The QWERTY Keyboard

The modern QWERTY keyboard was devised by Christopher Sholes in the 1870s as a solution to the mechanical problems of an alphabetical keyboard.  In a classic typewriter the keys pressed made an arm rise to strike a ribbon and leave an imprint on the paper.  If two keys next to each other were pressed too quickly, the typewriter would jam.  The manual typewriters were mechanical marvels, but could not overcome this limitation by mechanics alone.  The solution was to rearrange the letters so that the problem no longer occurred.  Many people made different arrangements, however Sholes, became the gold standard. 

In 1873 Sholes backer sold the manufacturing rights to E. Remington and Sons.  The Remington Company made some changes the the layout, the most important one driven by the sales team.  The letter R was moved to the top row so that a salesman could write TYPEWRITER on one line in a demo.  That sales change and the rest of the final QWERTY keyboard are now seen across the globe.  The keyboard has been enhanced with Esc keys, and the number one (the original assumed you would type a I for a 1) but, fundamentally, it is the same as the one created over 100 years ago to keep the mechanics of a typewriter from jamming.

-Professor (Uncle) Walter

Comments

[Olivia]

Hey, that's cool. This is your 2nd typewriter blog isn't it? I looked at my keyboard and the letters for typing it are on the top row. ;)

[Gissel]

It still bothers me that the V is too close to the B, and the S too close to the Z. Then a simple typo may pass for a misspelled word! And the A, one of the most used letters, why does it have to be pressed with the weakest finger of the hand? I learned to type on a mechanical machine, and believe me, it was TIRESOME. (So good we have computer keyboards now.)

Otherwise, I think the arrangement is fine :-D

I read somewhere that Sholes arranged the letters that way so the most used letters were apart from each other. Is that correct?

[Professor (Uncle) Walter]

Yep, second typewriter post. I've been enjoying my new one and couldn't resist.

That is correct that the most used letters are put further apart, so that you didn't type too fast. That is what the whole problem boiled down to. If you go too fast the machine will jam. The way it came out, you can actually type most words with the left hand, not quite sure why.

[Gissel]

Even if you write in Spanish, again the left hand does most of the work. But I don't have a problem with THAT. I'm left-handed! (so good, at least we have ONE advantage over right-handed people).

[Professor (Uncle) Walter]

I'm ambidextrous so I win either way ;)

[Gissel]

Not fair! Not fair! :-D