at 150 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: the U. S. Patent Office which destroyed a lot of 151 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: historical records, including the only existing model of this device. Now, 152 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:14,960 Speaker 1: there was a replica that was built and displayed for 153 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:19,120 Speaker 1: the eight nine three Columbian Exposition in Chicago, So if 154 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:21,840 Speaker 1: you weren't busy getting murdered by H. H. Holmes, you 155 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: could have checked out the typographer. I believe that was 156 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:26,760 Speaker 1: the same one as H. H. Holmes being active. I 157 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: could be wrong about that, but it seems correct. But 158 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: I would want to well at any rate. Uh, it 159 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 1: just makes me think of The Devil in the White 160 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:37,760 Speaker 1: City and a fantastic book that everyone should check out 161 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:41,280 Speaker 1: about the the exposition and also about H. H. Holmes. 162 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: But uh, yeah, so at least there was this replica built, 163 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: and I think it was the replica of the Smithsonian 164 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 1: I believe holds the actual replica today. And um I 165 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:53,760 Speaker 1: saw the video of it being used in action, and 166 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:57,559 Speaker 1: again it didn't have any helpful narration. The patent itself 167 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: describes how it works, but again it's using such obtuse 168 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,560 Speaker 1: language that I could not get the meaning from the description. Yeah, 169 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 1: it's kind of one of those things where if you 170 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: had the machine in the patent in hand and you 171 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:10,760 Speaker 1: could like step through the steps and look it out, 172 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:13,200 Speaker 1: it would probably become click crystal clear, right, I could 173 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: be like two elements of the key together. You cannot 174 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:19,479 Speaker 1: crack the code exactly. Yeah, it was. It was completely 175 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: obscured from me. Now, in eighteen forty three, we have 176 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:27,400 Speaker 1: another inventor, Charles Thurber, who incorporates two things that become 177 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:34,000 Speaker 1: very important in later implementations of typewriters. He incorporates a 178 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:37,720 Speaker 1: movable carriage that's the part that holds the paper, and 179 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: the carriage itself moves as opposed to having to move 180 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:43,000 Speaker 1: the device around the paper in order to print the 181 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:46,720 Speaker 1: next letter. So you type a letter, the carriage moves 182 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:49,320 Speaker 1: a space so that you can type the next letter, 183 00:10:49,559 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 1: and then eventually you have to do a carriage return 184 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:54,320 Speaker 1: so that you can start typing again. Any of you 185 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:56,200 Speaker 1: guys out there who never used a typewriter, and I 186 00:10:56,240 --> 00:10:59,439 Speaker 1: assume there's probably more of you than there than otherwise, 187 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: since typewriters are rarely used at all these days, you 188 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:04,559 Speaker 1: might not appreciate that. But of course, you get to 189 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:06,720 Speaker 1: the end of a line in a piece of paper 190 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:09,680 Speaker 1: and you have to move down and across to the 191 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:11,559 Speaker 1: to get to the next line, and that's what the 192 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:15,959 Speaker 1: character turn was all about. He also implemented metal levers 193 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:18,760 Speaker 1: that stamped the letters or numbers onto paper into his 194 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: typing apparatus, and it was also considered to be really 195 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 1: slow and clunky and cumbersome, so it never took off 196 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: in the market. But those metal levers would become important. 197 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 1: The mechanical action of moving a lever up to press 198 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 1: against some sort of inked piece of paper or maybe 199 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:37,600 Speaker 1: carbon paper, to then make an impression against a blank 200 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:40,040 Speaker 1: sheet of paper, so that you stamp whatever letter it 201 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:44,840 Speaker 1: is onto the sheet. Yeah, those carried on for many, many, 202 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:48,120 Speaker 1: many many moons after that. Yeah, it was. And this 203 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:50,600 Speaker 1: seems like a good time to just mention we're really 204 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:54,000 Speaker 1: looking at the early years of the typewriter, and we're 205 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: talking specifically about mechanical ones. We could continue that discussion 206 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:03,719 Speaker 1: and get into things like, uh, you know, electro mechanical 207 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:08,600 Speaker 1: and electric typewriter. That's that's an entirely like that would 208 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: that would make a two hour podcast. So we're really 209 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: focusing on the mechanical ones here. But eighteen sixty seven 210 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:18,280 Speaker 1: is when we meet a very important person in the 211 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: way typewriters turned out. Yeah, and we're going to give 212 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:22,880 Speaker 1: a little bit of backstory on him because he is 213 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:26,280 Speaker 1: such a pivotal figure. So Christopher Latham Shoals was a 214 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:30,679 Speaker 1: US inventor. He was actually born in eighteen nineteen, so 215 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:32,840 Speaker 1: by the time he was really kind of becoming a 216 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 1: figure on the scene of typewriters, he was pretty mature. 217 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:38,680 Speaker 1: He had apprenticed for a printer for several years before 218 00:12:38,679 --> 00:12:41,800 Speaker 1: he eventually became an editor at the Wisconsin Inquirer, which 219 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:44,839 Speaker 1: was based out of Madison, Wisconsin, and then he went 220 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: on to work at other newspapers as well and had 221 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:48,960 Speaker 1: them out and he even had a little bit of 222 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 1: a for a into a political career. He served in 223 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:57,839 Speaker 1: the state legislature and then he left his newspaper time 224 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:01,760 Speaker 1: because someone very importank sort of came into his life, 225 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: and that was President Lincoln, who appointed him as collector 226 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:08,200 Speaker 1: at the Port of Milwaukee. Huh. And so in case 227 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: anyone does not know what a collector at a port is, 228 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:14,560 Speaker 1: that's the person who is responsible for collecting import duties 229 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:16,800 Speaker 1: and taxes on goods that are entering the port, and 230 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:19,200 Speaker 1: they can oversee all those people that go and do 231 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 1: those things. I thought he was like a Somalia, that 232 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:27,760 Speaker 1: kind of port collector if only yeah, okay, Well, he 233 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:31,440 Speaker 1: ended up making friends with a fellow, Samuel soul Uh, 234 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:33,920 Speaker 1: and in eighteen sixty four, they were issued a patent 235 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:37,840 Speaker 1: for a machine that would number pages. So it was 236 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 1: an idea. The idea was that would sequentially number pages 237 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:43,839 Speaker 1: for like a book, So you would press this button 238 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:45,920 Speaker 1: and you get three, and then four and then five. 239 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:49,640 Speaker 1: And it was considered to be a labor saving device. 240 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:54,959 Speaker 1: But then another fellow, Carlos Carlos Glidden, who was also 241 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:58,200 Speaker 1: a fellow inventor, you know, someone who liked to work 242 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 1: with this kind of stuff, looked this and said, huh, 243 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:04,440 Speaker 1: what if you were to, I don't know, take the 244 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:07,600 Speaker 1: same principle that you created, but make it so that 245 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:10,439 Speaker 1: you could type, you know, letters onto a piece of paper. 