William Austin Burt - Inventions - Typographer

Typographer

Among Burt's numerous inventions were the typographer in 1829, which was a predecessor to the modern-day typewriter. The "typographer" was the first constructed and operating typewriter anywhere according to Burt.

Austin Burt, the great grandson of the inventor, built a working model for the 1893 Chicago's World's Fair working from a parchment copy of the original patent (No. 5581X). He explained in a letter dated April 1, 1893, that was attached to the model that it took him a month to construct it from the original patent description because many of the parts had to be hand-made. It was on display and a picture taken of it at the University of Minnesota just prior to going to the Chicago's World's Fair in the middle of April. Austin then was a student of engineering at the University. The replica built by Austin was returned to the model room of the Patent Office in Washington D.C. when the Chicago's World's Fair closed. There it remained until 1903 when the Patent Office model room was closed. The "typographer" was then shipped in 1903 to Hiram A. Burt of Marquette, Michigan. Burt's machine and the original Letters Patent went to Hiram's daughter, Mrs. Howard Corning, of Bangor, Maine when Hiram moved to Maine at a later date. The replica as of 1922 was in the Smithsonian Institution and the documents of the original Letters Patent stayed in the family of Mrs. Howard Corning.

Burt searched far and wide for an appropriate name for his invention, but reluctantly settled with "typographer" which ultimately became "typewriter." It consisted of a wooden box and at one end there was a swinging lever for impressing. The typeface letters were mounted on a short sector attached on the underside of the lever. Pressing down with pressure imprinted the letter selected on the paper. When a page was full it was torn off like a paper towel, as the paper was on a large continuous roll. One could print both upper and lower case letters. The first writing machine Burt built did not live up to his expectation, so he built an improved version six months later that wasn't much faster. The improvements were mostly in looks and appearance for marketing the machine to investors. While Burt's typographer generated a lot of interest and did a very good job of typing clear and neat letters it did not become a commercial success. The typographer was "born out of season" and was before its time, so no market was found for his typewriter or the patent in his lifetime.