The Inventor Of The Typewriter Was Born & Raised in Mooresburg Pa

Did you ever wonder why our keyboards look the way they do?  Not in alphabetical order, but with no common letter combinations near each other?  It's all because of a man from a tiny village in Montour County Pa.

The first practical, commercial use typewriter was invented by Christopher Latham Sholes, a native of Mooresburg Pa.  His version also first introduced the QWERTY keyboard layout that is standard on all devices today.  He  created  that layout  to separate common letter combinations, so that the bars would not stick together and jam as frequently when using his device.  

A marker near the Mooresburg one room school house reads:

Christopher Sholes, Typewriter Inventor

Was born near here Feb. 14 1819

Went to school and worked as a printer in Danville;

Migrated to Wisconsin at the age of 20

His first writing machine patent was issues June 23 1868

In 1714, Queen Anne of England granted engineer Henry Mill a patent for "a writing machine for the impression of transcribing letters singly or progressively one after the other".  According to a book on the history of the typewriter by Arthur Toye Foulke, "Between Mill's day and until 1924, no fewer than 315 weird and wonderful, but mostly impractical, writing machines ranging in size from a grand piano to those small enough to slip in a coat pocket were placed in the European and American Markets."

This pincushion like Hansen Writing Ball, invented in 1865 was one of many impractical writing machines predating Sholes typewriter. 

Born on February 14th 1819 near Mooresburg Pa, Christopher Latham Sholes was the son of Orin & Catharine (Cook) Sholes.  Cyrus, cabinet maker, and his wife Catherine came to Mooresburg from Connecticut prior to 1819.  They lived in a log home in Mooresburg before moving to Water Street in Danville Pa.  

Christopher  did his printing internship at the Danville Intelligencer. That job entailed sorting & arranging the type to be used in the printing, a monotonous job that may have later influenced his invention.  At the age of 18, Christopher went  with his family  to Milwaukee, where he went to work for his brother Charles, publisher of  the newspaper The  Wisconsin Democrat.  From there, he was sent to take charge of the Madison Inquirer, another paper owned by Charles.  

"When he was a boy of fourteen he was set to work in a printing office and became the proverbial printers devil.  When he had passed his apprenticeship as devil, he went to work for his brother, a prosperous printer.  From being a printer, Christopher Sholes naturally developed into an editor and writer, and then just as naturally into a politician. " The Buffalo Morning News, November 13 1922

Typewriter Display in Mooresburg PA

Sholes played a key role in early Wisconsin politics.  He helped organize the "free soil" and republican parties, and served several terms in the Wisconsin state senate. He lead the successful campaign to outlaw the death penalty in the state of Wisconsinn in 1853.  During the civil war, Sholes was appointed as the postmaster of of Milwaukee, and later was the port collector and commissioner of public works.

"In the printing shop that he continued to operate Christopher Sholes had need of numbering machines and in trying to make a numbering machine he stumbled upon the idea of a machine that should print as well as number." The Buffalo Morning News, November 13 1922

Kleinsteuber Machine Shop, 1867

In the mid 1860s, Charles F. Kleinsteuber machine shop was not only a machining and foundry shop, but it was a gathering place for inventors.  Carlos Glidden was working on designs for a steam driven rotary plow, and Christopher Lathan Sholes had developed a newspaper addressing machine and page numbering device.

Glidden observed Sholes work on perfecting his page numbering device, encouraged Sholes to develop a mechanical writing machine.  With the help of Glidden, clock builder Mathias Schwalbach, and  inventor Samuel Soule, Sholes produced his first functioning writing machine by the fall of that 1867.

James Densmore, a former newspaper associate of Sholes, agreed to provide financing in exchange for an ownership share, before actually seeing the device.  When he first saw the machine in March of 1868, there were two versions. The original version relied on long wired to connect the type bars and key levers.  An improved version, developed with the help of Samuel Soule, involved a simplified arrangement for striking the keys onto paper.

In the summer of 1867 Densmore attempted to manufacture the second version, having fifteen machines made, some of them for use by the school for telegraphers in Chicago.  

After observing those first fifteen machines in use, Densmore concluded the design was not yet suitable for the market.

The July 1868 Type-Writer Patent, by Christopher Sholes

Sholes and Densmore compiled a list of fundamental ideals that would be essential to the success of the machine. These included: "The Machine must be simple and not liable to get out of order", "it must work easily and be susceptible of being worked rapidly", and "it must be made with reasonable cheapness".  In addition, it must be capable of writing on paper of ordinary thickness.  The first machines only worked with paper that was tissue thin.

It was this last essential that changed Sholes entire design.  He abandoned his flat platen design (shown in the sketch above), and devised a revolving cylindrical platen to serve as a paper carrier.  The cylinder rotated to space the letters, and indexed along it's axis to change the lines.  This limited the paper to the width of the cylinder - which was only 3 inches long.

In September of 1869, Sholes wrote to Densmore to declare his new design met all of their essentials for success, stating "I am satisfied that the machine is now done."

Densmore however, was not satisfied, and continued to press Sholes for improvements.  Although annoyed by Densmores reluctance to accept the machine as is, Sholes adopted a refined keyboard devised by Schwalbach, which involved four rows of metal key levesr and buttons set in ascending banks.  A customer who tried this design urged Sholes to add a space bar under those four rows, a suggestion Sholes quickly adopted.

Densmore then manufactured a "sufficient number of typewriters so supply the present demand, pay up the debts, and have one or two over to sell."  The machines however, continued to have durability issues, and the type bars did not stay in line.

An 1872 illustration showing the new hinged mechanism that allowed the typist to review the print.

