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Wisconsin Historical Marker

Christopher Latham Sholes (February 14, 1819 - February 17, 1890) was an American who invented the first practical typewriter and the QWERTY keyboard still in use today.^[1]

Born in Mooresburg, Pennsylvania, Sholes moved to nearby Danville as a teenager, where he worked as an apprentice to a printer. After completing his apprenticeship, Sholes moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He became a newspaper publisher and politician, serving in Wisconsin's state legislature in 1860.

In 1845, Sholes was working as editor of the Southport Telegraph, a small newspaper in Kenosha, Wisconsin. During this time he heard about the alleged discovery of the Voree Record, a set of three minuscule brass plates unearthed by James J. Strang, a would-be successor to the murdered Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, Jr..^[2] Strang asserted that this proved that he was a true prophet of God, and he invited the public to call upon him and see the plates for themselves. Sholes accordingly visited Strang, examined his "Voree Record," and wrote an article about their meeting. He indicated that while he could not accept Strang's plates or his prophetic claims, Strang himself seemed to be "honest and earnest" and his disciples were "among the most honest and intelligent men in the neighborhood." As for the "record" itself, Sholes indicated that he was "content to have no opinion about it."^[3]

The idea for Sholes' typewriter began at Kleinsteubers machine shop in Milwaukee, where he perfected a prototype in 1867.^[4] Together with Samuel W. Soule and Carlos Glidden, Sholes was granted a patent for his invention on June 23, 1868. His version of the typewriter was based on a page-numbering machine he had received a patent for in 1864. Sholes sold the rights to his typewriter to the Remington Arms Company in 1872 for $12,000.

He continued to work on new developments for the typewriter throughout the 1860s, which included the QWERTY keyboard (1874).^[5] James Densmore, a business associate, had suggested splitting up commonly used letter combinations in order to solve a jamming problem. This concept was later refined by Sholes and is still used today on both typewriters and computers.

Sholes is buried at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee.

Sholes' invention is still in use today, as his QWERTY keyboard is featured exclusively on computer keyboards from all major manufacturers. It is considered to be the first step to the computer age.

1. ^ "Early Typewriter History," http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/Dvorak/history.html.
2. ^ See "Voree Plates" at http://www.strangite.org/Plates.htm.
3. ^ Fitzpatrick, Doyle, The King Strang Story (National Heritage, 1970), pp. 36-37.
4. ^ http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.maxmon.com/1867ad.htm. The state historical marker pictured in this article says 1869, but this source says 1867.
5. ^ See "The Sholes Keyboard" at http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.maxmon.com/1867ad.htm.

Darryl Rehr. The First Typewriter. The QWERTY Connection. Retrieved on May 11, 2005.