Christopher Latham Sholes (1819 – 1890), a U.S mechanical engineer, invented the first practical modern typewriter with his partners S.W Soule and G.Glidden in 1866. The invention was patented in 1868, and was manufactured (by Remington Arms Company) in 1873. Before the computer, the typewriter may have been the most significant everyday business tool. Five years, dozens of experiments, and two patents later, Sholes and his associates produced an improved model similar to today’s typewriters. The type-bar system and the universal keyboard were the machine’s novelty, but the keys jammed easily. To solve the jamming problem, another business associate, James Densmore, suggested splitting up keys for letters commonly used together to slow down typing. Thus formed the ‘QWERTY’ keyboard.
Sholes lacked the patience required to market the new product and sold the rights to Densmore. He, in turn, convinced Philo Remington (of rifle fame) to market the device.
The first electric typewriter was the Blickensderfer. In 1944, IBM designed the first typewriter with proportional spacing. Pellegrine Tarri made the first typewriter proven to work in 1801 and invented carbon paper in 1808. George K. Anderson of Memphis, Tennessee patented the typewriter ribbon on September 14, 1886.
Mark Twain was the first author to submit a typewritten manuscript to his publisher.