246 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:13,360 Speaker 1: So you're using essentially the same approach that you're using here, 247 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,000 Speaker 1: but now you can actually type in words and make 248 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: a mechanical typewriter. Yeah, that suggestion pretty much change shoals 249 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: life forever was. He then focused almost exclusively on the 250 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:29,960 Speaker 1: typewriter for the rest of his career. And so he 251 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 1: produced a prototype This is around eighteen sixty eight, but 252 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 1: it could only print the letter w It was just 253 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:40,080 Speaker 1: really to show a proof of concept, and not to 254 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:44,920 Speaker 1: my dearest woo. It wasn't like that, um, but it 255 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:47,160 Speaker 1: was to see if he could actually do it, and 256 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: he did, and then they said, all right, let's let's 257 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: devote more effort into creating this, uh, this typewriter and 258 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:56,920 Speaker 1: to try and make one that we can end up 259 00:14:57,040 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 1: marketing and patenting. Um. So in eighteen sixty eight they 260 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:04,440 Speaker 1: had a typewriter patent issue to them two Sholes, Glidden 261 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:08,600 Speaker 1: and Soul collectively, and Shoals was the primary person on 262 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 1: that patent. And uh, yeah, I love that the note 263 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: you have here that the first prototype was similar to 264 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:16,720 Speaker 1: a telegraph key. That exactly is what it was like. 265 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 1: You pressed down you get that little W and you're like, 266 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:22,080 Speaker 1: just send all the W you want now. Granted, if 267 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 1: you if you get the letter upside down, you think 268 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,360 Speaker 1: it's just like we had a really good if you 269 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:29,480 Speaker 1: flipped your page a lot, it's about it. And they 270 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 1: did end up getting two more patents issued in the 271 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 1: following years because you know, they were all inventors and 272 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:38,240 Speaker 1: tin careers, as we've said, so they were constantly trying 273 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: to improve upon it. So in eighteen seventy we get 274 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 1: one of the coolest, weirdest typewriters ever, Rasmus molly Hanson 275 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: invented what is called the writing ball. And you guys, 276 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:56,720 Speaker 1: you need to if you don't know what this looks like, 277 00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 1: you've got to go on a on a Google image 278 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: so or something, pull up a picture of the Rasmus 279 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: maulling Henson writing ball or typewriter ball. If that that 280 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,520 Speaker 1: will probably bring it up to It looks like it 281 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 1: could come right out of like a Clive Barker hell 282 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:19,320 Speaker 1: razor kind. Yeah, it's like Pinhead's cousin, you know, Keyhead. Yeah, 283 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,840 Speaker 1: maybe that could be it. Uh So, yeah, you look 284 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:25,120 Speaker 1: at this thing. It looks like it's it's a sphere 285 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: that's been cut in half, and it's got all the 286 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: little keys that stick out of it. Um and the 287 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:35,560 Speaker 1: Malling Hanson Society, which by the way, is more than 288 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:41,239 Speaker 1: a little biased, they call it the world's first commercially 289 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 1: produced typewriter, and Mulling Hanson received lots of different prizes 290 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:48,640 Speaker 1: and recognition at various events around the world, mainly in 291 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 1: Europe but also in the United States for producing this 292 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: this particular piece of technology, and his version would evolve 293 00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:00,240 Speaker 1: over time. It wasn't just you know, it wasn't one 294 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:02,080 Speaker 1: set and then it stayed that way, but it always 295 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 1: retained that strange kind of ball shape. And the society 296 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:09,680 Speaker 1: also claims that the key layout on the writing ball 297 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: allowed for much faster typing than the quirty based keyboards 298 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: that would soon follow. So we still haven't gotten to 299 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:19,000 Speaker 1: the point where the quirty keyboard is a thing that's 300 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:23,000 Speaker 1: coming pretty soon. But the society is like, well, that 301 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:26,600 Speaker 1: keyboard is slow and and and laborious. This thing you 302 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:30,520 Speaker 1: could type really really quickly. Now, each key was connected 303 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:33,120 Speaker 1: to a piston, and the piston would stamp a piece 304 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:36,399 Speaker 1: of paper, either through a carbon paper or InCD ribbon. 305 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:39,919 Speaker 1: The paper itself was on kind of this curved um 306 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:43,120 Speaker 1: uh setting like you would you would put it. There 307 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:45,479 Speaker 1: was these long sheets of paper and they fit on 308 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:50,720 Speaker 1: this little curve platform that would ratchet up by by 309 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:55,920 Speaker 1: piece by piece. So if you're typing, like facing the object, Uh, 310 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:58,240 Speaker 1: it's almost like it's at a ninety degree angle the 311 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:01,600 Speaker 1: way that the paper is being typed. So you wouldn't 312 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:04,000 Speaker 1: type this like you would on a typewriter where you could, 313 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:06,879 Speaker 1: especially a modern typewriter where you can actually see what 314 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:10,359 Speaker 1: you've just typed. You type out a line and it 315 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:12,560 Speaker 1: would it would be like it would look like it's 316 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,200 Speaker 1: going vertically across the page to you, but it's because 317 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,159 Speaker 1: the entire page is ninety degrees from you. So it's 318 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:22,800 Speaker 1: a really odd thing. Uh. And Terry Gillium like, that's 319 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,160 Speaker 1: that's a very Terry Gilliam historical film kind of piece 320 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:28,840 Speaker 1: you would see. I would completely expect to see this 321 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 1: in the background during Brazil, for example. It would fit 322 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:33,880 Speaker 1: in exact. In fact, when I saw it, I thought, 323 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:36,880 Speaker 1: this looks like something from Brazil or maybe twelve Monkeys. 324 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:40,880 Speaker 1: But Molling Hanson died when he was only fifty five 325 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:45,040 Speaker 1: years old in eight and he had an outstanding order 326 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: for one writing balls from a manufacturer, and the manufacturer 327 00:18:49,119 --> 00:18:52,200 Speaker 1: you know, canceled it because the guy died, and since 328 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:55,000 Speaker 1: that point no one ever made any more of them. 329 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:58,199 Speaker 1: They are collector's items. I think one sold for like 330 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,439 Speaker 1: a hundred thousand euros in an aux, and not too 331 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: long ago there are a few in museums. They are 332 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:08,720 Speaker 1: considered to be uh, really lovely pieces for people who 333 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:12,040 Speaker 1: have lots and lots of money, not highly coveted. In 334 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:17,520 Speaker 1: the typewriter aficionado heard yeah and who knew there is one? Oh? Yeah, 335 00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:21,160 Speaker 1: I actually I own a good old uh. I think 336 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:24,440 Speaker 1: it's a own a Rimington's and an Underwood and old. 337 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,719 Speaker 1: Both of them are pretty old um that I just 338 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:30,880 Speaker 1: happened to find it like a h an old uh 339 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:33,639 Speaker 1: secondhand shop, and I was very proud of them. They are, 340 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:36,160 Speaker 1: by the way, some of the heaviest pieces of technology 341 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:38,200 Speaker 1: I've ever had to carry. Yeah, we have an Underwood 342 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: number five that has been in my husband's family forever 343 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:44,240 Speaker 1: and it needs some work, but it's that's a backbreaker 344 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: to hook it around there. Well. One interesting thing about 345 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 1: the writing ball, apart from its strange shape and the 346 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:53,560 Speaker 1: fact that it's supposedly was much more easy to type 347 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:56,959 Speaker 1: on than the quirty keyboards. Was that a famous person 348 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:01,439 Speaker 1: owned one, Friedrich Nietici. Did I hear that it was 349 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:05,000 Speaker 1: a gift from his sister and his mother. That's what 350 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:09,199 Speaker 1: I had originally read, although I never substantiated it. I 351 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,720 Speaker 1: couldn't find a ductual sources that said that was true. 352 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: That's what I heard, But I also heard that Molly 353 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:18,159 Speaker 1: Hansen delivered it in person to Nietici, so it may 354 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: be that it was arranged by his mother and sister. 