# Was the QWERTY keyboard purposely designed to slow typists? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 8, 2007, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists/421915 "2007-10-08T09:48:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![norwegianwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6bbea6/32.png) [@norwegianwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norwegianwood)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists/421915/1 "2007-10-08T09:48:57Z")
Original: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_248.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_248.html) It is mentioned in the answer, that the typewriter was invented by Christopher Sholes in the late 1860s (in 1868 I believe). But actually the Danish priest and deaf-mute teacher Rasmus Malling-Hansen invented it in 1864 (he called it The Writing Ball) - he even did some research on the best way to arrange the keys in order to help the writer write faster. Unfortunately his design was more expensive to manufacture than the American Remington, and when he died at an early age (55 years) his invention never became a commercial succes. Today his machines are rare collector’s items and are sold at prices around 30,000-40,000$. And had he succeded, our computer keyboards might have been very different… You can read about the man, and see pictures of his invention at: [http://www.malling-hansen.org/](http://www.malling-hansen.org/) ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists/421915/2 "2007-10-08T15:08:15Z")
Nice to see you drop by with that link and information, **norwegianwood**! Stick around a while; you might find us interesting. I note that you read sticky threads, since you linked in Cecil’s column. I will point out that Cecil did not say that Mr. Sholes invented the typewriter, but, rather that he designed “what is generally considered the first practical typewriter.” This is because, unlike other typewriters (including, if I understand the design correctly, the Writing Ball), you could see what was being typed as it was typed. This presented an advantage over other models where the paper was hidden from the view of the typist. So far as I can tell, no one, not even Mr. Malling-Hansen can claim to be the sole inventor of the typewriter. There were models produced prior to the Writing Ball. However, it does appear that the Writing Ball was the first typewriter sold commercially. I do find it interesting that the inventor was interested in maximizing the speed of the typing; would that a design allowing that to continue had triumphed over qwerty! ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists/421915/3 "2007-10-08T16:03:49Z")
Early typewriters go back more than a century before Malling-Hansen. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists/421915/4 "2007-10-08T18:45:38Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] I will point out that Cecil did not say that Mr. Sholes invented the typewriter, but, rather that he designed “what is generally considered the first practical typewriter.” This is because, unlike other typewriters (including, if I understand the design correctly, the Writing Ball), you could see what was being typed as it was typed. This presented an advantage over other models where the paper was hidden from the view of the typist. [/QUOTE] No, the Sholes typewriter was just as blind as all the other earlier typewriters. You can see for yourself at this [history of typewriters](http://staff.xu.edu/~polt/typewriters/tw-history.html) page. Visible pages came seventeen years later, in 1891. > [@](#): > > The effort to create a visible rather than “blind” machine led to many ingenious ways of getting the typebars to the platen. Examples of early visible writers include the Williams and the Oliver. The Daugherty Visible of 1891 was the first frontstroke typewriter to go into production: the typebars rest below the platen and hit the front of it. With the Underwood of 1895, this style of typewriter began to gain ascendancy. That page also has a picture of the “writing ball” and lists the Italian Pellegrino Turri in 1808 as having made the first working typewriter. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists/421915/5 "2007-10-08T21:21:05Z")
I stand corrected, having managed to conflate two things into one while reading. Thank you, **Exapno**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists/421915/6 "2007-10-08T21:41:04Z")
I’m not sure how you can write an article about the QWERTY keyboard without at least suggesting people type the word “typewriter”. That was supposedly done to help salesmen hawk the things. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists/421915/7 "2007-10-08T21:58:28Z")
[QUOTE=Nanoda] I’m not sure how you can write an article about the QWERTY keyboard without at least suggesting people type the word “typewriter”. That was supposedly done to help salesmen hawk the things. [/QUOTE] Yet it takes all three rows to type “apocryphal.” ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists/421915/8 "2007-10-08T22:15:22Z")
[QUOTE=garygnu] Yet it takes all three rows to type “apocryphal.” [/QUOTE] I’m not sure I can work that word in to a winning sales pitch. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists/421915/9 "2007-10-08T22:26:08Z")
[QUOTE=Nanoda] I’m not sure I can work that word in to a winning sales pitch. [/QUOTE] Most of the people you’d be selling to wouldn’t know what it means anyway. Tell them it means “of or having to do with the twelve apostles.”