Science: Dear Companion

Henry Mill of England patented a typewriter in 1714. The firm of Sholes, Glidden & Soulé developed a practical machine in the U. S. in 1867, and typewriters began to be marketed by Remington in 1874. First U. S. patent on a writing-machine, however, was issued in 1829 to a remarkable man named William Austin Burt. On this device, in March 1830, Inventor Burt whacked out the first letter typewritten in the U.S. Last week the Smithsonian Institution proudly announced that it had acquired and would shortly display this message.

Inventor Burt's machine, made entirely...

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