Hansen Writing Ball (first commercial typewriter)
Bola de escribir de Hansen (primera máquina de escribir comercial)
- Date
- 1865-1870 · confidence high
- Place
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Credited to
- Rasmus Malling-Hansen
- People
- 👤 Rasmus Malling-Hansen1835–1890
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A typewriter with keys on a sphere that strike paper on a cylinder, the first to be sold commercially (1870). Nietzsche used one in 1882.
First model in 1865; patent in 1870. The Sholes and Glidden machine (1868) won the market: priority as 'first typewriter' depends on the definition.
What it led to
- commercial production of typewriters
- a frequency-ordered keyboard
- ball typewriters such as the IBM Selectric