Typographer (typewriter)

The typographer was an early typewriter invented by William Austin Burt.^[1] Intended to aid in office work, the machine worked by using a lever to press characters onto paper one at a time.^[2][3] It was the first typewriting machine to be patented in the United States, although Pellegrino Turri had made one in Italy in 1808.^[4] Perhaps because of its slow speed, or because there was not yet a wide market for typewriters, it was not a commercial success.^[2][3]

Typographer patent by William Austin Burt, 1829

The working model that Burt constructed for his 1829 patent was destroyed in the 1836 Patent Office fire.^[2][5]