355 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:25,119 Speaker 1: Is we enter the realm of myth occasionally, and I 356 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:27,520 Speaker 1: think this is one of those times. So Nietchie his 357 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,199 Speaker 1: vision was failing, so he needed to have something to 358 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: help him right. He wanted to continue writing, but he 359 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:36,480 Speaker 1: could not really see to write out things Longhand. And 360 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,119 Speaker 1: what's really cool to me is that there are scholars 361 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,400 Speaker 1: who talk about how Nietchie's writing the style of Nichi's 362 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:46,639 Speaker 1: writing changed when he switched over to typing on the 363 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:49,080 Speaker 1: writing ball as opposed to trying to write in Longhand. 364 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: And you might argue that that style could have been 365 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,360 Speaker 1: affected by the fact that he could no longer really see, 366 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,400 Speaker 1: but most people said that it was the actual mechanical 367 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:01,040 Speaker 1: process of typing on the keys that change the tone 368 00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:04,959 Speaker 1: of his writing, and Nietzche's response to this was actually 369 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,280 Speaker 1: that he agreed. He said, our writing equipment takes part 370 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:11,600 Speaker 1: in the forming of our thoughts. So the way that 371 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:15,480 Speaker 1: we are expressing ourselves, the medium through which we do it, 372 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:19,520 Speaker 1: impacts the way we we expressed that thought. And if 373 00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:21,560 Speaker 1: we're writing, longhand, we're going to do it in a 374 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:23,640 Speaker 1: different way than if we're typing. I think a lot 375 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,240 Speaker 1: of people would actually agree with that. But it's kind 376 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:29,879 Speaker 1: of fascinating those this early on in the birth of 377 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:33,920 Speaker 1: the typewriter that we see someone make that observation. Wouldn't 378 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 1: he be fascinated by texting? Probably? Omg uh. And I 379 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:43,480 Speaker 1: mean I completely subscribe to that mode of thought because 380 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:46,720 Speaker 1: I know even if I change pens, my handwriting changes, 381 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:51,200 Speaker 1: and the tone of my writing will change based on that. 382 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:53,919 Speaker 1: If I have to write and pen, the tone changes 383 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,359 Speaker 1: so that I write as brief message as I possibly 384 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:59,240 Speaker 1: can because I'm left handed, so I smudge a lot. 385 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:03,320 Speaker 1: But at any rate, getting back to in eighteen seventy three, 386 00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:08,679 Speaker 1: back to shoals And and his fully functional typewriter. Now, uh, 387 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:12,639 Speaker 1: it was finally a real improvement here in the United 388 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,520 Speaker 1: States over just writing things out with a pen. It 389 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:18,639 Speaker 1: was it was faster, it was easier. And that's where 390 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:22,719 Speaker 1: we get to the Shoals and Glitten typewriter. Yeah, as 391 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:24,720 Speaker 1: we mentioned sort of where we left off with these 392 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:29,040 Speaker 1: guys before we went to the ball, they were they 393 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:32,800 Speaker 1: had additional patents. They had really sort of started to 394 00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:35,119 Speaker 1: refine and develop this thing, but they were having some 395 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,199 Speaker 1: very serious money problems. They just did not have the 396 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: capital to start churning these things out on their own. 397 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:44,639 Speaker 1: So they sold the patent rights for twelve thousand dollars 398 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:47,960 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy three, some serious money in eighteen Yeah, 399 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:50,879 Speaker 1: that is not jump change. And the company that bought 400 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 1: those rights was the Remington's Arms Company. Wait like like 401 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:58,199 Speaker 1: like the gun. Uh, Well they did a lot of 402 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 1: They had their hands in many many pies. Uh. And 403 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:04,679 Speaker 1: so Shoals continue to work with Remington on this on 404 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 1: the development of the typewriter, and the company had resources 405 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,439 Speaker 1: and machinery where they could develop and manufacture things, and 406 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 1: it would eventually become the Remington typewriter. Although the initial 407 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 1: the very first model that came out was still called 408 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:21,280 Speaker 1: the Shoals in Glitten, right. Uh. And you know Remington 409 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 1: make the joke about the company that makes guns. Uh. 410 00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:27,360 Speaker 1: We talked about them, I think in our sewing machine episode, 411 00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:30,320 Speaker 1: because they also made sewing machines. Uh. It was one 412 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,360 Speaker 1: of the things that allowed them to say like, well, 413 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:35,360 Speaker 1: we've got a lot of the we've got a lot 414 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:40,199 Speaker 1: of of expertise in making these machine parts, these fiddlely 415 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,960 Speaker 1: bits that need to all work together, so I think 416 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,920 Speaker 1: that we can take this on. And uh, yeah, it 417 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 1: was if we If you were to look at the 418 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:53,640 Speaker 1: Shoals and Glitten typewriter, the the first match to come out, 419 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,920 Speaker 1: you'd see all the basic parts of typewriters that would 420 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:01,879 Speaker 1: follow for many years afterwards, decade afterwards. So they it 421 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,000 Speaker 1: had the keys that were linked to leavers. These were 422 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,760 Speaker 1: the mechanical so you pressed down on a key, it 423 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:10,159 Speaker 1: would cause the lever to pivot uh and hit a 424 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:14,040 Speaker 1: sheet of paper first of course, striking an inked ribbon. 425 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: So that's what actually would stamp the letter onto the 426 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:21,640 Speaker 1: sheet of paper. And uh. And however, you were had 427 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 1: some limitations here, like you could type any letter you wanted, 428 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 1: only if you love capitals the right. This is this 429 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,160 Speaker 1: is like the constant screen. The first typewriters were like 430 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:36,360 Speaker 1: YouTube commenters who haven't figured out that the caps lock 431 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:38,960 Speaker 1: is not really an effective means of trying to get 432 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:41,439 Speaker 1: your point across. Um, Yeah, there there were There were 433 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:44,679 Speaker 1: no lower case letters. Is all upper case. And it 434 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:51,960 Speaker 1: also introduced the now standard Corty keyboard. And you might ask, 435 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 1: why the heck is the keyboard like that? Why do 436 00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:58,120 Speaker 1: we have this weird layout? You know, if you were 437 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:00,200 Speaker 1: to look at a keyboard, just take a little get 438 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,480 Speaker 1: a keyboard anywhere near you at the moment, you'll see. Yeah, 439 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:06,280 Speaker 1: you're right. The letters are not in any kind of 440 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:10,560 Speaker 1: order that I would normally consider. So why is that? 441 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:12,600 Speaker 1: And there are a couple of reasons, or at least 442 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,360 Speaker 1: a couple of reasons that we tend to think of today. 