Before IBM: History of Typewriters and Adding Machines (Computers pt. 2)

Hate doing your taxes? So did Blaise Pascal. Have you ever wanted to throw your computer out the window? So did William Bouroughs. Do you hate when your friends badger you about details on your latest tech purchase? So did Mark Twain. Are you a working girl, rolling in that 9 to 5 office lifestyle? Meet your trailblazing ancestors, the "typewriter girls" of the of the early twentieth century. All of these people and more led to the creation of IBM, the tech giant whose logo is emblazed all over the modern office. In this episode of the Answer Archive, we look at the stories of the people and companies who invented modern data calculation and storage through adding machines and typewriters.

Sources:

Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the industry they created, 1865-1956 by James W. Cortada

https://amzn.to/2YvrAe7

Computer: A History of the Information Machine by Martin-Campbell Kelly, William Aspray, Nathan Ensmenger, and Jeffrey R. Yost

https://amzn.to/2zlcbCN

A History of Computing Technology by Michael R. Williams

https://amzn.to/2B8QM0V

Evolution of the Typewriter by Charles Vonley Oden

https://archive.org/details/evolutionoftypew00oden

Attributions:

VHS Rewind Effect:

http://www.anfx.co/motion-graphics/overlays/vhs-rewind-effect/

Sewing Machine:

Icons made by Smashicons from www.flaticon.com

Newer Looking Typewriter:

Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com

Software Used:

Olive Video Editor

http://www.olivevideoeditor.org

Audacity

https://www.audacityteam.org/

GIMP

https://www.gimp.org/

Inkscape

https://inkscape.org/

Godot Engine

https://godotengine.org/