The relationship which then began between Sholes and Densmore was a strange meeting of opposites, for two men more unlike could hardly be imagined. Densmore is described as bold, aggressive and arrogant. If Sholes was a dreamer and an idealist, Densmore in some respects was a plain "crank." He was a vegetarian of the militant type, and did not hesitate to remonstrate with meat eaters, even total strangers in public restaurants. His own diet consisted mainly of raw apples, a reminder of the raw turnips of Colonel Sellers. He was always impervious to the shafts of ridicule and insensible to slights. Indomitable and resolute, in the pursuit of any object he could not be discouraged or repulsed. But Densmore, in his own rough way, was usually kind to the gentle Sholes, and it may be set down to his credit that more than once, during the years of inventive struggle from 1867 to 1873, when difficulties thickened and Sholes, if left to his own devices, would have become discouraged, Densmore's unquenchable faith was the salvation of the infant enterprise. The relationship between Densmore and Sholes reminds us in some respects of the similar relationship in the eighteenth century between Boulton and James Watt. During these years Densmore consistently played the part of Boulton to Sholes, who, under his urging, continued to build model after model, until twenty-five or thirty had been made. Each one of these marked some improvement over the last, but in the hands of practical users each one showed some defect and broke down under the strain of actual use. It was not until early in the year 1873 that the machine was deemed sufficiently perfected for actual manufacture. In the meantime other men had entered the typewriter story. One of these was James Ogilvie Clephane of Washington, D. C., who, years after, became closely identified with Ottmer Mergenthaler, the inventor of the Linotype. It was thus the unusual distinction of Clephane to place his name in intimate association with two of the greatest inventions of our times. Clephane's role in the case of the typewriter was that of practical tester. As an official shorthand reporter, he had a complete and instant appreciation of the boon that the new machine would confer on his own profession, and he faithfully and gladly tried out one model after another sent to him by the inventors. He was severe in his criticisms of the defects of these models, as they revealed themselves in actual service, so much so that Sholes frequently became disheartened. But it was all in a good cause, and Densmore kept assuring Sholes that such tests were just what were needed to reveal the weak points. Thus by slow degrees the original conceptions of the inventors were modified by their growing knowledge of practical requirements.