qwerty Not Designed to Slow Typist
[NOT DONE] One myth that will not die is that the "qwerty" keyboard arrangement was designed to slow down typists. This is not true.
Fortunately, the Wikipedia page on "qwerty" now does a good job of dispelling this myth; perhaps it will finally go away.
Origins of etaoin
The "etaoin" layout of the Linotype was a response to a specific technical issue with the early "Blower" Linotype of 1886. It was retained in all subsequent machines even though that issue was not present (but admittedly did provide other benefits). It is the logical keyboard layout for those situations where the machine is best served by an order of decreasing letter frequency.
This is a link to the treatment of this subject in the Linotype & Intertype FAQs, Myths, & Misconceptions Notebook.
The "etaoin" layout was also used twice on typewriters, though it isn't clear why.
"Logotype" Keyboards
A "chord" keyboard is one where you press one or more keys simultaneously to specify a single value. A "logotype" keyboard is something different. It is a keyboard where you can press multiple keys simultaneously and the word that they spell (according to some hardcoded scheme) comes out in the right order. Such a keyboard was used at least once, on early versions of the Thorne Type-Setting Machine.
A Catalog of Keyboard Variations (Major)
[NOT DONE]
A catalog or gallery of keyboard arrangements which have been important at one time or another in type composition and typewriting. Exclude national variations.
qwerty. etaoin (Linotype). dhiatensor (Blickensderfer). Hammond. Thorne (three layouts).
A Catalog of Keyboard Variations (Minor)
[NOT DONE]
A catalog or gallery of keyboard arrangements which were relatively unimportant.
etaoin on a typewriter. [check Mares]
Keyboard Converters
[NOT DONE] There were two products which sat on top of conventional etaoin Linotype/Intertype keyboards and presented the operator with a qwerty keyboard: the Kellog, and the ELK. There was one which did the opposite - mounted in front of a Teletypesetter qwerty keyboard, the Brewer keyboard converted it into a conventional etaoin keyboard.
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