The typewriter was the first machine to put words on paper without a pen. Its history is the history of modern office work, of women entering the workforce, of the QWERTY keyboard you are typing on right now.
- 1714
The first typewriter patent
English engineer Henry Mill patents 'an artificial machine for writing or impressing letters' — no working model survives.
- 1829
Early American printing machine
William Austin Burt patents the Typographer, a slow device that was never commercialized.
- 1868
The Sholes & Glidden breakthrough
Sholes, Glidden and Soule patent their improved machine; the QWERTY layout is born.
- 1873
Remington starts production
Arms maker E. Remington & Sons signs with the inventors and builds the first commercial typewriter at Ilion, NY.
- 1874
Remington No.1 on sale
Priced at $125 and capitals-only, sales were slow — but the industry had begun.
- 1878
Remington No.2: upper and lower case
The Shift key arrives; typewriters can finally type both cases, and sales take off.
- 1880s
Europe and many makers
Hammond, Caligraph, Yost and others flood in; the typing profession rises and QWERTY wins the standards war.
- 1896
Underwood's visible revolution
John T. Underwood buys the Wagner patents and produces the first visible typewriter — typists can finally see their work.
- 1900
The Underwood No.5
One of the best-selling typewriters ever appears, dominating the market for thirty years.
- 1908
Olivetti founded
Camillo Olivetti founds the company in Ivrea; the M1 follows in 1911.
- 1912
Corona 3: the first successful portable
The folding portable arrives — journalists and writers get their first personal typewriter.
- 1914
Royal 5: the flatbed revolution
The flatbed eliminates the blind spot and sets the industry standard for two decades.
- 1926
Smith-Corona is born
Corona merges with L.C. Smith & Brothers — America's household name arrives.
- 1931
The Hermès Baby
Swiss firm Paillard launches the mini-portable beloved by famous writers.
- 1939
Royal Quiet De Luxe
A portable of beauty and superb feel appears — a collecting evergreen today.
- 1950
Olivetti Lettera 22
Marcello Nizzoli's portable wins the Compasso d'Oro in 1954.
- 1961
IBM Selectric
The typeball replaces type bars: no jams, swappable fonts, and it sweeps American offices.
- 1969
Valentine & Hermès 2000
Sottsass's red Valentine and the Swiss Hermès 2000 turn the typewriter into a design icon.
- 1980s
Dusk in the PC era
Personal computers and word processors replace the typewriter; factories shut down.
- 1991
IBM exits typewriters
IBM sells its typewriter business to Lexmark — the mechanical era formally ends.
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