The QWERTY keyboard layout was designed in the 1870s partly to prevent mechanical typewriter jams by separating commonly used letter pairs.
Sources
- https://www.keychron.com/blogs/news/qwerty-keyboard-layout (keychron.com)
- https://library.bellevue.edu/articles/a-brief-history-and-overview-of-common-keyboard-layouts/ (library.bellevue.edu)
- https://www.historyng.com/history-of/the-history-of-the-qwerty-keyboard (historyng.com)
- https://inventivehq.com/blog/qwerty-keyboard-history (inventivehq.com)
- https://wi101.wisc.edu/qwerty-keyboard-and-morse-code/ (wi101.wisc.edu)
- https://www.typesy.com/how-keyboard-creators-came-up-with-the-qwerty-layout/ (typesy.com)
- https://historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=2503 (historyofinformation.com)
- https://invention.si.edu/invention-stories/was-patent-application-typewriter-handwritten (invention.si.edu)
- https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Sholess-final-keyboard-layout-8_fig5_237105161 (researchgate.net)
- https://multimediaman.blog/2013/07/12/christopher-latham-sholes-1819-1890/ (multimediaman.blog)