![Patent USX558111 crop of Fig 4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Patent_USX558111_crop_of_Fig_4.jpg)
The typographer was an early
typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...
. It was a mechanical innovation created by
William Austin Burt
William Austin Burt (June 13, 1792 – August 18, 1858) was an American scientist, inventor, legislator, millwright, justice of the peace, school inspector, postmaster, judge, builder, businessman, surveyor and soldier. He first was a builder o ...
. The mechanism was operated by hand to provide a printed ink impression on paper. Burt was a government surveyor and needed to get official correspondence done quickly. He observed office workers overwhelmed with laborious tasks of handwriting lengthy official documents that took a long time. Burt had a mechanical background
so was inspired to make a machine that would speed up secretarial work. A friend of his in the newspaper business furnished typeface letters from a printing press for his experimental mechanism.
Burt had two versions of his mechanical apparatus. The first was built in a wooden box that could be carried by hand. The second was a large advanced model that was mounted on four legs. The first working model provided by Burt for his 1829 patent was destroyed in the
1836 Patent Office fire. Although his typographer, as his innovation was first known by, could print neat documents the mechanism was slow as each letter had to be done by hand. His invention ultimately did not accomplish the goal of speeding up office work as he had intended.
History
Burt conceived the idea of a typing device when he observed office workers overwhelmed with the task of creating official documents in triplicate by hand. He reasoned that a printing machine could relieve many hours of the tedious task by automation. In the 1820s in his
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
shop he commenced the development of such an apparatus. His "typographer" constructed to the point of being able to print out a neat letter was patented as number 259 on July 23, 1829.
United States Patent Office documents describe Burt's American machine as "the actual construction of a type writing machine for the first time in any country". It was the first practical typewriting machine ever made in America, although
Pellegrino Turri
Pellegrino Turri (1765–1828), an Italian inventor, invented a mechanical typing machine, one of the first typewriters, at the start of the 19th century (conflicting accounts suggest 1801, 1806 or 1808) for his blind friend Countess Carolina Fanto ...
had made one in Italy in 1808. The patent gave Burt the full exclusive rights to his new typewriter machine for 14 years, including vending or selling to others any or all of these rights as he saw fit, signed by President
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
.
All "type writing" machines, those that used letters of
typeface
A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font.
There are list of type ...
, were generally given the name "typographer" from Burt's 1829 patent until 1874 by subsequent inventors who improved on Burt's machine. The concept ultimately came to be called a "type-writer" in 1874. The word stayed hyphenated until the 1880s. William Ozmun Wyckoff, president of the New York State
Shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...
Reporters' Association in 1886, and founder of the
Remington Typewriter Company
E. Remington and Sons (1816–1896) was a manufacturer of firearms and typewriters. Founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington in Ilion, New York, on March 1, 1873, it became known for manufacturing the first commercial typewriter.
History
The r ...
, publicized the unhyphenated name "typewriter". It became very well known, and the public finally accepted this as one word by 1919. Eventually, Burt's typographer was called a typewriter.
In 1714, the British patent office issued a patent to English engineer Henry Mill for a typewriter; however, he never built it. This first record of an initial attempt gave Mills time (14 years) to develop a model or at least a description of his "artificial machine"; however, the secret of how to make such a machine, if there ever was one, died with him.
There is no record that it ever existed. There hasn't even been found a trace of any drawings or specifications.
Christopher Latham Sholes
Christopher Latham Sholes (February 14, 1819February 17, 1890) was an American inventor who invented the QWERTY keyboard, and, along with Samuel W. Soule, Carlos Glidden and John Pratt, has been contended to be one of the inventors of the firs ...
is given credit for inventing the first "practical" typewriter. He was in fact the fifty-second person or possibly the 112th to reinvent a "type-writing" machine – which he called a ''type-writer.'' Some of the "type-writing" machines invented between Burt's 1829 patented machine and Sholes' 1867 type-writer are "The Projean Machine" (1833), "The Thurber Machine" (1843), "The Foucault Machine" (1843), "O. T. Eddy's machine" (1850), "The Fairbanks machine" (1850), "J. M. Jones' machine" (1850), "William Hughes' machine" (1851), John M. Jones "mechanical Typographer" (1852), "Thomas' typograph" (1854), "The Beach typewriter" (1856), "The Francis Typewriter" (1857), "The Hansen Machine" (1865), "The Livermore Printing Device" (1863), "Peeler Writing Machine" (1866), and "The Sholes and Glidden Typewriter" (1867) invented by three men (C. Latham Sholes, Samuel W. Soule, Carlos Glidden). Thomas Edison is even given credit for an electrified version in 1872.