443 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,320 Speaker 1: The real reason is possibly lost to antiquity, but we 444 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,040 Speaker 1: can make some guesses. I think it's a combo burrito 445 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: of these reasons. I think so too. The first one 446 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:26,879 Speaker 1: is that one of the problems was that if a 447 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 1: user type too quickly, uh, the letters would jam up. Yeah, 448 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,120 Speaker 1: the levers would cross one another, they get stuck. Then 449 00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:37,880 Speaker 1: you'd have to unstick the levers get them all back 450 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:39,719 Speaker 1: in place and start again, because keep in mind, this 451 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:43,960 Speaker 1: is purely mechanical. Yeah, so there is the the story 452 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,439 Speaker 1: that it was designed. This keyboard layout is designed to 453 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,280 Speaker 1: kind of slow you down and not necessarily be intuitive, 454 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 1: where one letter follows another the way you would anticipate. 455 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:54,280 Speaker 1: So it's still faster than writing, but not as fast 456 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: as you would like it to be, because if it 457 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:57,480 Speaker 1: were as fast as you like it to be, it 458 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:01,120 Speaker 1: would all jam up. That's that's one story. Another one 459 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:05,760 Speaker 1: is just that the printing bars themselves they wanted to 460 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:13,639 Speaker 1: separate out letters that would be uh common combinations so together. 461 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:15,960 Speaker 1: You wouldn't want the T, N H to to be 462 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,120 Speaker 1: placed so that the two bars would be right next 463 00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:21,280 Speaker 1: to each other because they'd be more likely to jam 464 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:24,040 Speaker 1: one another. So you wanted to spread it out so 465 00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: that any letters that would be a good combination would 466 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:31,560 Speaker 1: normally come from different parts of the machine, which meant 467 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:34,920 Speaker 1: that the keys themselves had to be placed in specific parts. 468 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:36,679 Speaker 1: So I'm guessing there was a lot of R and 469 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:39,640 Speaker 1: D that they did to figure out, like, well, if 470 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:41,520 Speaker 1: we put the T here, where do we put the H? 471 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:43,480 Speaker 1: Because if the H is right here, it's gonna mess 472 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:45,520 Speaker 1: everything up. I was gonna say, I bet there is 473 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:49,200 Speaker 1: a notebook somewhere of like the most wonderfully bizarre series 474 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:52,960 Speaker 1: of tests and notes on how they could and couldn't 475 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:56,879 Speaker 1: arrange these. I can just imagine notes like Glidden tried, 476 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 1: uh tried keyboard number seven and FIA today tossed that 477 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:05,399 Speaker 1: one out. Uh Yeah, So it's probably a combination of 478 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:10,240 Speaker 1: these two things. I personally it maybe that they wanted 479 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:13,119 Speaker 1: to physically slow people down so that they made the 480 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,879 Speaker 1: keyboard awkward as a result, But I think it's probably 481 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 1: more likely they wanted to just get these letters as 482 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:21,760 Speaker 1: far apart the levers, as far apart from the most 483 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,680 Speaker 1: common letters as possible, and as a result, the keyboard 484 00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 1: is awkward and thus were slowed down. But that that 485 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:31,480 Speaker 1: was not necessarily the intent, however, I don't know for sure. 486 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:36,920 Speaker 1: Here's my favorite fact about the shoals in Gluten typewriter. Okay, 487 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,720 Speaker 1: it was made by Remington's sewing machine division, And if 488 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,680 Speaker 1: you have ever seen an older like treadle sewing machine, 489 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,560 Speaker 1: they often have these beautifully embellished little flowers and stuff 490 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,520 Speaker 1: on them. So did the typewriter. Yeah, and only that, 491 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,960 Speaker 1: but the earliest typewriters they had. They were on top 492 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:56,800 Speaker 1: of a of a of a pedestal like a sewing machine. 493 00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:59,040 Speaker 1: It was like part of a of a table almost, 494 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 1: And they even had the earliest ones had foot pedals 495 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:05,480 Speaker 1: for the carriage return. Yeah, and so you would make 496 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:08,520 Speaker 1: sense if that's your manufacturing equipment, you have an engineer 497 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:10,679 Speaker 1: that goes we can adapt that well. Yeah, especially if 498 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:13,439 Speaker 1: they're saying, look how effective this is on sewing machines, 499 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,840 Speaker 1: It only makes sense that we should have it where 500 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,159 Speaker 1: the same sort of thing works here. The only problem 501 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:21,879 Speaker 1: was that they discovered that putting the pedal it wasn't 502 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:24,880 Speaker 1: always reliable. The carriage would catch, it would be problems 503 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:28,080 Speaker 1: that would get jammed up, and so it wasn't It 504 00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:30,760 Speaker 1: wasn't long after that. I think it might have even 505 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:34,560 Speaker 1: been their second model where they introduced the hand powered 506 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:37,080 Speaker 1: carriage return, where that would be a little lever on 507 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 1: one side. When you depressed the lever, it allows you 508 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:42,640 Speaker 1: to push the carriage back to a starting position and 509 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 1: start over again. So whenever you hear old movies where 510 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:49,479 Speaker 1: you hear the typewriting sound and you hear thing, that 511 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:51,160 Speaker 1: was the indicator that you were getting toward the end 512 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:52,800 Speaker 1: of the line, you needed to hit a character turn 513 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,320 Speaker 1: to start the next next page. Did you ever type 514 00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: on a regular typewriter? Yeah, because I remember I would 515 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:01,280 Speaker 1: hear the ding and I would try to keep going 516 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:03,840 Speaker 1: as long as I could because I was an obstinate. 517 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:06,280 Speaker 1: It was just you were playing chicken with the end 518 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:08,400 Speaker 1: of that piece of paper. I was also young enough 519 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,680 Speaker 1: that it wasn't really life and death kind of situation 520 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:16,239 Speaker 1: I had. I had the typewriter I was using as 521 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:21,920 Speaker 1: a kid was not It wasn't a hand powered carriage return. 522 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,920 Speaker 1: It was an electric typewriter. But it still would do 523 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:27,400 Speaker 1: the ding. It wouldn't automatically go to the next line. 524 00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:30,480 Speaker 1: You had to hit a hard return to do it. 525 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:32,959 Speaker 1: But I did type on that kind of typewriter as 526 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:37,440 Speaker 1: a kid. So there's a no here about this being 527 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:41,240 Speaker 1: an understroke machine. Holly, can you explain to me what 528 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:44,120 Speaker 1: that means. Yeah, So this is what's also referred to 529 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 1: as a blind machine. And the way that the keys 530 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:51,320 Speaker 1: were arranged, uh and where they struck meant that the 531 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:55,520 Speaker 1: space on which they typed was actually covered. It sat 532 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,600 Speaker 1: in like this little basket underneath the keys, so that 533 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:01,560 Speaker 1: the type is could not actually see what they were typing. 