What the work is
The Sholes and Glidden typewriter, also known as the Remington No. 1, entered the market in 1874. Christopher Latham Sholes developed it with collaborators before E. Remington and Sons refined it for production.
The machine grew out of a device Sholes designed in 1866 to print page numbers in books and serial numbers on tickets. Work on a letter-printing machine began in 1867 with Samuel W. Soule and Carlos S. Glidden, and James Densmore later supplied the financial backing. Remington, an arms manufacturer seeking to diversify, acquired the machine in early 1873 and put it on sale on July 1, 1874.
How it was made
The design combined a cylindrical platen with a four-row QWERTY keyboard. Remington’s manufacturing work strengthened the machine, while details such as an early treadle-operated carriage return reflected the firm’s sewing-machine production experience.
Many parts were adapted from existing devices: the escapement from clockwork, the keys from telegraph machines and the type hammers from the piano. The cylindrical platen was itself adapted from a machine patented in 1833, and the platen was redesigned in early 1872 so that paper of any length could be used. The QWERTY layout emerged during development. Mathias Schwalbach replaced the first model’s piano-like keys with buttons in four banked rows, and the keys were reordered; it has been suggested that this was because adjoining typebars could collide and jam, though others consider that analysis incorrect. After buying the machine, Remington switched the period and “R” keys, so that a salesman could type “TYPEWRITER” from the top row.
What works
The keyboard and platen created a repeatable relationship between a keypress and a position on the page. The machine brought separate mechanical operations into a tool for producing legible written correspondence.
What does not
It printed only capitals, and its upstriking mechanism hid the point of printing from the operator. Early reliability problems and cost also hindered adoption.
By December 1874 only 400 machines had been sold, and the price of about $125 was roughly the average annual income per person at the time. The machine had been rushed into production with insufficient testing, and early models came back for adjustments and repair. Recipients of typewritten letters often found the all-capitals text impersonal or even insulting. These were practical limitations, not simply matters of appearance.
What it influenced
The Remington No. 2 added upper- and lowercase writing. QWERTY and the cylindrical platen became enduring typewriter conventions even as subsequent machines addressed the original design’s shortcomings.
By 1877, 4,000 machines had been sold, following several design and manufacturing improvements that included replacing the treadle with a hand lever. When competition appeared in 1881, Remington cut the price of the Remington No. 1 to $80 and agreed to have the marketing firm Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict take all the machines produced, an arrangement credited with marking the beginning of the typewriter’s commercial success. Visible typewriters from competitors such as Oliver and Underwood arrived in the 1890s, but a Remington-branded visible model did not appear until the Remington No. 10 in 1906. The typewriter is also credited with helping women enter clerical work.
Is it worth your time
Worth studying for interface history. Compare what the typist could control with what they could immediately see. The contrast explains why a consequential design can establish a standard while leaving important feedback problems unresolved.