The Board of Electors at the National Shorthand Association of Detroit recognized Burt as a leader among typewriter inventors and one that ensured world-wide recognition of priority of American inventors in the typewriter field. French authors Henri Dupont and C. Senechal described Burt's typographer in great detail in their 1906 book
Patent
![Burt demo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Burt_demo.jpg)
The machine was a rectangular wooden box wide, high, and long. It mechanically worked by depressing a rotating lever so that an inked letter made contact with paper. A gauge that was designed in a circular clockwise fashion on the front of the box indicated the number of lines typed on the blank piece of paper that was up to 15 inches in length. The paper was attached to a velvet-like material belt. The belt rotated when the impression lever was depressed.
The patent describes Burt's machine as having a set of typeface characters that were arranged on the under side of a set of parts that had a lever pivoted to swing vertically and horizontally. The desired typeface character is brought to the printing point by moving this lever horizontally to a position over the same character in the index, and the impression on the paper is made by then depressing the lever. Different styles of typeface characters could be used. They were arranged in two rows on a lever. The rows of typeface characters could be shifted on the lever to bring either one to the printing point. The paper was carried in an endless band that traveled crosswise of the machine and the band was moved for letter space by the impression lever every time the lever is depressed to print. The line space was made by shifting the frame carrying the printing mechanism toward the front or rear of the machine, with the paper remaining stationary. Ink-pads were located at each side of the impression point, and all the typeface characters, except the one in the printing position, were inked every time the impression lever was depressed. Upper and lower case typeface letters could be used. A dial was provided that indicated the length of paper (inches) which had passed the printing point in printing each line. The operator knew the width of the paper being used each time. There was a stop printing indicator for end of the line.
Four classes of typewriters had been recognized by the U. S. Patent Office. The first was an index-wheel machine, like that patented by Burt on July 23, 1829. The second was the bar-machine first patented by
John B. Fairbanks on September 17, 1850. The third was the plate-machine first patented by Oliver T. Eddy on November 12, 1850. The fourth was the key-wheel machine first patented by
John Pratt John Pratt may refer to:
*John Pratt (judge) (1657–1725), Lord Chief Justice of England and interim Chancellor of the Exchequer
*John Pratt (soldier) (1753–1824), United States Army officer
*John Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden (1759–1840), Britis ...
on August 11, 1868.
A complete working model of Burt's "typographer" was in the model room of the Patent Office from the time of the patent until the
Patent Office fire of December 15, 1836.
The fire destroyed all the patents and patent models issued from 1790.
A competent mechanic can build a working replica of Burt's typographer from his patent description and drawings. Austin Burt, the great grandson of Burt, built a working model in 1892 for the
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordi ...
working from a parchment copy of the original patent (No. 5581X).
The reason Burt built the machine was to speed up his work in official correspondence as a government surveyor.
John Pitts Sheldon
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
of the ''
Detroit Free Press
The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...
'', Burt's newspaper editor friend, furnished the typeface letters from the newspaper company in May 1829 for Burt's first typographer to be able to type the first letter ever written on it. The letter was to future president
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party (Uni ...
then Secretary of State. Two months later it received an official patent as one of the most unique and useful inventions of the time. It was the first patent for a type writing machine.
Burt built in 1830 a second improved typographer typewriter that resembled a pinball machine because four tapered legs for standing were added to it.
[ Sheldon had taken Burt's "moddle" to the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. on March 9 of that year according to a typewritten letter to his wife of March 13, 1830. The typeface letters for this Patent Office model was obtained from a Mr. White of New York, a typeface founder. Even though a neat-looking letter could be typed on Burt's "typographer", the basic goal to speed up correspondence was not accomplished, as his machine was very slow in typing. Because of this, the machine could not get marketed. Burt lost interest in it and sold his rights to one Cyrus Spalding for $75 on March 17, 1830 with suggested improvements. Ultimately he did not have any further luck in marketing the typewriter.][''Michigan History Magazine,'' article: "Willian Austin Burt", January 1922] The typographer was so far ahead of its time it found no market.
File:Burt typographer letter 1830.jpg, Typed typographer letter by Burt in 1830 to his wife
File:Letter Patent July 23, 1829.jpg , Letters Patent 1829 – signed by President Andrew Jackson
References
Sources
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*{{cite book, last=White, first=James T., title=Cyclopedia of American Biography'', Volume 18 , url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_National_cyclopaedia_of_American_bio/vPEpAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Burt%27s+solar+compass%22+%22American+biography%22&pg=PA375&printsec=frontcover, year=1922, publisher=J. T. White, oclc=164589128
American inventions
Typewriters