The EkaPad is a tiny typewriter!
Some history and discussion of the typewriter and its keyboard
Typewriter Information
- History of Typewriters: Science Museum, London
- History of Typewriters: Mavis Beacon
- History of Typewriters: And as collectables
- History of Typewriters: Pictures with time line
- Links to typewriter web sites
- Reviews of books about typewriters
- Dvorak design with discussion of path dependence
History of Typewriters: Science Museum, London
The Science Museum in London, England has an excellent exhibit of typewriters. Download to view this collection taken from their web site. typewriter_history_sciencemuseumlondon.pdf 472 kb
History of Typewriters: Mavis Beacon
This extended article contains lots of good information, particularly about Scholes' work and early American typewriter efforts. Mavis Beacon is a made up person used to touch typing training software. This material is no longer available but the history is worth keeping. typewriter_history_mavisbeacon.pdf 1.8 Mb
History of Typewriters: And as collectables
Reminiscences of a collector. typewriter_history_collectable.pdf 104 kb
History of Typewriters: Pictures with time line
Lots more pictures of early typewriters organized as branches of a tree. typewriter_picturehistory_website.pdf 2.7 mb
Links to typewriter web sites
These sites have many interesting photos and some history articles of typewriters
A wonderful web site with some of the best typewriter specimens and extensive history:
The Virtual Typewriter Museum http://www.typewritermuseum.org/index.html
A typewriter collectables site http://www.typewritercollector.com/
The Tompkins County NY Historical Typewriter Collection http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/ErgoPROJECTS/DEA4702005/HCTwebsite/index.html
http://www.1st-in-typewriters.com/
Graphical typewriter-geneology tree with photos http://web.archive.org/web/20060921073538/www.precision-dynamics.com.au/typewriters/history.html
Strange and beautiful world of antique writing machines http://staff.xu.edu/~polt/typewriters/index.html
Reviews of books about typewriters
The Iron Whim A Fragmented History of the Typewriter. By Darren Wershler-Henry
Eight reviews. Excellent photos and fondness for the Underwood typewriter in the last review/comment.
typewriter_bookreviews_theironwhim.htm 2.4 Mb
Sexy Legs A sample from the book. Mainly about how to advertise a typewriter. typewriter_legswtypewriter_booksample.htm 352 kb
Quirky QWERTY, the story of the keyboard @ your fingertips; Torbjörn Lundmark, University of New South Wales Press, Ltd. 2002, ISBN 0 86840 436 5
Dvorak design with discussion of path dependence
Interesting historical perspective, with good information about the development of the Dvorak keyboard.
liebowitz_thefableofthekeys_1990.pdf 356 kb
typewriter_history_dvorakitems_68pgs.pdf 928 kb
These are three articles discussing whether or not the Dvorak keyboard design would ever be more than a sideline idea for typewriters. The economic historical approach discusses "path dependence" and how it might have affected sales of Dvorak keyboards.
liebowitz_reasonmag_typingerrors.pdf 192 kb
