James Densmore
Businessman and inventor (1820–1889)
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James Densmore (February 3, 1820 – September 16, 1889) was an American businessman and inventor. He was a business associate of Christopher Sholes, who along with Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule helped contribute to inventing one of the first practical typewriters at a machine shop located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[2]
It was believed that Densmore had suggested splitting up commonly used letter combinations in order to solve a jamming problem, but this called into question.[3] This concept was later refined by Sholes later refined this concept, so it became known as the QWERTY key layout.
Densmore was a militant vegetarian. His diet consisted of mostly raw apples.[4] His brother was physician Emmet Densmore.[5]
Densmore also supported women's suffrage in Wisconsin.[6] When he was the editor of the Oshkosh True Democrat the paper publicly supported women's right to vote.[7]
Densmore is remembered for the enigmatic fraternal organization he envisioned in his will, known as The Densmore Foundation.[8]