Sholes and Densmore have sent experimental versions…

Sholes and Densmore have sent experimental versions of their typewriter to a few stenographers, realizing that stenographers would be among the first and most important users of the machine, and therefore best in a position to judge its suitability.

The most important of them is James O. Clephane, of Washington D.C., who tries the instruments as no one else had tried them, subjecting them to such unsparing tests that he destroys them, one after another, as fast as they can be made and sent to him.

His judgments are similarly caustic, causing Sholes to lose his patience and temper, but Densmore sees it differently: "This candid fault-finding is just what we need. We had better have it now than after we begin manufacturing. Where Clephane points out a weak lever or rod let us make it strong. Where a spacer or an inker works stiffly, let us make it work smoothly. Then, depend upon Clephane for all the praise we deserve." (Mares, G.C. (1909), The history of the typewriter, successor to the pen: An illustrated account of the origin, rise, and development of the writing machine, London: Guilbert Putnam. Reprinted by Post-era Books, Arcadia, CA, 1985.)

Taking this advice, Sholes had set to improve the machine at every iteration, until they were satisfied that Clephane had taught them everything he could.

By this time, they had manufactured fifty machines or so, at an average cost of two hundred and fifty dollars.

Densmore had suggested splitting up commonly used letter combinations in order to solve a jamming problem caused by the slow method of recovering from a keystroke: weights, not springs, returned all parts to the "rest" position.

Sholes refinements to this concept result in the QWERTY layout, still used today on both typewriters and English language computer keyboards, although the jamming problem no longer exists.