In 1871, D.N. Craig of the Automatic Telegraph Company told Sholes that his typewriter would be much more useful if it could accommodate a continuous roll of paper.  Sholes then redesigned the cylindrical platen to move lengthwise.  Since letters were typed on the underside of the cylinder, Sholes also hinged the mechanism so that it could be swung up to allow the typist to review the print.

Sholes and Densmore then worked out a non-alphabetical arrangement of the keys, separating commonly used letter combinations to help keep the type bars from jamming.     This QWERTY arrangement is the layout that remains the standard for keyboards today.

An Original Sholes Glidden Type Writer With The New QWERTY keyboard design

Sholes then rented a former wheelwrights mill near the Rock River Canal and began his third attempt at manufacturing typewriters, using water power from the canal. Before long, Densmore calculated that the machines cost too much to build, and could not be sold for enough to cover the costs.  He approached his former business associate George Washington Newton Yost, who was at the time managing a farm implement factory in Corry PA.  Yost visited Densmore and Sholes in Milwaukee to see observe the manufacturing and suggested they contact E. Remington and Sons, a manufacturer of fund, farm implements, and sewing machine, in Ilion New York.    

The first Sholes and Glidden "type writers" were in production in 1874, made by Remington and Co., the gun and sewing machine manufacturer in Ilion, N.Y.

These machines were not a great success.  They produced a row of capital letters, and the type bar struck the paper on the underside of the roller, making it impossible for the typist to see what was being typed.  These were known as "blind writers" - you had to lift the carriage to see what had been typed.

Mark Twain, with "much swearing", pecked out Life On The Mississippi on one of these machines.  In his autobiography, Twain claims to have submitted the first fully typewritten manuscript to a publisher.  That manuscript was for The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, in 1876.

In 1878, Remington released the Perfect Type Writer No. 2, with a shift mechanism for capital letters, and was a much larger success.  The machines sold for $125.

By the turn of the century, typists had dozens of models to choose from.

Some of these early typewriters can be seen at the Montgomery House in Danville, and at the Mooresburg one room school house.  See the Columbia Montour Visitors Center for hours, and open houses, at each location.

 Sholes battled tuberculosis for 9 years, before succumbing to it in February of 1890.  He left a wife and six children, in addition to his invention. His portrait hangs in the Thomas Beaver Public library, in Danville PA.  His tombstone, in Wisconsin, reads:

"The Father Of The Typewriter"
Dedicated By
The Young Men And Women Of America
In Grateful Memory Of One Who
Materially Aided In The World's Progress

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Typewriter display in the building beside the Mooresburg One Room School House

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More Local Histories & Stories
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Hear a podcast by the Montour Historical Society
About Charles Latham Sholes, here:
http://montourcountyhistoricalsociety.org/2018/07/30/podcast-14-christopher-latham-sholes-of-montour-county-inventor-of-the-first-workable-typewriter/

Buffalo Morning Express Mon Nov. 13 1922

The Daily Item, 1967

 The Sunbury Daily Item, 1995

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From the Alexander Berger, Mary Sholes (Berger) paper : Family tradition says that Orrin Lived with the Latham's, his mother's family in CT, after the death of his first wife Cynthia Robinson. After the birth of his son Charles Clark Sholes to Catherine Cook, he moved with his familly and mother to Mooresburg, PA and about 1820 to Danville where his mother and second wife died.
Children of Orrin and Cynthia Robinson, first wfe (per letters and g.s.):
1 Henry O. b.ca. 1814, perhaps twin. Atl least one son, b. Easton, Penn., July 19 1855.
2. Sally, b. ca. 1814. Perhaps twin.
Children of Orrin and Catherine, second wife:
3. Charles Clark, b Norwich, Conn. 1816
4. Christopher Latham, b. Mooresburg, Penn. Feb 14 1819. d. Feb. 17, 1890. buied in Forest Home, Milwaukee (sons pallbearers). m. Green Bay Wis. Mar 4 1841, Mary. J. Mc Kinney who D. in Milwaukee in 1887, age 67. 6 sons and 4 daughters. He was inventor of the typewriter. He served in Mil3aukee as postmaster 1845-8 and 8 years as collector of customs under Lincoln. (Vid. National Cyclopedia of American Biography). Known Children : George L, of Conn; Fred of Ala; Cass of Chicago; Charles; Mrs. C L Fortier.

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SERIOUS ACCIDENT AT THE ROUGH AND READY MILL –DANVILLE PENNSYLVANIA SEPTEMBER 29TH 1855

THIS MORNING, ABOUT TWENTY FIVE MINUTES BEFORE FIVE O’CLOCK, THE LARGEST BOILER OF SIX BURSTED, THE WEST END FLYING OUT BY SOME THREE FEET, AND THE BOILER, TWENTY-FOUR FEET LONG, TORN FROM ITS PLACE, CARRYING OFF BRICKS, PIPES, AND TEARING OUT THE EAST END OF THE MILL. THE BOILER STRUCK THE GROUND AND TURNED A COMPLETE SOMERSAULT IN ITS COURSE, KNOCKED DOWN THE OUT KITCHEN, AND WENT INTO THE DINING ROOM OF THE MR. JOHN COKER HOUSE, ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE YARDS FROM THE PLACE OF STARTING. A BOY, SON OF JESSE SHOLES, HAD HIS ARM BROKEN; ONE MAN HAD A LEG BROKEN; TWO OTHER BOYS SLIGHTLY WOUNDED BY FLYING BRICKS. MR.COKER AND THE FAMILY WERE SLEEPING IN THE ROOM OVER THE DINING ROOM, AND ALTHOUGH THE WING OF THE HOUSE IS A PERFECT WRECK, NO ONE IN THE HOUSE WAS HURT. THE LOSS WILL BE ABOUT $8,000.

--- PHILADELPHIA LEDGER