Thurber’s Patent.
Extract from: The Marvels of Modern Mechanism (1901)
The first practical typewriter was invented by
Charles Thurber of Worcester, Massachussetts, and patented in 1843. It
was slow and crude but had all the essential characteristics of the
modern machine. He was the first to place the paper on a roller and
give it longitudinal motion with provision for accurate letter and word
spacing. A horizontal wheel carried on its outer edge rods to the lower
end of which were affixed type and to the upper end a finger key. The
wheel was turned to bring the type into place and in turning inked the
type by drawing the type-face over inked rollers. When the finger key
was pressed it forced the type on the lower end of the rod against the
paper on the cylinder or platen and printed. Thurber's machine was
never manufactured and a museum in Worcester contains the only model in
existence.
Extract from The Marvels of Modern Mechanism and Their Relation to Social Betterment, by Jerome Bruce Crabtree, publ. The King-Richardson Company (1901), page 612.
From copy Digitized by Google. (source)
See also:
Charles Thurber's First Printing Machine, U.S. Patent No. 3228, An Improvement in Machines For Printing.
Thurber's Chirographer, his second machine, described in article from Scientific American (1847).
Today in Science History, event description for date Patent No. 3228 was issued, 26 Aug 1843.
Today in Science History, birthdate entry for Charles Thurber on 2 Jan 1803.
