Communication · 1868

Typewriter

A keyboard prints letters directly, and QWERTY is born.

Christopher Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden and Samuel Soule patented a practical typewriter in 1868, sold by Remington from 1874 with the QWERTY layout. Typewriters reshaped office work and opened clerical jobs to women; the keyboard carried over into computers and phones.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

Factory system 1771
Movable-type printing press 1440

What it led to 1

Linotype machine 1886