Pterotype

This machine is the pterotype invented by John Pratt of Centre Alabama in 1866. Pratt was a writer and the editor of the Gadsden Times. Due to economic hardships brought on by the Civil War Pratt was unable to find funding to market the device however Christopher Sholes would be inspired by the pterotype when he designed the first commercially successful typewriter which became the Remington Model 1 in 1873.