James Densmore

{{Short description|Businessman and inventor (1820–1889)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = James Densmore

| image = James Densmore engraving.jpg

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| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1820|02|03}}Johnson

| birth_place = Moscow, New York, United States

| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1889|09|16|1820|02|03}}

| death_place = Brooklyn, New York, United States

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| nationality = American

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James Densmore (February 3, 1820 – September 16, 1889) was an American businessman and inventor. He was a business associate of Christopher Sholes, who along with Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule helped contribute to inventing one of the first practical typewriters at a machine shop located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=12319&term_type_id=2&term_type_text=Places&letter=I Invention of the Typewriter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111220072758/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=12319&term_type_id=2&term_type_text=Places&letter=I |date=2011-12-20 }}, Wisconsin Historical Marker'', Retrieved May 11, 2008.

It was believed that Densmore had suggested splitting up commonly used letter combinations in order to solve a jamming problem, but this called into question.Koichi and Motoko Yasuoka: [http://kanji.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~yasuoka/publications/PreQWERTY.html "On the Prehistory of QWERTY"], Zinbun, No. 42 (March 2011), pp. 161–174. This concept was later refined by Sholes later refined this concept, so it became known as the QWERTY key layout.

Densmore was a militant vegetarian. His diet consisted of mostly raw apples.Anonymous. (1923). [https://archive.org/details/storyoftypewrite00unse/page/38 Story of the Typewriter, 1873–1923]. Herkimer County Historical Society. p. 38 His brother was physician Emmet Densmore.Guinn, James Miller. (1902). [https://archive.org/details/historicalbiograsc00guin/page/1216 Historical and Biographical Record of Southern California]. Chapman Publishing Company. pp. 1216–1217

Densmore also supported women's suffrage in Wisconsin.{{Sfn|Youmans|1921|p=4}} When he was the editor of the Oshkosh True Democrat the paper publicly supported women's right to vote.{{Sfn|Youmans|1921|pp=4–5}}

Densmore is remembered for the enigmatic fraternal organization he envisioned in his will, known as The Densmore Foundation.The Densmore Foundation. (n.d.). The Densmore Foundation. https://densmorefoundation.org/