There is something that we all do on a daily basis and it doesn’t matter what our profession is or how old we are, it’s something that we do to communicate. I’m talking about typing and more today than ever in the past are we using typing in order to say something to someone else. In the old days, we would type letters and mail them through the Postal Service to someone else but today, we are typing to send emails, text messages, tweets, Facebook posts and almost any other type of communication we can think of. It’s a type of skill that is undeniably important, regardless of whether you are a ‘hunt and peck’ typist or if you type using all 10 fingers.
Over the course of time, things have changed as far as typing is concerned. If you look back just a few decades ago, everybody was typing on a regular typewriter and we would learn how to do so in high school. Today, people are learning how to type before they can even talk to a certain extent and by the time we going to school, we are likely sending messages to others on electronic devices. At times, however, it’s a good idea to go back to our roots and that is why we are taking an interesting look at the old typing classes from school.
According to Britannica, a number of attempts occurred in the 19th century to invent typewriters. It was Christopher Latham Sholes, however, who patented the typewriter in 1868. It became commercially available not long after and was a popular item worldwide.
In 1873, the E. Remington company signed a contract with Lathem and they began to brand the typewriters as ‘Remington’.
High school began offering typing classes using electric typewriters and even before that, using the standard typewriter. If you were born between the years of 1977 and 1985, you probably took one of the computer classes in school and never had an opportunity to type on an old typewriter. Interestingly, however, the QWERTY keyboard is still used as standard, regardless of whether you are typing on a phone or on your own computer.
Typewriters have been replaced by computer keyboards but the keys are the same. Children are learning how to type from a very young age, and you can learn more about the history of typewriters below: