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 Latham of Bradwall Latham of Bradwall is a family whose seat was at Bradwall Hall, in the township of Bradwall, near Sandbach, England, with several notable members. The line is "a junior branch of the ancient Cheshire house of Lathom, of Lathom and Knowsley, which terminated in the heiress, Isabella Latham, who married Sir John Stanley, Knt., ancestor of the Earls of Derby". The family is not thought to be related to John Latham (1740–1837) the ornithologist, although this appears to be uncertain. John Latham, FRS, M.D. (29 December 1761 – 20 April 1843) was a physician who bought the