Image: Wikimedia Commons

typewriter

Mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters

EntityQ46335

Subclass of: machine

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectively against the paper with a type element. Thereby, the machine produces a legible written document composed of ink and paper. By the end of the 19th century, a person who used such a device was also referred to as a typist or a typewriter.

Overview

All data

54 statements · 26% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Discovered by: Christopher Latham Sholes discovered: 1867
1
Sources
1.Stated in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Frank Haven Hall
Carlos Glidden
Samuel W. Soule
2022 Harmonized System Code: 8469
1
Sources
1.Stated in UN Comtrade Commodity ClassificationsRetrieved 2018-07-17
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Has characteristic: keyboard layout

On other databases

44 identifiers linking typewriter across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

26%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 4, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). typewriter (Q46335). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/typewriter-Q46335