Hans Rasmus Johan Malling-Hansen was a Danish inventor, minister and principal at the Royal Institute for the Deaf. He is famous for inventing the first commercially produced typewriter.
Rasmus Malling-Hansen, detail from a painting by Malthe Engelsted's painting L'Hombre (1887).
The 1870 Hansen Writing Ball model.
The 1878 model of the writing ball.
Rasmus Malling-Hansen in 1887.
The Hansen Writing Ball is an early typewriter. It was invented in 1865 and patented and put into production in 1870, and was the first commercially produced typewriter.
Model from 1870
Model from 1874
Model from 1878
Hansen Writing Ball in Technische Sammlungen Dresden