All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

Romance of the Typewriter 175 discuss each other’s work in a general sort of way, and thus a mutual interest in their inventions ripened. On the day when Sholes and Soule were brought to a dead stop by the unexpected suddenly looming up, and failing to solve the problem themselves, they enlisted Glidden’s assistance. The latter abandoned his “ spader ” and went over to the numbering machine. The idea was explained to him, together with the purposes for which it was being built. The expendi- ture of so much time and trouble over a machine merely for numbering the blank pages of office books consecutively apparently did not impress Glidden very deeply, because when the situation had been described he commented : “ Why don’t you try to make a machine which will write letters instead of figures only ? ” It was an innocent remark, to which scant atten- tion was paid at the moment, the successful com- pletion of the numbering machine being the absorbing occupation. Now and again the suggestion was re- peated, with the result that in a short while the three men seriously began to reflect as to whether the apparently impossible task of writing mechanic- ally could be achieved. But the numbering machine and the "spader” were slowly advanced, and the letter-writing machine became almost forgotten in the excitement. One day, in the following spring, Glidden happened to pick up a paper containing an article reprinted from a London periodical, describing a new machine called the “ pterotype,” meaning winged type, which had been devised by John Pratt, an American who was then living in London, and with which it was possible