George Washington Newton Yost

George Washington Newton Yost
Yost in 1893
BornApril 15, 1831
Starkey, New York, United States
DiedSeptember 26, 1895 (aged 64)
New York City, United States
Alma materStarkey seminary
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur and inventor
Scientific career
FieldsTypewriter

George Washington Newton Yost (April 15, 1831 – September 28, 1895) was an American entrepreneur and inventor who has been described as one of the pioneers in the birth of the first manufactured typewriters.[1] He founded the Yost Writing Machine Company and began producing his typewriters around 1887 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.[2]

Career

He started his career by working as a farmhand.[3] He then invented the cotton plough and scraper which made him a lot of money.[3] Later he started working in the oil business.[3] In 1868, he invented the Climax Mowing machine.[3]

Typewriter

In 1887, he created a model of the earliest Yost typewriter machine. He had previously studied the design of the original typewriter created by Sholes, Glidden and Soule company. He got into the typewriter business and became a business partner of James Densmore. He then formed the American Writing Machine Company, which produced one of the Remington's main competitors, the Caligraph.[4] The Writing Machine Company was headquartered at 1087-1155 Railroad Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut.[5]

Other endeavours

He was also a dedicated spiritualist. He built, at his own cost, a church in Corry, Pennsylvania, and employed a clergyman who was well read in Christian doctrine. When Yost died on September 26, 1895 in New York City, it was reported that he "remained a firm spiritualist to the end".[6]

Personal life

He was born on 15 April 1831 in Starkey, New York.[3] He was the third child and second son of farmer John DeWitt Yost and his wife Patty Ann (nee Newton).[6] He married Sophia Church Hayden at New Castle, Pennsylvania, on January 28, 1858.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Yost, 1895, N°4". Museo Nicolis. February 22, 2020. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  2. ^ "Wanted: Yost Typewriter". The Antikey Chop.
  3. ^ a b c d e Adams, Mark (August 3, 2022). "George Washington Newton Yost". Type-Writer.org. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
  4. ^ "Yost". The Classic Typewriter Page.
  5. ^ "Yost Typewriters". The Antikey Chop.
  6. ^ a b c Messenger, Robert (June 10, 2011). "On This Day in Typewriter History (XXI)". oz.Typewriter.