On This Day in Typewriter History: The Rhythm of Typing

PART 241

This is a post that might appeal to Bill and Tino, as it looks at an invention with combines their favourite writing tools, the typewriters and the pen. On this day (January 20) in 1944, Carlton Taylor Jackson, of Rochester, New York, applied for a patent, assigned to IBM, for a method of recording the rhythm of typing.

Jackson wrote, "A broad object of the present invention is to provide a typewriter suitable for use in the teaching of touch typewriting. An object is to provide a typewriting machine which may be used to discover faults in typewriting, such as lack of rhythm in the operation of the keys of a typewriter. An object is to provide a typewriting machine with means to show typists' faults graphically. An object is to provide a means of tracing, in juxtaposition to the characters or spaces of a line of typewriting, graphic representations which enable the teacher of touch typewriting to detect erratic operation of the typewriter keys."

Carlton Taylor Jackson was born in New York on October 16, 1897, and died in Riverside, California, on February 11, 1980, aged 82.