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The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

Romance of the Typewriter 179 Austin Burt, a resident of Detroit, and whose name, although but slightly known in connection with the typewriter, is preserved in connection with the in- vention of the solar compass. In 1829 he was granted a patent by the American authorities for a letter- writing machine, which was described as a typo- grapher,” the language of the day in which printing was generally described as typography, naturally facilitating the evolution of a generic title for the machine. The device was of very rough build, but it worked. The model, together with complete and comprehensive details of the invention, were filed at Washington, but unfortunately the model, which appears to be the only typewriter which Burt ever built, together with all the details, perished in the flames when the Patent Office at Washington was burned out in 1836. The coming of the steel pen seems to have prompted more energetic attack upon the solution of the pro- blem of writing by mechanical means, and a decided forward impulse was imparted by the “ ktypographic machine or pen,” which was devised by a French inventor, Xavier Pogrin, of Marseilles, and for which he received a French patent in 1833. This machine introduced for the first time one or two of the details and principles of the modern typewriter, and for this reason is of more than passing interest. For instance, the method of mounting the type upon a bar, which is the characteristic of the modern machine, was incorporated. Another point, although it worked in the reverse manner, was the ability to write in two directions—that is, across the paper from left to right, moving the paper forwards, and then returning