What Is A Typewriter?

What is it, and how does it work?

A typewriter is a machine that prints a letter onto paper every time you press a key. Each key is linked to a specific letter, and when you press it, a series of levers and pivots move until a “typebar” swings upward and strikes the page. But the typebar isn’t what actually makes the letter—its job is to carry the “typeslug,” which is the small metal piece that holds the character itself. Every typeslug has two letters on it, one uppercase and one lowercase, and it sits right at the top of the typebar. When you hit a key, the typebar and typeslug swing together and hit the paper.

So how does the ink get there? That’s the ribbon’s job. The ink ribbon sits just in front of the paper and is coated with black or red ink. When the typeslug hits the ribbon, the ribbon is pressed between the slug and the paper, leaving a clean, permanent impression of the letter.

And then there’s one of the most important parts of all: the platen. The platen is a hard rubber cylinder that holds the paper in place as you roll it into the machine. It also provides the firm backing the typeslug needs—without it, the slug would punch straight through the page instead of printing neatly on the surface.

Where did the typewriter come from?

The typewriter’s story begins on June 23, 1868, when Christopher Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden, and Samuel W. Soule patented their design in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their machine became the first commercially successful typewriter and introduced the QWERTY layout we still use today. When E. Remington & Sons began manufacturing it in 1873, the typewriter quickly became the model that shaped everything that followed.

The QWERTY layout wasn’t chosen at random—it was designed to keep commonly used letters apart so the typebars wouldn’t tangle during fast typing. The Sholes and Glidden typewriter (also called the Remington No. 1) used an upstrike mechanism, meaning the typebars hit the underside of the platen. Because of that, typists couldn’t actually see what they were writing as they worked, which made accuracy a real skill. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that the Oliver Typewriter Company changed the game with its “Visible Writer” machines, finally letting people watch their words appear as they typed.