![]() Nonetheless, the patent was filed for the QWERTY layout, and over time, it became a universal keyboard layout. So, moving the “R” key next to the “E” key did not make sense to many historians. Now, it was an unusual move by Sholes as the “er” letter pairing is fourth on the Bigram Frequency index. However, before filing a patent for his new keyboard layout, Sholes changed it to the current QWERTY keyboard layout by putting the “R” key adjacent to the “E” key. Yeah, the period was in the place of the ‘R’ key. See, early prototypes of Sholes’ typewriters reportedly showed a slightly different keyboard layout, where the “R” key was not there at the top row. However, an anomaly of Sholes’ new layout is still a mystery to historians. An Unusual Decision By Christopher Latham Sholes # Hence, if this theory is true, then the QWERTY layout is one such layout that put the keys of the most common letter pairings such as “t h”, “i n”, “h e”, and others most apart from each other. So, to prevent the mechanical lock-up of typewriter keys, Sholes came up with the idea of placing the most-used pairs of letters, as per the Bigram Frequency usage, apart from each other. It happened mainly due to the succession of the adjacent often-used keys on the Bigram Frequency of usage.įor the uninitiated, Bigram Frequency usage is a technique of statistical language identification that clearly shows the most-paired letters of the alphabet (picture below). So, when a typist typed a word with the keys that are on the same type bar, the striker of the keys would often get jammed with each other, causing a mechanical lock-up on the typewriter. Underneath the keys of a typewriter, there are hammer-like inked strikers which sit adjacent to each other on a type-bar. Now, to understand this, first, we need to learn how a typewriter works. So, how did Sholes move from the logical alphabetical layout to the current haphazard QWERTY layout? Well, one of the most popular theories is that the inventor created the QWERTY layout to prevent typewriter keys from a mechanical lock-up. The latter model had four rows of keys laid out in almost alphabetical order. As per Scholes’ typed letters and patent filings, the keyboard layout of these typewriters was not nearly close to the current QWERTY layout. ![]() ![]() Two years later, in 1870, Matthias Schwalbach worked with Sholes to develop a 38-key typewriter, including special keys for hyphen, comma, period, and the question mark. The First Typewriters #īack in November 1868, Christopher Latham Sholes, along with his three colleagues, shipped the first 28-key typewriter to the Porter’s Telegraph College in Chicago. The origin of the QWERTY keyboard layout directly connects to the working of the typewriter. Now, to know about the said keyboard layout, we have to go to the pre-computer days when the typewriter was a revolutionary device for typists around the world. QWERTY Keyboard: How Did It Come Into Being? # ![]()
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