However, they were enormously important for the development of the modern industrial and service society and changed many work processes decisively.
Little known is the fact that the inventor of the typewriter was a carpenter from South Tyrol: Peter Mitterhofer, born in 1822 in Partschins in the Vinschgau, died in 1893 in the same place.
From 1864, Mitterhofer developed five models of typewriters, four of which are preserved. The first two were made of wood, the later ones of metal. The last model shows all the essential design details of the mechanical typewriter with a type basket, underlay, block keyboard, typing roller, automatic line feed, and multi-step mechanism.
Peter Mitterhofer's story and that of his invention are emblematic of the state of the Habsburg monarchy at the end of the 19th century. Twice, in 1864 and 1866, Mitterhofer traveled on foot (!) to Vienna with the prototypes of his invention, where he presented them at the imperial court. However, no one at the imperial court had the imagination and foresight to recognize the value of this invention and enable industrial production and marketing. The typewriters were purchased by the court for 200 and 150 guilders and taken as a gift by Emperor Franz Joseph I into the model collection of the Polytechnic Institute. Otherwise, Mitterhofer received no further support, so he returned to Partschins disappointed and embittered.
The big money with this invention was finally made by others: Christopher Latham Sholes later developed a typewriter in the USA, which was successfully produced and sold by the "Remington Arms Company" in New York from the 1870s onwards. Sholes' crucial innovation was the QWERTY keyboard, in which the letters are not arranged alphabetically, but according to ergonomic and mechanical principles. Mitterhofer witnessed the triumph of "his" invention, without having any share in it.
In 1993, on the hundredth anniversary of the inventor's death, a typewriter museum was founded in his hometown of Partschins, which found its current home in 1998 with a striking new building in the town center. The collection includes over 2,000 typewriters from all over the world, of which around 360 are on display. Highlights include several rarities and unique pieces such as the Mitterhofer No.1 or a completely gilded "Princess". In addition, the museum deals with the culture of writing in its various forms from hieroglyphs and cuneiform script to the Gutenberg Bible. With modern museum education and the latest exhibition techniques and forms, a unique, highly interesting overview of the phenomenon of writing and the development of the typewriter from its beginnings to its replacement by the PC is offered.
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