1874. Unfortunately for Blickensderfer, no other typewriter manufacturer adopted the scientific keyboard and Blickensderfer had no choice but to offer the universal keyboard on all his machines as an option. Toward the end of the company's existence, most machines were sold with the universal keyboard. There were modifications to the layout made for Spanish, French, German, and Polish. In 1936, Prof August Dvorak proposed a similar keyboard layout, seeking to minimize the distance a typist's fingers travel. He proposed the same common letters as Blickensderfer in the middle row of his keyboard with the exception of the R which he replaced with a punctuation key. The Dvorak keyboard continues to have a small but loyal following to this day and is available on most major operating systems. Notes References (via Internet Archive) http://www.antikeychop.com/blickensderfer-typewriters http://www.stamfordhistory.org/blickens.htm http://www.portabletypewriters.co.uk/portable_typewriters_blickensderfer.htm Bibliography External links Latin-script keyboard layouts Typewriters