Typewriters

While there were earlier attempts, the first successful typewriters were developed and manufactured in the 1870s. The desire and demand for a typing machine was sufficient to encourage many experimenters and designers to develop their own devices. A myriad of approaches resulted in some unusual mechanisms, many bearing little resemblance to the machines which ended up dominating the next century.

Index machines such as the Victor A or the Mignon, where users direct a stylus toward the …