534 00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,880 Speaker 1: They had to lift up the carriage to check things out. 535 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:07,760 Speaker 1: And you've probably seen it happen in movies sometimes, like 536 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,080 Speaker 1: older movies, where you'll see the secretary typing away and 537 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:13,120 Speaker 1: then she'll pause and lift up the carriage and check. 538 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:15,920 Speaker 1: And that's what's going on, is that she simply could 539 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:18,400 Speaker 1: not see what she was typing. Right. You would didn't 540 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:20,600 Speaker 1: have any field of view of that at all. So 541 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:23,160 Speaker 1: once you started typing several lines, you could see the 542 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:25,760 Speaker 1: things that you type ten minutes ago, but you couldn't 543 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:28,160 Speaker 1: see the the actual line that you're typing at that 544 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:30,320 Speaker 1: moment right, which I would think would be maddening, But 545 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,440 Speaker 1: I guess people adapt to anything. Well, yeah, I think 546 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:35,440 Speaker 1: I've finally gotten to a point now where I can 547 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:38,239 Speaker 1: type without looking at the screen and I can be 548 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 1: fairly confident that I'm doing it properly. But when I 549 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:45,959 Speaker 1: was learning, it certainly would have been a detriment seeing 550 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:48,840 Speaker 1: not knowing if I typed, you know, something that was 551 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:54,000 Speaker 1: intelligible or just gobbledegook um. An interesting little little point here. 552 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:56,760 Speaker 1: We talked about Nietsche previously with the typing ball, Well, 553 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:01,040 Speaker 1: the original Remington typewriter also had a celebt pretty uh 554 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:05,320 Speaker 1: consumer Mark Twain. He purchased an early Remington typewriter for 555 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 1: the princely some of dollars back in eighteen seventy four, 556 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,320 Speaker 1: and then later on wrote a letter to the Remington 557 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:16,320 Speaker 1: company using the typewriter that said he would stop using 558 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 1: the typewriter because he said it was a bad influence. 559 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:20,920 Speaker 1: I think he said it was specifically it was corrupting 560 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:26,400 Speaker 1: his morals because it was causing him to swear so much. However, 561 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:30,160 Speaker 1: in his nineteen oh four autobiography, Twain said that his 562 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:34,720 Speaker 1: first novel was written on a typewriter, which isn't actually 563 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:37,560 Speaker 1: true because his first novel was Tom Sawyer and that 564 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: was on a handwritten manuscript. His book was not a novel, 565 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:45,440 Speaker 1: but his book Life on the Mississippi, was typed, although 566 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:48,720 Speaker 1: some suspect that by then he had employed a typist 567 00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,680 Speaker 1: and that he essentially dictated the book to the typeist, 568 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,360 Speaker 1: and that he maintained his distance from the infernal device 569 00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,800 Speaker 1: his moral high ground. Yes, he was, he was. His 570 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:05,440 Speaker 1: morality was preserved. Not long after the Shoals and Glynn 571 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:09,560 Speaker 1: typewriter came out, another one called the calligraph Branded Typewriter 572 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:12,880 Speaker 1: appeared on the market, and this machine made another little 573 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:15,800 Speaker 1: step forward in terms of technology and that now you 574 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 1: could have upper or lower case. It was your choice. 575 00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:20,520 Speaker 1: You could use them both, but they had a separate 576 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:22,960 Speaker 1: set of keys for each instead of like the shift key. 577 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:26,440 Speaker 1: That was so twice as many keys. Yeah. Wow, I 578 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:30,920 Speaker 1: can't imagine what that must have looked like. Dizziness, I would, Yeah, 579 00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:34,400 Speaker 1: it would have to be. So those two were clunking 580 00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:37,640 Speaker 1: around and giving people opportunities to type like the wind 581 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 1: for a while before in the Smith Premier came onto 582 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:44,520 Speaker 1: the market. It to use the Corty keyboard, and at 583 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:49,200 Speaker 1: that point that was becoming really standard in terms of, uh, 584 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:52,160 Speaker 1: how typing machines were going to work, And so a 585 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:55,280 Speaker 1: lot of typewriters at this point we're starting to adopt 586 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:58,120 Speaker 1: this basic form factor, the one that we associate with 587 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 1: old typewriters, but not every one. No, now we're going 588 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:03,880 Speaker 1: to talk about a really cool one. Yeah, and this 589 00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:06,080 Speaker 1: really is awesome if you take a look at some 590 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:08,520 Speaker 1: of the ones we're about to talk about. Yeah. So 591 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:10,800 Speaker 1: we're going back a few years to kind of the 592 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:13,840 Speaker 1: middle of that between eighteen eight and eighteen ninety, where 593 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,600 Speaker 1: things were mostly pretty much Smith Glidden Remington and then 594 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,520 Speaker 1: the Smith Premiere uh to talk about the Hammond. And 595 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:25,480 Speaker 1: this did not follow the similar design to the Shoals 596 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:27,880 Speaker 1: and Glinden typewriter at all. It had this really unique 597 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,040 Speaker 1: looking curved keyboard. It kind of made like a U shape, 598 00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:37,000 Speaker 1: which was supposed to be much more ergonomically natural for people. 599 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:40,840 Speaker 1: The whole typewriter was like a giant circle. Yeah, and 600 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:44,600 Speaker 1: it also used this type shuttle made a vulcanized rubber. 601 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:46,320 Speaker 1: It almost looked like a puck when you saw it, 602 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,040 Speaker 1: just inserted into the middle of the machine, and it 603 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:51,320 Speaker 1: used that to imprint the paper. And you can actually 604 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:54,120 Speaker 1: remove the shuttle and put in new shuttles if you 605 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 1: wanted different typefaces, and you could also do different languages, 606 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:01,160 Speaker 1: which is pretty cool. Yeah, you could do. It's like, 607 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:03,360 Speaker 1: for example, if you wanted to do something in a 608 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:08,360 Speaker 1: European language, for example, German has letters that have boomblouts, 609 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:12,520 Speaker 1: or perhaps French which has accents over certain letters, which 610 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,440 Speaker 1: you couldn't do with a standard American typewriter. But this 611 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:18,760 Speaker 1: would allow you to have that flexibility where by switching 612 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:22,440 Speaker 1: out that shuttle you could have a brand new typeface, 613 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:25,279 Speaker 1: whether it's a different font or even different letters that 614 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:30,000 Speaker 1: normally wouldn't be accessible to you. That's really forward thinking idea. Yeah, 615 00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:33,680 Speaker 1: and I sort of liken the Hammond as the typing 616 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:36,600 Speaker 1: equivalent to the Apple Newton. Yeah. This may seem weird, 617 00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:39,360 Speaker 1: but come along with me. It had a really devoted following. 