Christopher Sholes

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Wisconsin Historical Marker

Christopher Latham Sholes (February 14, 1819 - February 17, 1890) is an American who contributed to the development of the typewriter.

Born in Mooresburg, Pennsylvania, Sholes moved to nearby Danville as a teenager, where he worked as an apprentice to a printer. After completing his apprenticeship, Sholes moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He became a newspaper publisher and politician, serving in Wisconsin's state legislature in 1860.

The idea for the typewriter started at Kleinsteubers machine shop in Milwaukee. He invented the typewriter in the year 1868. Along with Samuel W. Soule and Carlos Glidden, Sholes was granted a patent for the typewriter on June 23, 1868. His version of the typewriter was based on a page-numbering machine he received a patent for in 1864. Sholes sold the rights to his typewriter to the Remington Arms Company in 1872 for $12,000.

He continued to work on new developments for the typewriter throughout the 1860s, which included the QWERTY keyboard (1863). James Densmore, a business associate, suggested splitting up commonly used letter combinations in order to solve a jamming problem. This concept was later refined by Sholes and is still in use today on both typewriters and computers.

Sholes is buried at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee.

Sholes invention is still essentially in use today, as the QWERTY keyboard is featured exclusively on computer keyboards from all significant manufacturers. It is considered to be the first step to the computer age.