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The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

Romance of the Typewriter 177 by Soule, with the general principles which were to be fulfilled advanced by Sholes. In all their con- sultations and discussions the writing machine patented by Pratt formed the general basis for argument and criticism, so that their ultimate machine was directly the result of the influence exerted by Pratt. Like all great inventions which have consummated a silent revolution, the typewriter is not the product of a single brain. The idea of being able to write letters by means of a machine is probably as old as the art of printing from movable types. As Guten- berg’s handicraft swept through Europe, it is only logical to suppose that one or two brilliant minds wondered vaguely whether the idea could not be adapted to letter-writing, especially in view of the imperfect writing implements which were the vogue of those days. But the exigencies of commerce in those times were readily satisfied, with the conse- quence that any thoughts of achieving this end were probably abandoned as soon as they occurred to fertile and creative minds. Public attention for the first time appears to have been drawn to the possibility of superseding the laborious process of writing by hand two hundred years ago. Those were the days when the quill pen reigned supreme ; when even the steel pen, much less the fountain-pen, and the leaden pencil were beyond contemplation. But a well-known British engineer, Henry Mill, aspired to change all this, because, on January 7th, 1714, he received legal protection from the British Patent Office for a “ new and useful in- vention ” comprising a machine which he had brought to perfection at great paines and expence ” M