Image: Pterotype

Description: Photo of early prototype typewriter, the Pterotype ('winged type'), built by John Pratt, an American living in England, and presented at the Society of Arts in London and the Royal Society, in 1867. An article about it in the July 6, 1867 issue of Scientific American inspired many other typewriter inventors. A unique feature of the machine was that the typefaces were on a 'type plate', which was moved horizontally and vertically by the keys, and a hammer struck the paper from behind, driving it against the type. Pratt received British letter patent no.3163 on Dec. 1, 1866 and US Letter Patent No. 81000 on Aug. 11, 1868. Unable to develop it commercially, Pratt sold the rights to James Bartlett Hammond, and many of it's features were incorporated in the Hammond typewriter. For more information see Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia for 1890, p.809 Alterations: none.
Title: Pterotype
Credit: Downloaded 2008-1-11 from Office equipment and supplies at the 1876 Centennial exposition, Early Office Museum website. Source said it was copied from George Carl Mares (1909) The History of the Typewriter, G. Pittman, London, p. 34-41
Author: George Carl Mares
Permission: Public domain - Mares died in 1926.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No