The Sholes and Glidden typewriter was the first commercially successful
typewriter. Principally designed by Christopher Latham Sholes, it was
developed with the assistance of fellow printer Samuel W. Soule and
amateur mechanic Carlos S. Glidden. After several short-lived attempts
to manufacture the device, the machine was acquired by E. Remington and
Sons in early 1873. An arms manufacturer seeking to diversify,
Remington further refined the typewriter before finally placing it on
the market on July 1, 1874. During its development, the typewriter
evolved from a crude curiosity into a practical device, the basic form
of which became the industry standard. The machine incorporated
elements which became fundamental to typewriter design, including a
cylindrical platen and a four-rowed QWERTY keyboard. Several design
deficiencies remained, however. The Sholes and Glidden could print only
upper-case letters—an issue remedied in its successor, the Remington
No. 2—and was a "blind writer", meaning the typist could not see what
was being written as it was entered. Initially, the typewriter received
an unenthusiastic reception from the public. Lack of an established
market, high cost, and the need for trained operators slowed its
adoption. Additionally, recipients of typewritten messages found the
mechanical, all upper-case writing to be impersonal and even insulting.
The new communication technologies and expanding businesses of the late
19th century, however, had created a need for expedient, legible
correspondence, and so the Sholes and Glidden and its contemporaries
soon became ubiquitous office fixtures.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholes_and_Glidden_typewriter>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1284:
The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporated the Principality of Wales into
England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Rhuddlan>
1431:
Gabriel Condulmer became Pope Eugene IV , succeeding Martin V.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Eugene_IV>
1585:
The Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy, a theatre designed by the
Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, was inaugurated.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teatro_Olimpico>
1865:
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation opened its doors,
originally to help Hong Kong merchants finance the growing trade
between China and Europe.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hongkong_and_Shanghai_Banking_Corporation>
1991:
Motorist Rodney King was beaten by Los Angeles policemen, causing
public outrage that increased tensions between the African American
community and the police department over the issues of police brutality
and social inequalities in the area.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King>
1997:
The Sky Tower in Auckland, the tallest free-standing structure in the
Southern Hemisphere at 328 metres (1,080 ft), opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Tower>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
augment (v):
1. To increase; to make larger or supplement.
2. (reflexive) To grow, increase, or become greater.
3. (music) To
increase an interval by a half step (chromatic semitone)
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/augment>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
If there be such a thing as truth, it must infallibly be struck out by
the collision of mind with mind.
--William Godwin
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Godwin>
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