Christopher sholes importance

Christopher Sholes

The typewriter was reinvented dozens of times; but credit for the first practical machine is given to Christopher Latham Sholes of Milwaukee. 

In 1866, Sholes and Carlos Glidden were developing a machine for numbering book pages, when they were inspired to build a machine that could print words as well as numbers.  Since the 1820s, inventors had been working on personal printing machines; but Sholes, along with Glidden and their associate Samuel Soulé, resolved to build a reliable and marketable device. 

A year later, they received U.S. patent #79,265 for their prototype (preserved today in a vault at the Smithsonian Institution).  Although the machine lacked, among other things, a space bar and shift key, the basic elements were there.  Alphabetized keys, when struck, swung little hammers (“type-bars”) with the same letters embossed in their heads that in turn struck, through an inked ribbon, a sheet of paper held against a cylindrical roller (the “platen”).  Five years, dozens of trial-runs, and two patents later, Sholes and hi

Christopher Latham Sholes

Christopher Latham Sholes
Birthdate
1819/02/14
Birthplace
Mooresburg, Pennsylvania
Death date
1890/02/17
Fields of study
Mechanical Engineering, Journalism, Publishing

Biography

Christopher Latham Sholes was an American inventor that invented the QWERTY keyboard and one of the earliest typewriters.[1]

Sholes was born February 14th, 1819, near Mooresburg, Pennsylvania. On his mother's side, his bloodline can be traced back to notable pilgrims John and Priscilla Alden. His paternal grandfather had commanded a gunboat during the Revolutionary War and his father Orrin served in the War of 1812 and was rewarded for his service with a bed of land in Pennsylvania. In 1823, when Sholes was four, Orrin moved his family to Danville Pennsylvania to apprentice his four sons into becoming printers. [2]

In 1833, Sholes completed his schooling to become a printers apprentice in 1833, and in 1837 he moved to the new territory of Wisconsin to work for his elder brothers newspaper publication in Green Bay. [3] After workin

Christopher Latham Sholes

American publisher and politician (1819–1890)

Christopher Latham Sholes

Christopher Latham Sholes

In office
January 7, 1856 – January 4, 1858
Preceded byFrancis Paddock
Succeeded bySamuel R. McClellan
In office
June 5, 1848 – January 7, 1850
Preceded byPosition Established
Succeeded byElijah Steele
In office
January 5, 1852 – January 2, 1854
Preceded byHenry Johnson
Succeeded bySamuel Hale Jr.
Born

Christopher Latham Sholes


(1819-02-14)February 14, 1819
Mooresburg, Penn., U.S.
DiedFebruary 17, 1890(1890-02-17) (aged 71)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting placeForest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Political party
SpouseMary Jane McKinney (died 1888)
Children
  • Charles Latham Sholes
  • (1843–1902)
  • Clarence Gordon Sholes
  • (1845–1926)
  • Mary Katherine (Tyrrell)
  • (1847–1896)
  • Frederick Sholes
  • (1847–1933)
  • Louis C. Sholes
  • (1849–1914)
  • Elizabeth (Gilmore)
  • (1852–1937)
  • Lillian (Fortier)
  • (1856–1941)
  • George Orrin Sholes

Copyright ©peacafe.pages.dev 2025