618 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,760 Speaker 1: There were a lot of people that were like, alright, 619 00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:45,839 Speaker 1: that typewriter seemed cool, but this is perfect, uh, And 620 00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,640 Speaker 1: they just loved it. It really seemed like the best 621 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:50,880 Speaker 1: branch of the technology tree to them at the time. 622 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:52,839 Speaker 1: And there were a lot of people that use them 623 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:55,200 Speaker 1: for way longer than you might have expected. Those things 624 00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:58,239 Speaker 1: were built really well. They lasted forever, well into the 625 00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:01,880 Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds. People were still using them, and I it 626 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:03,719 Speaker 1: makes me think of my friends that had Newton's that 627 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 1: just insisted on carrying them forever when other people were like, really, 628 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:09,440 Speaker 1: what is that thing? It looks huge and clunky. You 629 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,239 Speaker 1: shut up, it's my Newton. It just makes me think 630 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:14,839 Speaker 1: of the Simpsons. Write it down in your Newton. Beat 631 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:21,680 Speaker 1: up Martin, beat up Martha. Uh. Yeah, And I love 632 00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:24,880 Speaker 1: that you have here that you know that his ideas, 633 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,720 Speaker 1: James B. Hammond's ideas were preserved his patents. He left 634 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:32,359 Speaker 1: them upon his death to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 635 00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:35,799 Speaker 1: So that that says a lot too. This wasn't just 636 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:39,160 Speaker 1: a utilitarian device. It was a work of art. And 637 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:41,600 Speaker 1: if you look at one of these things, it really does. Yeah. 638 00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:45,080 Speaker 1: I mean, anyone who has that that they love, like 639 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:49,120 Speaker 1: that steampunk aesthetic, something that that just looks different has 640 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:52,040 Speaker 1: has real character to it. This I think has a 641 00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:55,279 Speaker 1: lot of appeal. Oh yeah, they're gorgeous, and part of 642 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:57,920 Speaker 1: it is just like the curvy lines are just very 643 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:00,640 Speaker 1: sort of appealing to a lot of people, especially curvy 644 00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:03,320 Speaker 1: lines in technology. If you look at it from above, 645 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:06,560 Speaker 1: based upon just the different elements, it kind of was 646 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:09,960 Speaker 1: like a smiley face. The keys are there, the mouth, 647 00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:12,839 Speaker 1: and then there's a couple of round elements that look 648 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:15,239 Speaker 1: like eyes. Yeah, I could see that. And they did 649 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:19,120 Speaker 1: keep making those even after James Hammond died, um but 650 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:21,840 Speaker 1: in the nineteen twenties, so those were being made for 651 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,360 Speaker 1: quite a while. At that point, almost forty years the 652 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:27,680 Speaker 1: company was purchased by Frederick Hepburn Company, and the Hammond 653 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:31,480 Speaker 1: was eventually rebranded under the name Vera Typer uh and, 654 00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:35,120 Speaker 1: which is sort of much less romantic sounding. I think 655 00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:39,080 Speaker 1: of Hammond Organs when I Vera Typer, I think of 656 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:41,719 Speaker 1: some sort of AlSi reptor. Yeah. And while it was 657 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:46,120 Speaker 1: still the Hammond Company, they had also been producing producing 658 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:48,720 Speaker 1: a design that was more of a rectangular keyboard, similar 659 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:50,239 Speaker 1: to the shoals in glynd And they were kind of like, 660 00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:53,000 Speaker 1: we'll cover the whole market. Uh, And that was called 661 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:56,319 Speaker 1: the Hammond Universal, and the Vera Typer once they had 662 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:58,640 Speaker 1: rebranded it pretty much went along with that model and 663 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:02,440 Speaker 1: they abandoned that beautiful career design. And this also eventually 664 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:06,959 Speaker 1: introduced electricity into typing. I think that was the first 665 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:11,560 Speaker 1: one that had an electric typing function, right. So I 666 00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:15,240 Speaker 1: liked also that you have detailed out the first time 667 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:19,319 Speaker 1: we finally get away from that understroke approach, the one 668 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:22,400 Speaker 1: that didn't allow type as to actually see what was 669 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:26,480 Speaker 1: going on. Yeah, that was the first one that allowed 670 00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:30,640 Speaker 1: you to actually see was the Doherty Visible in eight, 671 00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:35,160 Speaker 1: which had front stroke and type bars that set below 672 00:37:35,239 --> 00:37:38,879 Speaker 1: the Was it Playton platin, I don't know. I don't 673 00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:44,520 Speaker 1: know typewriter lingo. I have heard it both ways. Wow, okay, 674 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:46,480 Speaker 1: but I don't know how much of that was regional 675 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:49,359 Speaker 1: dialect well, I'll just say Playton because I'm from the South. 676 00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:52,520 Speaker 1: It was just but anyway, it hits the front of 677 00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:54,799 Speaker 1: the paper that way and you could actually see where 678 00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:58,439 Speaker 1: you could what you were typing. And uh, I think 679 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:04,279 Speaker 1: that is probably bly the biggest advance before you get 680 00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:09,640 Speaker 1: to electric typewriters, uh, that the basic system had. You know, 681 00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:13,640 Speaker 1: it's it's one of those things where the the basic 682 00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:18,719 Speaker 1: design of the mechanical typewriter there were important developments, but 683 00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:22,960 Speaker 1: it remained largely the same for a really long time. Yeah, 684 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:26,600 Speaker 1: and really like the dirty Visible is probably one of 685 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:30,080 Speaker 1: those that anyone listening that has ever seen a typewriter 686 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:31,799 Speaker 1: would look at and go, oh, that's a typewriter, and 687 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:33,520 Speaker 1: I wouldn't really think a whole lot other than oh, 688 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:36,280 Speaker 1: it's old and interesting, whereas any of these previous models, 689 00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:38,279 Speaker 1: they'd be like, that's a typewriter, but there's something really 690 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,200 Speaker 1: weird about it, and it would be one of these 691 00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:43,239 Speaker 1: other things that had not advanced yet the typewriter have 692 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:48,840 Speaker 1: an accelerated Yeah, well, I mean that it's it's great 693 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:53,160 Speaker 1: to think of, uh, these tiny little things that we 694 00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:55,400 Speaker 1: would you know, in retrospect, we see it being a 695 00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:58,920 Speaker 1: huge benefit. But It's interesting just seeing people sit there 696 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:00,640 Speaker 1: and say, you know, what would been make this device 697 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:02,920 Speaker 1: really useful if I could see what the heck I 698 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:07,000 Speaker 1: was typing. Uh. And there were other models that did 699 00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:10,640 Speaker 1: the same thing, Like once the Visible came out. There 700 00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:14,239 Speaker 1: were of course many many other careers and companies that 701 00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:15,839 Speaker 1: were like, oh, of course we should have been doing 702 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:19,240 Speaker 1: this all along. So uh, a brand called the Williams 703 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:21,840 Speaker 1: came out, and then a machine called the Oliver. But 704 00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:23,919 Speaker 1: then this is also when I feel like the most 705 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:26,799 Speaker 1: famous of the old old typewriters I say with air 706 00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:29,600 Speaker 1: quotes came out, which is the Underwood, and that came 707 00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:33,400 Speaker 1: out in I Love, I love the Underwood I have. 708 00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:36,320 Speaker 1: It is, like I said, incredibly heavy. It's one of 709 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:40,399 Speaker 1: the earlier models. Probably not not. I'm pretty sure it's 710 00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:43,360 Speaker 1: from early twentieth century, so not one of the first 711 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:46,719 Speaker 1: models that were released, but they definitely have a lot 712 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:51,840 Speaker 1: of character to them. UM and UH, I love that 713 00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:55,759 Speaker 1: you have the origin story. It's like a superhero tale. Well, 714 00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:57,840 Speaker 1: you know, I always like when there's a little intrigue. 