Giuseppe Ravizza Giuseppe Ravizza Giuseppe Ravizza, a prolific typewriter inventor, was born in Novara, Italy in 1811 (died 1885), and spent nearly 40 years of his life obsessively grappling with the complexities of inventing a usable writing machine. He called his invention "" because of its piano-type keys and keyboard. The story of the 16 models he produced between 1847 and the early 1880s is described in "The Writing Machine" and illustrated from Ravizza’s 1855 patent, which bears similarities to the later upstroke design of the Sholes and Glidden typewriter. In 1868, the American Christopher Latham Sholes (1819-1890) patented, on behalf of
Latham of Bradwall years. For over 30 years he was public vaccinator, and surgeon to the Bradwall Reformatory from its foundation until 19 March 1903 when he retired. For some time he was also registrar of births and deaths, a duty which he handed over to his son in 1888. In 1843 he married Miss Mary Newnham Cobbe, daughter of Mr. William Venables Cobbe, of the Hough, near Wybunbury. Their children included Richard Venables Latham (b. 1845), William Henry Latham (b. 1849), Catherine Maria Latham (b. 1851), George Frederick Latham (b. 1852), Louisa Mary Latham (b. 1854), Harry Newham Latham (b. 1856) and