Have you ever thought about why we use the QWERTY keyboard with our computers? It comes from the typewriter.
Christopher Latham Scholes (1819-1890) patented his typewriter in 1868. Although there had already been dozens of similar devices, Scholes’ success stemmed from using the type-bar system (letters on the end of metal bars) and universal QWERTY keyboard.
The name “QWERTY” came from the first six letters in the top row of keys. Frequently typed pairs of letters (such as TH) are located away from each other to prevent jamming. Other keyboards were offered, but none of them proved superior to the QWERTY layout. Almost every modern computer keyboard uses QWERTY.
As the culture of writing increased from 1700, inventors devised mechanical writing machines. Christopher Latham Scholes developed the first successful typewriter in 1868. Soon they were manufactured in many countries including this British Salter Visible made by Salter & Co in Birmingham, Great Britain. The typewriter was probably the most significant business tool before computers, but there have also been many other ways to communicate…
Communications in the past
A medieval messenger. A detail of the Bayeux tapestry, (1086-1100)
Imagine the world before computers, telephones, radio and television. How did people communicate?
Early messages were carried by hand, such as the famous message of victory carried by an ancient Greek soldier who ran from Marathon to Athens. For centuries, as well as couriers carrying messages, signals were sent using bonfires, drums and bells.
People have always wanted to send messages further and faster. This story looks at how our familiar modern communication technologies were developed.
The first telephone call
Today nearly everybody has a mobile. It was invented by Alexander Bell. He was interested in acoustics because his mother was deaf. In 1876 he patented his ‘electrical speech machine’.
The first telephone conversation took place when Bell talked to his assistant Thomas Watson, who was in another room. Bell said, ‘Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.’
In 1916 Bell phoned from New York to Watson in San Francisco. Bell repeated the same words, but the reply was: ‘It would take me a week to get to you now.’
A musical sensation
At the same time as Alexander Bell invented the telephone, Thomas Alva Edison developed his phonograph – the first machine to record music. Edison started his career as a telegrapher. This probably gave him the idea of not only transmitting sounds, but also recording, storing and reproducing them. Phonographs were manufactured by the Edison Phonograph Company. The small tin foil machines created a sensation. Recordings on standard-size wax cylinders featured songs like marches and ballads. Their playing time was about two minutes. The next development was to broadcasting sounds over the airwaves.
