Why do we have QUERTY keyboards?

Answer 1

why not???

Answer 2

to slow down the typists speed! Old typewriters use metal prongs which has the letter engraved on it, this stikes the ink ribbon (then resturns to its resting position) which leaves letter stamped on the paper in the roller. What used to happen was the typist use to type to fast and the prongs would stick as the returning prong would clash with one rising up to stike the ribbon, or two or more prong would clash trying to stamp the ribbon at the same time.

The problem was sorted by moving the common letters apart, and slowing down the typists enough that the hammers (prongs) had time to hit the ribbon and return without affecting the other hammers. The keys of this new format at the top left of the keyboard formed the letters 'qwerty', thus the keyboard became commonly known as qwerty keyboards.

The keyboards have been in use for so long now, that they have become defacto (standard) even though most poeple dont use the old type typwriters, so although we dont need it it, and we could speed typing up by designing a better keyboard layout it has stayed the same, because it would cost the industry to much to reteach all their typists to use the new format.

Just out of interest a new 5 letter keyboard was invented a while ago that was way faster (you pressed combinations to get different letters, and it was found children learned to pick it up very fast, but because it was too hard fo adults to master it never really took off)

Answer 3

The name "QWERTY" for our typewriter keyboard comes from the first six letters in the top alphabet row (the one just below the numbers). It is also called the "Universal" keyboard for rather obvious reasons. It was the work of inventor C. L. Sholes, who put together the prototypes of the first commercial typewriter in a Milwaukee machine shop back in the 1860's.
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For years, popular writers have accused Sholes of deliberately arranging his keyboard to slow down fast typists who would otherwise jam up his sluggish machine. In fact, his motives were just the opposite.
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When Sholes built his first model in 1868, the keys were arranged alphabetically in two rows. At the time, Milwaukee was a backwoods town. The crude machine shop tools available there could hardly produce a finely-honed instrument that worked with precision. Yes, the first typewriter was sluggish. Yes, it did clash and jam when someone tried to type with it. But Sholes was able to figure out a way around the problem simply by rearranging the letters. Looking inside his early machine, we can see how he did it.
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The first typewriter had its letters on the end of rods called "typebars." The typebars hung in a circle. The roller which held the paper sat over this circle, and when a key was pressed, a typebar would swing up to hit the paper from underneath. If two typebars were near each other in the circle, they would tend to clash into each other when typed in succession. So, Sholes figured he had to take the most common letter pairs such as "TH" and make sure their typebars hung at safe distances.
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He did this using a study of letter-pair frequency prepared by educator Amos Densmore, brother of James Densmore, who was Sholes' chief financial backer. The QWERTY keyboard itself was determined by the existing mechanical linkages of the typebars inside the machine to the keys on the outside. Sholes' solution did not eliminate the problem completely, but it was greatly reduced.

Answer 4

Because when we used typewriters, the arms that stamped the letters on the page would get tangled if you went too fast. The layout was designed to slow the typist down to a certain speed, and I think space out certain letter groups so the more common letters would not tangle up. It stuck then, because secretaries became proficient on this letter layout, and who wants to slow down a typist when you're paying them for output, but you want to transfer them to an electronic format.

Hope that makes sense.

Answer 5

Nobody I know has a QUERTY keyboard. We all have QWERTY.

Answer 6

yap..it is not QUARTY....it is QWERTY
the key board is designed to optimize the speed of typing..the pay out is in a manner such that 10 fingers on both hands can use the keyboard with ease

Answer 7

QWERTY is the first letters on the upper case keys on a standard keyboard

Answer 8

the designer of the first typewriter mixed up the keys to try and slow down the typist to prevent the keys from jamming.

Answer 9

Do you mean QWERTY?
Never heard of QUERTY.

Answer 10

QWERTY keyboards are not universal.
The French use a different layout.

Answer 11

It was devised to stop clashing on the old typewriters