715 00:39:57,960 --> 00:40:01,239 Speaker 1: So the Underwood Lee was born out of what I 716 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:04,359 Speaker 1: like to call a business burn UM, which is the 717 00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,880 Speaker 1: the company that produced. Underwood was originally a company that 718 00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:11,960 Speaker 1: just produced ribbons and carbon paper for other typewriters and 719 00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:15,239 Speaker 1: type machines. But then Remingtons, which was of course the 720 00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:17,960 Speaker 1: big player at that point in terms of the market, 721 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:20,480 Speaker 1: decided that they were going to do their own accessories 722 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:24,640 Speaker 1: and they didn't need Remington's products anymore, or they didn't 723 00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:27,760 Speaker 1: need Underwood products anymore. Underwood leadership was like, well then fine, 724 00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:30,759 Speaker 1: we're gonna make our own type, right, We'll use our 725 00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:34,320 Speaker 1: own stuff. I just kind of love that once again 726 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:38,960 Speaker 1: we see businesses entering into ecosystems that, uh that you 727 00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:41,360 Speaker 1: get trapped in. You know, Oh, I've got a ribbon, 728 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:43,040 Speaker 1: but it's only for an Underwood. Guess I better go 729 00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:47,240 Speaker 1: out and buy an Underwood typewriter. Um. Yeah, I wonder. 730 00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:49,200 Speaker 1: I wonder if they ever got to the point where 731 00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:51,040 Speaker 1: it was just cheaper to buy a new machine than 732 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:52,960 Speaker 1: a new ribbon, because that's kind of how we are 733 00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:56,759 Speaker 1: with printers. I don't think so. Yeah, No, that's that's 734 00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:00,680 Speaker 1: a relatively new development. Uh yeah, I mean tween sort 735 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:04,520 Speaker 1: of from the eighteen nine time frame up through the twenties, 736 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:08,279 Speaker 1: typewriters evolved a little bit, but by the time we 737 00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:11,399 Speaker 1: reached the twenties, they had really completely homogenized, like they 738 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:14,040 Speaker 1: were almost all quirty. They were all using a ribbon, 739 00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:16,160 Speaker 1: They all had the four rows or banks of keys 740 00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:18,759 Speaker 1: and one shift key like some of the previous ones 741 00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:21,680 Speaker 1: that had multiple shift keys depending on which keys you 742 00:41:21,680 --> 00:41:24,920 Speaker 1: were trying to switch over to the capitol or lower case. 743 00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:27,879 Speaker 1: This is where it kind of really all just smoothed out. 744 00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:31,360 Speaker 1: And then from that point forward we kind of stuck 745 00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:34,320 Speaker 1: with that form factor until we got to the electro 746 00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:38,040 Speaker 1: mechanical and electrical typewriters, and then started looking at different 747 00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:42,319 Speaker 1: ways to imprint letters onto paper. But as I said, 748 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:45,480 Speaker 1: to cover all that would take another podcast, I did 749 00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:48,360 Speaker 1: want to spend a little more time to talk about 750 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:52,520 Speaker 1: the quirty issue because a lot of people pointed out 751 00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:56,160 Speaker 1: that once you got away from the metal levers coming 752 00:41:56,239 --> 00:41:58,839 Speaker 1: up and hitting the paper, because that that that held 753 00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:00,840 Speaker 1: sway for a long time and time yewriters. But eventually 754 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:03,680 Speaker 1: we got away from that, then there wasn't as much 755 00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,640 Speaker 1: of a reason to keep the quirty keyboard. The only 756 00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:09,400 Speaker 1: reason was that we were entrenched in that form factor. 757 00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:11,640 Speaker 1: You know, It wasn't that this is what we're all 758 00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:14,080 Speaker 1: used to we'll just keep going. This is the way 759 00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:16,120 Speaker 1: we've done it forever, so we're going to keep doing 760 00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:18,600 Speaker 1: it this way. But people were pointing out, they said, well, 761 00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:22,280 Speaker 1: if in fact the Corty keyboard was designed to either 762 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:26,480 Speaker 1: slow people down or to put common letters far apart, 763 00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:30,640 Speaker 1: so that um, so that the you you avoid this 764 00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:33,080 Speaker 1: this jamming issue, and we now no longer have to 765 00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:37,000 Speaker 1: worry about the jamming issue, why don't we revisit the 766 00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:40,719 Speaker 1: type the typewriter's keyboard layout and see if we can 767 00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:44,200 Speaker 1: create a better one. No change is scary. Yeah, Well, 768 00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:48,759 Speaker 1: early in the twentieth century we had Dr August Dvorak 769 00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:51,520 Speaker 1: who was looking into this, and he came up with 770 00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:55,200 Speaker 1: the Dvorak keyboard. You've probably heard about that, and in 771 00:42:55,239 --> 00:42:57,319 Speaker 1: fact you may use one. There are people who use 772 00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:01,000 Speaker 1: the Vorat keyboards. And the idea was to reduce the 773 00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:03,960 Speaker 1: amount of movement that fingers would typically need to make 774 00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:06,640 Speaker 1: when typing. The idea being that if you have to 775 00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:08,960 Speaker 1: type a lot, let's say your job is a typist, 776 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:11,680 Speaker 1: that after a while you could really you know, end 777 00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:14,520 Speaker 1: up straining your your hands and hurting your fingers trying 778 00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:20,320 Speaker 1: to use this antiquated, ridiculous system. That is inefficient on purpose. 779 00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:24,080 Speaker 1: At least that was what the popular belief was, and 780 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:27,720 Speaker 1: so he laid out the keyboard in a totally different 781 00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:30,359 Speaker 1: way to put the most common letters in the home row. 782 00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:33,239 Speaker 1: That's the row where your fingers rest, so all the 783 00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:36,080 Speaker 1: vowels except for why we're in the home row for 784 00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:39,239 Speaker 1: the left hand. Oh, this was another interesting thing. So 785 00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:45,080 Speaker 1: the Quirity keyboard, according to divor x extensive studies, favors 786 00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:47,759 Speaker 1: the left hand over the right. That the most popular 787 00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:51,200 Speaker 1: letters in the English language are located on the left 788 00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:53,719 Speaker 1: side of the keyboard and the less popular ones on 789 00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:58,080 Speaker 1: the right. So right handers, which that's most of the population, 790 00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:01,879 Speaker 1: we're having to work harder to try and type. Well. 791 00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:07,040 Speaker 1: We left handers finally caught a darn break. Although once 792 00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:09,440 Speaker 1: you get in the computer age, if we're mousing a 793 00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:11,799 Speaker 1: lot with the right, then your left is freed up 794 00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:13,600 Speaker 1: to do that typing a little bit more. Yeah, but 795 00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:17,800 Speaker 1: that just means that I can't click one for us right. Yeah. Yeah, 796 00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:19,160 Speaker 1: when you get to when you get to the point 797 00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:21,600 Speaker 1: where the mouse is involved, and then you get into 798 00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:25,120 Speaker 1: first person shooters, I am left way behind. But the 799 00:44:25,200 --> 00:44:29,720 Speaker 1: Devora keyboard tried to put those common letter combinations closer 800 00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:32,360 Speaker 1: together to make it much easier to type, and DeVore 801 00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:35,960 