Evolution of Word Processing

Modern Paper

100

The Invention of Paper
Around 9 B.C. T'sai Lun of the Hun Dynasty developed paper as we know it today made from plant fibres.

Handwritten Books

Jan 1, 1000

Before the invention of the printing press, books were written by hand. This occured from the invention of modern paper to the invention of the printing press.

Gutenberg Printing Press

Feb 25, 1440

History Guide
Johannes Gutenberg created the first moveable type printing press to print copies of the Bible.

The Printing Revolution

Jan 1, 1480

Video
Once the first printing press was created, people across Europe were using the press to publish books so much faster than ever before.

20 Million Mark

Feb 25, 1500

By 1500 printing presses across Europe had reached the 20 million copies mark.

Steam-powered Printing Press

Apr 28, 1814

The introduction of this invention sped up printing press time significantly to 8,000 pages per hour.

Shole's Typewriter Created

Feb 25, 1867

Christopher Latham Sholes invented the first prototype of the modern typewriter.

Hansen Writing Ball

Feb 25, 1870

Writing Ball
First typewriter like invention to go on the market. Created by Rasmus-Malling Hanson and had little success.

First Typewriter on Market

Jul 1, 1874

Video
Shole's Typewriter was placed on the market for the first time warranting huge success.

Remington No. 2

Feb 25, 1878

Remington No. 2
Shole's sold his patent to Remington & Sons who released a second typewriter with the standard QWERTY keyboard. It was extremely successful.

First Electric Typewriter

May 30, 1902

Electrcity Timeline
Blickenderfer Manufacturing Company released the first electric typewriter. It wasn't a very big success, probably because electricity was no so widely available at the time.

First Modern Computer

Feb 25, 1946

Video
The Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, or ENIAC, was created this year. It is seen as the first moern computer, more similar to the ones we use today than the one created in the 1940s. ENIAC was primarily used in the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory to calculate artillary firing tables. It ran on a humongous mainframe system.

Creation of Correction Fluid

Feb 25, 1951

Bette Nesmith Graham, a secretary and founder of the company Liquid Paper, created correction fluid, or what we call "White Out" for typewriters. This way, instead of having to completely start over becasue of an error made while typing, a typist could simply white the error out and retype over it.

IBM Selectic Typewriter

Jul 31, 1961

This typewriter was considered the first word processor, although it wasn't called by that name. It recieved that characteristic because of it's "type ball" which allows for more fonts and faster typing, as well as the use of binary code in its design.

First Word Processor

Oct 20, 1964

IBM released the first word processor called the MT/ST, or the Magnetic Tape/Selectic Typewriter, combining the two forms of printing. This machine was the first of what we today consider word processing machines. The phrase "word processing" was translated from the German word "textverabeitung." This machine marked the first time text could be edited without the need for a hard copy first.

Invetnion of MagCards

Mar 10, 1969

MagCards were the first word processing storage units. They were small disks that a person could slip into a computer to save text that they had printed.

Electronic Typewriters

Sep 15, 1981

Not to be confused with electric typewriters, electronic typewriters were the last major evolution of the typewriter before the introduction of word processors into technology. Electronic typewriters often had displays, spelling and grammar check, and did not use mechanics to type.

Mjcrosoft Word

Aug 7, 1983

Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word 1.0 was first introduced by the company Xerox with little success. However, the program would grow to become to most common and widely used word processing software, expanding to more than basic word processing.

Introduction of the Floppy Disk

Feb 25, 1986

Floppy Disk v. Thumb Drive
The first 8-inch floppy disk that held 1.44 megabytes of data was introduced in this year. It could hold text for word processing as well as other software for computers. Floppy disks allowed for the separation between "software" (programs and instructions for the computer) and "hardware" (the actual makeup and function of a ocmputer).