1829 AD |
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| Following the first English typewriter patent in 1714 and a few sporadic attempts from different parts of the globe, the first American patent for a typewriter was granted in 1829 to William Austin Burt from Detroit. However, the path of the inventor is rarely a smooth one as Burt was to discover. We may only picture the scene in the patent office: | ||
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Clark: |
"Hello there, Mr. Burt, I have both good news and bad news. Which would you like first sir?" | |
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Burt: |
"I think I'll take the good news, if it's all the same to you." | |
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Clark: |
"Well the good news is that you've been granted a patent for the device which you are pleased to call your Typographer." | |
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Burt: |
"Good grief, I'm tickled pink, and the bad news?" | |
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Clark: |
"Sad to relate, the only existing model of your machine was destroyed in a fire at our Washington patent office!" | |
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| To be perfectly honest, the patent office (along with the Typographer) burned down in 1836, seven years after Burt received his patent. But as we all learn at our mother's knee, one should never allow awkward facts to get in the way of a good story. | As fate would have it, the fire probably caused no great loss to civilization as we know it. Burt's first Typographer was notably ungainly, so much so that it was possible to write much faster than one could type with this device. | |
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| Undaunted, Burt produced a second model the size of a present-day pinball machine, which, if nothing else, would have made an interesting conversation piece if given to a friend as a Christmas stocking-filler. Perhaps not surprisingly, no one was interested, and Burt eventually exited the stage to make room for younger contenders. (See also The first commercial typewriter.) | ||
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| These notes are abstracted from the book Bebop BYTES Back (An Unconventional Guide to Computers) Copyright Information |
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