Speaker 1: did some really extensive studies. He said that if you 802 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:38,120 Speaker 1: look at a typical typing, you know, like you were 803 00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:40,480 Speaker 1: to type out a typical amount of words on a 804 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:44,279 Speaker 1: piece of paper, of all, typing would require keys on 805 00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:47,600 Speaker 1: the top row, So the row above where your fingers 806 00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:51,759 Speaker 1: are resting would be on the home row, and scent 807 00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:53,840 Speaker 1: would be on the bottom row. Now, he thought of 808 00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:55,879 Speaker 1: the bottom row as being the most difficult to reach 809 00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:58,439 Speaker 1: because you have to curl your fingers in a little bit, right, 810 00:44:58,719 --> 00:45:00,319 Speaker 1: So he thought the best thing to do it would 811 00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:02,600 Speaker 1: be to concentrate the letters that are most common in 812 00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:05,560 Speaker 1: the home row, um slightly fewer on the top row, 813 00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:08,280 Speaker 1: and then the fewest on the bottom row. So his approach, 814 00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:11,200 Speaker 1: he claims, or claimed, I should say, he passed away 815 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:15,440 Speaker 1: several years ago. He claimed that his approach meant that 816 00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:19,040 Speaker 1: you would type on the top row, seventy percent on 817 00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:21,240 Speaker 1: the home row, and only eight percent on the bottom 818 00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:25,400 Speaker 1: rowe and that these would then favorite right handers instead 819 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:31,719 Speaker 1: of left handers, because why should I want to type anything? Uh? Now, now, 820 00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:35,040 Speaker 1: you can't really find a whole divort keyboards out there, 821 00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:38,600 Speaker 1: although a lot of operating systems support divorat keyboards and 822 00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:40,359 Speaker 1: then and they have for years. I mean there were 823 00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:43,640 Speaker 1: you know, the old Apple operating system, not even Mac, 824 00:45:43,680 --> 00:45:47,359 Speaker 1: but the old Apple operating system supported dvorate keyboards. So 825 00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:50,040 Speaker 1: you might be able to find that setting on your computer, 826 00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:53,040 Speaker 1: and depending what operating system you use, you could switch 827 00:45:53,080 --> 00:45:55,920 Speaker 1: it to a divorat keyboard and uh, if you really wanted. 828 00:45:56,080 --> 00:45:57,840 Speaker 1: You know, you don't necessarily have to go out and 829 00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:00,160 Speaker 1: buy a new keyboard, but you might want to buy 830 00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:03,200 Speaker 1: some stickers so that you can write the new letters 831 00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:05,760 Speaker 1: and stick them on top of the letters that exist, 832 00:46:06,320 --> 00:46:10,040 Speaker 1: and then give it a try, supposedly after a few 833 00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:12,440 Speaker 1: you know, it takes several hours of practice for you 834 00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:14,680 Speaker 1: to get used to the new layout, but once you do. 835 00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:20,120 Speaker 1: I've heard, and this is truly anecdotal, that people have 836 00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:23,840 Speaker 1: doubled their typing speed as a result. Someone claimed to 837 00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:26,239 Speaker 1: have been to have gone from fifty words per minute 838 00:46:26,239 --> 00:46:29,160 Speaker 1: to a hundred words per minute. Um, just because it 839 00:46:29,239 --> 00:46:33,200 Speaker 1: was so much easier and more efficient to type this way. UM. 840 00:46:33,239 --> 00:46:36,080 Speaker 1: I have never mucked around with one. Neither have I. 841 00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:40,080 Speaker 1: I have never used a dvort keyboard I type pretty quickly. 842 00:46:40,160 --> 00:46:42,120 Speaker 1: I think I'm right around a hundred words per minute, 843 00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:45,359 Speaker 1: So I for the sake of humanity, I don't want 844 00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:48,080 Speaker 1: to type faster. The smoke and stuff, Yeah you don't. 845 00:46:48,640 --> 00:46:52,320 Speaker 1: You never know, I could summon Cathulu. It's one of 846 00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:55,960 Speaker 1: those things. So this was a fun topic to look at. 847 00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:58,080 Speaker 1: I mean, it's really interesting to look back at the 848 00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:01,879 Speaker 1: development of the typewriter lists less controversial, I would say 849 00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:03,880 Speaker 1: than the sewing machine. Yeah, you don't get a lot 850 00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:06,239 Speaker 1: of good stories about people getting punched in the face. No, 851 00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:09,000 Speaker 1: there's there's that one competition thing with Underwood, but it 852 00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:11,600 Speaker 1: seems like it was all handled in a fairly gentlemanly 853 00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:14,320 Speaker 1: kind of way. Yeah. Yeah, there were no pistols at dawn. 854 00:47:14,719 --> 00:47:16,799 Speaker 1: There's no throwing anyone down the steps like there was, 855 00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:22,360 Speaker 1: right right, and also the uh I remember reading some 856 00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:27,080 Speaker 1: of these where. Don't get me wrong, typewriter enthusiasts can 857 00:47:27,160 --> 00:47:30,680 Speaker 1: also get a little a little raucous, because there was 858 00:47:31,239 --> 00:47:32,920 Speaker 1: there was one I was reading that was talking about 859 00:47:32,920 --> 00:47:36,560 Speaker 1: how the Brits like to talk about how they developed 860 00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:39,200 Speaker 1: typewriter areas typewriters because you look at this patent from 861 00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:41,200 Speaker 1: seventeen fourteen, but no one ever made one of those. 862 00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:44,440 Speaker 1: Typewriters are an American thing because in America we didn't 863 00:47:44,480 --> 00:47:47,760 Speaker 1: have enough people to have cheap labor. We were forced 864 00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:50,319 Speaker 1: to work for ourselves, which is why we built labor 865 00:47:50,400 --> 00:47:54,640 Speaker 1: saving devices. And uh as to the the truth of that, 866 00:47:54,680 --> 00:47:56,880 Speaker 1: I cannot say, but this was a fun one to 867 00:47:56,920 --> 00:48:00,120 Speaker 1: look at. Holly, thank you so much for joining me 868 00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:03,959 Speaker 1: again for this episode. Appreciated. My pleasure, My pleasure. Where 869 00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:07,239 Speaker 1: can folks find your stuff? They can visit us at 870 00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:10,120 Speaker 1: misst in history dot com or on Facebook dot com 871 00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:14,680 Speaker 1: slash mist in history, on Twitter at most in history. Uh, 872 00:48:14,760 --> 00:48:17,680 Speaker 1: we're at pinterest dot com slash mist in history. Pretty 873 00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:20,560 Speaker 1: much any iteration of social media. If you magically put 874 00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:22,840 Speaker 1: in mist in history will somehow pop up. Do you 875 00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:25,960 Speaker 1: have a recent episode that you would recommend to people 876 00:48:26,040 --> 00:48:29,040 Speaker 1: that you just think was really cool and fun to do? Uh? 877 00:48:29,080 --> 00:48:31,480 Speaker 1: We do. We have a number of fun ones. We 878 00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:33,960 Speaker 1: have some interesting Christmas ones that are coming out. But 879 00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:35,799 Speaker 1: one of my favorite recent ones that we did was 880 00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:38,520 Speaker 1: the sinking of the S five, which is a sub 881 00:48:38,560 --> 00:48:41,719 Speaker 1: that went down. It is a fun maritime disaster, but 882 00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:45,640 Speaker 1: it is one of the more humorous and enjoyable maritimestory. Sorry, 883 00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:50,279 Speaker 1: you know, from the scale of one to oh, this 884 00:48:50,320 --> 00:48:54,080 Speaker 1: one's pretty good, pretty delightful actually, which is part of 885 00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:57,759 Speaker 1: why I love it that all of the terror and 886 00:48:58,280 --> 00:49:01,400 Speaker 1: none of the drama. All okay, some of the drama, 887 00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:04,319 Speaker 1: but it turns out pretty good, so excellent. Well, we'll 888 00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:07,280 Speaker 1: definitely have to check that out. Thank you again, and guys, 889 00:49:07,360 --> 00:49:09,680 Speaker 1: thank you for listening to Text Stuff. Remember if you 890 00:49:09,719 --> 00:49:13,120 Speaker 1: have any questions, suggestions, anything you want me to cover 891 00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:15,120 Speaker 1: in future episodes, or a guest you want me to 892 00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:17,640 Speaker 1: have on the show, you can write me. My email 893 00:49:17,680 --> 00:49:21,120 Speaker 1: address is tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, 894 00:49:21,239 --> 00:49:24,240 Speaker 1: or drop me a line on Twitter, Tumbler or Facebook 895 00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:26,680 Speaker 1: to handle it. All three is tech Stuff H. S W. 896 00:49:27,040 --> 00:49:32,640 Speaker 1: And we'll talk to you again really soon for more 897 00:49:32,680 --> 00:49:34,880 Speaker 1: on this and bausands of other topics. Does it have 898 00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:45,680 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com