Up to the year 1868, however, typewriting machines were mere illustrations of sporadic genius occuring here and there as the pet hobby of some humanitarian seeking to help the blind, or supplement the deficiencies of the tremulous fingers of the paralytic. It had not yet come to be regarded as of any special use, nor had even the demand for such a device been forcibly felt, until the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century began to accumulate its wonderful momentum of progress and prosperity. The man whose genius finally brought forth a practical typewriter, and made a permanent place for it in the daily business of the world, was C. Latham Sholes. As joint inventor with C. Glidden and S. W. Soule, all of Milwaukee, he took out patents No. 79,265, of June 23, 1868, and No. 79,868, of July 14, 1868. These, together with Sholes’ Pat. No. 118,491, of Aug. 29, 1871, formed the working basis of the first typewriters that went into office use. These typewriters were first introduced to the general public under the management of the original inventors (Sholes, Soule and Glidden) about 1873, and at first used only capital letters. On Aug. 27, 1878, a further patent. No. 207,559, was granted to Sholes, and about this time, after five years of uncertain and precarious business existence, the machine was taken for manufacture to E. Remington & Sons, at Ilion, N. Y. Since this time the well-known “Remington” has built up for itself a reputation and a commercial importance that has given it first place among typewriters. In the nine years from 1873 to 1882, it is said that less than 8,000 machines had been manufactured. In the year 1882 Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict obtained control of the machine, and during the fourteen years following it is said that nearly 200,000 “Remingtons” were made and sold. It is said that 1,000 men are now employed in making this machine, and that the present output is about 800 machines a week, despite the fact that it has a half dozen worthy competitors for public favor. The modern Remington, seen in Fig. 139, is too well known to require special description. Besides the Sholes patents, it embodies the improvements covered by patents to Clough & Jenne, No. 199,263, Jan. 15, 1878; Jenne, No. 478,964, July 12, 1892, and No. 548,553, Oct. 22, 1895, and also a patent to Brooks, No. 202,923, April 30, 1878, a characteristic feature of which latter is the location of both a capital and small letter on the same striking lever, and the shifting of the paper roller by a key to bring either the large or small letter into printing range. [Illustration: FIG. 139.--REMINGTON TYPEWRITER.]